Something to Be Thankful For

Delmis and Baby Kensy

Delmis and Baby Kensy, October 10, 2023

“We are so grateful for the help we received because our baby would have died that October day if we had not taken her to PAHS. We sold some corn to have bus fare and traveled a long way down our mountain to get to Peña Blanca. The people of our village talk marvels of this place and say that you are lovely people, so I told Kensy’s dad, “Let’s take her there. I know they can help our baby girl.” A kind neighbor lady came with us to show us the way.

Delmis and Baby Kensy, October 23, 2023

When we arrived on the PAHS campus, we were attended to by the Nutritionist in charge of the Rehab, he then took us to the nurse and then to the pediatrician of the town. After the pediatrician examined our baby he said it was an emergency since besides the malnutrition that weakened her body (because of a lactose intolerance), both her lungs and her stomach had a viral infection, and we needed to get to the Hospital in the city right away. The driver from PAHS kept on telling us the whole drive down to the Sula Valley: “Don’t worry, your baby is going to be alright. Just trust in God.”

When we got to Pediatric Emergencies at the government hospital, the doctors and nurses started to work on our baby girl immediately and they told us she had an 80% chance of dying that night. They gave us very little hope. But thanks to everyone who helped us we still have our baby and she looks healthy and beautiful. We are very thankful for the special lactose-free formula you helped us buy. And we are so thankful to all of you for all of the support you gave us! Everyone there — the health staff, the cooks, the office staff, the drivers — treated us so kindly. We are very, very grateful!”

Lucas Martinez - Father of Vocational School Graduate

Andres At GRaduation Dec. 2022

“I am so thankful to God and to the Vocational School for the opportunity that my oldest son, Andres received. By graduating from the PAHS Education Program his entire life and his future have been positively impacted.

Our family struggled to get Andres educated as an Auto Mechanics Technician at the (Dr. Stephen Youngberg Technical) Vocational School. Although there was no tuition it was very hard to come up with bus fare for his transportation to Peña Blanca.

Thanks to God and to Andres’ hard work as a student he was able to receive a job offer immediately in the place where he did his one-month practicum at the Ford dealership in the city of San Pedro Sula. His supervisor and the manager of the dealership both praised his work to me and to the Vocational School staff. As his father that makes me very proud!

Now that he has a good job, he is able to help support the family as we educate his younger siblings."

Tiffany Perla

Dr. Tiffany on Graduation Day July 25, 2023

“My Mom is a single parent. She raised my older sister and me alone, providing for us by preparing food over a wood-burning comal in the early mornings, then she would carefully place her preparations in a tub and hoisting it upon her head, would go through our town selling warm tamales and other foods door-to-door, as well as to people on the street.

My father left the family before I was born, however, he did help my older sister get her education up until graduating from high school. At that time I was finishing 9th grade, but I was heartbroken when he let us know he would not be helping with any more education. My mother, our only provider now, was very sad also, because she could not afford to help me go further in my schooling and she knew how badly I wanted to follow my big sister’s example and get a high school diploma too.

I really wanted to help my Mom, because I saw how hard she worked and how tired she was, she had started to suffer from terrible headaches after years of working over a hot wood-fired stove, and then carrying hot tubs of food on her head under the mid-day sun. I wanted to help her and my sister to give us all a better life and I knew I needed an education for that.

The pastor of our local church, Herminio Colindres, came to visit us just to see how we were and asked if there was anything we needed that he could help us pray about. So my Mom shared my deep desire to keep studying. Together we prayed that God would provide help for me to continue my education.

One Sabbath afternoon the pastor visited us and told us he knew of two places where we might receive the help we had asked for in prayer; one was a Christian boarding school and the other was PAHS. Together we went to both places, the first was the boarding school, but the second place we went to was different… I felt at home upon arriving.

I recall that it was the Christmas season when we went there for the first time. We were greeted with kindness and I was interviewed briefly, then given an application to fill out and told we would receive an answer soon. My Mom and I went home with the faith that God would help open the doors so I could go to school.

About two weeks later we received word to come back for an answer. That time we spoke to Anita and she gave us the marvelous news that I could come to PAHS to continue my education.

Tiffany in 2006 as a High School Student

PAHS is a warm welcoming place and I felt at home from the moment I arrived with my Mom to ask for help. I really felt like I was a part of PAHS from the start, even before I was accepted as a student. People are especially kind there and spending time on that beautiful campus was a blessing. I learned more about God and His great love, and I met many new friends among the volunteers who came from North America to work in medical brigades or in construction and maintenance crews on the PAHS campus.

A few years later I graduated from a private academy as a computer technician, and my great desire was to continue on in University although I was unsure of what I wanted to focus my studies on. My family and I prayed again that God would work another miracle so that I could study and also that I would know what to study.

I had a dream one night. In my dream, I was very happy and taking care of dental patients in villages, while my mother taught the people - who were waiting their turn to be treated - about Jesus. When I awoke I shared my dream with my Mom and big sister and they both said that was what I should study, as it was the answer to my prayer for guidance.

A few weeks later I was notified that I had passed the entrance exam of the National University of Honduras and was granted admission to the School of Dentistry. I was so happy to see God’s Hand guiding in my life!

With the help of several friends whom I had met during my high school years at PAHS, I was able to attend the National University. It was not easy and many times I didn’t know how I would go on, however, I did not stop praying and I received great support from several American friends who sponsored and inspired me.

The day before my birthday in July 2023 I graduated as a doctor of dentistry. I love my profession and feel it is a gift from God. My mission is to spread smiles wherever I go.

God has a perfect plan for our lives. He works in miraculous ways and He knows our needs. He also knows the right time to act.

God bless all the people who visit PAHS and all who know about this wonderful place and help us from afar because they are angels sent by God!

Even if you don’t know it, God uses you and your generous and good heart to bring blessings to us all in moments when we most need it. Thank you!”

Please consider supporting our mission today!

50th Anniversary of our Children’s Nutritional Rehabilitation Center

Dr Youngberg and His Wife Verlene in Front of the Nutritional Hospital in the 60’s

On this day, February 3rd, fifty years ago, Dr. Stephen Youngberg and his wife, Verlene Youngberg, RN opened their Clinic up to three severely malnourished children in critical condition, to give them special care. On that day February 3, 1965 in an old military tent serving as the first facility the Nutritional Rehabilitation Hospital was brought into existence. Of those three critically ill children only one survived the crisis produced by their lack of nourishing food. Sadly help arrived too late for two of the children who died in the first day of treatment. Too weak to continue their fight, the loss of their lives was a grim reminder of the importance of good food and the urgency of working on the prevention of the deadly illness produced by hunger. Fifty years have passed since that first Admission Day in 1965, and thousands of lives being stalked by hunger have been saved from a sure death.Today, February 3, 2015 our Nutritional Rehabilitation Center has 15 little children in various stages of recovery from malnutrition – children who have been given a second chance in life – whose joy and smiles foretell a bright and promising future for the country of Honduras. As we look back at our first 50 years of serving children, and as we stop to count the multitude of blessings we have received in transforming many lives, we appreciate the fact that this has been a team effort between Pan American Health Service, the Providence of our Divine Creator, and the support and trust of thousands of people who donate for our mission. Today, with joy and thanksgiving we celebrate an important milestone in our history, the 50th Anniversary of the Children’s Nutritional Rehabilitation Center. Thank you for being part of our success!

“To him who believes all things are possible”

Suyapa and Ingrid

As we move farther into the beautiful mountains of Santa Barbara, (located in Northwestern Honduras) I can’t help but admire the natural beauty of this place; beautiful pine forests, refreshing streams, the impetuous Ulua River and extensive hilltops that merge to form a magnificent landscape.

Without a doubt this is one of the most pleasant journeys I have taken, excluding the atrocious state of the “road” we are traveling on which has been washed out by the rain in which diches and uneven surfaces are the predominant, a fact that has our driver making a thousand maneuvers just to stay on course.

Any lover of nature and photography would be ecstatic to have this experience, however, my thoughts go beyond the natural composition, since our mission is to locate Ingrid, a girl who is suffering one of the worst cases of malnutrition I have ever seen in my life, Grade III Marasmus. At nine years of age, this deplorable illness has had its way with her, and as if this was not enough she also suffers from a mental health problem that limits her ability to live a normal childhood.

Her twin brother did not have the same fate, and here in front of us can be seen the contrast between a child who is well and the ravages that malnutrition can make in a young life. This is the reason we are here… if they cannot come to us, we will go to them. The famous saying with my own modification goes: “If the mountain cannot come to PAHS, then we will go to the mountains”.The extreme poverty that sails the most remote communities of Honduras does not permit its poorest inhabitants to seek the help they need; to go