4,300 feet up in the Cordillera, they thank God for Saultbies

Three members of the Sault North Rotary club returned this week from an eight day humanitarian mission to Honduras.

One of them was Neil McLean, who wrote the following article for SooToday.com.

The mission consisted of 24 people, including 14 from Michigan clubs, the three Ontarians and eight members from Iowa.

"Our primary purpose was to witness firsthand the plight of villagers in one of the poorest areas of the third poorest country in the western hemisphere - Haiti and Nicaragua are poorer," McLean says. "We all worked hand in hand with the villagers building vented stoves (34 in total) and installing 18 BioSand water filters.

************************* Three local Rotarians from the Sault North Rotary Club returned Monday from a work mission in one of the poorest areas of Honduras.

They were among a group of 24 volunteers representing Rotary clubs in Iowa, Michigan and Ontario.

Honduran villagers typically live in very isolated areas.

The roads are practically impassable and very dangerous during the rainy season that runs from June to November.

The villagers are mostly subsistence farmers, though coffee and bananas provide some meager income to those who can find suitable transport to sell their produce.

Most of them are undernourished.

Children, who look like they might be five or six by North American standards are in fact 10 or 11 years old. Although the government provides free school education, the costs to send a child to school are a barrier.

Families find themselves in the situation where they might only afford to buy the books, supplies and uniform for one child in the family and thus must choose which one will go to school.

The traditional cooking method, which employed a wood stove in the family dwelling, is a slow killer.

Cancer rates are very high among women.

Respiratory sickness is high. Water supply and quality continues to be a major problem.

Sickness from water-born pathogens affects the whole population.

The mission focus was to gain a greater understanding of the problems plaguing Honduran villagers.

The group worked hand-in-hand with the local villagers to install BioSand water filters (pictured above) and to build vented stoves in over four dozen houses in four separate villages.

On the first day the group visited Quiscamote.

At an elevation approximately 4,300 feet above sea level, the village contains 51 houses and 300 inhabitants and is one of the poorest communities in what is the third poorest country in the western hemisphere.

Yet the whole community welcomed the group with open arms and smiling faces.

The village leader expressed his thanks to God for bringing us to his community.

The primary water source for the entire community currently trickles less than one gallon per minute.

The line up of buckets tells the story.

In 40 degree heat, the group hiked about a mile along the mountainside to the water source that will soon serve the community.

Piping conduit has arrived and the work to install will start within a month.

Michigan Rotarians raised $120,000 to pay for the cost of relocating and improving the water source.

Working in pairs, each with a Social Development worker under contract with International Aid, http://www.internationalaid.org, the group installed 18 water filters and 34 stoves in the communities of Chimizal, Lepagual and Gualciras.

To complement a stove that was built a few months ago, the Diaz family of Lepagual are now also grateful recipients of a BioSand water filter.

Like so many people who have so little, the Hondurans are a proud people.

They are doing the best they can with what they have.

The group saw this over and over again.

But for many years they were not aware that the smoke in their kitchens and the water they were drinking were killing them.

The sickness and death were simply accepted as a way of life.

Education and outside help is changing that acceptance to the realization that there are simple devices that can help improve their lives.

Unsafe water is a monumental problem in the world. Here are some facts:

• More than 1 billion persons have no access to safe water sources

• Each year 10 million people die from water-borne diseases • Each day 5,000 children die from infectious diarrhea acquired from unsafe drinking water

• Each year one billion episodes of gastroenteritis and other infections are caused by unsafe drinking water

The solution to these problems is immense in scope and cost.

Missions like this one are expensive.

Many argue that the money would be better spent directly in the area of concern rather than on the costs of travel and accommodation for the participants.

The members of the mission acknowledge this concern.

However, the knowledge gained, lessons learned, friendships and partnerships forged, are all priceless.

Each member of the group returned home with a deep appreciation of the Honduran people and their indescribably wonderful spirit.

Moreover, each member returned with a renewed and greater sense of personal purpose in raising awareness of this global problem and, more to the task at hand, in raising money to help.

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