Río de Agua Viva is a new concept. Instead of building, evangelizing, or holding medical brigades, we hold educational discussion groups. Last year's was a remarkable debut. 2014's was not the same team
as last year. We have many new faces this go around. And with many new faces came
many new talents! In the next coming blog posts I will feature short
stories about our experiences in Honduras over the last month.
First, however, I just want to introduce the team, a little about
each person's background, and what we went down to accomplish.
(Young) Nathan Whitley
(From Decatur, Alabama)
NathanWhitley is nothing short of an impressive person. He is a master of the french horn. He is a scholar and a gentleman. His faith in God
is only surpassed by his unbreakable character. Nathan returns as an
alumni from the innaugural Río
team to teach about household water filtration devices (Ceramic,
Hydraid, & Sawyer). What a smart choice for a future engineering
student at Georgia Tech.
Dr. Ben Copelan
Dr.
Coplan is a retired pediatrician and has lived in Northern California
in the East Bay for 38 years. He was employed at Kaiser Fremont for 36 years. He has 2 children, one of whom, Amelia, is a
nurse and has been on several trips to Honduras with AHMEN. His
family is orthodox Jewish by faith, and tries to keep kosher, but
believes bringing care to people is more important than rigidly
following the rules. He believes this is his 14th trip to honduras
with AHMEN and CHIMES. Ben joins the Río
team to teach the AHMEN-SIFAT Initiative workshop attendees in
Jutiapa how to better care for newborns during the first two minutes
of life, which he believes set the course for the years to come in a
child's development.
Elaine Marshall
ElaineMarshall is the Community Healthcare professor at the Ida V. MoffettSchool of Nursing at Samford University. She joined the Río
team as Lane Turbeville's mentor and Chief Assistant, and we were
blessed by her membership. Her 30+ years experience as a missionary
nurse in Mexico, community health researcher across the U.S., and
selfless years working with Alabama's homeless population added a
priceless aspect to our team. Elaine is a one of a kind type of
person. I can't wait to tell you more about what all she
accomplished, and I pray that her contribution to AHMEN and the
people of Honduras does not stop with the baseline health study she
and Lane Turbeville implemented through our team.
Nelly Fielding
A
self-described Army brat whose parents are native Puerto Rican, Nelly
Fielding is a remarkable person for so many other reasons. She is a
devout lover and follower of Jesus Christ, Spanish teacher, “NerdClub” sponsor at Curry High School, and just as smart as a whip.
Nelly joined this team after much prayer. After deciding that Jesus
had called her to travel to Honduras on the Río
team, she developed an awesome VBS for the kids at Los Laureles to
follow up on that of last year's team. Nelly also served as George
Wong-Chong's community gardening translator. I have many stories to
come about Nelly's experiences in Honduras. I believe her future
role with AHMEN will be deep and long-lasting.
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| Circling From Top Left to Bottom Left: Lane Turbeville, Suyapa Turcios, Elaine Marshall, Marlen Lawrence, Nathan Whitley, Maribel Guevara, George Wong-Chong, Nelly Fielding, Mari-Lou Wong-Chong, Emilio Bustillo, Michael Franklin (Tom Camp taking picture) |
Mari-Lou Wong-Chong
Mari-Lou is a retired
microbiologist from the VA Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA. Upon
retirement, Mari-Lou and her husband George moved to North Carolina.
She now serves at the Chair of the Brunswick County InterculturalFestival, has served as the President on the Board of Directors of
the Brunswick County Literacy Council, Multicultural division
President of the Brunswick Arts Council. She is also a distinguished
Toastmaster. Mari-Lou joined this team to put her microbiology
skills to work by teaching all about the “worms and germs” in the
Honduran water supply. This talk coupled with that of Young Nathan
Whitley from Decatur, Alabama on water filtration and the Samford
University water study Elaine Marshall and Lane Turbeville developed
for this team.
Dr. George Wong-Chong
George is a retired Environmental
Engineer in Water Pollution Control. He earned his PhD
from Cornell University and his BS in Chemical Engineering from
McGill University, Quebec Canada. When I asked George whether he was
responding to our advertisement with UMVIM because we were a water
team, he said “Nope!” George saw our request for a community
gardening expert and decided it was time to put his Master Gardener
credentials to work. He traveled with us to discuss the
basics of plants, why we need them, what plants need, and how to
start a community garden. George also developed an “Business
Essentials” class for the Los Laureles jewelry school. George's mind never stopped while we were in Honduras, and I hope neither will his volunteership.
Lane Turbeville
Lane
is a 27 years old “Jill of All Trades.” She is from Birmingham
Alabama, has a bachelor's in Studio Art from Sewanee: The Universityof the South, a bachelor's in nursing from Samford University, and
served as an AmeriCorps alum. She just finished working in the
Emergency Department at Children's of Alabama and will begin a
new job as an ICU nurse in July at UAB! She has been to
Honduras one other time before last August with the AHMEN Jungle
Team and had the experience of a lifetime providing direct patient
care. She is joining this team to prove the effectiveness of outreach
work in Honduras by leading a water project, baseline health survey,
and study.
Caden Camp
No
team is ever complete without the one and only Caden Camp. Caden is
a trained and licensed massage therapist. She is also a Río
veteran and looks forward to this year's team as a way to reconnect
with friends, spend quality time with her loved ones, and share her
special gift of loving touch by teaching massage therapy. I can't
wait to share Caden's stories from this team! (Call for a massage today at 205-300-7520)
Dr. Tom Camp (Assistant
Team Leader)
Tom Camp is a retired General Practice doctor who now works with drug
addiction. He has been traveling to Honduras on teams and helping
develop projects since 1998. One thing people notice immediately
about Tom is his bushy hair/beard and unbiased love for all those
around him. He owns llamas, has many friends in Honduras, does not
let his poor Spanish prevent him from building relationships with everyone he meets, and is
joining the Río team for the second time. Camp believes this type
of team “has the greatest potential to have positive long term
results for families in Honduras.”
Michael Franklin (Team
Leader)
I
am a Spanish and Social Science teacher by trade and hold an MA in
Women's Studies from Texas Woman's University (BA from Millsaps College). My true full-time job, however, is mission work
with AHMEN. I have been working in Honduras for over 15 years
and truly have an appreciation for the people and their culture.
This team is really special to me. I have never come back from
Honduras more invigorated and re-energized about what we do than when
I came back from this team last year. I built this year's Río team
to redouble our efforts, concentrate on the most essential teaching
areas for the ASI-Jutiapa Community Agents, and lay the lines of
communication between our partners on the ground and volunteers back
home.
We
are all different, but we traveled to Honduras together to achieve
common goals. Stay tuned to learn what we achieved. If you are already reading and feel like this team is right
for you, contact me today to learn more about how to sign up for Río
de Agua Viva – 2015!
