Breaking the Cycle of Poverty Through Education

After watching them grown through the years, our hearts were filled with pride and great joy to witness Patty, Ana Elsi and Dinora receive their university degrees in Nursing. Ana Elsi completed her degree with a thesis to become a licenced nurse. Having achieved her dream of becoming a profesional nurse she is now joining our work team at Servicio Panamericano de Salud (PAHS Honduras). Meanwhile Patty and Dinora will return to their university in Costa Rica, UNADECA, to complete their degree to be licenced nurses also. We are deeply grateful to all our supporters who have made this great achievement possible for our girls! A special thanks to those who sponsored their scholarships Mend a Child Foundation, Dr. Larry & Jean LaClair, Paul & Sheryl Selivanoff, Dr. Carlos & Graci Japas and John Beldin.

New Graduates

It is a great source of joy to witness the graduation of 6 of our young people! Thanks to our alliance with the Mend-a-Child Foundation, PAHS has the honor of seeing Josue, Johana, Yeimi, Stephany, Gaby and Yini receive their secondary school diplomas on 24 de Noviembre from Centro Educacional Adventista. They are now eligible to enter University in search of their dreams. Josue will pursue a degree in theology, while all the girls wish to pursue careers in the medical professions:  Johana and Stephany want to be nurses; Yeimi wants to be a dentist and Yini wants to be physician. We are sure they have what it takes to succeed in their chosen fields!

CARE and Cargill of Honduras share of their bounty

A partnership of CARE and Cargill of Honduras in support of a group of Agriculturist in various development programs made a generous donation of food and produce to PAHS/Servicio Panamericano de Salud in an event which took place on Friday November 8 on our campus. It was a time to get acquainted and to become familiarized with the work to expand and support agriculture in Honduras and for our benefactors to see first-hand what PAHS does to support the most vulnerable of the population.  The donated food items will be used in our Nutrition and Home programs. We are grateful to each of these groups for their great generosity and for being socially responsible companies that share of their bounty with our children!

Professional Practicum completed

Johana, Josue, Yeimi and Gaby

Johana, Josue, Yeimi and Gaby completed their professional practicum or internships after finishing their course of study for secondary school which included a technical specialty in computers. The young people spent six weeks at different companies in San Pedro Sula, learning about what it takes to be a professional on a team and to be a part of the work force. They were successful in meeting their objectives and received good reviews and a few even had invitations to join the permanent staff. We are proud of each of them for setting a high standard and for the great impression they left at their respective places of practice.

Independence Day Celebrations

September 15 is a special date for our country, Honduras, as well as for all the Central American countries as it commemorates Independence Day.  This is why our children dressed in patriotic fervor, took to the streets in an organized parade hosted by their school to celebrate our nation’s Independence Day.  Set to the cadence of their school’s Marching Band our children of all ages participated in different squads all with the intent to commemorate this special season as they wore the pride of their country on their faces, pride at being born in such a beautiful nation as Honduras!

Celebrating Children’s Day

The month of September provides many opportunities for fun to our children. Besides the excitement building up to the Independence Day parades mid-month, September 10 is a day set aside to celebrate children. Piñatas, sweets, games, gifts and many visitors were all part of the Child’s Day celebrations on our campus this year for the children of the Casita Feliz as well as the Homes.  It is a special time set aside to recognize the love and joy that these special gifts of God bring to our World!

Golden Anniversary Parade

Centro Educacional Adventista - the educational center our children attend for private education - celebrated their 50th Anniversary this month, and as part of the celebration our children participated in a parade honoring the milestone of their alma mater.  The students were happy to be part of this special celebration and with great pride marched on behalf of their school through the street of our local town, Peña Blanca.

A visit to the Zoo

Our children had the pleasure of experiencing an unforgettable, educational and fun trip to the Joya Grande Zoo in a nearby town. The trip was sponsored thanks to the generosity of Peter and Beth Malgadey of Florida, friends of Bonnie Gray a faithful volunteer of over a year.  Our children were able to see animals they had previously seen only in photographs such as a lion, giraffes, tigers, leopards, hippopotamus, and crocodiles among others.

Helping the environment creatively

Thanks to an innovative project spearheaded by volunteer, Bonnie Gray, our campus appears cleaner. The children decorated 20 five-gallon buckets as small trash receptacles to be placed in strategic spots around our campus. This has given the children the opportunity to learn in a fun and creative way the importance of caring for the environment by avoiding the habit of littering and keeping our environment trash-free.

Medical and Construction Team from Oklahoma

Dear friends from the Crossings Community Church, in Oklahoma, USA came to our campus to give of their construction and medical talents to the community. Working together with Heart for Honduras, they hosted a medical clinic on our campus for a day and then went out to different communities nearby during the week. Their construction team worked on the building that will house our Nutritional Rehabilitation Center soon. Our deep gratitude goes out to the team for their great help in furthering our mission to bring health care to our communities!

Trip to the beaches of Punta Sal

For their mid-year vacation our children and teens from the Homes traveled to the remote beach property of Punta Sal for a camp out. They enjoyed a much needed break from the usual routine of classes and chores and played in the water and enjoyed the beautiful beaches. The trip is a tradition and reward for students who have made the effort to work hard to get good grades and to complete their assigned chores.

Maranatha Mission Group from Paradise, CA

We have been blessed this year to have the visits of many groups affiliated with Maranatha Missions who were visiting our local Academy and chose to help continue the construction of the building that will be our Nutritional Rehabilitation Center, a building that is greatly needed. This was the case when our brothers and sisters from the Paradise Adventist Church spent two weeks helping us advance this special building project – a wonderful answer to prayer. Additionally they hosted medical clinics around the Lake Yojoa area and saw approximately 500 patients. We are so grateful for their love and support!

Danny, Rachel and Lauren complete their volunteer service

We are grateful to Rachel, Lauren and Danny for their volunteer services and for the difference they have made in the lives of our children. Rachel and Lauren - here for 8 months - held pre-school classes for the children of the Casita Feliz; while Danny who spent 4 months with us, planted a vegetable garden that produced food for our little ones.  We wish them the best and are grateful for the time they spent as part of our family.

A visit from San Gabriel Academy

Students from San Gabriel Academy in Los Angeles, CA visited our campus and volunteered their time to help with bean harvesting and the child care in our Casita Feliz. They were visiting our community as part of a Maranatha Mission Team to the local our local academy Centro Educacional Adventista.During their time here they also held Bible School classes filled with fun activities for our children. We are grateful for their attentions and for their help!

Magic Beans

This is our summer time and although we live in a very temperate climate the sun still shines hot and bright. Under this sunshine our children, teens, employees and volunteers have labored to harvest and abundant crop of beautiful red beans.The quality and quantity of this crop clearly indicate a blessing from God in 2012. Our children have enjoyed the work and have made it into evening entertainment. We have also been delighted to have volunteers who visited our campus and chose to help us harvest beans.The beautiful legumes will be used as seed to distribute to poor farmers in the driest areas of the southern Honduras. We hope that they too will be blessed with a crop similar to ours.

Fountainview Academy

This year’s graduation class of Fountain View Academy in Canada chose to come to our community for their Senior Class trip. While here the Seniors chose a variety of projects to benefit our campus. They took turns over the span of 10 days to help in the daily caretaking of the little patients in the Casita Feliz. Others organized a Music Camp for the children and teens from our Homes. Our children were thrilled to be learning music in this fun and entertaining way. Some in the group dedicated their time to furthering the construction of the new building that will house our Nutritional Rehab Center. We are deeply grateful for all of the contributions that these young people made to our campus life.

A Special Valentine’s Day Message

The “Day of Love and Friendship” was commemorated here on our campus with the help of our littlest patients from the Casita Feliz. They allowed us to take them into the plaza to take a special photograph so that we could send our supporters a heartfelt message of love and gratitude! Later in the evening, volunteers Bonnie Gray and Diane Ward handed out special care packages to the older children that live in our Children’s Homes. It was indeed a day filled with the spirit of love and of friendship!

University students start a new school year

With the purpose of seeking excellence in a new year of studies, seven of our girls boarded the bus to Costa Rica to attend UNADECA in Alajuela, Costa Rica. This is a new experience for Nelly who will study English while at the university. Three other young ladies, Jennifer, Carolina and Beatriz started their studies at the National University of Honduras in San Pedro Sula.