Mission Honduras LeMars - Update
Involvement this past year
- Assisted
Sister of St. Francis Water Project - November, 2007
- Assisted
Briar Cliff Water Project in Nueva Esperanza - November, 2007
- Los Trozos Water Project - July, 2007
- Blanket Program in Montana de la Flor - June, 2007
- Health Insurance for 250 families - January, 2008
-
Kids Against Hunger transportation cost in Honduras - June, 2007
- Illich's costs (flights, living, supplies, etc.) - October through
December, 2007
- Assisted Gehlen Catholic Student Mission Team
La Canada Water Project -
March, 2008
- Spanish children's books - February, 2008
- 54 pairs of children's shoes - February, 2008
- Assisted Kids Against Hunger first container of 2008 - May, 2008
- La Nueva Concepcion II Water Project - May, 2008
- Kids Against Hunger second container of 2008 - June, 2008
Other Projects
Richard E. Seivert, director of Mission Honduras LeMars, recently said the not-for-profit agency, working here in Le Mars, continues its mission to improve the lives of the poor in
several areas of Honduras.
From 2003 to 2004 donations to MHL allowed us to not only build the clinic
and the annex but to add many of the necessary items needed for use by the doctors and nurses on staff.
In the summer of 2005, the village of El Guante finished
construction of an annex to the clinic. According to Seivert, the Ministry of
Health and World Bank would not allow the staff to use the x-ray unit right in
the clinic because special walls had not been constructed. Therefore, we decided
to move the unit to its own small building outside the main clinic. Then, 7 more
villages joined the health association resulting in the need for even more room in the clinic. They then obtained an ambulance from a charitable organization in Europe. The health promoter also needed an office space, and we ran out of room to store medicines. Therefore, the village appealed to MHL
for funds to construct this annex. It houses the x-ray unit, a medicine storage room, an office for the health promoter, a meeting room for village gatherings, and a garage for the ambulance. This, according to Seivert, freed up 3 rooms in the current clinic giving the doctors more room to deal with patients. Seivert said it
was a joy to raise this kind of money because he knew the good that would come from it. Le Mars
can be proud of the support it has given MHL over the years. "It is amazing when you think about it," Seivert said. The
mission team from Briar Cliff University in Sioux City actually started the construction of the new annex,
November 2004, by digging the trenches for the footings. Seivert noted there were 19 on the B.C. team with 6 different faiths involved.
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Alone we can do so
little.
Together we can do so much.
~ Helen Keller |
Briar Cliff University Mission Team digging trenches for annex
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The finished annex just to the left of the clinic |
MHL continues to support other projects as well.
Seivert stated that the Gehlen Catholic student team of 2003 completed our first ‘water project,’ in the village of Las Lajitas. Also
in 2003, MHL teamed up with the Le Mars Iowa Rotary Club which paid for the entire water project in La Nueva Concepcion. Seivert said the project in La Nueva Concepcion was dedicated on Saturday, January 15th, with Lorie Nussbaum, past president of the Le Mars
Rotary Club in attendance. It was a joy to be part of this ceremony, noted Seivert. I couldn’t wait to watch Lorie, in the name of the Le Mars Rotary Club, participate in this dedication. It was wonderful.
Results have been amazing. Since the finish of this water project,
diarrhea has decreased from 43% to 17% daily. Clean, potable water means
everything to these people.
  
 
Seivert also stated MHL and will fund more water projects
in the upcoming year. Basically MHL pays for the purchase of pumps, tanks, and tubing from the wells to a central location in each village. The villagers
work with the mission team to do the water project. Some villages do their
own water projects.
Seivert stated that MHL continues to reach into other areas
besides health and water. We continue a relationship with the sewing school and
wood carving school in Sulaco, according to Seivert. The goal here is to help
them help themselves. Right now, Seivert stated, the girls that graduate from
the sewing school either go into one of the sweat shops in Tegucigalpa or wind
up on the streets in Tegucigalpa, and often get involved in prostitution. It is
great to get them a better start at life. Seivert stated that the average girl makes just under $3.00 per 10 hour day working in the shops in Tegucigalpa.
 
carvings from the wood carving school in Sulaco
 
 
The above pictures are from the Sulaco and Montana de la Flor areas of our food
initiative
Seivert thanks all those who have donated to MHL since its beginning. He said, ‘Together we have done wonderful things for the poor of Honduras.’ Seivert stated the organization is forging ahead and, with the help of the good people of Le Mars and the surrounding area, we can do even more.
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