LOS RANCHOS, HONDURAS PROJECT - 2008

 It was our great privilege this year to work with the villagers of Los Ranchos to build 14 cinder-block homes to replace their wood huts. As the homes were being built, we also held vacation bible school sessions for up to 90 village children.   Two groups of 15-20 individuals spent 10 days each between January 9^th and February 2^nd working on these activities.  Group members mainly were from northern Illinois and the Chicago area; but we also had members from Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Florida and northern Honduras.

 Los Ranchos is a village of approximately 25 families located about a 2-hour drive south of the capital city of Tegucigalpa.  The drive from Tegucigalpa to Pespire, the nearest major municipality, is on one of the main highways through the mountains of Honduras.  From Pespire, it is an 8-mile drive on a rocky dirt road that takes around 45 minutes to navigate to San Juan Batista – where the team members had their meals and slept at the house of Angelina, the community nurse.  Los Ranchos, then, is 1 ½ mile drive or walk over two small rivers and several hills.

 In addition to the villagers, team members were led and cared for by several members of the Honduras Christian Solidarity Program (CSP), including:

·        Hernan, our Project Manager and head of the CSP

·        Hugo, our driver, in whose hands we put our lives as he navigated through the Honduran traffic – among many other responsibilities

·        Berta, our cook who treated us to some great traditional Honduran meals

·        Pastor Jose, Clinton and Jorge – our interpreters who came to our rescue when some of us with our 100-word Spanish vocabulary and gestures weren’t able to communicate with our hosts (in addition to helping us with the building and bible school)

·        Favio, our truck driver, who always seemed to be going somewhere to make sure we had the materials to do the job

The municipal government also contributed to the project by providing six skilled masons as well as the materials for the doors and windows.

 When our second team left Los Ranchos, the 14 homes were almost 90% done.  We know that the rest of the work will be completed by the villagers, Hernan and his team and the municipal government in the coming weeks.  We are now raising money so that stoves with chimneys can be put into the houses in order to avoid the smoke-filled rooms that currently cause so many respiratory problems with the children in particular.  We hope that our work there last year building the latrines and this year building the houses has helped the people of Los Ranchos raise their standard of living some because they are very deserving and have shown us their appreciation in every way possible.  In particular, the party at the end of our ten days with the mariachi band was memorable.  Of course, we will always remember the joy of the children as they sang their bible school songs for us and showed us the pictures, crosses and other crafts they made.

 Among other projects we are contemplating for next year is building homes for the remaining families as well as figuring out ways that these people can become more self-sufficient and not dependent on the land-owners for their $2 a day salaries or subsistence farming – projects like a chicken co-op or cashew farm.   The villagers of Los Ranchos are hard-working, joyful people with a great faith in God who do not desire anything more than the opportunity to make an honest living to support their families with the basics of life.  It was an inspiring site to see the hard work they put in to make the cinder blocks and haul them to the home sites, dig sand out of the river and distribute it to the sites, draw water from a well or “pila” and bring it to the sites to mix the mortar by hand, and on and on.

 Please enjoy the pictures and videos of our trip.  We hope they give you a sense of what Los Ranchos is all about; and how they have given us much more than we have given them.  More than anything, they have shown us what really matters in life.  If you are interested in joining us next year or want to organize a trip of your own to help Los Ranchos and the many other Hondurans who need similar assistance, please go to the Contact Us page to get more information.

 God Bless!  

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