Author: World Neighbours Canada

• Kamloops:
  Monday, February 26 at 7:00 p.m.
  Kamloops United Church, 421 St. Paul Street

• Oliver:
  Wednesday, February 28 at 3:00 p.m.
  Quail’s Nest Art Centre, 5840 Airport Road

• Vancouver:
  Thursday, February 29 from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
  YWCA Hotel Vancouver, 733 Beatty Street
  Registration required: https://www.bccic.ca/event/climate-change-and-conflict-in-honduras/

BC tour planned

If you are curious about how financial contributions to the local non-profit organization World Neighbours Canada (WNC) are being put to work in Honduras, you won’t want to miss one of three upcoming presentations in Kamloops, Oliver, and Vancouver. 

“We are very excited about the upcoming visit of Carlos Vijil, the Executive Director of Vecinos Honduras, our partner non-governmental organization (NGO) in Honduras,” stated Judy Gray, a member of the WNC board of directors. “Carlos will be in B.C. for about a week to share his vast knowledge about Honduras.”

Gray stated Vijil is trained as a Sociologist (University of Costa Rica), and has worked in rural development for more than 50 years. He has a thorough understanding of many issues facing Hondurans today, and a passion for improving the lives of Hondurans. 

“As part of Carlos’ tour in the interior of B.C., he will be in Kamloops for a few days and we’d like to offer you the opportunity to meet him and learn more about the projects that World Neighbours Canada supports in Honduras, thanks to Vecinos Honduras,” stated Gray.

Vijil will be presenting at private and public venues to talk about the work being done. You can attend a Kamloops presentation on Monday, February 26 at 7:00 p.m. at the Kamloops United Church, 421 St. Paul Street, or come and hear more in Oliver, at the Quail’s Nest Art Centre, 5840 Airport Road, Wednesday, February 28 at 3:00 p.m.

His final stop is in Vancouver, at a presentation hosted by the British Columbia Council for International Cooperation (BCCIC) on Thursday, February 29 from 6:30 – 8:30pm at the YWCA Hotel Vancouver, 733 Beatty Street. 

“[Vecinos Honduras] aims to strengthen community-based organizations in rural communities so they can advocate for their own needs and priorities, to protect natural resources (including watersheds), encourage food sovereignty, and ensure sustainable livelihoods for rural people,” states the BCCIC website. “This is a unique opportunity to hear how climate change and environmental and social conflict are impacting communities in Honduras and why collaboration, solidarity and climate justice are critical.” 

This session is called Climate Change and Conflict in Honduras: Building Community and Climate Resilience in the Dry Corridor, and it will allow attendees to hear more about the impact of climate change, and the political and economic forces that have exacerbated poverty and social inequity.

While the Kamloops and Oliver presentations are open to drop in, the BCCIC event requires advance registration for the free presentation. For more information, visit their website. 

About World Neighbours Canada: 

World Neighbours Canada (WNC) is an organization founded in southern B.C in 1989 and currently has programs active in Nepal, Burkina Faso, and Honduras. WNC works with local partners on projects unique to each area, as determined by those in the affected areas. The overall goal is to help partners analyze and solve their own problems, and to encourage and train leaders and organizations local to the project areas. World Neighbours Canada has no central office and overhead costs are minimal. This work relies on public donations, and nearly 100% of donations go directly to the program areas. 

About Vecinos Honduras: 

Born in 2009 to support the development of the Honduran rural sector, its objective is to “facilitate and accompany participatory and equitable processes of comprehensive human development for families and organizations in rural communities, promoting the sustainable use of resources, food sovereignty, the rescue of moral and cultural values, community health, respect to nature to protect and improve the environment and quality of life for present and future generations.”   

About Honduras: 

Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America. In terms of per capita GDP, at US$ 2,771.70 (World Bank, 2021), Honduras is the second poorest country in the region behind only Haiti. Worldwide it ranks 137th of 191 countries in the United Nations Human Development Index (2021). Over 50% of Honduras’ total population lives in poverty and 35% of Hondurans live in extreme poverty (income of less than $2/day), with poverty concentrated in the rural areas where half the population of 10.2 million resides. Chronic malnutrition of children (stunting) is widespread. Violent crime has plagued the country for several years, related to the drug trade, corruption and political turmoil. (Sources: Vecinos Honduras, World Bank, Insightcrime.org)

“Only God and Vecinos Honduras visits these villages,” says Edwin Escoto, with a smile and a glance in the rearview mirror as he drives.

He is the Vecinos Honduras Program Coordinator, and at this point in the journey, I am starting to believe him.

It is October, and we are in a Toyota 4×4 in the mountains of Honduras. The road is becoming more rough, winding and washed out as we climb.

I am here in an official capacity as a board member of World Neighbours Canada, to monitor the Maternal and Child Health Project funded by Global Affairs Canada, in partnership with our private donors.

Vera Radyo and Magda Lanuza from the Kenoli Foundation are also in the truck. They partner on these projects and we’ve coordinated the visit.

This is my first time in Honduras, and I’ve come with no expectations. By that, I mean I had essentially no understanding about what lay ahead.

There is clearly an agenda. I catch bits of it, in Spanish, as they discuss the coming days. And I understand they have filled my time with plans to visit several villages to see many things. I’d read the proposal and the reports about the projects, so I knew what this was all about, at least on an academic level. But I couldn’t find the project areas on a map, and I’ve had little experience outside of my Canadian upbringing.

Plus, I don’t speak a word of Spanish, so finding out the plans is a challenge all around. So I keep an open mind, and listen intently to the Spanish sentences, trying to pick up what I can, asking for translation when a translator was available.

Luckily, I’ve driven on rough roads before, though Canadian recreational 4x4ing did little to prepare me for the realities of Honduran backcountry driving. But it helped to quell the panic about the steep inclines and the washouts; the men walking with machetes, and pretending not to be startled when we come across motorcycles rushing at us on blind corners (sometimes on the wrong side of the road). The backs of others trucks we see are full of extra passengers, making the trek up to the villages, or down to Danli, the nearest city.

Almost two hours later: “We get out here.” It’s a farmer’s gathering. We are in a village named Las Flores, and they are expecting us.

It’s a transformed soccer field, with people of all ages celebrating. There is a row of tables on one side of the field, displaying fruit, vegetables. One table has recycled containers of organic fertilizer and pesticides – methods they are learning and teaching each other, from Vecinos Honduras workshops.

All these are the fruits of the labour put in by village participants, who are learning and teaching each other, as part of Vecinos Honduras projects.

It was a grand start to four days of visiting in both the Azabache and the El Guano areas, listening to the stories of project participants, learning about their lives, their struggles, and their successes.

In Claveles, I visited family homes, then a meeting to weigh and measure their young children.

The monthly weigh-in is a part of their routine now, thank you to the programs. Before, mothers could never be sure how their babies were growing, or if they were thriving. Now, they see the numbers, and if the young ones are not thriving they get some hands-on advice. Usually, the next month sees an improvement, along with much relief to the mothers and fathers.

In my time in the villages, I watched a monthly child stimulation class; I visited health committee meetings, and heard about goals and struggles.

La Libertad has land set aside for a health centre – they want to put up a building where they can maybe bring in a nurse to help care for pregnant mothers, young children and other health needs. Now, they have to walk about three hours on the rough roads to get to the nearest health centre – in Beuna Esperanza.

Not only did we visit the current project areas, we made a few stops in the El Guano area. This is an area where there are examples of great success from past Vecinos Honduras projects.

For example, we visited Eva Lagos, who has mastered the making and selling of fried plantain chips, after learning at a Vecinos Honduras workshop. She sells many pre-packaged bags – enough to make more than $400 USD per month, which she uses to send her children to a better school.

A coffee co-op meeting was held in El Guano, where we heard about the co-op’s successes and ongoing challenges. They have made enough of a profit that they have started a micro-lending program – one per cent interest for women, two per cent for men – a far cry from the interest rates offered by intermediaries who lend to the communities at a huge interest rate that can virtually never be re-paid. We also visited a member of the co-op who used a loan from the coffee co-op to build a coffee dryer.

In Claveles, Francisco Aradón, the water board president, told us about their work. The water board now has two female members, and his village is installing a new water system. Their next goal is to purchase the chlorine they want to use to keep the water safer – something they learned about at a Vecinos Honduras workshop.

In the El Guano area, I met Felicita Zaróm, who was a participant in Vecinos Honduras programs more than 10 years ago, building one of the first indoor stoves. She’s a community health promoter, and says the programs have changed her life.

“I feel like a free woman. After these trainings I realized I was able to speak up in a meeting. I learned to socialize with others, I learned to speak up and have no more fears,” she says.

In my time there, not only did I see the latrines being built  – I used them. I washed my hands, and some dishes, at the pilas (a combination between a sink and a water tank); I drank coffee and spice tea made on the indoor, smokeless stoves that are being installed at a rapid rate in homes.

On my last day, I visited a village called San Jose, where Vecinos Honduras was sponsoring a celebration – the International Day of Rural Girls and Women. It took place in a concrete building with a tin roof – hot, sweaty inside. But there was grand celebration – dancing, pinatas, and lunch. I danced with Manuel Castellanos, the community participation facilitator.

I left Honduras with a much better understanding of our programs, the people who run them, and the people who participate. I learned to say Buenos Dias, Mucho Gusto, and Gracias – so much to be thankful for, and much to celebrate in these hard-won successes in the remote communities of Honduras.

If you are interested in seeing more about the programs in Honduras and more images, here’s a slideshow. You can hover over the images and use right and left arrows to view the images below!

[metaslider id=2609]