Maine Conference UCC / Honduras ERC Partnership (Franklin Association Chapter)

Vital Stats

Jonah R

Farmington, ME

people helped1000
People Doing It 160

The Problem

El Junco is one of many impoverished mountain villages in Honduras. It is too small to be on official maps. The nearest doctor is half an hour away by car, and the village cannot afford the gas for a visit. Many negotiate the mountain, and its barbed wire, scorpions, and other hazards, with no or worn-out shoes. Without electricity or clean water, this village desperately needs help.

Plan of Action

I was a pioneering member of the Franklin Association's participation in the partnership. I fought hard for a place on the first trip over the 2004-2005 New Year. At 14, I was the youngest member of the team besides the youth leader's son, but I worked like everyone else to build a parsonage/community center. Since then I have been actively involved with the partnership, from welcoming Honduran youth on an exchange to Maine, to supporting fundraising efforts for other trips, to lugging lumber and cement blocks up a 30% grade to build a school kitchen in El Junco. The Franklin Association's participation in the partnership has influenced many in my community to combat international poverty. Equal Exchange brand Fair Trade (fair wages and treatment of workers) coffee is catching on in my town. Also, many local groups have sponsored similar trips to Guatemala, Haiti, and other needy areas since the 2004-2005 trip. Interest in the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals has increased as well. Finally, the partnership has inspired me to study engineering and use my education to address sanitation, energy, and education issues in other impoverished communities. Improving the lives of those in Central America and the Caribbean has become a focus of my community largely due to the Maine/Honduras Partnership. On this trip we are focusing on renovating El Junco's community center and distributing much-needed shoes and clothing, in addition to the usual community interaction and medical mission. We are also in the process of consulting with local leaders and the Maine Conference to decide on our next project in our relationship with El Junco. Ideas include upgrading the water supply and installing solar power that can be used for refrigeration or charging cell phones (landlines are impractical) without a monthly bill.

Project Updates

Sadly, the recent coup in Honduras is preventing any trips being planned for a while. I pray that things stabilize in a quick manner that conserves people's rights, so that the trips can continue to impact people's lives.

I just got back from a trip to El Junco. The group got a new roof, a new porch, and some new doors and locks on the community building. We also distributed school supplies, clothes, and enough shoes for two pairs for each person. It was wonderful to finally feel a friendship with the people of El Junco. They don’t warily see us as the group of gringos coming to build a building and go home any more. We are now friends of the community and its people. They no longer say that they feel forgotten.

A miracle occurred on this trip. One day when the medical team had just arrived at El Junco from another mountain village and we were getting ready to leave, a moto-taxi (a three-wheeled taxi imported from India) pulled into the village. This was odd as the villagers cannot afford regular taxi transportation. When two passengers helped the third to her feet, we knew something was wrong. Our doctor, nurse, and interpreter rushed the unsteady woman behind the community building for privacy. The woman’s friends kept saying that it was a heart problem, but it eventually surfaced that she was diabetic. With her blood sugar over three times the normal level, the woman needed speedy treatment. Luckily, we had the necessary supplies to treat her there. Had she arrived half an hour earlier, the medical team would not have been there, and we would have left ten minutes later. I believe that God was watching out for this woman that day.

I have another story: less miraculous, but more personal. On the group’s last day in El Junco I found myself in a conversation with some local teenagers. Although my Spanish and their English was limited, we were able to play a translation game of sorts. They would say a word, “azul” for example, and I would say it in English, “blue.” Eventually, the local schoolteacher heard this and took out a notebook to record the English words, their pronunciations, and the Spanish translations. It was fun to help her figure out how to say “five,” “Tuesday,” and “February.” I just wish I had more time to teach her some English so she could pass it on to her students. I also wish that I could have made such a special connection earlier.

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Homelessness and Poverty

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