Helping Honduras Kids (and other future plans)
Note: Due to inexplicable threats and violence directed toward Helping Honduras Kids (HHK) by local nitwit punks, HHK was forced to abruptly abandon their facilities near us, including their volunteer house, in August 2009. They are safely relocated and fully functioning but it was very sad for all of us and we miss them greatly. We are leaving here what was posted previously out of general interest.
As we were investigating the feasibility of establishing Las Sonrisas de los Niños, we visited a large orphanage west of La Ceiba called SOS and met a gentleman associated with SOS named David Ashby. He was an American who had been a soils scientist with a large fruit company and had lived in Honduras for 30 plus years. We also had learned there was a building on the main highway, fairly close to the dirt road leading to Cacao, that was intended to serve some charitable purpose but had always sat empty. Otherwise, during the time we were developing and opening Las Sonrisas de los Niños, we were fairly oblivious to events around us. As it happened, David Ashby had formed an organization called Helping Honduras Kids (HHK), which consisted of a number of projects in the La Ceiba area, and one of these was an orphanage. We learned the building in nearby Agua Caliente had been constructed as a legacy for deceased singer Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes, a member of a popular American band called TLC, who had visited Honduras many times and tragically died in an auto accident near Cacao. Subsequent to her death the Lisa Lopes Foundation Foundation was created, and in 2007 they partnered with HHK to establish the orphanage, so the formerly vacant building is now a home filled with the voices of children. As fate would have it, the orphanage opened within a couple weeks of us.
Gradually we developed a relationship- they would donate some excess food items to us, and we started bringing their younger kids over to spend some mornings at Las Sonrisas de los Niños, giving them a chance to meet new kids outside of the orphanage and have some new experiences. They kindly sold us computers at a very reduced price, and we tried to help them establish a well (unfortunately we never did hit water). They introduced us to a group called Amigos of Honduras who visited us and made a very generous donation. They allowed one of our volunteers to stay at their facility and several times we had their volunteers over to our house to hopefully give them a break from their very demanding and important work. All in all, we are extremely fortunate to have an HHK project nearby and are very appreciative of their support and friendship
(Below- Reid and Patricia and three of our volunteers, Colin, Matt, & Melissa, with HHK kids; David Ashby; some of our volunteers with HHK volunteers watching a lunar eclipse at the shared volunteer house)
For more information of each of these groups visit www.helpinghonduraskids.org, www.lisalopesfoundation.org, and www.amigosofhonduras.org. And- many thanks to David Ashby, David Riley and Michael Burton (and his son Sam) of Amigos of Honduras, and Karl Ralian (to be perfectly honest, we are not sure what organization he's with, but we know he has collected and shipped invaluable quantities of supplies to Honduras!). Also, thanks to Ron Sparkman, a guy who retired with his wife to Honduras and is an unofficial but significant help to everyone.
Goals, Plans, Hopes, Possibilities
ONE THING that surprised us soon after we opened was that the amount of time, energy, effort needed to keep things running far exceeded our expectations. For this reason, we hope to attract a long-term volunteer operating partners (for more information see the bottom of the Volunteers and Volunteering page).
AS WE think about the direction we want to take our project, we are considering both big and small ideas, and the reason we are including this topic on this page is that we want to share whatever we do with the local community. Our project owns quite a bit of land, and we are slowly developing a garden with which we hope to provide fruits and vegetables for our project. This was greatly fostered by some of our volunteers, especially Justin, and we proudly served our own several times at lunch. We also have banana trees that are producing. We make our land available to any local person who would like to have their own area to garden and hope we'll have increasing numbers of people taking advantage of this, perhaps including the kids at the orphanage and some of our older kids as well.
IN DECEMBER 2008 WE SOLD about 2.5 acres of our land, at cost, to Casa Cielo, another local orphanage. They had been renting their facilities and looking for a permanent location. We believe their presence will be beneficial to the community as a whole and the infrastructure we have already developed will prove beneficial to them. For more information visit www.casaderoc.org.
WE HAVE OFFERED TO DONATE a small tract of our land to the community for the purpose of establishing a small police station. Crime in Honduras is, as everywhere, a real problem and there is no reasonable police presence in the area. We have offered a basic building design and staked it out, but ultimately the community will need to make this a reality. The idea has uniformly and enthusiastically received support of the community but to date there has been no follow through.
ASSOCIATED WITH GENEROUS DONATIONS of fishing equipment from Karl Ralian (see above), we would like to develop tourist fishing in El Cacao. El Cacao is situated close to a lagoon, which is already a tourist destination for kayaking, and a number of the villagers fish for food and livelihood, so this seems to be a viable idea for uncomplicated economic development. (Below- Miriam and kids in a boat on the lagoon; Volunteers and kids on the lagoon walkway)
FOR A POOR community of perhaps 1,800 people, El Cacao has plenty of illnesses but no medical facilities (actually there is a small hospital complex, built and fully stocked several years ago, but never opened!). In order to receive any kind of a medical care, the average person has to travel either to the town of Jutiapa or the city of La Ceiba and, because of the constraints of poverty, they tend to wait until illnesses progress and the minor has become the urgent. Though we realize we are in no position to open and operate such a project, we hope to use our resources and contacts to facilitate some type of regular medical clinic, even if it's only a day or 2 per week. We are extremely pleased that a Canadian organization, Adventure in Missions, opened a clinic in Cacao in July 2009!
FROM THE beginning we've tried to think of meaningful economic activities for the community that would truly address a need and be within our abilities to bring to fruition. There seems to be plenty of souvenirs and textile products about, but one item that is almost non-existent is shelving. Somehow this entire country evolved without home storage options!! So, having reasonably good carpentry and cabinet making skills, we are thinking of establishing some type of small woodworking shop and letting it serve as an tiny unofficial vocational school for the older kids (though many of our program activities involve supplementing literacy, improving overall awareness of the world around us, and enhancing future prospects for the kids that attend our project, Las Sonrisas de los Niños is not a school, which is an important distinction to make in Honduras). This is not going to happen in the near future, however.
WE MADE Rafael, the Director of the Central American Spanish School (www.ca-spanish.com), an offer he couldn't refuse in terms of offering him a small portion of our land at a very favorable price. This transaction continues to be close to completion (one learns that things take time in Central America as compared to the US, which has both advantages and disadvantages!) and we hope and think this will eventually evolve into a small branch facility of the Central American Spanish School being established. This would allow interested volunteers to attend classes near the project. Perhaps our ultimate goal/dream is to create a little community which would include some housing for volunteers, productive gardens, opportunities for the local people and, most of all, a place where kids from the surrounding villages will always have a safe and clean place to do fun and meaningful things.
Rafael with volunteers Becky & Gail on graduation day from the Central American Spanish School
Las Sonrisas de los Niños is a project of Congressional District Programs, Inc (www.cdprograms.org)– a registered 501(c) (3) public charity. Those making donations are encouraged to review the following policies: Privacy Policy State Fund Raising and Solicitation Guidelines Nondiscrimination Policy All moneys raised by Las Sonrisas de los Niños are received by Congressional District Programs and become the sole property of CDP which, for internal operating purposes, allocates the funds to the Project. The Program Manager makes recommendations for disbursements which are reviewed by CDP for approval.