Ginny's college roommate is heavily involved with a nonprofit organization in southern Honduras, Mission Lazarus missionlazarus.org. So in April 2010 we joined a group going down there to see the ML operation and help out. Here's a collection of videos and slideshows from the trip.
For some brief background, Honduras is generally ranked as the 3rd-poorest nation in the western hemisphere (behind Haiti and Nicaragua), with 60% of the population in poverty. More than 1/3 of the population is considered unemployed or underemployed. (Sources: CIA Factbook and Wikipedia. )
ML has numerous programs aimed at providing both immediate relief and fostering
longer-term development. Parts that we were involved in during our week included
the early childhood development centers (ECDC), food distribution, sheep and
goat distribution, and women's health day. We also toured the Coffee Plantation.
There are many other programs, including job training for both men and women,
that we did not get to see due to lack of time.
Mission Lazarus donates pairs of sheep to local families, providing a source
of income from milk and breeding the sheep. Contributions to our group were used to pay for several
sets of sheep, and we delivered them while there.
Sheep Delivery videos
TBD Videos of Duyure and the ECDC there
The Mission Lazarus property includes a coffee plantation, which is said to include 15 000 coffee bushes and provides local employment. Coffee can be ordered from the ML website, and proceeds are used to help support their work. The plantation is a 2-hour horseback ride from the main ML office. On Friday we had a half-day of free time, so several of us took a horseback ride to the plantation.
Some videos showing the facilities
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More to come ...