Project School Supplies

Project School Supplies in the Media

Seattle-based author R.H. Sheldon recently published an article entitled Changing the Lives of Honduran Schoolchildren on the diverse website Suite101.com. Please click HERE for the full article.
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A Special Message from Ellen – Christmas Baskets are an Enormous Success

Guys… I’m completely awed and overwhelmed!!! I have photos but am too exhausted to download them so I’ll try to describe my morning.

Today was the third and nearly final delivery of Christmas baskets.

Cool sunny day going up to El Chilar with Adin, the teacher there who has a little moto taxi. His wife joined us and a woman who was visiting who I met yesterday came along.

As always, when we pull up, all the dogs came running first, knowing that I always bring these starving skinny things pounds of concentrated dog food. Then come the kids, running down the hills, or running in from the cornfields, yelling “gringuita gringuita.” The kids offered to carry the baskets filled with food, toys, clothes. These boxes were bigger than some of the kids, but there we were, forming a caravan of little bodies and big boxes.

We, all 30 of us, in parade form, climbed up the hills and down the muddy paths and through the bushes and delivered the boxes one by one, being thanked with hugs from moms, smiles and the delighted faces of little ones (the dogs came along for the event too.)

We spent time talking with the families and enjoying the breathtaking views, played with the little ones and the big ones for that matter, all happy, all having a great time, even in spite of their enlarged parasite infested bellies, their fungicide hands and muddy feet and faces.

There is something so universally truthful here with no pretenses … just beautiful land, good people, hard working campesinos and uncomplicated agendas.

Next year I want to do 100 Christmas baskets, but hopefully with volunteers! Thank you all for your support on this project …. it was an enormous success!!!!!!!

This clearly is heaven for me!
Love, Ellen

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Libros para Ninos: Project School Supplies is actively seeking donations for books in Spanish of all kinds.

The average rural school has less than 20 story books and many literally have none. We are hoping to receive donations of books for children from kindergarten to 6th grade reading level – New or Used.

Maybe you know someone coming to Honduras who can bring a few books? Or maybe you can send some books flat rate?

As 6 year old Carlito said, he “had never seen a book but would like to one day, because (he) already knows his letters.”

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Beds for Children Project

There are 286 families in Copan municipality alone that don’t have beds for the children. Many children get sick or even die due to diseases incurred by sleeping on the ground with dangerous bugs.

The good news is, we have a carpenter ready to give us a huge discount on construction and Vision Mundial will deliver for free!

So far the Project School Supplies Beds for Children program had provided beds for 40 children.

In this photo, this will be the first time in his life 12 year old Juan Carlos will be sleeping off the mud floor. His smile was so worth it!

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School Renovations Completed in Salitron Village

In partnership with the non-profit Hermanos in Hope, the final touches of the renovations to the school in Saliltron village were recently completed.

Everything both inside and out was repaired and spruced up, including new windows and a repaired floor.

Here we are painting furniture with the very involved and enthusiastic kids!

Thank you so much to everyone for your help with this project. It would be a pretty bleak school without you!

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New Regional Library for Quebracho

There are 7 communities with about 5,000 people living in an area where there is no library and very little access to books, even in the classrooms. The average classroom has between 10 and 20 books.

There is a structure which is very sound and very convenient to these communities but it needs basic repairs such as a new roof and materials like maps, books, an encyclopedia and hopefully a computer.

The library will be staffed by local teachers who will volunteer their time and services and the local villagers have offered to do the repairs for free.

The total cost of the project is around 20,000 Lempira or $1,000. Our goal is to finish in February or March.

We would love to make some connections with libraries and librarians in North America and Europe for this project. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please get in touch.

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New School Buildings Finished in Two More Rural Village

Work was recently completed at El Malcote and Santa Rosita Schools.

For the first time ever children in Santa Rosita will be studying indoors, thanks to the incredible donations and support from everyone.

These photos are of El Malcote School before and after being rebuilt. What an amazing difference!

Photos of Santa Rosita will be included in the next newsletter and on the website when the rains stop!
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New School Nearly Completed for Corizallito

Carizzalito is a village with 100 students ~ 75 in the classroom and 25 in the kinder.

The school here was beyond repair and desperately needed to be replaced. The walls literally crumble when touched. The classrooms were infested with rats with droppings on every desk and one hole in the wall as big as a watermelon. The roof leaked in many places and the beams were rotten. The floor also had huge crevices and holes in it.

The community is especially friendly. They are thrilled and grateful to have our help so far and the kids are absolutely charming!

Our goal was to build a new school here as soon as possible and it is coming along quickly. It has been promised that the roof will be on by next weekend!

In February, volunteers from Seattle will be coming to Copan to help complete the school.

Thank you so much to everyone who has helped to give the children of this village a safe and comfortable learning environment they can be proud of and will look forward to going to every day.

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New School Being Planned for Santa Cruz de Virginia

This is the story of my visit to Santa Cruz two days ago. We are considering building a school here…. if we can find a way to haul materials.

Today I had one of the more harrowing trips so far, to visit a site for a school. Curvy, bumpy mountain roads for 4 hours, mudslides, crossing rivers and my driver was projectile vomiting all along the way. If I even thought of letting out a whine or a whimper, I would just remember Greg Mortenson’s “Three Cups of Tea” and what he has to endure to do his work. This was easy in comparison!

We’d pass by shack after shack with nearly naked children standing barefoot in the mud and cold rain, usually responding to my waves and smiles with their own waves, smiles and sometimes if I was lucky, giggles.

The meeting was amazing in some ways. We met inside the large broken shack that they deemed the “school” with a mud floor, broken wooden desks and a leaky roof. I was amazed to see so many folks attending who were friendly, warm and appreciative of my help. I had brought a few boxes of school supplies as well.

We discussed building a new school on that site with bathrooms and a pila. It appears that we might get help from the municipality and other sources as well, which is very encouraging.

I literally was 2 or 3 inches taller from all the mud that clung to the bottom of my shoes. Folks cracked up when I made the comment about liking being taller.

There had to be at least 25 children in attendance, all continuously staring at me. I said to the folks “not many gringos come out this way, I imagine” and again got some laughs to break the tension of newness. Then I handed out balloons to the kids to lighten up the stares. Afterward they invited me for a lunch of spaghetti, beans, rice and tortillas (carbo loading for the trip back.)

I was literally (yes, literally!) covered in mud by the end. I had slipped so many times climbing the hills that my “bottom” had a “caked frame”, but I arrived home happy and warmed by such great people.

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If you or anyone you know would like to receive the monthly newsletter by e-mail please let Ellen know:

ellenlfinn@hotmail.com