Day 22 – Thursday 6/23/2011

Today, Josh and Mercedes did a tour of the island to get a better understanding of where future programs could be implemented and to get a better picture of how the island really is from East to West End. Enrique drove us in his truck. The trek started at the Pirate’s Den, wound through West End, and Flowers Bay, then through Coxen Hole, across the island to Oak Ridge and finally through Punta Gorda. We were able to gather information about local hotels and resorts where future groups could stay, hardware, lumber and paint stores on the island, supermarkets and restaurants and other communities where help could be brought.

There are four communities with severe poverty and vast need that we identified. Not that there aren’t a myriad more to be helped, but these four were the ones we saw.

Flowers Bay sits at the South West side of the island, not faar from Keyhole Bay and just West of Coxen Hole. There is an orphanage there which we thought would be a great place to analyze education needs. There are clearly several community issues there that could take easily more than a five year program to help.

Coxen Hole is another community, ironically placed right between both the Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Line docks. Millions of tourists have moved through this community year in and year out, but the community is clearly suffering from poverty and need. Again, a five year program could make a difference there.

Oak Ridge is a fishing community about three quarters of the way down the island on the South side. This community is so impoverished that it made the colonia look like Beverly Hills. There were many houses on stilts, some that were leaning and looked like they may fall into the water at any moment. Still, jutting from the landside were wealthy homes with bay views and nice cars parked out front, resting on the hills not a stone’s throw from the impoverished below.

Finally, Punta Gorda is a community of native islanders descended from the black slaves and the native Indians of the island. They speak their own language, practice their own religion, and have kept their cultural values in tact through the changing environment on the island.

While Mercedes and Josh were out gathering data on the island, Mcwane and Shannon met with an islander and she allowed us to communicate with the people of the colonia. They all headed to the colonia to complete surveys on house#18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24. Later that evening the host made us dinner.

Day 21 – Wednesday 6/22/2011

                Josh, McWane, and Shannon talked about the energy consumption audit, then headed to meet Walley. After talking to Walley about the Photovoltaic system they left and headed back to the apartment. At 2pm McWane, Josh, and Mercedes headed to the colonia to do surveys on 8 different houses. They completed surveys on houses #10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Shown below is house #10 at the top of one of the ridges in the colonia.

After doing surveys at each these houses we moved on to collect trash from houses #3, 4, and 5. Upon return to the apartment, McWane started searching through trash for houses #3, 4, and 5. Below is house #3.

The results from this trash assessment are shown below.

Overall Weight (Ibs)	Paper (Ib)	Metal (Ib)	Food Waste (Ib)	Glass	Biological	Styrofoam
15.25	0.68	0.43	5	1.875	0.9	0.1875

Plastic (Ib)	Rubber/Leather	Textile	Wood/Yard
2	0.406	0.375	3.4

Day 19 - Mon 6.20.2011

We began the morning in the colonia doing three surveys in sector Ubence (the street just past Ubence's church on the left). We determined a much better method for completing as many surveys as possible and for taking advantage of the guys' time. Originally, we were going to each home as a group and Josh and McWane would have to sit and wait for Mercedes to finish the verbal survey, which took two to three times as long as the energy, trash, and water surveys. Instead, we selected 3 houses, and then went to each explaining what the process would entail. This way, the guys were able to go back without me and do what they needed to do. Fortunately, they have picked up enough Spanish since they've gotten here that they can express basic ideas. Mercedes was also able to provide them a few stock expressions that they can use to let people know what they needed when they knocked at the door. Not surprisingly, we have found that poorer homes tend to have less trash; we have also noticed that a lot of people burn their trash, plastic and all. Unaware that the chemicals in the plastic release into the air, most think they are doing the environment and their families a favor since the garbage is not going into the city dump or winding up in the streets or streams. We've tried to discourage this as much as possible. The surveys also afford us the opportunity to let people know if their water storage system is effective at preserving chlorine levels. We've run across a few houses with zero chlorine. By and large, these water samples come from containers that are not well sealed.

At 4pm, Mercedes went to a meeting with several Policarpo patronato leaders; the partronatos serve as a board of trustees for their colonia, working as link between the residents and the local government. Part way in, Shannon and McWane joined the meeting. The team got to learn about the patronato's goals for the community and to share some of their conclusions and plans. The meeting revealed that much of what we would like to do is in line with the patronato's plans. They indicated that English and computer classes are a priority, as is reforesting the main water passage through the colonia. The president indicated that she would like to line the path with fruit trees that all can pick from. She would like to name it the “Quebrada Milagrosa (the miraculous stream).” They are also interested in the idea of installing a few check dams. The patronato leaders had something a little different in mind. Where as we proposed small dams that would slow the water down and help to build up the silt behind them to reduce further erosion, the design they proposed was more like a stair step that would permit people to have a safe place to walk in the usually dry-sometimes flooding streambed, given how narrow the adjacent road is. We will evaluate their ideas to see if it can be incorporated into some type of effective erosion control structures.

Josh, McWane and Shannon met with Marvin, the water system manager, along with Henry and Enrique to go over the drinking water usage analysis we prepared. We compared the amount of water their 3 wells can produce verses the amount of water needed each day. We were able to show the water system needs to produce 10,000 gallons on some days and up to 25,000 gallons on other days, which means the well pumps have to run an average of 16 hours every day to keep up. The system delivers water to only a few neighborhoods in the colonia each day; a household currently gets water once every 8 days. The chlorine disinfectant added to the water usually dissipates in 5-6 days, leaving the remaining water in each household’s storage barrels at risk of contamination. We are assisting the water committee with planning a new well to be drilled this summer and further analyzing the capacity of their water pipe system, which will help achieve their goal of reducing the water delivery interval to every 3 days.

Day 18 - Sunday 6/19/2011

At around 9:30 in the morning, Enrique picked Mercedes up so she could see the rice and beans distribution system. While in the colonia, she got to meet the president and secretary of the Policarpo colonia and set an appointment to meet with them. Monday at 4pm.

In the evening, Josh, Mercedes, and McWane went into the colonia to pick up Elias's trash and to complete a household survey with him. While we waited for Elias to get home, we filled out a survey with his father, who is a true jack of all trades: artist, musician, gardener, socialite, politician…He has been a good resource. Interestingly, he informed us that he learned about bamboo when the UN visited Honduras to offer recommendations regarding sustainability.

Later in the evening, Trey stopped by to chat with us. He spoke at length about how annoyed the locals are about the mainland "invasion." This seems to be one of the biggest issues right now, one that impacts a lot of people. It seems increasingly important that we find ways to involve locals in our projects. This means we are going to have to do a lot more travelling to get to the other communities to do assessment. Fortunately, we were given the name of a promising contact who we will hopefully be able to speak with soon.

Day 17 - Saturday 6/18/2011

From Mercedes:

Miss Peggy is truly, truly a God-send. Not everyone who does fieldwork in remote locations has the good fortune of having a first-class health clinic just around the corner. Thanks to her care, I was able to get quickly back on my feet after a bout of dehydration brought on by motion sickness and perhaps some food that didn't sit too well in my stomach. Despite the late start, the photovoice group went well. It helps that I didn't have to teach feeling like death warmed over. I've taught while sick on numerous occasions, but it's not my favorite thing to do.

My biggest challenge with photovoice will be getting the children out of their shells and talking freely. I got a lot of blank stares and shrugged shoulders when I asked things like "What do you like about your community?" and "What do you dislike?" As class progressed, however, they opened up more and more. A couple are clearly more vocal than others, but for now that is a good thing because I can use them as a foundation upon which to draw out the rest of the kids. On Tuesday, I think I'll start by having the kids take pictures of objects that represent them and then having them come back and share with the rest of the group. The great thing about photography is that what children find difficult to verbally express, they are often able to convey through pictures, so the cameras will be a solution in themselves.

Meanwhile McWane, Shannon, and Josh went with Dale, Sam, and Ken to the Hospital Roatán. The conditions of this place are nothing like the conditions of a hospital in the US. The hospital had beds and equipment from the 1980s. The Conditions seemed unsanitary, although it was acceptable to the island. The trip to the hospital was a realization that if someone gets hurt really bad they could die!

After the visit to the hospital in Coxen Hole Josh and McWane headed back to Pirate’s Din to pick up Mercedes to go do the Photovoice project at Sand Castle Library. They went to pick up Mercedes then to the colonia to pick up all of the kids. When they arrived, Miss Peggy said that she could help Mercedes by giving her fluids to rehydrate her. Josh and McWane took all of the kids to the Sand Castle library and started setting up the projector and computer.  McWane and Josh talked to the kids in English while Emmy and Ki helped translate all of their nonsense. Finally after 30 minutes of messing around on the computer and trying to figure the whole project out Mercedes showed up. McWane left and went to meet Dale, Sam, and Ken to have lunch. After the photovoice project finished they returned to pick up Josh and Mercedes.

Day 16 – Friday 6/17/2011

McWane and Shannon headed to the colonia at 9 am to meet Oscar. Oscar served as the translator for them for a half day. McWane, Shannon, and Oscar headed up to a section of the colonia and interviewed 3 owners of 3 separate houses. At each house they asked questions about the water that the family stores, the electricity the family uses, tested the water supply the family uses for drinking, and they gave each family a garbage bag to put there waste in.

            After interviewing 3 families, McWane, Shannon, Oscar, and Victor went up the to the 65,000 gallon tank on the top of the hill. They met with the women living next to the tank to see her brother. They had given her brother a garbage bag 6 days prior. After they collected the trash Victor and Oscar took McWane down to a farm on the other side of the colonia. The farm had sugar cane, mangos, and other various fruits. They acquired a sugar cane stalk and ate it as they walked. They traveled back down to the bottom of the hill and went to well #2 and measured the amperage and voltage being used for the pump at the bottom of the well. The voltage was measured to be 230 volts and the amperage was measured to be 14 amps. Later McWane measured the waste that was in the garbage that was collected.

            This garbage is the second trash assessment and the results are shown below:

Overall Weight (Ibs)	Paper	Metal	Food Waste	Plastic	Rubber/Leather	Wood/Yard	Styrofoam
7.5	0.25 Ib	0.25 Ib	5.75 Ib	0.67 Ib	0.28 Ib	0.25 Ib	0.0468 Ib

           
           In the meantime, the team on the mainland spent the morning at Hospital San Isidro, referred to as Hospital Tocoa by locals. We began by meeting with hospital administrators to determine the training and equipment needs of the hospital and its doctors, and then got a tour of the hospital. Ken, Dale, and Mercedes scrubbed in for a review of the hospital’s operating room. Josh got some great film footage, and Mercedes got her first opportunity to do formal translating. Did you know that gall bladder is translated as vesícula biliar? Try saying that for the first time in a crowded room with all eyes on you. Better yet, try saying opthalmólogo, or cirugía laparascópica.

            Before our return, we met once again with the mayor and his wife at Restaurante Caribbean to have sopa marinera, an amazing, traditional Garifuna dish, loaded with just about every type of seafood one can think of. Both the mayor and his wife spoke very proudly and fondly of the Garifuna presence in Honduras and in their city. They informed us that after hurricane Mitch, about 600 Garifuna relocated to Tocoa.

            Fortunately, on the strong suggestion of locals, who warned that the trip from La Ceiba back to Roatán was even more tumultuous than the trip to La Ceiba, Dale purchased return tickets through Sosa airlines. The tickets weren’t much more expensive than the first-class tickets on the Ferry. Though the flight was a little cramped, and there was no air-conditioning, it was only 30 minutes, as opposed to 1½ hours on the Vomit Comet and was fairly smooth.

Day 15 – Thursday 6/16/2011

           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.