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Cosmo Fujiyama, president of Students Helping Honduras, a senior at the College of William & Mary, reads a lesson book with Copprome residents Josefa Guevaroiv and Marvin Lopez during her visit earlier this month. Copprome is a home for children whose parents have died or abandoned them.
RIGHT: Maria Suyapa Reyes, 20, dances before a group
UMW student Daniel Marsh, 19, relaxes with Christian Avela, 8, who lives at Copprome. Marsh, a member of the Campus Christian Community, raised about $1,500
Rotarian Ken Scruggs of Fredericksburg, whom the children called 'Santa,' plays with Copprome resident Ivan, 5, during the trip to Honduras.
ABOVE: New shoes were donated by Stafford and Rappahannock Rotary clubs to the children of Copprome in El Progreso. They also received other supplies and toys. |
First part of series:: Fredericksburg-area college students and businesspeople experience poverty, hope in the squatter village of Siete de Abril .
EDITOR's NOTE: All reprint proceeds will be donated to Students Helping Honduras.
By RUSTY DENNEN
EL PROGRESO, Honduras--Across the road from the Copprome orphanage stands a giant factory that produces clothes for American sportswear companies.
The 25 boys and girls, ages 3 to 20, who live here don't wear any of the high-dollar labels that fill store shelves overseas. But their prospects are better than many Honduran children whose parents have abandoned them, succumbed to disease, or can't afford to support them.
Among those at Copprome are siblings whose parents died of AIDS.
An entity of the Catholic Church, Copprome is an acronym for Progreso Committee for the Protection of Youth. The children live here until they become adults.
They live very structured lives, going to church and school, eating together and sleeping in dormitories. They have become like family.
Julissa Manzanares, 11, was 3 years old when she arrived.
"My mother died when I was 10. My father left my mother when she was pregnant," she says in broken English. "I see my sister sometimes. It is sad, yes, when I see the families come to visit the other children. But you have to be strong."
She likes Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, American pop music and clothes. She points to a University of Mary Washington banner on the wall, left by an earlier group of students with the Fredericksburg school's Campus Christian Community.
"I want to go [there]. I would like to be an English teacher."
Groups of CCC students spend the night at the orphanage to play with and cuddle the children who crave any attention they can get. And they love the Americans who keep coming back, and bring them gifts and supplies.
"It's a great program for these kids while they are still children. They learn basic life skills," says UMW student Daniel Marsh, 19. He raised about $1,500 from Charlottesville Church of the Nazarene to make the trip to Honduras.
Maria Suyapa Reyes, 20, a striking young woman with dark eyes and curly hair, is one of Copprome's success stories.
She's been here 14 years and received word recently that she will get a full scholarship to Unitec, a Honduran university.
She'll be in school 31/2 years and will live with another woman who went through Copprome.
She speaks some English, plays soccer and is a voracious reader.
"I would like to live with a family. But others don't have what we have here," she says.
Shin Fujiyama, the UMW senior who organized the trip and has been a supporter of the orphanage, says Copprome is a crucial bridge for children who otherwise would have a bleak future.
"These children have some material happiness. But psychologically they are torn up inside. Pizza and gifts help you forget, but at night, with no parents, you know how upsetting it is for them--especially in the holiday season," he says.
Earlier this month, four groups of Americans spent time at the orphanage. The CCC group brought them small, handmade boxes with their names on them; the Stafford and Rappahannock Rotary clubs gave them new shoes. Fujiyama and his sister, Cosmo, brought each a Christmas present.
CCC is a major part of the relief effort. The organization goes back to 1949 at UMW and is the United Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran and Episcopal campus ministry.
About 50 students are involved this year, and they raise between $500 and $1,500 for their annual trips. Over the past five years, they've been to Romania, Haiti and three times to Honduras.
"We're very involved on campus and have great support from area churches and the community," CCC Campus Minister Bob Azzarito says.
Virginia has sent its share of help to Hondurans. Gov. Tim Kaine was a Christian missionary in El Progreso during his college days.
Dozens of churches have sent volunteers and donations. For example, St. George's Episcopal Church in Fredericksburg, and eight other parishes, have a long-term relationship with Our Little Roses home for girls in San Pedro Sula.
Shin and Cosmo often sleep at Copprome when they are in Honduras, spending as much time with the children as they can. The children--especially the little ones--mob them when they arrive, and cling to them when they leave.
One night, the children dance and sing for them and give visitors hugs and thank-you cards before they leave.
The Fujiyamas' nonprofit organization, Students Helping Honduras, raised more than $150,000 for Copprome through a walkathon fundraiser last spring, and a matching grant from Fredericksburg philanthropist Doris Buffett's Sunshine Lady Foundation.
Some of the money paid off Copprome's land debt and the rest is being used for future debt payments and to build an education center and a dormitory.
Shin says the orphanage has become a driving force in his life.
"Whenever I get tired and down, I just think of the kids at Copprome."
To reach RUSTY DENNEN:
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com
Go to fredericksburg.com to view additional photos from this series and to order photo reprints. All reprint proceeds will be donated to Students Helping Honduras. |
