Help for Honduras

Charlotte F. Ruoff is president of Friends United Inc., a not-for-profit serving teachers in Honduras for 23 years. She was a teacher in the Independence School District for 26 years, most of them at Spring Branch Elementary School. Friends United started with her and two other Independence School District teachers, Kirk Arnold and Paulette Baker. They traveled in 1987 to Honduras to visit a school that had been exchanging pen pal letters and discovered the need for teacher training. They were invited back to give seminars the next year and Friends United began its work.



1When was the group’s most recent trip, and how did it go? Working tours with Friends United take many forms. The tour that went from Feb. 20 to March 1 was exploratory in nature as we visited several of the resource centers managed by Friends United and did survey work for a new project that will include five kindergartens and five grade schools in a model school program. The program is located in the capital city of Tegucigalpa.



2 What’s the work on these trips? Depending on the project, everything from painting a new center to literally establishing a library, providing shelving, purchasing and labeling books, and giving a seminar on the proper way to teach reading. Sometimes it is necessary to improve the lighting. Much of our support has come from Rotary clubs, especially the Independence Rotary Club, and part of the work may be to meet with Rotarians in Honduras in order to acquire another site for a resource center. A church group from the Highlands Community of Christ has spent their tour time repairing and painting an entire school. Being true to Friends United’s mission, however, they also provide a small library and offer short seminars to the teachers before they leave.



3How did you get into this? That is a long question. Three of us desired to visit the school in Zambrano that exchanged pen pal letters. But the real break through came by accident. A teacher from Honduras brought her 3-year-old daughter to the United States for medical reasons. To make a long story short, Bessy Pacheco and her daughter Marissa came to our home, where she stayed for three months. Bessy was a fifth grade teacher, as was I, and we bonded immediately. Bessy has been our director of Friends United in Honduras, selecting teachers to come to the United States for training and directing us to the schools that will be most helpful in the program. She and others give numerous seminars during the year.



4What’s the biggest cultural challenge for your teams in this effort? Communication and not necessarily the language. It is often difficult finding the right person who is responsible for the job and getting responses. There can be a major shift in working with the government with every election although we have had reasonable support, especially on the local level. Sending supplies that have been donated or purchased economically is both expensive and difficult. Everyone who goes on a working tour takes 45 pounds of teaching supplies in their personal baggage.



5What characteristics do volunteers need for this work, and how can a person sign up? In some cases, a strong back but mainly a love for education and a belief that education can change the world. A command of the Spanish language is not necessary unless you are conducting a seminar. We usually provide a beginning class to tour members so they will have a feeling for the culture. It is almost impossible to explain the extent of the Friends United program even though we have PowerPoint presentations and share our story over the Internet and in our Web site. In the country, on the ground, with paint brush or library book in hand, is the best way to explain the program. Anyone interested in what we do is welcome to participate in the work load. Of course a tour member must provide for their own expenses which are usually about $1,600. This covers air, hotels and busses and some meals. Interested persons may contact me at 816-298-6641.