#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."

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!

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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!

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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.