Volunteerism

Travels Via Sambo Creek

On the way home on Sunday, we returned via Sambo Creek, and as we walked toward the highway a van full of smiling women waved at us. I thought they must be very friendly people to do that.

By Christina Taylor
I finally arrived in La Ceiba after 44 long hours of travel. The three other volunteers and I awoke around 5:30 am and walked down to school on the highway and I spent the day meeting the kids, drawing, doing some math and writing stories. The volunteers are always called ‘tía’ or ‘tío’ (aunty and uncle) and I think I had the only name they could easily pronounce “Tía Christinaaaa”. It seemed like half of the kids had rotting teeth and at some point in their lives they’d been severely malnourished because many were amazingly tiny for their respective ages. I wholeheartedly believed one of the smallest girls was around 2 and a half or 3. Wrong. She was just 5, and the top of her head came a little past my knees -- not high on someone who’s only 5' 4". (3/9/10)

Honduras Weekly extends a huge thank you to all the volunteer and humanitarian groups that visit Honduras throughout the year to help empower its people in a wide variety of ways. Many of you are listed on the Honduras Aid Map (HAM), but there are thousands more quietly doing invaluable work. We invite you to share your stories and insights with us. Please e-mail us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Growth of Social Tourism in Honduras

The fact is that there does indeed exist a “social tourism sector” of the Honduran economy, and it has been growing. This sector is a subset of the tourism sector, and thus it would seem that agencies such as the Tourism Institute should play a role in promoting and looking out for its interests.

By Marco Cáceres
There are thousands of expatriates and foreigners involved in work to help Honduras. Many of them who travel to Honduras to perform this work consider themselves missionaries, aid volunteers, or just good citizens of the world trying to help their native country or their fellow human beings. Most individuals who travel to Honduras to help out in some way can be defined as "social tourists". They go to Honduras for a limited period of time, and then they go back home to their families and their jobs. (2/26/10)

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Operation Smile Will Perform Facial Reconstructions at San Felipe Hospital

Operation Smile Honduras, in partnership with Operation Smile, Inc. of Norfolk, Virginia, will perform facial reconstruction surgeries at the San Felipe hospital in Tegucigalpa during February 27 to March 5. The service will be provided free to the public, but potential patients must first be evaluated. Evaluations will be held February 25-26, beginning at 7:00 each morning. Some 80 operations are expected to be undertaken to correct cases of cleft lip and cleft palate. The volunteer mission will be made possible through financial donations from Esso Standard Oil and other companies. This will be Operation Smile's 30th annual surgical mission to Honduras. For more information, e-mail the Executive Director of the Operation Smile Honduras, Giannina Güell, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . (2/26/10) (photo courtesy Internet)

Vision Team from Minnesota Heads to Honduras

By Kay Anderson
After months of prayerful, "Jonah and the whale" thoughts, I booked my ticket to La Ceiba, Honduras this past weekend and no longer retain a wussy status. This gives my 'I don't leave home well' feelings a whole new slant. I'm flying out with the Vision Honduras team from Dassel, Minnesota on March 3 for a volunteer eye care mission that will last 19 days, carrying only what I can fit into a backpack. (2/25/10)

Tragedy and Amazing Love in Yuscarán

Later that evening, while our team was enjoying some games with local children, I found my wife, Pastor Lisa Hazelwood, comforting Maria, Dagoberto’s wife. Maria had learned that Pamela’s body had been found. She had been killed.

By Jim Hazelwood
On the closing day of our week in Yuscarán and Los Tablones, Reverend Dagoberto and I led an intimate worship service with his family, close friends and our group of eighteen North Americans. “This has been a very difficult week, but your presence has also made us feel united with God and one another,” said Father Chacon. Together with lay pastor Santos, the two of them sang “Unidos,” a Honduran hymn that reflects on the unity of the Body of Christ. Our group of eighteen Lutherans from the New England Synod had been in Honduras during the week of February 15-22. What follows is my personal account of the events of that week. (2/24/10)

Social Tourists Remain Committed to Honduras

By Marco Cáceres
It's hard to tell for sure, but I am sensing that humanitarian and volunteer groups from North America are starting to return to Honduras in growing numbers of late. I've noticed a marked increase in e-mails from friends and acquaintances with church mission groups, university student teams, medical brigades, and civic clubs who are busy preparing for an upcoming trip to some isolated Honduran town, village or hamlet. Last night, I received an e-mail from my friend Jennifer with Cape CARES of East Orleans, Massachusetts. She was only hours away from departing with her medical brigade for the village of Los Encinitos near the town of Yauyupe in the department of El Paraíso, south of Tegucigalpa. She was excited. I have also observed more articles in small-town newspapers throughout the US highlighting a planned mission trip to Honduras by a local organization. (2/19/10)

Samaritan´s Purse: Giving Hope to People With HIV/AIDS in Honduras

By Denia Hernández
There are approximately 28,000 people living with HIV or AIDS infection in Honduras, 1,900 of which die each year. These estimates correspond to 60 percent of the registered cases of HIV in the region of Central America. The statistics represent the harsh reality that is Honduras and its people, most of which consider sex and AIDS taboo, a topic to be buried under the ground forever. But the truth is that ignoring the problem doesn´t mean it’s going to go away. This is the battle that Samaritan´s Purse has been trying to fight in Honduras ever since they arrived in 1998 as a response to Hurricane Mitch. Samaritan´s Purse is an international relief program funded by CHF International that has many branches spreading their work throughout the world. (2/5/10)

Hope and Faith at Tegucigalpa's Dump

By Denia Hernández
Thousands of tons of garbage are piled up daily in Tegucigalpa’s landfill, constituting different sources of pollution, enabling many disease outbreaks, and endangering the lives of those who call this place work, and even home. Many families make a living out of digging through the mounds of waste hoping to find recyclable materials to sell, scraps to build their houses, and food for the day. Some of the “workers” live inside the dump or in the surrounding communities of El Guanabano and El Buen Samaritano, increasing the risk of property invasions. These people live below the line of poverty which means their income is not enough to afford goods from the basic basket and they lack the essential elements to develop their capacities as human beings. So they resort to the only source of income available to them: trash.

US Medical Teams Will Screen for Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate at Leonardo Martínez Hospital

Interplast South and Reconstructive Surgery Foundation-Earthspeak of the United States announced today that they will be screening patients with cleft lip and cleft palate on February 13 at the Leonardo Martínez hospital in San Pedro Sula. The screenings will begin at 8:30 am. The services will be provided by an Interplast South team of plastic surgeons, pediatricians, anesthesiologists, and nurses in partnership with Honduran healthcare professionals and a team from RSF-Earthspeak that will consist of speech and language pathologists. The medical and speech screening will be provided free of charge. If found appropriate, patients will be selected for surgical correction or free speech training for cleft palate related speech disorders.