For the
twenty-fifth year in a row, people from New York have participated in a NY/HELP
mission trip to Honduras. Six went on
August 7, 2014, and for a little over a week, we participated in community
activities in rural Indian villages in the mountains near Yoro. We stayed at the medical clinic constructed
by local people and New Yorkers in 1991, where Dr Gordon Comstock and pediatric
nurse practitioner Ruth Shatzel saw well over 100 patients with diverse
illnesses. (Ruth had been a Peace Corps
Volunteer nurse in Honduras some years ago, so she could see both the similarities
and changes from before.) We greatly
benefited from the assistance of Mirtila Garcia, our long-term local nurse at
the clinic.
We were helped
immensely by translator Dan Beyer, who also worked with the rest of the
group. Retired social-studies teacher
Judy Toner brought school supplies which were eagerly greeted by the students
and teachers in local one-room schools, where a piece of paper or a pencil is a
valued object! Judy has also spearheaded
a project to build kinders in the
villages, where volunteer kindergarten teachers sometimes hold classes under
the trees or in small windowless mud buildings. 
Our photographer
Connie Houde is also a skilled seamstress, and gave a Saturday class in sewing
for some of the women of La Laguna. She
expected six to eight women, but actually had almost twice that number in the
class. Antonia Amaya, president of the
Tribal Council, helped organize the work, as we only had two foot-powered sewing
machines available. Several women
returned later to show off their newly-made bags and aprons. 
David Woodruff, who is
currently taking courses at Lancaster Theological Seminary, brought his previous
experience to the group. He worked with
the men and older students at three schools, where garden areas were fenced in
and planted. (The hope is that some of
these students will go home and plant their own gardens!) Three donated computers were brought with us,
and David spent hours working with Mayna (who recently graduated from 12th
grade with a diploma in computer work) to computerize the records of the clinic
pharmacy.
Jorge “Joel” Ramirez,
chairman of the Tribal Development Committee, did much of the local
organizational work for these projects, and worked side by side with us, out in
the tropical sun. Yovany Munguía, our
NY/HELP coordinator in Honduras, helped plan the program and kept us all on
track for safe and effective work.
One of our most important actions was to meet with the Comité de Salud (Clinic Committee) to affirm our support of the agreement empowering the committee in its work in managing the clinic. This is a start, but many more steps are needed before our task is finished!
One of our most important actions was to meet with the Comité de Salud (Clinic Committee) to affirm our support of the agreement empowering the committee in its work in managing the clinic. This is a start, but many more steps are needed before our task is finished!
Our social schedule was also busy – we
met with Bill Briggs (who initiated NY/HELP in 1989) in Yoro and toured the new
Culinary Institute there. Our 13 big bags of supplies were driven up to La Laguna by Cristhian Amaya, one of our former students at the "boarding house" in Yoro. We enjoyed
delicious meals and active banter with our cooks, Aracely and Odina, and
comradeship with the people we worked with on our projects. At the end of the trip, three of us spent a
few hours at the beach at Tela, while the others stayed a few days more to tour
the famous Mayan ruins at Copán.
All this would not be
possible without your prayers and support.
Muchas gracias to all!
Gordon F. Comstock, MD
