Honduras: Wrap-up

"God Bless the Canadians" Click to see more photos From Honduras 2008 Photo Album

28^th September, 2008, Honduras

Last evening, quite late, we had the required wrap-up meeting with SCAW’s principal partners here in Honduras, the Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa. We met with the President of the club and the group of Rotarians most involved with our bedkit distributions. The main items for discussion at these meetings are: the bedkit distribution sites, (location, security, urban/rural, etc.), the contents of the bedkit in this country, hospitality (for our team), and the “Overseas Reporting Package (the partner’s report on the last twelve months of activity: bids on bedkit items, all costs associated with the assembly of the bedkits and their transport to the distribution sites, support at each sites, etc.). The purpose of these meetings is to gather information and ideas while the work of distributing 5,000 bedkits is still fresh in the minds of those most involved. Final decisions are made by the SCAW Board which starts work on next year’s operation in Honduras, more or less straight away.

Valley of the Angels Click to see more photos From Honduras 2008 Photo Album

This particular meeting was memorable because it took place in a home on a mountain. A sudden violent storm, not uncommon at this time of year, took out the hydro. The meeting proceeded by candlelight amid dramatic claps of thunder and the sound of torrential rain. We will see whether these were portents of things to come

Today, Sunday, our hosts took us on a very pleasant trip into the surrounding mountains. We visited ancient villages (400+ years old) and former silver mining sites. In one village, the church was packed to overflowing for the last mass of the morning. It seemed that families had travelled for miles to get there from the surrounding areas. The number of children, especially infants, was quite remarkable, a contrast to what we generally see at home. We have spent most of our time in Honduras in inner city areas. This glimpse of rural life (that still includes more than 50% of the seven million people of Honduras) was a pleasant change. Perhaps we should think of distributions in more remote areas next time?

In conclusion, our entire team is grateful to all donors and SCAW volunteers who made it possible for us to help with this important work. We feel blessed.

Peter Adams
for the SCAW Honduras team

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