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Alabama Honduras Medical Educational Network
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Saturday, December 16, 2017

Volunteerism Offers Hope, Can Do More



In a time when the military has been given full permission to kick and beat protesters and invade Honduran citizens' homes our Honduran friends need our thoughts and prayers more than we can ever imagine.  They also need our action!




The impact I wish to make on altruistic activism in Honduras is great; however, I also think it is achievable.  More so, however, it is necessary.  The tens of thousands of volunteers, NGOs, non-profits, and missionaries must have some sort of network to communicate.  At this point in time, there are only loose uncoordinated efforts in place.  One of my objectives as a human rights activist then is to create the United Volunteers App of Honduras or UVA for short.




I also wish to put my name forward for the role of US Ambassador to Honduras, diplomat, public relations representative, and/or special envoy.  There is much to be done in Honduras to help local families achieve justice in their lifetimes, and much of it is achievable through many of the same mechanisms already in place.  With UVA a united collaboration of volunteers across Honduras can tend to many of the basic relief, community development, and empowerment needs of the pueblos, but macro issues like a nationwide clean water and reliable healthcare infrastructure, for example, are jobs for international cooperation.




Take a look at where my mind is on the long-term liberating future of Honduras.  Buy a copy of my book, and let me know what you think.  Drop a donation off on my GoFundMe account.  Read and share any of my dozens of blogs widely.  My personal relationship with God fuels my passion for sustainable, green, justice-filled development in Honduras, but I would not be doing God any favors by trying to tackle another nation's problems on my own.  That is why I'm asking for your help.



Together, we are the difference.






Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Volunteers to Honduras Left With Enormous Responsibility


It has officially been two weeks since the 2017 Honduran Presidential election.  Both the sitting President and his opposition Salvador Nasralla have claimed victory, but there is no President elect.  Can you imagine if after the contentious 2016 US Presidential election no clear victor emerged after two weeks of protests?  What would Donald Trump have been clamoring on about then?  How would Hillary Clinton have responded?  What about Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein?



As I would hope would happen in the United States under such a predicament, the Honduran people took to the streets.  First of all, every Honduran should have been marching in the streets anyway.  It was illegal for President Hernandez to even run for reelection in the first place.  As dictated in the Honduran Constitution, the office of the President of the Republic of Honduras may only be filled by the same person for one term.  During the 2009 Coup, former President Manuel Zelaya was kidnapped in the night and flown off to Costa Rica in his pajamas for merely suggesting the people vote on whether to hold a vote to rewrite this particular article of the Constitution.  Fast forward eight years, and the National Party (Partido Nacional) that took power during the Coup convinced their hand-picked Supreme Court justices and party loyalists in the Honduran Congress to ignore the legality of a Hernandez run for reelection.  Yes, the Honduran people are in the streets protesting the current President's shrewd Machiavelian attempt at becoming the next US-backed dictator in Latin America.  However, what kicked off the protests appear in the following timeline:




  • November 26 - Honduran voters go to the polls to decide who the next President of Honduras will be.  The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) closes polls by 5 PM in several large polling stations.  Both candidates declare victory as the TSE delays its promised release of election results for several hours. People begin to claim fraud and take to the streets.
  • November 27 - TSE releases initial election results showing Nasralla in the lead by a 5% margin.  And then silence..Except in the streets.  Roads, bridges, banks, and stores become littered with protesters.
  • November 30 - After three days of no news the TSE releases data indicating Nasralla's 5% lead had disappeared and that Hernandez appeared to be the clear victor.  More silence..
  • December 1 - Due to the nationwide protests, fires burning in the streets, and 8 murders of citizens by members of the military, President Hernandez declared a nationwide 6 PM - 6 AM curfew.  Citizens see that the unresolved issues of the 2009 Coup have returned full, front, and center.
  • December 2 - The "Caserolazos" and a true people's revolution begin.  Opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla calls on the people of Honduras to continue protesting within the confines of the curfew by marching through the streets banging on pots and pans.
  • December 4 & 5 - The Honduran Police and COBRA special forces unit refuse orders to suppress the rights of the people to protest.



And the debacle continues without any clear indication from the TSE or President Hernandez.  What can we conclude from the lack of information and transparency during this most-recent election?

One bit of news did come out during the last two weeks, and it may reveal the most about why this particular election is playing out so slowly on the world stage.  Amidst an election following the tumultuous timeline above featuring a candidate barred from running for reelection by his own country's Constitution, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared Honduras is proficiently fighting corruption and protecting human rights.  Doesn't it seem odd and tone deaf that the United States would make such a declaration during a highly-contested Presidential election?  Well, tone deaf is something we have quickly come to expect from this administration, but doesn't it seem doubly odd that such an announcement comes when the results of this election could remove from power the party with which the United States has been funneling millions of security dollars?





No, no, it is not odd.  The United States tacitly supported the 2009 deposing of President Manuel Zelaya, and the nod from the US State Department is a signal to the world which Honduran candidate it backs, regardless of what the Honduran people think, want, need, or deserve.  I mean who are we kidding?  The US signs off on the Honduran government's record on human rights and anti-corruption measures less than two years after the political assassination of Berta Caceres.  Tillerson's announcement comes less than two years after President Hernandez found himself implicated in a multi-million dollar robbery of the nation's social security system for no other purpose than to fund his reelection campaign.  No, there is no surprise here.  The human rights abuses and corruption that ebbs and flows like the Caribbean sea along the coastline are just what the US State Department likes to see.  They see a vulnerability it can work with, an insecurity it can exploit.

With vulnerabilities and lapses in security the US can pump more money into developing the security state abroad.  With vulnerabilities in the security the US can continue its violent and self-hemorrhaging "War on Drugs."  With vulnerabilities in human rights US companies can continue to take advantage of the impoverished and pay abysmal wages to workers in the maquiladora and plantation industries.  With insecurities in infrastructure the US, even in its crumbling state, can still appear to provide a "1st World" lifestyle to its own citizens.  However, these avenues of exercising power are not the end game in and of itself.  The US is actually only interested in wielding power.  Instead of stepping in and using its Monroe Doctrine in 2009 to say NO to the Coup, the US sat back and waited for the regularly scheduled elections to, according to Hillary Clinton, "render the question of Zelaya moot."  Now, in 2017, the US is sitting back and saying "Nothing to see here" in the midst of a people's revolution against a US-backed strongman vying for his position in the Dictators Almanac.  Am I being cynical? Yes, I am.  Is there A LOT of truth to my observation?  If you doubt, just consider the fact that the US Embassy has been without an ambassador since July.  Where does this leave ultimate control?  At the very top is the answer, and as a result, you see what type of response Honduras gets from the leader of the free world amidst an imploding exercise in democracy..."Everything is just the way we want it."




But what of what the Honduran people want?  Don't their wishes and dreams matter?  As a long-time volunteer in Honduras it is important to me that the macro structures keeping Hondurans down on their luck improve in such a way that Honduran families can employ the micro tools available to them as a route to freedom from injustice.  As such, international volunteers whose outreach focuses on Honduras must organize themselves.  I am more convinced than ever that the seemingly nefarious attitudes of the United States and current Honduran government do not offer successful top down solutions.  I say #FueraJOH & #FueraUSA!



Volunteers of Honduras, unite!  If we intend to put the good will and intention we have to meaningful use in Honduras, then it is time to organize our efforts.  While US foreign policy will not detour much in Latin America from Obama to Trump.  Our collaborative efforts can make a difference in the lives of Honduran families if we just take the time to connect.  Click here to do just that!



Together, we are the difference.



Monday, November 27, 2017

#GivingTuesday Donation Profile: Cris and AHMEN's Community Empowerment Program


Now that #HondurasEleccion2017 & #HondurasDecide have ended there still isn't any clarity in just who the next president of Honduras will be. What is crystal clear, however, is the success of AHMEN's Community Empowerment Program. Read about Cristofer's adventure in "post-graduate" education and consider making a recurring donation to AHMEN's Community Empowerment Program on tomorrow's #GivingTuesday.

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My name is Roky Castillo Ruiz (Cristofer). I am a Garifuna from the community of Ciriboya, Iriona Colón. From an early age I was able to develop a social conscience since my mother was always involved in community organizations.


I always participated, since I was 11 years old, in the first public Garifuna Hospital working in different activities during the construction and execution. I then had to move to the city of La Ceiba so I could finish my secondary studies. At the end of my studies, I seized the opportunity to study the career of natural and environmental resources at the National Agricultural University (UNA) where it was necessary to collaborate with the students of a organization of Garifuna students called “Gari UNA” formed by the directors with the object of managing free spaces for Garifuna students. Because Garifuna are always tied to their communities, I decided to begin my research on Biophysical and Environmental Socioeconomic Diagnosis of the community of Ciriboya with participating scientists and other community leaders.



By the end of my university studies I participated as a volunteer in brigades of the organization AMHEN doing rapid analysis of the quality of the water in the communities of Garifunas of Iriona and the communities of Francisco Bulnes and in the Miskitu communities of Raista, Belen, and Cocovila. In addition,I participated in the AHMEN Community Empowerment Program workshops on water quality, hygiene and the security of the members of the community and forms of water purification.



AHMEN’s Community Empowerment Program works with the National University of Agriculture in its Escuelas de Campo program. Where I was located in the Garifuna community of Iriona we conducted work studies on revived agricultural production with organic composting as a requirement for food sovereignty. We also train and practices in the areas of climate change, risk management, water quality, solid waste management, and corporatism.












In the trip to La Mosquitia, I met Dr. Byron Morales, a facilitator inhe program SIFAT, with an office in Alabama, USA. We had a conversation about the respect of AHMEN’s Community Empowerment Program, its former relationship with SIFAT, and the inclusion of UNA as a training partner. The conversation woke me up! This year we achieved to communicate with the director Kathy Bryson and I was able to participate in a training at the SIFAT campus in Lineville, Al. SIFAT was an unforgettable experience to share with other impressive people from different countries around the world. I learned a lot about conflict resolution, multicultural perspectives, cultural sensitivity, and dialogue during my stay in Alabama. In addition I learned the hard skills of:


Major Causes of World Hunger.


Community Development Principles.


Asset- Baset Development.


Appropriate Technology


Participatory learning & action.


Child Survival Technologies.


Agriculture Practicum.


Fuel Efficient cook stoves


Solar Cooking


Leaf Processing for Nutrition.


Child Nutrition.


Team building activities.


Water Technologies.


Community Empowerment Through Microfinance


Slum Experience in the Global Village


Tour of Local Family Farm.



Working at SIFAT brought my training from UNA into a new light where I saw the world as experiencing the same problems as my home of Ciriboya. This uniting of knowledge and love for others impacted me personally. I have begun putting in practice what I learned about the benefits of using local resources to form the basis of appropriate technology. But it is important to keep forming academically to obtain new knowledge, new technology that can adapt to our indigenous communities. In this process I wish to continue my graduate studies on how sustainable practices form the basis of community development.


Please make a donation to AHMEN’s Community Empowerment Program. It is changing my life and all of the neighborhoods around me. (Under "Add special instructions" type "For Byron's Workshops.")




Go with God

(Para Hispanoblantes)


Mi nombre es Roky Castillo Ruiz Garifuna (Cristofer) de la Comunidad de Ciriboya, Iriona Colon.

Yo hice mis estudios Primarios y parte de la secundaria. Durante esta etapa, logre desarrollar una conciencia social debido a que mi madre siempre estaba involucrada en organizaciones comunitarias, además, tuve participando desde los 11 años. En el primer hospital popular, Garifuna, colobre en diferentes actividades durante la construccion y ejecucion. Luego tuve que moverme a la Ciudad de la Ceiba para poder terminar mis estudios de la secundaria.

Al terminar, se presentó la oportunidad de estudiar la carrera de Recursos Naturales y Ambiente en la Universidad Nacional de Agricultura donde fue necesario conformar con los compañeros. Una organización “Gari UNA” formando parte de la directiva con el objetivo de gestionar espacios para los compañeros garífunas. Siempre con el compromiso que tenemos con nuestras comunidades decidí hacer mi trabajo de investigación “Diagnóstico Socio Económico Biofísico y Ambiental de la comunidad de Ciriboya, con metodologías participativas, logramos el involucramiento de los líderes de las comunidades. Al terminar mis estudios universitarios, participe como voluntario en brigadas con la organización AMHEN , haciendo análisis rápida sobre la calidad de agua en las comunidades garifunas de Iriona y las comunidades de Francisco Bulnes y gracias a Dios en especifico Raista, belén, Cocovila comunidades de los hermanos Miskitu. Además,visitamos talleres sobre Calidad de agua, Higiene y seguridad a los miembros de las comunidades y formas fáciles de purificación de agua.

Nosotros trabajamos con la Universidad Nacional de Agricultura en específico el programa Escuelas de Campo ,donde estuve ubicado en la Comunidades Garifunas de Iriona, acompañando a los centros educativos reactivado de la producción de agricultura

con la participación de los estudiantes para promover la producción orgánica como parte de la soberanía alimentaria. Además de capacitaciones y prácticas sobre Cambio Climático también vimos las gestiones de riesgo, Calidad de agua, manejo de Residuos Sólidos, y cooperativismo.




En el viaje a la Mosquitia, conocí al Dr. Byron Morales, Facilitador en el programa de SIFAT. En la oficina en Alabama, USA, estuvimos conversando al respecto del programa y me despertó el interés de participar en el programa. Este año logramos comunicarnos con la directora Kathy Bryson y pudimos lograr participar en este digno programa.

SIFAT fue una experiencia única e inolvidable. Compartiendo con personas impresionantes de diferentes países y diferentes formas de pensar generó una diversidad y riquezas al momento de debatir pero también aprendes a respetar la opinión de los demás y esto era parte de la convivencia.

Los temas aprendidos son los siguientes:





1.Major Causes of World Hunger.

2.Community Development Principles.

3. Asset- Baset Development.

4. Appropriate Technology

5. Participatory learning & action.

6. Child Survival Technologies.

7. Agriculture Practicum.

8. Fuel Efficient cook stoves

9. Solar Cooking

10. Leaf Processing for Nutrition.

11. Child Nutrition.

12.team building activities.

13. Water Technologies.

14. Community Empowerment with microfinance

15. Slum Experience in the Global Village

16. Tour of Local Family Farm.




SIFAT es una combinación de Conocimiento y amor por los demás, donde considero que personalmente me impactó aún más a desarrollar la conciencia Social de regresar a nuestras comunidades y seguir aportando granitos de arena para el desarrollo de nuestras comunidades. Nosotros pusimos en práctica lo que aprendimos con el principio de tecnologías aplicadas de desarrollar con lo que tenemos disponible y de esta manera como efecto multiplicador contaminamos de forma positiva a toda la población.

Pero es importante seguir formándose académicamente para obtener nuevos conocimientos y nuevas tecnologías que se puedan adaptar a nuestras comunidades de Garifunas y Honduras en General. Por tal razón yo considero buscar la forma de aprender inglés y de esta manera poder hacer mis estudios de maestría en el país de los E.E.U.U para orientar y desarrollar Comunitario Sostenible con tecnologías apropiadas.

Para donar al fondo de los talleres de empoderamiento comunitario de AHMEN, haz click aqui. Haz una nota que tu donacion es para "Byron's Workshops."


Thursday, November 9, 2017

Salvation on Earth - I preached on World Communion Sunday

Before reading the below sermon I wrote and delivered on World Communion Sunday please take a moment to share my GoFundMe page. This missionary needs your help raising money to pay for graduate school! The reason why I am pursuing a doctorate of educational leadership and learning in organizations is to better serve the people of Honduras. It is with my education that I will be able to tackle some of the macro issues preventing so many Honduran families from being able to lift themselves out of poverty. Do I think it is possible to transform Honduras into a place filled with justice and a vibrant economy? You bet I do! How is it possible? Read my book, but start with a preview of my theology below. And don't forget to share my cause https://www.gofundme.com/help-missionary-with-tuition!




_________________________

Good Morning,
On this World Communion Sunday our dear Pastor Stryker has asked me to present today’s sermon in both English and Spanish.  So I guess I better say “Buenos Dias” also.  Buenos Dias!
I want to start off by saying thank you to Pastor Stryker for inviting me to speak today.  Our former Pastor Capron calls on me from time to time to speak and present to his church in Gurley, Alabama when he is going to be out of town or is out for some reason.  So this is quite different today having Reverend Stryker right here with us.  Knowing I would have a minister scholar right here next to me forced me to do a little more homework, prepare a little more, and stick to standard theology.  However, I heard last week’s sermon concluded we all interpret the Bible in different way. So, Pastor, let me know if I start to veer too much of course.  My friend Vince Morrow has referred to me as “Wind Bag” Franklin ever since the first, and only, time he has heard me speak. So, Mike and Mary, if Pastor gives you the sign, just start playing the next hymn.  Danny Arnold, let’s put 14 minutes on the clock.
Congregation, let us pray.  Padre nuestro que estás en los cielos, Santificado sea tu Nombre, Venga tu reino, Hágase tu voluntad, En la tierra como en el cielo, Danos hoy el pan de este día, y perdona nuestras deudas, como nosotros perdonamos nuestros deudores, y no nos dejes caer en al tentación, sino que líbranos del malo. Amen.
World Communion Sunday
What does it mean to be a part of a world communion Sunday?  What makes a world communion Sunday different than any regular communion Sunday?  We will still recite the same readings, eat the same bread, and drink the same juice.  Salvation is promised just the same. What I think makes this World Communion Sunday different then is the fact that on this day we celebrate the uniting potential of the church for the world’s salvation.  Today is a reminder that, yes, our individual, personal relationship with Jesus is the stairway to heaven, but the Last Supper was not a dinner for one.
In probably one of the most-recited verses in the New Testament, John 3:16 we learn that God so loved the world that Jesus came to earth to die for our sins and give humans the opportunity for everlasting life.  Eternal life is not a guarantee, but it is a check that is cashed through a personal commitment to turning one’s own life to God.  There is a Christian we all admire for embodying a full relationship with Jesus, and whether we know it or not, we are that person to someone else also.  It might be envy; however, we may also be employing what our reading in Philippians says to “value others above ourselves.”  Christians need not worry about their salvation if their hearts beat for Jesus; however, our daily walk with the Lord must also match our interest in joining Jesus in heaven, our grandparents in heaven, our friends in heaven.
The Great Commandment explains what is written in John Chapter 3 in a different way.  In our cliff note, synopses-driven world, where headlines and not the article drive the news cycle, Matthew 22:36-40 sums up what Christians all over the world must do to access salvation in heaven.  First and foremost our job as Christians is to love God with all of our bodies and souls, with every breath we take, with every bite of chocolate cake, en cada minuto de cada hora durante el dia. Hay que tener el amor de Dios en todas las palabras que hablamos y en las palabras que oimos tambien.  This isn’t an easy proposition.  We are human; we sin.  It is as difficult to never stray from personifying God’s love as much as it is for a Palestinian Christian to visit Jesus’ birthplace, as difficult to trust the drinking water in Flint Michigan, and as difficult to access healthcare in war torn Syria.  Our own human frailty is mended by knowing Jesus as Lord, but how do we love the Lord?  I interpret the 2nd half of the Great Commandment as the “How to Guide” of loving God – loving thy neighbor as thyself.  You see what I mean?  Cual es el valor de salvación personal si no afecta su relación con otras personas?  What is the value of personal salvation if it doesn’t affect your relationship with others?  What I mean to say is that we show God love by also loving every other earth inhabitant.
Yes, the message I want to share with you today is that World Communion Sunday, every communion Sunday, is a reminder to commune with others as God does with us.  For what good is saving your own soul if you are not also an example for others to do the same?  What is the value of everlasting life if your impact here on earth is not impactful?  Your life here on earth can be as eternal as it will be in heaven if your temporary life perpetuates positivity after you are gone.  Consider the impact of this missions-based church on Walker County.  How many hungry bellies have been fed?  How many souls have been nourished by sermons from this pulpit?  How many friends have been made here through kind words echoed through these hallways, and how many utility bills for cash-strapped families have been paid from our church’s offices?  How many children in our midst learned from our leaders that to love of God is to love others without question?  How many floods of tears in our communities have been gated by God’s love in action?
How we use our bodies here on earth is as equally as important as where our souls go after our time on earth is spent.  For it is not nearly enough that we fill heaven with God-lovers.  It is not good enough for God that all of earth finds salvation in heaven; the job of Christians, non-Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims alike, the job of all of us who believe in an all loving higher power is to usher in a heaven on earth.  In Exodus, as Moses said to the Israelites in the desert when they cried out for water believing that they were to die of thirst, “Is God not with us?”  God is with us, and as such, our jobs as God’s servants is to make our towns, states, nations, waters, and skies thrones for God, to make heaven on earth.
God does not wish poverty, sickness, loneliness, or disenfranchisement on anyone.  So I say to you River of Living Water UMC, continue to do what you do.  "One way of praying is in a place of worship, another way is in the streets."  Continue to nourish, heal, and comfort everyone.  Call out injustice every chance you get.  If every Christian around the world would unite in love and overcome the divisions of humanity, suffering could be a thing of the past.  If there were some sort of network where all of the volunteers who work in Honduras could see how, where, and when all others volunteer I truly believe our friends there would know justice within a lifetime.  Of a like mind with God we receive our salvation in heaven. However, as Christians worldwide as an expression God’s luminescence in our daily lives all earth inhabitants can enjoy salvation on earth.  Let your light shine!

___________________________

Join me. Help share my #GoFundMe page to help me fully approach the BIG issues affecting the Honduran people. Please help me to do so without crippling debt. For like the Honduran economy, neither I nor the Honduran government can completely focus on the problems facing Honduran families with gross outstanding debt.

Together, we are the difference.




Monday, October 9, 2017

Gracias FCHS!! - The Great Shoe Box Race of 2017

At the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year my Spanish teaching colleagues and I decided we would like to participate in AHMEN's Christmas Shoe Box program.  One day last month we all took our classes to the auditorium and explained the project and asked if students wanted to participate.  Hoping they would say "YES" Señora Land, Señorita Hill, Señor Roberts, and I hung sign-up sheets in the Franklin County High School auditorium and asked students to sign up to bring 10 of the same item to help fill the shoe boxes as part of a collaborative effort.


And boy did they!!



Knowing that pure altruism would not motivate our teenage scholars Señorita Hill devised a plan to actually get our students to BRING in the items. We told our classes that whichever teacher's students brought in the most items would be rewarded with a fiesta. We didn't need to say anything else. Almost immediately the items began to flow into our classrooms.


After it was all said and done, the Franklin County High School Spanish Department amassed 200 filled shoe boxes to send to impoverished children in Honduras.


The generosity and love our students showed over the last 2 months has been overwhelming. I could not believe how well our students came together for a purpose greater than themselves. Much of what we do in education can seem quite bogus on occasion. Our state standards 2 & 5 remind us as a department to encourage our students to be part of a world community, and our students have done just that. An entire community of children in Honduras who would otherwise go without any presents during the holidays will now experience joy and excitement because of our student leaders here in Franklin County.
And....we gave all of the Spanish classes a fiesta!!

I give special thanks to my colleagues for supporting this memorable project and to my darling wife for letting us use her 4-Runner. I hope that with this gesture the children of Honduras know that the world is cheering for them.





Together, we are the difference.






Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Capturing the Moment, Developing Memories: Eric Peterson's Story

AHMEN's Rio de Agua Viva team was blessed beyond measure this year in many ways.  One which stands out most to me is that we were able to recruit a photographer named Eric Peterson to join the team.  Just look at some of his nature shots!

If these pictures weren't impressive enough, Eric is also quite the writer.  Keep reading to learn about Eric's experience in Honduras.





The Smiles of the Children
By: Eric Peterson

I’m not sure what prompted me to undertake this journey. If it was guilt or some noble ideal that made it feel like I had a duty to help where there was need. I went on this mission with the intention of somehow making a positive influence on the lives of people who were less fortunate. It was a sort of paying it forward exercise to make myself part of a larger world.





Our work in rural Honduras helps give individuals in the community the knowledge and tools to independently tackle health and economic issues which they are experiencing. I truly believe our work will help make a difference.

I expected to see a Honduras which was locked in poverty and bordering on despair. What I experienced was completely different.





While there is poverty and a lack of resources in many areas, I did not see despair. Instead I saw a refreshing simple happiness. I saw children without toys or wifi exuding a pure joy I rarely see in the US. I saw a sense of community not often seen in cities I have lived in. These children were laughing and playing making fun by playing a "ring around the rosey" type game, or if they were lucky maybe they had a single soccer ball which was more than enough to keep them smiling and entertained. They lacked many things we would view as necessities but were happy with what they had.





I came away from this experience with the feeling that maybe we aren’t rich after all. That maybe these “poor” Hondurans are much more developed than we are. Our technology and higher standard of living have saddled us with expectations and aspirations that in many ways prevent us from being happy. We are obsessed with trying to climb the corporate ladder or comparing our lot with the family next door. The make of our car or our address have become more important than having fun with family and friends.


So yes, this experience has changed how I view the world and how I will interact with it. I will change not out of guilt for having too much while others have so little, but because material things are not necessary to be happy.

The smiles of the children and the lessons I learned from them are what I will remember most from this trip. I set out to help others and in doing so helped myself.




I couldn't have said it better myself.  Peace and happiness are not consumer goods wrapped in plastic with a bar code slapped on the back.  They come from within, and many times, they come as a result of having to do without.  

If you would like to join AHMEN's Rio de Agua Viva team, donate to our projects, or help support a team member in raising their team dues, contact me today!!





Together, we are the difference.



Thursday, August 24, 2017

Río de Agua Viva 2017 - Christian Ecofeminist Mission Work in Honduras!!







When it comes to sending volunteers in the mission field, River of Living Water United Methodist Church in Jasper, Alabama is one of a kind. I don't think they can even count how many different volunteers the church has sent to Honduras over the last 18 years AHMEN has been up and running. Nonetheless, every volunteer from the past continues to set an example for future volunteers. In my next two blog posts I will be writing about the character and accomplishments of ROLW UMC's three volunteers who joined this year's Río de Agua Viva team.


The first individual I would like to tell you about is named Autumn Thornton. Autumn attended her first meeting to join the Río team back in January, and she immediately took to the idea of teaching a lesson on ecofeminism. While this topic is one that I have been promoting in mission work for several years now, I was elated when I heard from the community agents in Raistá that they wanted to learn more about both ecology and feminism. What a grand opportunity, I thought, to try out ecofeminism as part of Christian mission work in Honduras. What an even better stroke of luck that our team recruited a volunteer to teach it. And wouldn't you know it, another woman named Madison Lachney joined the team and wanted to partner with Autumn!


In addition to teaching the concept of ecofeminism to sixty community agents using art and history, Autumn and Madison led discussions on two Latin American feminists: Frida Kahlo and Berta Cáceres. It was an amazing sight to watch as two young white women from the southern U.S. talked about two Latin American feminist icons to Miskito women from the most-isolated parts of Honduras. Furthermore, Autumn and Madison led the group in planting moringa trees as a way to center local feminist unity around nature and combating malnutrition.







What was truly noteworthy, however, was the fact that Autumn and Madison were able to get the Miskito community agents to write letters to their governments expressing their concerns and needs. In a volatile world where the government "doesn't care" about indigenous communities like the Miskito, it is a true mark of empowerment that the ASI-Raistá community agents felt confident enough to communicate their grievances.


Below are the letters that members of ASI-Raistá wrote. (I have erased identifying information for the protection of the letters' authors.)















Autumn plans to mail the letters to the President of Honduras and the US Embassy in Honduras to help raise awareness of the needs in and around Raistá.  She also plans to focus on mobilizing a specific group of women to formally meet and discuss ecofeminist issues on a regular basis.  

To continue workshops like ASI-Raistá, AHMEN needs donors.  Go to www.honduranmissions.com.  Click the "donate" button, and describe your donation as "ASI - Byron's Workshops."  Please also email me your name and information so I can thank you personally.  You may also send a check made out to "AHMEN" with "ASI - Byron's Workshops" on the "For" line to:

AHMEN/Sharon Bowie 
516 Ridgeview Dr
Jasper, Al 35504


Please consider scheduling a monthly donation of as little as $10 per month. If you would like to learn more about how to join our Río de Agua Viva team, contact me today!



Together, we are the difference.





Friday, August 4, 2017

The Importance of Being Earnest --- And Meeting Mishka!

Last month I wrote about all the traveling my wife Lane and I have done this summer.  Including airports and the United States we spent time in 3 countries and 10 states in less than a month!  When we returned we were zonked!  I don't know how the Presidential candidates do it for 2 years straight!  I guess that's why I should set my sights on Congress first to build up my endurance.

Well, today I want to share with you the feelings I experienced during our milestone tour.  2017 will always go down in history as the year I got married to my soulmate at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama.  It will always be the year I went on the best honeymoon any guy could ever ask for to El Dorado Casitas Royale in Riviera Maya Mexico.  Furthermore, 2017 will always be the year that I received the Applegate-Dorros Peace and International Understanding Award from the National Education Association.

These major life events have in common that they all happened within a few months of each other, but each also made me feel important.  Getting married and being a part of a wedding meant the spotlight was all on Lane and me.  We felt like celebrities with all of our friends and family surrounding us and celebrating our love for each other.  The entire weekend was just lovely; Walt Disney could not have delivered more notable nuptials.  On the other hand, being pampered like royalty on our honeymoon gave me a whole different feeling.  Although my cousin Mark may disagree, I don't think I ever knew pampering until I set foot inside the grounds of Karisma's El Dorado Resort.  I am almost scared of how accustomed I became to my every need being taken care of at the drop of a hat.  Luckily Lane and my money ran out just before I might have experienced a true personality shift.  Finally, the NEA Human and Civil Rights awards ceremony invoked a feeling of pride and the validation I wrote about in my previous blog.  It was a completely humbling experience to watch my face, our work in Honduras, plastered on the big screen in front of 2,000 people and be labeled one who acts on behalf of "peace and international understanding."  Thank you to everyone who has made me feel so important over the last few months.

Watch My Acceptance Speech


But what truly makes me feel important is to know God sent me an angel in Lane, an angel who would support me in my mission in Honduras.  I feel significant because God trusted me to go on a luxury honeymoon and still have the conviction to continue my work in Honduras, knowing all well I could quit and enjoy more down time anytime I wanted.  What makes me feel influential is that my passion for social justice was recognized by people much more powerful than me.  That I was able to communicate the need for #JusticeForHonduras in my lifetime is why I write this blog.  All this being said, what will make me feel like a paramount member of society is if we can actually achieve that justice in my lifetime.

What is fundamentally important then is facilitating real change in the world.  I am ready for the next step.  It is past time to take greater action.  Long gone is the time to worry about finding a band aid to plug the locks when the dam itself is the problem.  If you are interested in joining me in Honduras on an educational team with AHMEN please contact me today.  If you are interested in developing real solutions for empowering the impoverished of Honduras, please contact me today.  If you are interested in donating to my personal projects in Honduras, please contact me today.

Without your help I won't be able to take that next step, for it is together that we are the difference.





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Not to be forgotten from the many amazing memories this summer is when I got to see a performance by the Bermuda-borne reggae artist Mishka whose music speaks to everything I believe.