Protests in Honduras caused Village Partners to reschedule

Kristen Agar — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 13:00:12 +0000

Since 2005, the Village Partners Program has sent over 300 William Jewell College students, faculty and alumni to Honduras to engage in asset-based community development projects. Dr. Patrick Bunton, professor of physics and mathematics, Dr. Scott Falke and Dr. Kevin Prine acquired the initial funding. A Hall Family Foundation Cooperative Learning Grant was allocated in 2008. Dr. Lori Wetmore, professor of chemistry, took direction of the grant after traveling with the team to Embarcadero in 2008.

Trips typically occur bi-annually in January and May. Senior psychology, communication and Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry (ACT-In) major Shakiyla Hughes; junior elementary education and ACT-In major Paige Cunningham; junior mathematics and psychology major Olivia Tolberd; senior nursing and ACT-In major Kelly O’Hare-Baxley; senior music major Allison Maple; college chaplain Dr. Jeff Buscher; and Wetmore planned to travel to Honduras in January 2018 but experienced an itinerary change.

In January, Honduras was experiencing political unrest after their November 2017 election. President Juan Orlando Hernández, who began his term in 2013, was re-elected in 2017. Previous laws allowed a president to sit for only one term, but that law was overturned by the Supreme Court of Honduras during Hernández’s early years in office. This election was the first since that rule was overridden.

Former president Manuel Zelaya attempted to alter the term limit portion of the Honduran Constitution in 2009 and was consequently removed from office in a military coup. Many of his supporters protested the 2017 election because Hernández was allowed to do what Zelaya could not. The protests lasted into December. Hernández’s main opponent, Salvador Nasralla, was also claiming victory, so a recount was held.

Sarahi Zeron, Honduran Director of Village Partners and community liaison, had the Jewell group on standby. She made the ultimate decision and suggested the group postpone their trip. The decision came only about a week before the group was set to leave.

“We were not concerned for our safety as much, as when Hondurans protest and riot, they often sit on bridges. Our concern was that we would get down there, maybe get to our village, but then not be able to get to our other village or not get back to the airport on time because of any civil unrest,” said Buscher.

The trip was postponed until spring break, which meant the logistics would have to change. For one, the planned 10-day trip had to be shortened to nine. However, Buscher said they were still able to accomplish most of what they had intended.

The main adjustment was the cost of airfare. Spring break prices increased everyone’s airfare by about $300.

“Money that would have gone into the project in Honduras instead paid for slightly higher airline tickets, which is frustrating to us because you know, you’re trying to do a project in a country, you want the funds to go to the country,” said Buscher.

The group didn’t run into any protests, but they could still see the evidence of them. Buscher recalled passing demolished toll booths. The only remaining pieces of them were the concrete barriers. Everything else had been destroyed.

Buscher didn’t think the change impacted the students at all.

“They just really rolled up their sleeves and did just whatever needed to be done…This team was just exceptional just in terms of being flexible,” said Buscher.

The Village Partners are currently in a transitioning phase, easing their way out of the village of Matagua and into Boca del Toro. The group spent three days in Matagua and two days in Boca del Toro. The remaining days were travel days and one leisure day.

“I didn’t expect to be welcomed with open arms. Going into Honduras you have an image of what you think it will be like, and it was amazing to see how the villages welcomed us,” said Tolberd.

Jewell has been working with the people in Matagua on a three-pond tilapia cooperative project. The first crop of tilapia was harvested and sold, bringing in enough money to buy a second round of fish, which has been growing since last fall and is almost ready for harvest. During the March visit, Buscher traveled with some Hondurans to El Progresso to pick up 4,000 minnows for the third crop. They filled four big garbage bags with water, poured the fish in and filled the rest of the bag with oxygen using a hose. The minnows are now growing in Matagua.

“This was kind of fun,” said Buscher. “It’s kind of like a big bubble. They tie it and you got these inflated garbage bags full of fish.”

Students helped plant bamboo around the pond to help prevent erosion, but they also played with the children in Matagua. Cunningham and Tolberd are both members of the Jewell volleyball team. They brought a volleyball net and equipment to donate to the school in Matagua and taught the kids how to play.

“My favorite part of the trip was hanging out with the children. I loved how they were open to us being there and were very eager to be around us. Many of the kids showed up bright and early and did not leave till after dark,” said Tolberd.

This trip was the first time the Village Partners have stayed the night in Boca del Toro. They took a tour of the village, learned its history and became familiar with the community.

The main community project for Boca del Toro has not been decided, but some ideas were discussed. The village, which sits on a river, currently has a fishing tournament once a year. People from all over Honduras and even other countries come to compete, so it is an economic boost for the village and town. They discussed the possibility of hosting the tournament twice a year.

While the group was there, they partnered with a staff person and students at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras to provide dental exams for the children in the village. The mayor of the municipality attended the clinic.

“We had the opportunity to begin building relationships with the mayor. After a meeting with him in city hall, he joined us in Boca del Toro to see the dental clinic in action. We took a great photo of him holding a toothbrush surrounded by the village children and students from Jewell and the Honduran university. We work to involve the municipality in planning projects for the village to expand our network of partnerships,” said Wetmore.

The Jewell students will be holding a fundraiser to raise money for a follow up clinic with fluoride treatments and parent training. They will be selling photos from their trip and hope to raise $500. Details for the fundraiser will be coming soon. Another group will be traveling in May. If you would like to support Village Partners, email vp@william.jewell.edu to find out how.

Photo credits to Jeff Buscher.

William Jewell College, in the eyes of many Jewell students, is full of opportunities. From the Critical Thought and Inquiry classes to Journey Grants, Jewell covers many interests. One of the distinctive programs offered at Jewell is the Village Partners Project. This program is focused on promoting a positive change through creating a sustainable environment in Honduras. It is, moreover, a community development program that provides opportunities for Jewell students to become involved in civic engagement while participating in ongoing community development.

Jewell partners with UNAH-CURLA University and villages in the Atlántida region in Honduras with the common goal of bettering living conditions in certain villages. Past projects have included building homes, roofing a church, health education, building “Sanitario Secos” and high efficiency Lorena stoves that vent outside the home, water quality assessment and micro-enterprise planning.

“We built community gardens in Matagua, in which we planted various vegetables to be able to nourish their families. When they tested the kids, they found that they do not get a lot of the vitamins and nutrients so much that they were almost malnourished. It is the hope that these gardens will grow and sustain so that they can nourish their families now and continue to do so in the future,” said Logan Antenen, senior nursing major.

Left to right: students Logan Antenen and Molly Cowdy with children in Honduras.

Throughout the program, relationship building and collaboration take place. Participating students get to know the locals and listen to their problems, solutions and expectations. Students and the local residents then consider available resources to attain solutions. Finally, modeled solutions are spread to the communities in close areas.

The Honduras trip takes place in January and May, and participation in the program is open to all majors. However, a one hour, seven-week course, SVL 301, “International Community Development,” taught by Jeff Buscher, is required for participation. In this course, students learn about participating with cultural sensitivity in community development in Honduras. The course also emphasizes reflecting, reading and writing about the Honduras experience. Moreover, students need to apply at least six months in advance. If interested, students should contact Buscher or Dr. Lori Wetmore, who also directs part of the program.

The whole trip costs around $2000 and the Journey Grant may be used to cover the expenses of the 10-day program.

Below is a sample itinerary of the trip:

Day 1: Arrive in San Pedro Sula and drive to a city near our village partner.

Day 2: Travel to our village partner.

Day 3: Live in the village and participate in village life for six or seven days.

Day 7: Travel to La Ceiba to interact with our university partners and participate in partnership building activities.

Day 8: Travel to the hotel on the beach for debrief.

Day 9: Fun day activity.

Day 10: Travel back to Kansas City.

Shannon Carroll, senior education major, shared her program goals that achieved through the Village Partners Project.

“My goal for this trip was to experience a new country and to step out of my comfort zone. I wanted to form new relationships with the people from Jewell that were going as well as the Hondurans we traveled with. Most importantly, I wanted to form relationships with the kids that I knew we would be playing with each day,” she said.

Molly Cowdy, a senior nursing major, addressed the program’s positive influence on her.

“This trip benefited me in several ways. It introduced me to a whole new lifestyle and made me very appreciative and grateful for what I have. I would say it affected my future plans because it made me want to be a better person and do more for other people. It made me realize I need to be more grateful during times when I am struggling or complaining about the smallest of things,” she said.

Left to right: students Shelley Spohn, Logan Antenen and Molly Cowdy in Honduras

Shelley Spohn, a senior psychology and ACT-In major with pre-med and business administration minors, told her favorite memory of the trip.

“My favorite part was either getting to spend time with my family in Honduras or getting to go real zip-lining and swimming in hot springs, and the most challenging aspect was either the language barrier or the fact that my malaria medicine made me more sensitive to light so I got very burned,” she said.

The program directors are trying to buy a truck for the Honduran director, Sarahi Zeron, who is responsible for organizing the trips to the third village partner because public transportation is limiting her ability to travel to their expanding partnerships. Zeron pairs Jewell students with host families in Honduras. She also hires interns to finish projects all year long, when Jewell students are not there.

Although Honduras is the where the program has had the most success, Village Partners also has some projects in other countries and cities including Thailand, India, Africa and Westside Kansas City. There is an upcoming Thailand trip in January of 2017.

village partners program – The Hilltop Monitor

Protests in Honduras caused Village Partners to reschedule

Village Partners Project allows Jewell students to travel to Honduras