Honduras - A Collective Effort to Help

Rotary Club and Other Organizations

One Rotary Club, the Morning Time Westlake Rotary Club comes in each year to help kids who are born with crooked feet and help them so they can walk. Rotarians have put forth a huge effort to helping the children of Honduras who are in desperate need, as Hondurans do a lot of walking in their daily lives, without foot power an individual is literally powerless. The Rotary Club has a big presence in Honduras and draws support from the entire Western Hemisphere.

MISSIONS TRIPS AFRICA

Several other groups including Engineers without Borders have come into Honduras to help build infrastructure and are planning to build projects such as sewer treatment facilities, schools and bridges. There are some issues to deal with in getting help into these countries for engineers. One volunteer tells of a discussion with a group from Engineers without Borders;

"I have met on the plane a group who was going to build churches in Guatemala. The man was telling me they had a lot of trouble going through customs and security with their power drills and saws, etc."

There are also Veterinary Teams who come for special missions to tend to the animals in rural Honduras, as the family animals provide milk, eggs, food and animal power is needed, as most are too poor to afford cars, trucks or tractors and there is often no place to get fuel or parts even if they did have those things. Many more vets are needed for those very important missions.

What kinds of animals do they have in rural Honduras? Just about every kind you can think of actually. For instance one Veterinary Team from Texas has had huge success and since they have been coming around many report that their animal losses are almost nil due to the great care. They tend to over 4600 cattle and various other animals such as; oxen, horses, donkeys, dogs, cats, pigs, goats, sheep, assorted birds, and an occasional coatimundi.

UNICEF and US AID

UNICEF, a part of the United Nations has been instrumental in assisting on getting aid monies in and seeing that the money goes towards helping poor kids. One of the biggest issues is that the children are often malnourished because the families cannot afford to get the food they need. UNICEF has been active in Central America with the primary focus on helping children. It appears that UNICEF is working to secure funding for assistance in Honduras to help children there; http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/honduras.html

Thankfully USAID has put forth a herculean effort in Honduras and it is making a big difference in the quality of life there. One major component USAID is working on is strengthening the rule of law to prevent crime and insure accountability and transparency in government affairs. Over the last 40 years USAID has provided 2 Billion Dollars in economic assistance in Honduras. The many objectives of USAID to support Honduras have been clear.

USAID has worked to help Honduras diversify its agricultural production and expand exports to help its economy and provide jobs. USAID also has initiatives to help small business enterprises through micro-loans. USAID is concerned with the sanitary conditions and has made it an objective to increase access to health services. One important focus has been vocational training and education to help break the cycle of poverty in Honduras. USAID is very concerned with assisting Hondurans in having a democratic government.

USAID has also listed objectives such as maintaining a sustainable environment and improving food security. USAID along with 16 other donor nations provided assistance after the devastation caused from Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Their latest plan which extends thru 2008 has strong stated objectives to assisting Honduras and her people towards a better standard of living and on-going economic vitality.

Religious Organizations

Many believe that the brunt of the assistance to the rural poor in Honduras comes from religious organizations and their self-less acts of kindness, although there are some non-religious groups who are pretty spectacular in their own right. One religious affiliated medical mission group volunteer stated that;

"Often, people admit that they like us so much that they will walk to the other clinic planned for the next day and bring their father or nieces. Most people we saw are convinced Catholics, as is our group."

Still with all these other groups helping there are philanthropists that take it upon themselves to put together other organizations to help where additional help is needed, often filling in the gaps. The efforts in Honduras are addressing the challenges and making a difference. In fact more and more groups are working together to get better coverage and prevent duplication of efforts and this is helping tremendously.

There is a little bit of friendly rivalry between some organizations to see which group can help the most people. Perhaps a little bit of team spirit amongst the volunteers is good. The goal of course is helping the rural poor in Honduras and their children with what they need to survive and improve their quality of living and education and help them help them selves. This will break the cycle of poverty.

By having many groups with diverse focuses and niches using the expertise and talent in their groups the quality of help being provided in Honduras is astounding. It is amazing listening to all the genuine folks who really care and how much they are accomplishing. Even more incredible is the progress being made one patient at a time, one village at a time and one child at a time. If you find yourself with enough time on your hands to make the trip as a volunteer to Honduras you will be glad you did. If you have a few extra dollars to donate, I cannot think of a better cause.

Honduras - A Collective Effort to Help

MISSIONS TRIPS AFRICA

Honduras - Every Mission Counts

Common Misconceptions

One of the points in this book is to alleviate some of the many misconceptions that people have about Honduras and perhaps we should start with the long lines that medical aid workers often experience as people walk for miles to visit the volunteer nurses, doctors and their assistants. There are a lot of people in need and this creates huge lines. Even though the medical mission teams go to remote areas this does not mean that there are only a few people to help at each village or stop as a Family Doctor from Canada on a medical mission in Rural Honduras states;

MISSIONS TRIPS

"I am surprised to see that on our way, we go through mountains and isolated roads but when we arrive at the locations for our clinic, there are already hundreds of people waiting to be seen. Many of the local people have been walking for hours sometimes days to get there. They patiently wait outside in a very tight line under the sun. Many women are breastfeeding while standing in line. It happens frequently that a person faints from dehydration and heat stroke."

The villages are quite gracious and not everyone is without. Some homes have electricity from their own sources. Even the wealthiest person in the village does have a lot but still they are wealthy by rural Honduras standards and one volunteer was surprised to learn during her trip on a mission to Honduras that often;

"When it is time to eat lunch, the richest person of the village opens her house to us and feeds us local food. They are very proud to offer whatever little they have. The meals are mainly composed of "frijoles" (beans), tortillas and papas (potatoes). For us we get extra like chicken, pork and beef but eating meat is rare for them."

Some people think that the government in Honduras does not care about its people. This is not true at all. One medical mission team told of a story in 2006;

"We were very happy to learn that the first lady was coming to see one of our mission day. It took us over two hours of very rough roads from our already remote location to get there. Our jaw dropped when she "fell off the sky form of the helicopter" so much for realizing the isolation. She seamed genuinely interested and asked me "What are the health problems of my people?"

What Can You Do?

There are so many ways to help in Honduras, such as sponsoring a child, donating items on the list of needs of groups planning trips or giving money. Most of all donating your time will do the most good, especially if you have skills, such as medical knowledge, engineering background or educational experience. Of course all the wonderful groups helping in Honduras need money.

In the back of this book you will find a list of groups and organizations that you can send money too or volunteer to work with, so you can do your part to help the poor in rural Honduras. Browse through the lists of needs, items, donation requests and volunteer jobs on their various websites and see what you can give to assist in the mission to help in Honduras.

The fact is that everyone can help: either by donating money, time or joining a group. Those who come back from their volunteer efforts in Honduras explain how it has changed their perspective and their lives in so many ways. Often without realizing it, those of us in the first world often take things for granted, so at times we forget how good we have it and go about our daily lives without even thinking.

In case of a person really interested in joining a mission who is short on money, there are alternatives. One our the medical mission member just asked her local Lion's club for sponsering and got it easily.
Lance Winslow has dedicated part of his life raising money by doing car washing events. They are easy to set-up and a lot of fun.

Honduras - Every Mission Counts

MISSIONS TRIPS