When I'm not saving the world from certain doom, I'm saving Honduras with a group I work in called Students Helping Honduras.
*Warning - Massive Name Dropping Ahead*
Shin and Cosmo Fujiyama first visited El Progresso, Honduras in the summer of 2004 to help victims of poverty and domestic abuse. While there, Shin grew close with a squatter village called Siete de Abril (April 7th, named for the date Hurricane Mitch destroyed their previous home and caused their homelessness in 1998.) Shin vowed to help the villagers of Siete de Abril and returned home with his sister to found Students Helping Honduras as an official student group on their campuses, University of Mary Washington and The College of William and Mary, respectively.
SHH began raising money through local fundraisers, events, and a generous grant from Doris Buffett, sister of billionaire Warren Buffett, to return to Honduras and build a school with the villagers. While working on the school, Shin was approached by a 10 year old girl named Carmer with a letter, expressing her dream that one day, every family in her village would live in a safer home. Touched by this letter, Shin set to work again with SHH, raising money until the organization purchased a land title where the villagers could live legally and began building sturdier, cinder-block houses for the families to live in.
Now in the new village, Villa Soleada (Sunshine Village), groups of SHH members, along with Shin and Cosmo's younger brother, Gaku, and other SHH leaders, Emily, Bobby and Walker, return to help advance and increase the quality of life for the villagers from Siete de Abril.
While I was there, we completed work on the education center, which will provide lighting and internet access for the children of the village to work and study in a safe and functional environment. Also, we began work on an orphanage slated to be built inside the village.
But it's not all about construction. It's for the kids. And these kids are the most adorable children I've ever met in my life. So happy and full of love, despite everything their families have been through. Playing with the children and holding kid's camps each morning was the highlight of my day. Not only could I play and help teach the kids, but they helped me immensely with my Spanish as well.
One of the toughest days was visiting an orphanage on the outskirts of El Progresso in Honduras. I don't get emotional very often, but these children and their conditions yank at your heart strings. These children live in a prison. 10 foot high walls. Bars on the windows and doors. Sadly, they've never seen outside the perimeter wall. Throughout the day, I noticed that the biggest thrill for these kids was just to be held. Shown affection, something they've never had. Being held just high enough to see out the window, to see the outside world they've never experienced was such an ordeal to them. The infant room brought nearly everyone to tears. Holding and rocking these babies to sleep, babies who are too young to even understand where they are or why they're there. It's terrible. And they have nothing. Nothing at all. I played with a little boy on the small playground behind the compound, the only part of the outside world they get to explore. The ground was covered in broken glass and the playground is built on Astroturf and tar, not ideal materials for the hot, Honduran sun. We sat under the jungle gym in the shade and talked. He asked me about my parents, my family, and if I liked them. I reluctantly opened up to him, feeling almost like bragging, talking about my family with this poor orphan. I sat there realizing all that I had, and took for granted every day. The things he's never even dreamed of having, I expect to have. He grabbed my hand and made me promise to come back and visit him again. I will. "Que quieres?" I asked him what he wanted, if I could bring him anything back. He looked up at me and said.. shoes. All I want is some shoes. Of all the things, this poor kid asked me for shoes, just so he wouldn't burn and cut his feet on the playground.
I fully intend to bring him a pair of shoes. Him and the rest of the orphanage. I decided to start a shoe drive at school, placing boxes for people to toss old shoes they don't wear anymore. Shoes those children would love to have.
If you have a week to spare, please, go to Honduras. Seek out a SHH group on your campus, or start one yourself. I promise you will love every minute of it. It's one week out of your life to help these villagers for a lifetime. You won't regret it.
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