God is at work in Honduras. Our continuing participation in mission trips to Quimistan is allowing us to experience the fruits of seeds of faith planted there over the past several years.

For the last several years the Honduras Agape Foundation (formerly named South Carolina Project Agape Foundation) has provided an opportunity for contributors to participate in a mission effort in the Quimistan Valley of Honduras. The initiative began following devastation in that country caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1989. Initial efforts helped to restore and build homes for families made homeless, as well as building such things as school class rooms and medical facilities. The funds provided by mission supporters, and the mission trips by those who have been able and willing to go, have helped people in the region to regain a sense of hope for a better future.

The January trip served as a milestone for the effort. In November the first four Agape Promises students graduated from high school. The financial sponsors for each of the four were in the mission team, and at a recognition ceremony they presented a bilingual Bible to each new graduate. This was a significant milestone for the culture in which many families can't afford the cost of schooling beyond elementary school, and many see no reason for girls to go beyond elementary school. Two of our graduates were boys, and two were girls.

Another gratifying development was to see how the children in the AP and Compassion programs are being led spiritually by leaders in the church and school we’re affiliated with in Quimistan. A few years ago the mission teams from the U.S. initiated fluoridation treatments for improved dental health, and anti-parasitic (deworming) treatments for improved general health. Last fall, the leaders there took a group of students for a “long walk” to a neighboring community to provide the treatments to another group of students. That is now part of their own mission effort.

In an effort to be more overt in our evangelistic outreach, the Foundation proposed that the Agape Church sponsor a two-day Vacation Bible School in January. They agreed. We ordered materials to be sent to them, and plans were made. But the materials didn’t arrive in time. So in the last few days before the VBS was to begin, local leaders in the church put together their own materials and made it happen. The VBS teachers were the teenage AP students, typically 11^th and 12^th graders. One group had VBS in the Agape Church, but three others went out to small schools in the hills around Quimistan Valley, where whole families showed up for the training. The teenagers did a terrific job! It was one of the highlights of the mission trip to see that these kids are now reaching out to the younger children, teaching them about Jesus and the love of God.

The January team once again performed eye testing and eyeglass fitting to more than 250 people from Quimistan and surrounding communities. Many of the adults needed reading glasses, and sunglasses were popular especially with the children who didn't need corrective lenses. Even in January, the Honduras sun is bright! If you've wondered what the Lions Clubs do with those eyeglasses you may have discarded into the collection box, you can rest assured that those are donated to such worthy efforts as this.

As a new effort to encourage hope for a better future, the Foundation has now offered a 50/50 financial matching opportunity for funding higher education in the Quimistan Valley. Local leaders believe they can raise funds and identify by April at least the first candidate. The student must be from a poor family and must be recognized by the local community as a student who has potential to be a future leader the community can be proud of. Local citizens will make the selection and review it with a committee of the Foundation. The student will be designated a Quimistan Valley Scholar. So the potential here is great. We’re hopeful the growing pains will be overcome quickly so that every student will see a chance to be more than ever hoped for.

First Graduates from AP Program are Recognized

A major goal of the Agape Promises program in Quimistan is to help students afford to continue in school rather than needing to drop out for lack of funds. The program accommodates as many as fifty students, and each student is sponsored financially by individuals, groups, or churches in the United States.


A highlight of the January mission trip was a lunchtime ceremony to recognize the first four students to graduate from this program. Three of the four--Pablo, David, and Nancy--are shown here as June introduced them to everybody.


The sponsors for each of the four were in the mission team, and took great pleasure in standing with the student during the recognition. Here Jackie is helping the communication process as sponsors Richard and Melanie present Nancy with a Spanish-English Bible and congratulate her for her achievement. David has already received his Bible from his sponsors June and Ken, who are looking on. For the other AP students a the ceremony, this provided evidence of how important we believe education will be for helping to lift the students and their community from what may have been a bleak future.


After the recognition and rewards, there were hugs all around.

Higher Education

We all understand the importance of education. The need for education is understood in Honduras, too. But a major problem there is that most people simply can't afford even the modest expenses of higher education. So the Honduras Agape Foundation initiated actions last year to establish a community-sponsored higher education (university level) program. Our intent was to provide 50/50 matching funds and encouragement for financial assistance to students in and around Quimistan who have demonstrated high potential and drive to excel, but who cannot afford the cost.





While we were there in January, Sam and Allen met with the director of the high school in Quimistan (the Colegio). The purpose of the meeting was to determine whether and how to continue our initiatives toward the higher education program. Working through our translator, Jackie, we were able to agree on broad objectives, criteria for student selection, and how such a fund-matching program will be administered and funded.












The program will be called the Quimistan Valley Scholar Program. The two men who agreed to administer the program indicated that they will attempt to secure local matching funds to allow selection of the first student scholar by the end of March. We told them that whenever community donations match the amount we contributed as "earnest money", we will match further donations 50/50.

We sealed the agreements with handshakes. Now we will look for truly outstanding students within the Quimistan Valley who can succeed as scholars and citizens the whole community can be proud of.

Allen

Jicaro School Bathroom Project

In an earlier posting, we mentioned that some of the men in the January team worked at the Jicaro School, building a new facility with three toilets and a shower. Here are some scenes from that work.

The school is also called the Republic of Venezuela School, as shown in these two photos.

One variety of tree that's found in the area is the jicaro tree. If you Google this, you'll find that the jicaro is a beautiful but poor tree. It is strong and disease-resistant, needs very little nourishment to grow robust, and it thrives in places and under conditions that would be virtually impossible for any other species. As the old Mayan codes tell it, the jicaro tree grew out of the liberation of the people.

The jicaro tree has been uprooted from the good lands now dedicated to more profitable crops, and relegated to marginal zones where there has been neither infrastructure of any type nor attention to the human beings eking out a living there. The school is aptly named.


It's a one-room school. This is the outside of the school looking from the bathroom facility. It has been painted recently, using funds from the Foundation and work done largely by people in the community. The local citizens are also working to finish a kitchen in an attached room behind the school. So they are willing and able to help themselves when given a hand up in the form of money to buy materials.

The school property is on the side of a hill, with dirt roads on two sides and cows on the other two sides.









The Honduras Agape Foundation agreed to fund the Jicaro School bathroom project after seeing the condition of the two existing toilets at the school, which are in the background of some of the photos below.

This is how the new building looked after the first day of work by the team. The real block-laying was done by Modesto, who is in the Agape church in Quimistan. The missionaries were guided in our efforts by Celvin, who is also in the church and was asked to be the project coordinator.
The blocks used for building in this area are somewhat like the cinder blocks we use in the United States, with some key differences. They are typically formed one at a time, in someone's back yard, by shoveling from a moistened pile of cement and sand into a tabletop block-making framework. You have to see it to believe it. The blocks thus formed are carefully removed from the frame and stacked to dry. When dry, they are generally hard enough but quite brittle. They make a sturdy wall, but don't lend themselves to being drilled or to holding things such as electrical boxes because they just crumble.

The missionaries did some of the grunt work, as you see Richard here screening river sand, and Danny hauling sand to the work site. Once a few wheelbarrow loads of sand are stacked up, a bag of dry cement is poured onto it and mixed well. The mixture is then formed into a volcano shape and water poured into the middle. Then the dry mix is gradually shoveled into the water from the outside, working carefully to avoid collapsing the wall of the volcano before the mix is complete.


The well-mixed mortar is carried to Modesto for the block-laying, and after he has finished a course of blocks, the missionaries fill in some gaps with mortar to add strength to the wall.

Slowly the walls go up. Then it's time for the clean-up crew (also the photographer in this case). Check out the cool broom. This final photo shows the walls up within two courses of being ready for the roof. You can tell from the smiles on the faces that it's been a good day. The last day we were there, the walls were finished.
Allen