Health and Fitness Talk

[i]“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” Nelson Mandela

In the ever changing chaos that is known as Honduras which is located in Central America, one man is making a difference in hundreds of young children’s lives that have been orphaned and/ or cast aside by society.   Today we are focusing on some of the good works and selfless sacrifices that are being made by volunteers and especially one man, David Ashby age 71.   David worked for Dole Fresh Fruit as Senior Research Scientist for more than 30 years and is now retired but still lives in La Ceiba Honduras and has been active for more than 20 years in helping the needy, especially children. In February 2006, he founded and incorporated Helping Honduras Kids (HHK) in the State of California and its mission was started to bring education, food, shelter, medical care and a loving family environment to abused, orphaned and neglected children.   This is a particularly difficult mission to accomplish in a country where half of the population is under the age of 18 and where 40 percent of the children are sexually abused and/exploited and almost always by family members.  Three quarters of Honduras households have no permanent father figure living at home which leaves a lot of single mothers and grandmothers to raise the children.  Domestic violence is also rampant and gangs, drugs, organized crime and human trafficking is pervasive in many parts of the country.   The population in Honduras has less than 5 years of a primary education and less that 1 percent attends college.   This given one can see how bad the needy need not only help but guidance and a solid education to be able to help themselves and their loved ones and break the cycle of poverty and abuse that has been established in many areas of Honduras.

David started HHK by receiving 19 children from a state sponsored program in 2007 and the first home for kids (Hogar De Amor) was started.  The home provides the kids three daily meals, snacks, learning opportunities, outings and everything needed by children to aid them in getting a hands up in life plus loving help given by staff members (called Aunts), the house mother and volunteers that visit and give the kids workshops and English and computer classes.  Many volunteers have become so endeared to the kids that they have decided to sponsor them and have become a positive figure for their sponsored child.

Unfortunately due to gang threats, violence and drive by shootings, the home was forced to relocate to a much safer part of the port town of La Ceiba, and it has been there ever since.

Miraculously a new land was donated by the municipality of La Ceiba Honduras and a private family and construction is well under way and should be completely finished with the help of volunteer and mission groups from the United States and Canada by the summer of 2012.

David and HHK also started its first free and private Jungle School in February 12 of 2007 grades kinder to sixth grade in which the poorest children in the jungle behind the town of La Ceiba attend (97 kids including the 21 Hogar de Amor kids) and everything from complete tuition fees to school uniforms and shoes, to school supplies, to medical care, morning hot milk, and a daily lunch completely provided free of charge by HHK, for some kids this hot meal is the only meal that they will eat all day.  This private school has also been able to record the most days of operation and the students have not missed a single school day in a time when all public schools in Honduras have been closed the majority of the time from lack of payment to the teachers by the Honduras government. It is said that the public school students in Honduras have been only able to attend school for 3 months out of the 9 months that they are required to go to school. Thus showing how the population in Honduras has less than 5 years of a primary education and less that 1 percent attends college.  One can see that by David giving these kids a shot at a good education and the security of knowledge that there are warm and caring people out there who have and will not forget them they will be able to take full advantage of the opportunities being given to them and break the cycle of poverty, abuse and lack of education.

In 2005 David and HHK also begun to assist Grandmas in the north coast Cangrejal River Area.   Since then, Grandma’s Kids has grown to support many children living with several Grandmas.  HHK identifies family groups at risk and provides support and supplies to their caregivers.  All the donations go to support these “home” environments with loving Grandmas, food, medical care, clothing, school supplies, school uniforms, and school fees so children are able to stay in school and become more educated. As if this wasn’t enough, in October ‘07 David and HHK also began helping the La Bomba Campesino Village, which was forced off the land they had occupied for more than six years.  Helping Honduras Kids and a missionary group partnered to purchase land and donate it to this village in need, where they also donate fortified rice, beans, clothing, shoes and medical help. More recently, similar help has begun to be provided to the Bonatilla campesino village.

David has also found time to sponsor along with HHK, over half a dozen students in high school who otherwise would not be able to go to school and can hopefully one day be able to continue on to University and have a career.  HHK and David are able to provide for the well being of over 200 people each month by ways of contributions and most importantly donations from caring sponsors.  HHK counts on contributions and donations in the form of child sponsorship where sponsors pay a small monthly fee each month to aid in the cost of the day to day general operation of running a children’s home, or orphanage.  Money is always tight but David has never lost faith in knowing that something will come up that will enable him to cover more of the cost of the entire operation which he oversees and administrates.

All these simple but yet long term acts will sure have a long term effect on the future of many people and generations to come who otherwise would not have an opportunity to basically live and have a chance at the opportunities that life has to offer.  One case in point is the story of Luz Mila Castro who in her early teens was “discovered” by a volunteer couple from an organization called All Access Volunteers out of Vancouver Canada.

This excerpt is from a story written by Kyla McClure a volunteer with HHK and a first year student at Georgetown University in Washington DC.  [ii]“Luz Mila grew up in a place that has no name. She grew up in a place of beauty, on the top of a mountain that looks out over the tropical rainforest of Honduras, out to the ocean and beyond. It’s a place that anyone who visits is overwhelmed by the remoteness and beauty of, not that there are many visitors. She grew up in a place where the closest neighbor is over an hour walk away, and the closest town, over three. There are no cars, no bikes, no transportation except for your own two legs. She used hers often, every day, walking for hours on end to attend the school that she knew was her ticket out of the poverty she was born into, but always returning home at the end of the day to her dirt floor, mud and stick walled house. Her home. Those who meet Luz immediately see something special in her. They see it in the subtle way she cracks a joke or the determination in her eyes, and know that she will use all opportunities provided to her to make a better life for her and her family. She already has in so many ways. The oldest of 6 children, Luz was the one to always usher the kids to school every day, waking up at 3 in the morning to begin chores and then have enough time to make the 2.5 hour trek down a narrow jungle path to the newly opened Jungle School, keeping an eye out for prowling jaguars along the way. In school she dedicated herself to her studies, finding time for homework in between helping her mother prepare the often scarce (sometimes non-existent) meal for the family. In 2009 she graduated top of her class at HHK’s Jungle School, even completing fifth and sixth grade in the same year. This potential in Luz Mila was exactly what caught the eye of Daniel Collins on his first volunteer trip to Honduras in October of 2007.”

Luz Mila went on to go to Toronto  Canada to continue her studies and is there now at the top of her class and learning French as well.

Because of David and the many and countless contributions, sponsorships and donations Luz Mila was able to take full advantage of what HHK had to offer and follow her dreams. She plans to go back to Honduras and take her family out of the area that they are in and into a warm and new home, after she has made enough money in the career of her choice.

Thus one can see how David Ashby, one person with a vision and compassion can go about establishing an organization in which the children who have been cast aside can have a shot at having a future and break the cycle of abuse, poverty and lack of proper education.  We should all follow this example in some way or another in the way we live our lives and remember that being of service to those less fortunate than us is the greatest gift yet.

Honduras presently has over 30,000 street children in the big cities of Honduras.  One can only imagine how many abused, neglected and orphaned kids there are in the homes.

[iii]“Someday, maybe there will exist a well-informed, well considered and yet fervent public conviction that the most deadly of all possible sins is the mutilation of a child’s spirit.” -Eric Erickson

• To learn more about Helping Honduras Kids please visit www.Helpinghonduraskids.org

• Watch a video interview with David Ashby HERE
  

Follow the discussion about A Celebration of Service, a Diamond in the Rough.