Erin Miller

what 1000 dollars did in La Esperanza

One of my friends who volunteered in La Esperanza about three months ago had the foresight to collect a large donation from friends, relatives, and co-workers before she came to La Esperanza. (If you are thinking of doing some sort of volunteer experience, I think that getting a donation before you leave to spend in-country is a terrific idea.) She dedicated much of the month that she was in town to finding worthy causes for the money. However, she had to leave La Esperanza suddenly due to unforeseen circumstances and never had a chance to spend the money. Once she was settled back in England she wired the money to me. Her original donation was for 550 British Pounds. By the time the money transferred to my bank account, was converted first to dollars and then to lempira, and I took it out of the ATM in La Esperanza, I had a donation of roughly 1,000 dollars, or approximately 18,889 lempiras. I have been diligently working on spending the money during the last month or so, using Amy's ideas as guides. Here is what we came up with:

A NEW TIN ROOF FOR ONE OF THE FAMILIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

This family had few natural resources on their property and they had to use the money available from i-to-i to buy stones for the foundation and wood for the frame and had no money left over to buy a tin roof. A tin roof is one of the most important elements of one of these new houses as it functionally blocks rain from entering the living areas, unlike thatch or clay tiles. Insects are unable to live and breed in tin roofs which prevents the spread of chagas disease and other ailments. One of the volunteers working on the construction site recognized the importance of the tin roof and put her own 2,000 lempiras toward the project to buy the missing 10 sheets. Though I offered to reimburse all of the money she put towards the project she accepted only 1,500 lempiras reimbursement from Amy's money.

8 new sheets of tin roof..........1,500 lempiras

New tin roof

The tin roof being put on.

THE INFA CENTER

The INFA center is a day-care and nutrition program provided for children who have only one parent (almost always just a mother.) The mother can drop her children off, Monday through Friday, so that she may go to work. The government provides funding for the food provided by the program and minimum wage salaries to over-worked day care providers, but does not provide funds for the maintenance of the center.

Some of the volunteers have been working on painting a mural on the walls of the INFA center. The center was a dark and depressing place prior to the work of volunteers who painted the walls, and the mural has served to further brighten the center.

Oil paint for a mural and to paint the benches in the center..........2,100 lempiras

Beginning of the mural

The finished product

Painted benches

The young children at the INFA take siestas in the afternoon and often had to share sleeping mats by as many 4 children per mat or foam pad or sleep on the floor. We used some of the donated money to buy new mattresses for the children so that they could spread out.

6 new mattress...........1,920 lempiras

crowded sleeping at the INFA center

New Mattresses!

Sleeping with more space

The INFA center had several missing window pains which allowed water to run down the walls and onto the floor during the rainy season.

Replacement window pains..........500 lempiras

Missing window pains

Fixing the window pains

New window pains

The front door of the INFA center was broken.

Fixing the bottom of the front door.........300 lempiras

Broken front door

Fixed front door

The front lock of the INFA center was also broken.

New lock for the front door..........100 lempiras

Broken front door lock

Fixed front door lock

The hallway between the playroom and the kitchen was open, which meant that the children were locked out of the playroom a majority of the day in order to prevent them from entering the kitchen.

Gate between the playroom and the kitchen..........200 lempiras

Opening between playroom and kitchen

Gate between playroom and kitchen

THE HOSPITAL

The operating department needed money to repair their stirrups.

Repairing 2 sets of stirrups..........300 lempiras

broken stirrups

Repaired stirrups

THE ALBERGUE

The albergue is built in a low-lying area and there are many mosquitoes and other biting insects that were able to enter the dormitory and bathroom and molest the women and transmit diseases.

Screen doors for the dormitory and bathroom..........1,500 lempiras

New screen doors at the albergue

Screen window coverings in the dormitory and bathroom..........300 lempiras

Screen windows at the albergue

The food that I brought in was kept in buckets and often covered in flies.

Plastic containers to keep flies off the food..........455 lempiras

Plastic contianers to keep flies away from the food

The albergue was in need of some new pots and pans..........450 lempiras

Old pots and pans

New pots and pans

My parents brought donated toothbrushes to the women during their visit. However, the women are unable to afford toothpaste.

Toothpaste to compliment the donated brushes..........589 lempiras

Toothpaste

Women with their new toothpaste

The albergue was also in need of some new cleaning supplies such as mops and brooms.

Two new mops..........114 lempiras

New mops

Two new brooms...........60 lempiras

New brooms

INDUSTRIAL ARTS SUPPLIES FOR THE 7TH, 8TH AND 9TH GRADERS IN CENTRO DE EDUCACIÒN BASICA "HONDURAS"

Amy wanted to donate a large part of the money to the school in Chiligatoro, Honduras where she had worked teaching English. The director and professors of the school decided that the money could be best used to by supplies for an industrial arts class because these supplies are prohibitively expensive for the school or students to purchase. The students greatly enjoy working on industrial arts projects and the classes allow the students to learn valuable and marketable trades. The professors believed that these materials would help keep students in school through the ninth grade. The materials are very durable and will last many years.

Industrial arts supplies...........8,833 lempiras

one box of equipment

students with their new school tools

Reading the letter than Amy sent to her old students

Thanks, Amy, it was really fun doing some good works with the donation that you worked so hard to get.

Posted by Erin at May 29, 2007 2:11 PM