Getting Hooked on Honduras

I took a vacation to Honduras. I liked the country, so in 1997 I decided to spend a month or two in Copán Ruinas, to study Spanish. I met a lot of great people there who taught me some of the many customs and introduced me to the indigenous Chortí Maya who live and work in the Copán Valley. Soon, I found myself taking school supplies to children in the mountain villages. Before I knew it, I was hooked.

-Rodger Harrison

By Steve Yancy
Rodger Harrison has that look about him: you can see it in his eyes when he talks about his organization, founded 14 years ago in the historic village of Copán Ruinas, Honduras. Paramedics For Children (PFC) includes a medical clinic, ambulance services, and mountain village school supply programs. When asked why he started PFC, Mr. Harrison replies, "That has always been a very hard question to answer. I have found it a lot easier for me to explain to people what I do, rather then try to explain why I do what I do." So the question remains, what motivates a person to do a 180 degree turn in their life and travel to a strange country to start an international children's charity?

Again I asked, and Mr. Harrison responded, "To me, it was a calling of the heart. I can only say that working with PFC brings me great happiness and a purpose to my life. My business career started in the commercial real estate business, and a medical recruiting company. Life was good to me, and I made a lot of money, but something was missing. When I retired in 1990, I realized that it was time to give back a little for all I have gotten out of life, so I went back to college and got a paramedic license. Then followed six of the most incredible years of my life working in a job that I loved and enjoyed, until I was involved in a work-related injury and found myself sitting on the sidelines again wondering what I could do to re-acquire the excitement of running on an ambulance with all the adventure that goes with it."

He added, "Fighting boredom, and not wanting to get back into the corporate rat race, I took a vacation to Honduras. I liked the country, so in 1997 I decided to spend a month or two in Copán Ruinas, to study Spanish. I met a lot of great people there who taught me some of the many customs and introduced me to the indigenous Chortí Maya who live and work in the Copán Valley. Soon, I found myself taking school supplies to children in the mountain villages. Before I knew it, I was hooked."

When asked about the adventurous part of his Honduran odyssey, Mr. Harrison reflected, "I thought I had seen it all after being a paramedic from the states, but nothing prepared me for the experience of starting a volunteer ambulance service in Honduras. We had a great group of guys, and I cannot count how many times the ambulances showed up at the front door of my house with every type of emergency call you could imagine. Sometimes we would have five or six emergencies a night. One night, a gun shot or machete cutting and the next night, some woman would be having a baby. Often we treated the patients in our living room. It was never-ending, never a dull minute. Thank goodness things have slowed down a little since we opened the clinic in 2005."

Even delivering school supplies into the mountains has provided some interesting moments for Mr. Harrison. Until 2003, he had to deliver the school supplies by horse back. He recounted, "During those days, we would sometimes be in the saddle for up to eight hours a day. I got thrown from my horse three times, snake bit once, horse bit, dog bit, delivered twins, and fell in the Copán River. We had a lot of fun in those days and still do, except that most of the time we use our Kawasaki four-wheel drive Mules to get there instead of the horses."

As we talked, there were so many stories about his work and of the friends he's made over the years. He talked of his work and of all the changes he’d witnessed in Honduras over the last decade. I asked him if he could pick one particular accomplishment of which he was most proud. He told me that right after he had delivered the first of eight ambulances to Copán in 2000, its mayor and city council awarded him a "Mi Hijo Adoptivo Predilecto" (adopted son of Copán) certificate. Mr. Harrison said, "At the time, and as far as I know, I am the only gringo in the history of the town to be given this honor, and to me that was something."

The award proudly and prominently hangs over his desk. At 60, Mr. Harrison is still going strong and so is PFC. The charity has expanded to other countries such as Guatemala, Indonesia, Colombia, Cuba, and parts of Africa. His home and headquarters have been converted into a bed and breakfast, and all of the profits are used to support his many programs. Mr. Harrison went on to say, "The PFC story, like any good adventure, just keeps getting better and more fun year after year. We never stop, and we never quit."

As I interviewed Mr. Harrison, I knew there was a lot more to tell. As I peeled back the many layers of his life, I discovered that he has had many careers: he holds a commercial pilot's license, is a professional musician, a published songwriter, and still plays in a band when he is not in Honduras. When pressed about further details of his life, he added, "Life to me is a game; my memories are the way I keep score." Then he grinned, winked, and asked if I wanted a rum and coke. (8/13/11) (photo of Rodger Harrison courtesy Internet)