Elon students and faculty are planning a trip to the second-poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere to help build what one trip leader dubbed “a mini Honduran Wal-Mart.” Proceeds from the trip benefit a charity that aids impoverished children.
“We intend on … selling handcrafts, souvenirs, coffee and all the items we gringos [foreigners] seem to miss,” said Tara Moore, an Elon sophomore and a co-trip leader. “I hope participants learn something about themselves while they are helping other people who are less fortunate than us.”
The “Fake Break” trip participants will work with Hope for Honduran Children Foundation in Nuevo Paraiso, Honduras. Their goal is to help children devastated with poverty learn life skills.
“Our main focus is to build relationships with the children we meet,” said Kelly Lawrence, an Elon junior and a co-trip leader. “They have no shoes on their feet and no family to provide for them, so we go and interact with them.”
The upcoming trip is not the first time Elon students have traveled to help Hondurans, but it does represent the first time the Kernodle Center has worked with the Hope for Honduran Children Foundation.
The group’s work begins before they even set foot on an airplane. Each participant will bring two 50- pound luggage bags of items for the children. Only one small carry-on item will be filled with personal belongings. A drive is going on now through Jan. 18 to collect gently used or new items for the Honduran children.
“It means the world to them,” said Lawrence. “You hold up an old T-shirt and 50 boys fight over it.”
In Honduras, more than 80 percent live in dire poverty. There are no government assistance programs, no health care and little chance of education or employment, Moore said. “In desperation, boys migrate to cities in search of a better future,” she said. “There unemployment, hunger, disease, drugs and gangs await them.”
Eighty-eight boys currently live in the Flor Azul Farming Community, which was established by the Hope for Honduran Children Foundation. Flor Azul provides the boys food, clothing, shelter, spiritual support, health care, education, recreation, and training in farming, agriculture, soil and animal health.
The Elon group will interact, play and build relationships with the boys and help them learn English while developing micro-enterprises. From the micro-enterprises, the boys will learn manage the business and sell the products. All profits benefit Flor Azul.
Everyday group members have the option to venture outside of Flor Azul on small construction projects, medical brigades and to visit other orphanages. Medical brigades travel to small towns with doctors, dentist and pharmacists who provide free medical care.
Lawrence and Moore said they are both excited to go back to continue helping the Honduran children and create experiences with the group they are leading.
Please drop off any of the following items to any drop-off location:
– Any Clothing; old or new, specifically ages 2-20 girls or boys
Biggest need is teenage boy clothing
– Shoes; tennis shoes, dress shoes, sandals, boots
– Toys
– Dolls, Craft Kits, Art and Beading Supplies, Frisbees, Jump Ropes
– Cars, Deflated Soccer balls, Puzzles, Cards, Mini Footballs
– Accessories
– Watches, Hats, Barrettes, Hair Ties, Headbands, Hair Gel for Guys
– School Supplies
– Basic Calculators, Pens, Pencils, Markers, Colored Pencils, Three Ring Notebooks, Folders
– Batteries (AA)
– Portable CD players with headphones, old CD’s
– Books in Spanish or English
– Children Vitamins and Tylenol
– Towels, Twin Bed Sheets, Washcloths
– Old suitcases – they are perfect for packing and leaving in Honduras – the children use them as their dressers/closets.
Drop-off locations:
Carlton Building (third floor lounge)
Belk Pavilion (lounge)
Holland House (second floor)
Isabella Cannon Center for International Studies (Carlton 113)
Koury Athletic Center (Office 134A)
Moseley Center
Spanish Center (Carlton 114)
Article written by Mary Cunningham ’08