A Research Project in Roatan, Honduras

Roatan is the largest of the Bay Islands, located 35 miles north of mainland Honduras. The island is approximately 3 miles wide and 30 miles long with a resident population of 65,000. The local economy is dominated by tourism- the tropical setting with resorts, beaches, and reef diving are the primary attractions. Visitation has increased substantially- from 15,000 in 1990, to 700,000 in 2010, and 1 million plus expected in 2011. Visitors arrive by airline, ferries from the mainland, or cruise ships that make frequent stops at the two docks recently constructed for them.

Colonia Policarpo is the largest of four colonias clustered in a relatively new settlement that lies on a steep hillside on the northwest side of the island near Sandy Bay. Most of the colonia residents have migrated from mainland Honduras seeking service and construction jobs in the tourism industry. Policarpo has approximately 520 households and 3,000 residents, half under age 16. Prior to 2006, most colonia residents obtained their drinking water from rainwater catchment or shallow hand dugs well subject to pollution. Since that time Living Water 4 Roatan (LW4R), a non-governmental organization, has worked with Policarpo residents to develop a self-sustaining water system that provides treated drinking water to households on a limited basis.

The Global Partnership Project student organization at Northern Arizona University (GPP-NAU) is collaborating with this community, LW4R, and a local health clinic in an effort to improve the quality of life in the colonia. This partnership is considered to be a multi-year endeavor between NAU and Colonia Policarpo. The long term goals for this and future trips include:

- Build relationships in Roatan and within the colonia community.
- Provide for adequate sanitation systems to all residences to reduce the chances of disease outbreaks such as cholera, malaria, and dengue fever.
- Expand and improve the water system, reduce the energy costs for operating it.
- Provide for adequate solid waste collection and erosion control.
- Perform social network mapping and interviewing to gain a better understanding of the community and their needs, particularly for public works improvements.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Day Two - Mercedes - Fri 6.3.2011

Today I got up early and met Enrique. We had breakfast at a little restaurant on the side of the road: refried beans, eggs, minced chorizo, avocado, freshly made corn tortillas, and sweetened sour sop juice. Need I mention it was delicious? Then we headed into coxen hole to do some printing and to buy a cell phone and internet tether. Enrique has really bent over backwards helping me settle in and get ready for the arrival of the rest of the team.

With the cell phone we'll have about 2 and 1/2 hours of talk time as long as we are talking to people with the same carrier (Tigo). You can tell which carrier a person has by the first number of the phone number (subtracting, of course, the 504 prefix). Tigo, the carrier we'll be using begins with the number 9. The system is a little confusing, and there aren't any shiny, colorful brochures to throw in the trash at a later date that detail how many minutes you have or the limitations of coverage. According to Enrique, we will have to pay for the first 15 text messages we send (that will come out of the money I presently have loaded on the phone), but after that, we will get the next 200 messages for free. There are also 50 minutes to the states available, but I would like to reserve them in the event of emergency. In order to keep people from racking up minutes, the phone company wipes your account clean at the end of the month, so we can use up our minutes to the states then. The phone and service were relatively affordable. The 2 and 1/2 Tigo a Tigo minutes, standard phone, and 50 international minutes cost me about 30 dollars. The cost was low because we made the purchase on a special day. One of the phone company's gimmicks is to establish bonus days, where talk time purchases provide you triple the amount of minutes. I don't exactly understand how one finds out whether or not today is a bonus day or not. The internet connection cost me about $30 for the month. Fortunately, Enrique lent me a tether, which saved me about $50. He says that he has one more that we can borrow if needs be. . Apparently, there are about 7 hours of Tigo a Tigo minutes on the internet sim card, but we will have to take the sim card out of the internet tether and place it in the cell phone to access the minutes. In our conversation last night, Josh indicated that the HASP requires that all of us have a phone, so I'll just go ahead on Monday or Tuesday and purchase three more phones. That way, they'll be all set up and ready to go when you guys get here. I'm thinking that the best thing to do will be to donate the phones to LW4R when we are done. They'll be able to make more use of them than we, and when we return next winter or summer, they'll be there waiting for us. The tether service isn't perfect, unfortunately. I tried uploading two pictures I had taken to an email message, but apparently it was too big and attachment kept failing. Perhaps compressing the pictures will help. Just half to figure out how to do that.

After getting us back on grid, Enrique dropped me off so I could rest a bit and do some work. The heat here is no joke, especially after 7 months of winter, but I'm gradually getting reacclimated. Enrique picked me back up at 5:30 so that I could attend a bible study that he lead on the Zittrowers' front porch. Along the way, we picked up 7 attendees, 5 hardened young men who had lead a life of a crime and womanizing before finding Christ and LW4R and two very cute little girls in stylish outfits. One of the girls, a petite but savvy and mature 14 year old appears to be a perfect fit for my photovoice project. Observing the meeting taught me a lot. One of the things I learned is that bags are a key commodity. At the end of the evening, the Zittrowers brought out suitcases full of clothing, shoes, and other items. Each person was given a limited amount of time to pick three items. In the end, what everyone wanted was the suitcases and backpacks the donated items were stowed in. Nearly everyone walked away with some sort of bag. Shoes were also popular.

There's a lot of practical joking here. I have been the butt of several good ones myself so far. At last night's bible study, Enrique got a real kick out of telling people that I didn't speak spanish and then seeing who would figure out the truth first. As we drive through the city it seems that Enrique must know half the people on this island, and every reunion is a mini party. After a few days here, I have started to recognize faces myself. This truly is a small island.

Josh and I finally managed to make skype work (Okay, I admit to being the bozo who had the chords plugged in wrong). Once we had worked through the kinks, I was really impressed to see how clear the sound and picture were. This will be a great way to stay in touch with folks back in the states.

That's all I've got for now.
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