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The city of Danli, Honduras is approximately a 2 hour drive east of the capital city of Tegucigalpa. It is a very beautiful region with a population of approximately 50,000, including the surrounding villages. The primary industry is agriculture, although many of the rural residents survive on subsidence farming. Like many Latin American countries, Honduras is a very young country with almost 37% of the population under the age of 13(compared to 20% in the U.S.)Honduras is also one of the poorer countries with an estimated GDP per capita of 4200 (compared to the U.S.'s nearly $47,000) The rural villages exhibit many symptoms of generational poverty with high unemployment, high teen pregnancy rates, lack of adequate food, shelter, and clean water. Infant mortality rates are 3-4 times higher than wealthier nations. Emigration is often the goal of young men in pursuit of work.
The needs of the community are many. In regards to this project, we are targeting 1) the lack of safe drinking water, 2) the difficulty of gaining secondary education, & 3) the need for employable job skills and future community leaders.
1) In regards to public health, Dysentery is one of the primary challenges as access to potable drinking water is primarily limited to water run-off captured in storage tanks. Local streams are polluted with human and cattle waste and are also used for laundry and drinking water. Although most homes have a piped water source to their home, the water source in the Linaca valley is a 20,000 gallon holding tank that is fed by a local stream. Children sick with dysentery often fall even further behind in school and contributes to their failure to matriculate to the next grade level.
2) Public education is provided but only up to the 8th grade in the rural areas. If students wish to attend high school, they must commute to the city of Danli. They are responsible for the cost of transportation, ($30 a month) which is prohibitive, as well as other school fees. Because of these costs, it is estimated most families discontinue their children's education after the 3rd grade and put their children to work in the fields or coffee plantations. Without an education, there is little opportunity of breaking out of the cycle of generational poverty.
3) Since there are few employment opportunities for young people who lack education, they are forced to survive on subsidence farming or migrate to the city in search of employment. This often leaves the villages and rural communities void of entrepreneurs and community leaders who have the heart and ability to enhance their communities.
In regards to safe drinking water, the Danli Rotary club and Pure Water for the World has overseen the installation of approximately 8500 CAWST bio-sand filters in the last 10 years in the Danli area at a cost of approximately $250,000. Pure Water for the World, a NGO started by a Rotarian from the U.S. has been intimately involved in this implementation and is the local expert in this field.
However, there have been questions as to the success of these bio-sand filters as a random sampling of 250 filters in the Linaca areas showed that as many 25% were either not functioning or not being maintained properly. In 2011, in conjunction with World Resources Group, a $13,000 DSG was provided to scholarship 60 teens under WRG's tutelage to survey and assess the function of these filters. In October of 2011, a group of Rotarians from the U.S., including Prof. John Dracup from UC-Berkeley, his doctoral student John Ericson, three of his undergrad students, and Rotarians from Escondido, CA and Wisconsin evaluated the progress of the 60 teens in surveying. It was discovered the teens had not only surveyed the communities, but under the guidance of Jose Martinez, the El Paraiso Health Official, were also educating the homeowners on the proper use and maintenance of the bio-sand filters. Their success sparked conversations with Pure Water for the World as a possible resource to further assess the previously installed 8500 filters in the area. Thus a collaborative effort developed to simultaneously target the need for safe drinking water and the education of the rural youth.
World Resources Group (WRG), a U.S. NGO, has provided social services to the village of Linaca for the past 11 years in the form of education tutoring, mentoring, nutrition, and health services. Its community center in Linaca provides afterschool programs to encourage families to keep their children in school while addressing the overall needs of the community such as water issues, sanitation, transportation, and community development. The Linaca Center operated by World Resources Group requires its teens to volunteer 10 hours a week of community service in order to be eligible for scholarship assistance to attend high school. With Pure Water for the World, the teens will be mentored and supervised how to further conduct detailed surveys with maps, questionnaires,and educational materials and do basic maintenance on the bio-sand filters. 6-8 university students from these villages will be thoroughly trained by PWW to conduct surveys,do maintenance and educate the homeowners according to PWW's standards. These students are required to volunteer 30 hours a week in the Linaca Center as peer mentors. In addition to their tuition being paid, they will receive a $100 educational stipend to allow them time to be involved in this project.
The timeline of this project is hoped to be from June 1, 2012 - May 31 of 2013.
The funds required for this project will go primarily to educational expenses for these students such as books, uniforms and transportation to school as well as transportation throughout the villages to do the filter assessments and maintenance. The 10 university students tuition will also be covered which approximately $22,500. A portion of the budget will be to buy new biosand filters and supplies to repair, replace and/or recharge previously installed filters.
The $10,000 non-FV is from Rotary clubs in Edgerton, WI, Stoughton, WI, and Castlegar, B.C.
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