NY/HELP Honduras projects are progressing

The Sewing Project is making strides. Seven villages now have women who have learned to sew and are ready to teach other women in their village.  New treadle sewing machines have been bought for each of these villages.  And just recently sturdy wooden sewing furniture, a table, straight chair & a white board, has been delivered to the villages.  This furniture was made by students at CEVER, the vocational school in Yoro.  

Another current project is the building of a new middle school for the lower villages so more students will be able to go beyond sixth grade.  The Honduran government recently approved the project and site.  Some students have actually started seventh grade with a teacher working in someone’s home!  But they really need a school.  We hope to start a seventh-grade classroom soon and eventually have a six-room building near the elementary school in Mescales.

These projects depend on donations by people like you.  Without such donations, NY/HELP would not be able to help the people in the mountains of Honduras.   

Exciting News

David Makepeace just sent the following exciting news.

I have exciting news for New York Helpers. Tomorrow, I will be sending to Joel, our coordinator, money for the start of the new school in the lower villages (La Missión) based on a budget prepared by Joel and Salvador (Lead builder for the project). The materials will be delivered at no charge by the municipality of Yoro. This is the start of a 5 room junior high school similar to the one we built in Mataderos for the upper villagers. This will mean that all tribal children will have access to education through the 9th grade (before it was only K-6 grades). We will be asking for your support as we build room by room. Each room costs approximately US $3500.

More good news. In their annual highway improvement project whereby the Honduran government funds several weeks of work for local villagers and, in this case, heavy equipment, the road between Los Cuchillos and La Fortuna is supposed to be completed. This will mean that La Fortuna (and, therefore, La Laguna) will be linked to Agua Blanca in the lower villages by road. In support of this, we have been asked to supply 2 barrels of diesel (4000 Lempiras) for the machinery. I will also be sending this money.

More good news. The sewing project in 7 villages has been launched. Alba Luz, the head of CEVER, wrote that they had 7 tables, 7 chairs and 8 whiteboards, made in their carpentry program, ready be delivered to the trained sewers in 7 villages. CEVER is a vocational school in Yoro. NY/HELP helped CEVER purchase the current site shortly after Hurricane Mitch in 1998. CEVER was founded in 1976 and its original site was in downtown Yoro.  NY/HELP has helped provide some support to CEVER through tuition for some students, and by contracting them to build things for us.  Alba Luz appreciates our having them make things as this helps support their program and gives their students experience on projects. These tables, chairs, and whiteboards will be used for sewing classes to be given by women trained by Aracely García in La Laguna and will result in the need for more treadle sewing machines as the knowledge spreads. Special thanks to Connie Frisbee Houde and New York Help Administrator Scott (Carlos) Reinhart.

Yours,

David Makepeace

NY/HELP Honduras Interpreter / Translator

Thank you all for your interst and continued support.

Sewing Academy gets new furniture

The students at CEVER have finished the chairs, tables, and whiteboards for use by the Sewing Academy in 7 villages of the indigenous community where NY/HELP has been working for the past 30 years. CEVER is the vocational school in Yoro which is affiliated with our UCC sister church in Honduras. 

       

 Very handsome work, indeed!

  Next, these will be transported to the tribal area and carried by hand or mule-back to the villages

NY/HELP March 2019 Trip to Honduras

NY/HELP had a very successful trip to the mountains of Honduras, where we are working with the Tolupán people around La Laguna, near Yoro in northern Honduras. The group worked with our partners there from March 7 to 17, 2019.

Projects included the Sewing Academy, which is giving new skills to the women of the tribe. Connie Frisbee Houde initiated this program, and we were fortunate to find that one of our friends in La Laguna, Aracely Garcia, was a trained seamstress. Aracely taught 11 women in the first class, and now these women are teaching 34 others in seven of their home villages. To enable this, NY/HELP bought foot-powered sewing machines last December. Aracely is supervising the program, visiting each village to teach and assist.

 
NYHELP has been working with the local schools since our inception 30 years ago. Judy Toner has been instrumental in helping provide supplies to the primary schools in the tribe, A Centro Básico (middle school) for grades 7-9 was constructed in Mataderos several years ago. This served students who lived on the mountain, but students from the valley 1000 feet below had trouble getting to this school. So we are working to build a second Centro Básico in the lower villages. (7th Grade is already being taught there in someone's house!)

This year, Scott Reinhart, a retired middle school principal, gave teacher-training sessions to help improve the teachers' skills (many had no training in how to teach). He found the teachers responded enthusiastically to this program -- showing that teachers all over are the same -- they want to do a better job!

Much work was also done on the Clinic, which had rotting doors and leaks in the roof. Using doors built by students at CEVER, our church-affiliated vocational school in Yoro, the doors were replaced; and new skylights installed to eliminate most leaks. Keith Lyons worked on this project, assisted by our Honduran coordinator Joel Ramirez, NY/HELPers and local community members.

Enabling the success of the trip were are translators, David Makepeace and Shelsea Ochoa. (Communications is vital to any trip!)

Your support of NY/HELP, by prayers, donations, or participation in a trip, has made this a success.