Mercedes spent the early morning contacting parents of children from Pastor Ubence’s youth group who had signed up to participate in the photovoice project. Then, she and Josh headed to the colonia in the pouring rain to meet with the parents in person and gain their informed consent. Those Rite in the Rain notebooks were worth the investment (at about $20 for a little binder and refill paper, they weren’t cheap); writing with liquid ink, however, is not such a good idea. With little time to spare, Mercedes and Josh obtained the last signature and headed home to grab their bags and meet Dale and Sam. Our team loaded into the truck, scooped up Dr. Ken Balie, SOS’s medical director, at Roatán International Airport, and then made its way to the entrance to the Galaxy Ferry dock, located just past a large rusted out ship that had run aground close to shore. Tickets to La Ceiba were relatively reasonable. First class tickets ran $32, and the trip took about 1½ hours. Very quickly, however, Mercedes learned why the Galaxy Ferry had been nicknamed the “Vomit Comet.” She resigned herself to leaning against the ship’s outdoor side rail for the remainder of the trip (so much for first class), thankful for the fresh air and the salty sea spray that helped to ease her stomach a bit.
Upon arriving in La Ceiba, our team, consisting of Dale, Sam, Ken, Josh, and Mercedes, was greeted by Engineer, Héctor Chacón, Director of Water Missions International’s Honduras office and the organization’s Coordinator for Latin America. As Hector drove us to our final destination, Tocoa, he told us a bit about his organization and the lush, green countryside that rushed past our windows. We also got the opportunity to stop and tour one of the water stations that his organizations had helped to build and to speak with the woman in charge of water distribution and maintenance of the system. Water Missions International does work much like that of LW4R, though on a much larger scale (they are present in about 42 countries). Like folks in the Sandy Bay colonias, people in the community we stopped at also get water (not potable) piped directly to their homes. Water Missions International builds stations where residents can get purified, chlorinated drinking water for 5 Lempiras (25¢). People in the Sandy Bay colonia, on the other hand, reported to us that they pay 32 Lempiras (about $1.50) per bottle to have potable water delivered to their homes by a private company. This is significant when you consider that $1.50 is roughly the hourly minimum wage on the island (even more significant when considering the high level of unemployment, 40-50%, in the community). We all agreed that Water Mission’s model might be a good one for LW4R to consider. The only catch is that with the Water Mission’s International model, residents have to find a way to transport the water to their homes or the distribution centers have to determine ways of delivering water to the homes.
After a stunning hour and a half ride, the team stopped at the Hotel Sanabria to freshen up a bit before going to the Restaurante Caribbean, where they had the honor of sharing dinner with the mayor of Tacoa, Héctor Hernandez, and his wife. Part-way through dinner, Hernandez presented Dale with a key to the city that had been mounted on a large wooden plaque. It was quite an experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment