In this file photo, Juan Ramon Lopez, 5, lounges in a hammock while his mother, Olympia, washes clothes.
Josye Davit, 11, helps rebuild his family's home alongside members of the UMW Campus Christian Community.
Shin Fujiyama mixes mortar with Siete de Abril resident Gustavo Mario King for a bathroom beside the village school.
Suyapa Bonilla, 34, does chores in January in the tin-roof shack she shares with her husband, Benjamin, their four children, and another woman and baby they took in.
Land purchase clears big hurdle for local relief effort in Honduras
Date published: 11/15/2007
By RUSTY DENNEN
Seventy-two families in a squatter village in Honduras will be moving, and getting new homes, thanks to a Fredericksburg-based relief agency.
Students Helping Honduras, headquartered at the University of Mary Washington, recently purchased about 12.5 acres of land in El Progreso for $66,000. El Progreso sits just outside San Pedro Sula, Honduras' third-largest city.
The plan had been to build the homes in the village of Siete de Abril (seventh of April) where the poor villagers are currently living. Siete de Abril was established by squatters in 1998 after Hurricane Mitch devastated the Central American nation.
But that became unfeasible because SHH couldn't get clear title to that land. Several weeks ago, Shin Fujiyama, a 2007 UMW graduate and founder of SHH, found another suitable tract of land nearby, which has been named Villa Soleada (Sunshine Village.)
"Although nearly half of the land in Honduras is currently untitled, SHH felt very strongly that this was a critical precursor to any building project," Fujiyama, who is in Honduras, wrote in an e-mail.
"SHH believes that this decision represents the first step to fulfilling meaningful promises made to the villagers, members and donors," Fujiyama wrote.
He said villagers were consulted every step of the way. "Nearly every head of household had the opportunity to see the land and give input" prior to the purchase, he said. And based on a recent socioeconomic survey of the village, "it is unlikely that this move will force any village members to change their jobs."
Sunshine Village is only a few minutes farther by bus from downtown El Progreso and near a new university and shopping mall.
For more than two years, SHH volunteers--mostly college students--have been doing relief work in El Progreso. Their focus has been on Siete de Abril, and the Copprome orphanage nearby.
In January, SHH volunteers, members of UMW's Campus Christian Community and a group of Fredericksburg Rotarians put new roofs on 21 houses in the village. Earlier, volunteers built and supplied a school.
Villagers scavenge building materials from a nearby dump, are susceptible to malaria because they have no screening, and drink parasite-infested water.
Copprome is a home of last resort for some of the country's poorest children. SHH has financed additions to the orphanage and helped pay off its debt.
The village and orphanage were the subject of a four-part series of stories, "Helping Honduras," in The Free Lance-Star in January.
This spring, SHH raised more than $200,000 for Honduras relief in a walkathon. Fredericksburg philanthropist Doris Buffett's Sunshine Lady Foundation agreed to a match if SHH could raise $100,000.
The plan, for now, is for volunteers and villagers to build small cinder-block homes--Spartan by American standards, but a big step up from what they have. They would have three bedrooms and a family area and a bath/shower. Families would be asked to pitch in toward the construction cost of each house. That could run about $3,800.
About 175 volunteers will make the trip during December and January.
Fujiyama estimates it will take at least two to three years to complete the project.
Students Helping Honduras is a nonprofit organization formed in 2006 by Shin and Cosmo Fujiyama.
The aim is to provide educational and economic opportunities to communities in Honduras and to engage college students and young professionals to help.
SHH now has chapters at the University of Mary Washington, the University of Virginia, the College of William & Mary, Virginia Tech, Georgetown University and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Shin Fujiyama, a 2007 UMW graduate, is chief executive officer. His sister, Cosmo Fujiyama, is president.
Well done SHH(posted by
Fredtastic
, Nov. 15, 2007 8:11 am)
Sure, there are needs in the US, but give these young adults credit for seeing a need in the world and doing something about it. Say what you want, but what have YOU done to help out those in New Orleans or in other areas of the US? SHH have made it their mission to make a difference and the world is a better place for it. Well done.
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