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After mission trips to the impoverished Central American nation, University of Mary Washington students are taking steps to aid schools, orphanages. Date published: 4/1/2006
By KATY HERSHBERGER In January, University of Mary Washington senior Shin Fujiyama went on his fifth humanitarian trip to Honduras, along with the Campus Christian Community. The students witnessed poverty and hardship. Street children who cannot afford to go to school dig through trash to find food and frequently sniff glue in order to forget their hunger. In the village of Siete de Abril, people live in shacks of cardboard and tin. The students also learned that Copprome, an orphanage that houses, schools and provides nourishment for more than 70 children, is in danger of closing because of a lack of money. Memories of the mission trip have spawned action here. In February, Fujiyama and his sister, Cosmo, founded Students Helping Honduras, a nonprofit organization dedicated to just that--supporting children and assisting with education, health and relief efforts in the community. The group is organizing a walkathon on the Mary Washington campus April 23. Philanthropist Doris Buffett's Sunshine Foundation awarded Students Helping Honduras a $100,000 challenge grant for the event. The foundation has agreed to donate $2 for every $1 that the walkathon raises. Mary Washington students and groups such as the Campus Christian Community and the Human Rights Club have rallied around the SHH fundraising effort. The CCC is collecting items to fill a 40-foot container to send to the city of El Progreso, home to Siete de Abril and Copprome. Fujiyama, who is leading the effort, said these donations will support the village and two orphanages--Copprome and Proniño. The CCC is accepting all types of donations, from fans to refrigerators, but mostly needs warm-weather clothing, shoes and mattresses. "The kids are sleeping on the floor because they don't have enough mattresses," Fujiyama said. The CCC also needs school supplies and classroom furniture for Honduran children. "The kids don't have desks and don't have chairs, so kids have to bring chairs from home," Fujiyama said. "Some don't have chairs, so they have to sit on dirt floors." Fujiyama, who lives in Falls Church when he is not at UMW, emphasized that any donation makes a difference. "Things that we might consider to be trash or something we might throw away, some of these people--it might be treasure to them," he said.
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