Honduras - A Collective Effort to Help

Rotary Club and Other OrganizationsUSAID has worked to help Honduras diversify its
One Rotary Club, the Morning Time Westlakeagricultural production and expand exports to help
Rotary Club comes in each year to help kids whoits economy and provide jobs. USAID also has
are born with crooked feet and help them soinitiatives to help small business enterprises
they can walk. Rotarians have put forth a hugethrough micro-loans. USAID is concerned with the
effort to helping the children of Honduras who aresanitary conditions and has made it an objective
in desperate need, as Hondurans do a lot ofto increase access to health services. One
walking in their daily lives, without foot power animportant focus has been vocational training and
individual is literally powerless. The Rotary Club haseducation to help break the cycle of poverty in
a big presence in Honduras and draws supportHonduras. USAID is very concerned with assisting
from the entire Western Hemisphere.Hondurans in having a democratic government.
Several other groups including Engineers withoutUSAID has also listed objectives such as
Borders have come into Honduras to help buildmaintaining a sustainable environment and
infrastructure and are planning to build projectsimproving food security. USAID along with 16
such as sewer treatment facilities, schools andother donor nations provided assistance after the
bridges. There are some issues to deal with indevastation caused from Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
getting help into these countries for engineers.Their latest plan which extends thru 2008 has
One volunteer tells of a discussion with a groupstrong stated objectives to assisting Honduras
from Engineers without Borders;and her people towards a better standard of living
"I have met on the plane a group who was goingand on-going economic vitality.
to build churches in Guatemala. The man wasReligious Organizations
telling me they had a lot of trouble going throughMany believe that the brunt of the assistance to
customs and security with their power drills andthe rural poor in Honduras comes from religious
saws, etc."organizations and their self-less acts of kindness,
There are also Veterinary Teams who come foralthough there are some non-religious groups who
special missions to tend to the animals in ruralare pretty spectacular in their own right. One
Honduras, as the family animals provide milk,religious affiliated medical mission group volunteer
eggs, food and animal power is needed, as moststated that;
are too poor to afford cars, trucks or tractors"Often, people admit that they like us so much
and there is often no place to get fuel or partsthat they will walk to the other clinic planned for
even if they did have those things. Many morethe next day and bring their father or nieces.
vets are needed for those very importantMost people we saw are convinced Catholics, as
missions.is our group."
What kinds of animals do they have in ruralStill with all these other groups helping there are
Honduras? Just about every kind you can think ofphilanthropists that take it upon themselves to put
actually. For instance one Veterinary Team fromtogether other organizations to help where
Texas has had huge success and since they haveadditional help is needed, often filling in the gaps.
been coming around many report that their animalThe efforts in Honduras are addressing the
losses are almost nil due to the great care. Theychallenges and making a difference. In fact more
tend to over 4600 cattle and various otherand more groups are working together to get
animals such as; oxen, horses, donkeys, dogs,better coverage and prevent duplication of
cats, pigs, goats, sheep, assorted birds, and anefforts and this is helping tremendously.
occasional coatimundi.There is a little bit of friendly rivalry between
UNICEF and US AIDsome organizations to see which group can help
UNICEF, a part of the United Nations has beenthe most people. Perhaps a little bit of team spirit
instrumental in assisting on getting aid monies inamongst the volunteers is good. The goal of
and seeing that the money goes towards helpingcourse is helping the rural poor in Honduras and
poor kids. One of the biggest issues is that thetheir children with what they need to survive and
children are often malnourished because theimprove their quality of living and education and
families cannot afford to get the food they need.help them help them selves. This will break the
UNICEF has been active in Central America withcycle of poverty.
the primary focus on helping children. It appearsBy having many groups with diverse focuses and
that UNICEF is working to secure funding forniches using the expertise and talent in their
assistance in Honduras to help children there;groups the quality of help being provided in
Thankfully USAID has put forth a herculean effortHonduras is astounding. It is amazing listening to all
in Honduras and it is making a big difference in thethe genuine folks who really care and how much
quality of life there. One major component USAIDthey are accomplishing. Even more incredible is the
is working on is strengthening the rule of law toprogress being made one patient at a time, one
prevent crime and insure accountability andvillage at a time and one child at a time. If you
transparency in government affairs. Over the lastfind yourself with enough time on your hands to
40 years USAID has provided 2 Billion Dollars inmake the trip as a volunteer to Honduras you will
economic assistance in Honduras. The manybe glad you did. If you have a few extra dollars
objectives of USAID to support Honduras haveto donate, I cannot think of a better cause.
been clear.