I can't believe so much time has gone by since my last post. My apologies! But we've still been hard at work in Roatan and made 3 trips since my last entry.
November marked the end of the first school year for the 57 students at the new school in St. Helene. The new year starts in February and we've been collecting backpacks, school supplies and money for uniforms in preparation. There's been more work on the building as well, adding gutters and piping to capture rainwater and direct it to the nearest well to keep their spring water supply full.
Our most recent trip to St. Helene was the week before Christmas. We held a community meeting to further discuss the concept of sustainable living with a community garden, chicken coops and the like. There's a lot more to talk about, and they will need to prove to us that they are up for all the hard work involved as well as the ability to work together for the collective good before we will invest in such a project. We've been in contact with an agricultural university on the mainland who is very interested in helping with this idea, but the biggest roadblock is whether or not the community will pull together to do something of this nature. It is not the 'culture' of their community right now, which we learned while building the school. So in the meantime, we are trying to foster a sense of 'community' through various things including a 'work for food' program. The idea is that each of the 25 families in the community will make a list of things that would help them (i.e. fix a leek in their roof, have help washing clothes, one lady said she could really use an indoor bathroom so she doesn't have to go outside each time, etc.). Then someone in the community would do that work for them, sit and share a meal together, and they would earn a voucher for food. It might not sound like much, but this would be a huge start! The hope is that this will help them bond with each other and realize that by helping each other, they are actually helping themselves. A long process, for sure, but each step in the right direction brings us closer!
After the seriousness of the meeting, it was time for some fun! We really wanted to bless the people of St. Helene and, knowing how hard times had been, food was the best way. So we arranged to have enough smoked turkeys done ahead of time so we could give one to each of the 25 families in the community! David donned his Santa cap and as each family was called and sent a representative forward to receive their tureky, David greeted them with a hearty "Ho! Ho! Ho!", a big hug, and an even bigger turkey. (Here's the 25 of them holding their birds!) After the adults got their 'treats', our daughter and niece who was with us helped hand out goody bags to each of the children. They were thrilled to get a present and seemed to enjoy the candy canes most of all!
After everyone left to go home, David and I made our rounds and tried to talk one-on-one with as many people as we could about the idea of sustainable farming. There is definitely some interest, but it is far from what it would take for us to move forward with this project at this time, which pains us.
One last pic from St. Helene. Some friends of ours recently went on vacation to Roatan and made it a point to go to St. Helene with books, supplies and clothes. This is Meagen Edgars, Lindon Martinez (school teacher in St. Helene), Julie Smith Doyle, her son, and Kevin Wesley (ALF representative from Roatan). Julie is a former school teacher and team leader in one of the poorest school districts in Houston and is highly regarded for her parent classes and her "teach the teacher" programs. She had tremendous results with her programs in Houston and is now highly sought after. She donated her time to share her techniques with Lindon for the day and will return in subsequent trips to continue the education. Many thanks to our friends from Texas for helping our friends in Roatan!
The children's home has had some changes lately. The two women who have worked at and run the home for the past many years decided to leave at the end of December. So now there are two new women working there, and Glen Steer who has been there for the past year. Several of the children have left them home recently, and one new boy has been admitted. That new boy, and one of the girls who has been there for a couple of years, have recently become elligible to go to bilingual school. We have someone sponsoring the girl for half her tuition, but are looking for someone interested in covering the other half, as well as a sponsor for the boy. The girl is 12 and in the 6th grade. She is very intelligent. Her only struggle has been learning enough English in order to make it at the bilingual school, but she is ready now. The boy is 11 and in the 5th grade. He is a go-getter and we believe will do well with the new challenge!
Lastly, an update on the Affordable Housing Project. Again, this is a joint venture between the Abundant Life Foundation and the Grand Roatan - a luxury condominium development project. Together, we have committed to build an affordable home for every condo sold in the project, which is slated to be 281. When someone buys one of their condos, the Grand Roatan will build a home in that person's name for the next family on the pre-qualified list. ALF's role is to buy the land and do all the site and prep work. Then, by making roughly the same monthly payment a hard-working individual on the island would be making anyway, within 10 years, the home would be paid for and they would own it and the land it sits on.
There is still a TON of work to do on this project, but the ball is definitely rolling. Meetings have been held with banks to work out loan deals; we closed on 12 acres of land in a prime location; the world-class architect that is designing the Grand Roatan has donated his time to this project and has designed the homes to be built as well as the lay-out of the 12 acres for maximum utilization (Many, many thanks to Juan Carlos Choussy from El Salvador for doing this AND designing the school in St. Helene! His talent and his heart are endless.) And the Grand Roatan has begun a massive marketing campaign to sell the units... so we had better get a move on!! Stay tuned!!
