I recently returned from my third trip to Honduras and my second in the last 3 months. The first 2 trips have been service trips on the mainland; the most recent trip was with my family to the island of Roatan. When I returned from my service trip this past January, I began writing this blog post, but life got in the way and I never seemed to be able to finish it up. While on Roatan during our spring break trip, I began to think about the ideas and information I had planned to share in the unfinished blog post while new stories and people were inspiring me further. The time seemed right to finish the post.
In January 2019 I went on my second service trip to Montana de Luz (MdL) in the beautiful mountains of Honduras. MdL is a faith-based organization dedicated to empowering children, youth, and families affected by HIV/AIDS in Honduras. They have a vision to “become the leading provider of family-based, coordinated care resources for individuals affected by HIV/AIDS in Honduras- dramatically increasing anti-retroviral medication adherence rates, eradicating HIV stigma, and allowing thousands more individuals to live happy, healthy lives”. Since MdL’s inception the place has transformed from a hospice for children with HIV/AIDS to a thriving home and community center supporting the healthy development of amazing children. https://www.montanadeluz.org/about/
I spent the week living on MdL’s residential campus with a group from an organization called Youth Across Borders (YAB)whose chief visionary and dreamer is my best childhood friend Courtney Bosca. YAB is a volunteer based organization “that creates mutually beneficial cross-cultural experiences for children and young adults living with HIV/AIDS. Through education, YAB raises awareness and reduces stigma. YAB offers opportunities by sharing life experience as a means of fostering collaboration, hope, and contribution, locally and internationally” https://www.youthacrossborders.org/
As is often the case with service travel, I walked away from the trip humbled. I reflected on and marveled that I had received more then I gave. I made new dear friends within the YAB group, I had worked and played with children, and I had supported the staff of “tias and tios” whose role it is to be the guardians and family to the children of MdL. This was all wrapped up in the pure joy of spending a week in the beauty of the Honduran landscape. If it were not for one other amazing opportunity given to our group, I might have left my service experience there.
On the morning of January 12th, 2019 the YAB group headed into Tegucigalpa on our bus complete with armed guards, to spend the morning at the offices of Red Viva. Red Viva is a network of organizations working for children and youth in conditions of social vulnerability. A big part of their work is coordinating a 9-day course called the Honduras Volunteer Academy. http://redviva.hn/index.php/component/k2/item/56-honduras-volunteer-academy During our morning at Red Viva, we participated in a very condensed version of the Volunteer Academy with a focus on understanding the definition and thinking about the concept of sustainable volunteerism. Sustainable volunteerism goes beyond the simple time and experience of volunteer work and focuses on how to assure the long term impact of that volunteer work through the model: Learn – Give – Share. We were asked to reflect on how we could be sustainable volunteers and continue to help Honduras when we came home through awareness raising, fundraising, and staying connected. This blog post is one way I am trying to be a sustainable volunteer. I hope it will provide some understanding and awareness about the context of Honduras and its citizens through data and examples of both the challenges and hope I have witnessed while there.
First some basic facts:
- Honduras is slightly larger than Tennessee
- The economy is primarily agricultural
- Honduras has a population of 9,182,766
- 1,877,064 people live in the urban areas of the capital Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula
- The other 7,305,702 people mostly live in rural areas
- 32.37% of the population is between the ages of birth to 14 years
Now (some of) the bad news
- Honduras is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
- Over 60% of all Hondurans live in poverty
- 1 in 5 Hondurans live in extreme poverty and subsist on an average of US $1.25 or less a day
- Chronic malnutrition can reach 48.5 percent in rural areas
- Honduras has the highest murder rate of all countries not currently in a war
- The prevalence of violence and homicide is largely related to drug trafficking and gang warfare.
- All sectors of the economy suffer from rampant corruption.
- Estimates put unemployment at about 27.9%
- 11% of the population is illiterate
- Although the government provides school for children through 5th grade only 51% of children registered complete primary school. Some children leave because they must work to help provide for their families, some can’t attend because their families cannot afford uniforms or supplies, others, especially in the rural areas, do not have transportation to get there.
- There are at least 125 children’s homes (orphanages) across the country
And finally good news and heroes to celebrate!
Although challenges in Honduras are rampant on many levels and the rights of children are often ignored (see the UN Convention on the Rights of Children), there are amazing organizations and people both inside and outside Honduras who are dedicated to shifting the existing reality to something better. They recognize that by focusing on the wellbeing and education of children they can set the course for change. In my quest to participate in sustainable volunteerism I would like to share some of them here!
The MdL and YAB board members and volunteer leaders who serve these organizations by contributing their time and resources so the children of MdL are supported and well taken care of. These are the people who have given me and many others the opportunity to participate in their programs as a volunteer.
Red Viva and the coalition of organizations involved who have multiple programs dedicated to facilitating the exchange of information and resources among its members to promote the comprehensive care for Honduran children. They have tasked themselves to raise the awareness of all Hondurans to the reality of children in their society, encouraging everyone to take action. They do this by promoting policies and programs that support children and families especially those who are at risk. Some of their initiatives include vaccination campaigns, parent education, child abuse awareness and programs that support the reduction in the culture of violence that is prevalent across Honduras.
The mission and goals of Red Viva are impressive, but what truly affected me during our morning at the Red Viva offices was the staff. Their passion and dedication to their work even though they face many challenges and even dangers was infectious.
The Tios and Tias of Montana de Luz who work tirelessly for 3 ½ days on and 3 ½ days off as the staff of the residential facility. They are the guardians and family for the children who reside at MdL while also having their own families at home. They support, teach, discipline, play with and love the children everyday. I was so impressed when I watched one of the Tios of the “tween” boys as he worked his 84-hour shift. He was a continuous firm and tender role model for all the children especially the boys in his charge
“Mama” who oversees the kitchen at MdL not only provides healthy meals, she provides training in the kitchen to some of the older children, directs the morning chapel services, organizes games, and from my perspective serves as the matriarch of the MdL family.
During our last night at MdL, it is traditional for the YAB team to have a talent show with the children and staff. This year it happened to fall on a staff change over day. It was that night I truly realized how dedicated the MdL staff is. Many of the staff members who had just gone home for their days off came back with their families that night to participate in the talent show along side the children and YAB volunteers.
The owners and operators of Café Santa Lucia who took a piece of hillside property in the tourist town of Santa Lucia that was being used as an unofficial dump and turned it into a prospering shade grown coffee operation. When we visited they told us they were dedicated to creating a business that promotes Honduras in a positive way.
The ophthalmologist and the nurse practitioner that we met during an all day excursion to the Cayos Cochinos while visiting Roatan. For the last 8 years they have come to Roatan with their family for vacation. As part of their annual trip they spend the first 3 days in a local clinic providing cataract surgery and other eye care to Hondurans who would otherwise not have access to this type of care.
The Honduran boat captain and crew person who took us on the all day boating excursion while we were in Roatan. They both described how they and their children collect used items to take to a small island community we visited that is home to a group of Garifuna people who have few resources. http://globalsherpa.org/garifunas-garifuna/
Captain Lynn Rippelmeyer the Founder and President of the non-profit ROSE – Roatan Support Effort. Becky and I met Captain Rippelmeyer a retired airline pilot while watching the sunset one of our last nights on Roatan. During her career she often flew to Honduras. During this time she began to transport supplies to medical and missionary contacts on both the Honduran mainland and the island of Roatan. In her retirement she has continued and expanded this work by starting ROSE. She uses her flight benefits to make regular trips to Roatan, transporting and distributing supplies she has collected to community kitchens, hospitals and clinics, schools, animal shelters, and sports teams. When we asked how often she made these trips she responded about every 3 weeks. https://roatansupporteffort.org/
The Honduran People who I have met both on the mainland and on Roatan who are happy hardworking souls, grateful for everyday!
So in closing… My hope is as you read and hear about the violence and poverty that are so often associated with Honduras, rather then brushing it aside, consider how you can help support and effectuate change to improve the context of this beautiful nation by sharing what you have read here.