How to Help with Honduras Hurricane Relief

I know you have been keeping up with the news that our friends in Honduras were hit by not only one hurricane in the last few weeks but two.  Rought estimates say 75,000 families have lost their homes.  Many more times that have lost all of their worldly possessions.  Still, others have had their fields and water supplies flooded with salt water.  Times are tough in a country already complicated by outbreaks of COVID-19 and Dengue Fever.

I want to keep this message short because you know what is coming next.  I am asking you to help in as many of the following ways as you can:

1.) Donate money to AHMEN online here (click the pencil to “add special instructions to the seller” and type “Michael Franklin – Hurricane Relief” in the box) or by sending a check.  Make your check out to AHMEN with "Michael Franklin – Hurricane Relief" on the "for" line.  Mail to 516 Ridgeview Dr. Jasper, AL 35504

 

If you donate, please email/call me to let me know how much so I can be on the lookout.  If everyone who saw this blog gave $50, we could really address the truly urgent needs of the communities.

 

2.) Send a box of relief supplies!  Check the flyer for mailing information and packing lists!  Pass this flyer out at church, school, around town, and at Thanksgiving/Christmas. (Again email/call me to let me know to expect your package.)

Please share this flyer!

3.) Come join the fun and help pack the container on Dec 5 (an January date to be determined) at the AHMEN Container Loading.  3220 HWY 31 South, Building F, Decatur, AL 35603

 

4.) Start making preparations to return to Honduras with the Río de Agua Viva team summer 2021.

 

I know our own communities are hurting.  It is okay to help them too, but consider the families in Honduras who had nothing when you met them.  They live only by faith now.

 

Together, we are the difference.

Honduran Relief: Clean Water Request

Good Morning Friends and Neighbors,

The situation in Honduras is bad.  It is bad in Nicaragua and Guatemala too, but as my Uncle Tom would say "God sent me to Honduras."  I need not remind you that the families who have worked diligently over the years with AHMEN's Community Empowerment Program "Agentes Comunitarios de Salud Integral" learned much about clean water.  In fact, they taught us that we can't talk about clean water the same way they can.  That is why Lane Franklin built an ongoing relationship between AHMEN's Río de Agua Viva team and Agua con Bendiciones (Water With Blessings).  You see, instead of gringos like you and me trying to teach a subject we have never experienced, Agua con Bendiciones empowers Honduran women to teach about clean water based on their own personal experiences seeing what consuming unpotable water does to a family, a community, to a country.  This relationship between the Río team and Agua con Bendiciones continues into its seventh year and has resulted in an unexpected offspring.

No, Sister Larraine and I are not having a baby!  Lane and I aren't yet either.  No, something even more miraculous happened.  I met Luis Beltrán a few years back during a meeting with the former leader of ACSI, Dr. Byron Morales.  Byron introduced Luis as "the future president of Honduras."  During that meeting Luis made his case for our expanding ACSI into his home community of Arizona, outside Tela.  He has continued to make that case and proved his interest in working with AHMEN to these ends by shadowing Agua con Bendiciones as a representative of Río de Agua Viva!  This devotion to and solidarity with his community did not go unnoticed.  In fact, it is being rewarded.

An anonymous benefactor has donated the funds necessary for 500 Sawyer Water Filters to be distributed to Arizona if AHMEN can come up with the money to provide transportation, food, and lodging for Agua con Bendiciones to come do a comprehensive clean water training in there.  Folks, all we have to do is raise $900, and 5,000+ individuals will enjoy the gift of clean water by Christmas.

Will you consider a donation of any amount?  Donate online here at www.honduranmissions.com/donate-1.  Make sure to click on the pencil to "add special instructions to the seller" to specify "Michael Franklin - Clean Water" as the destination account for your donation.  Send me an email too so that I can verify that the money is on its way.

You can also donate by making out your check to AHMEN with "Michael Franklin - Clean Water" on the "for" line.  Mail to 516 Ridgeview Dr. Jasper, AL 35504.  Also, let me know the check is in the mail so I can let our financial gurus know. 

This is a one in a million shot for our newly-found friend in Arizona.  How awesome will it be to glorify God by sharing the life-giving gift of clean water amidst a Dengue and COVID-19 outbreak in the aftermath of two major hurricanes?!

 

We are small without those we serve.  We do little without your support.  We are nothing without the Lord’s purpose, but TOGETHER, we are the difference.

Hurricane Eta: Damage in Iriona

As promised, here are the numbers for the Garifuna communities past Limon.  I call on each and every one of us to pray and donate what is possible.  If you have clothes you can donate, we can get these on the fall container to Honduras.  This needs to happen fast.  The container will leave in just a few weeks.  If you would rather donate to hurricane relief, click here and make sure to put community agent relief fund in the comment section.  Make sure to send me a message too so I can be on the lookout for your donation.  We are not in the clear yet.  Another tropical depression is heading toward Honduras in the coming days.

Punta Piedra
Destroyed house 2

Cassava cultivation 80 plots

Bananas destroyed 10 plots

 

Cusuna

Destroyed houses 7

Roofs destroyed10

Totally destroyed floors 20

Cassava cultivation 120 plots

Banana crop destroyed 20 plots

 

Ciriboya 

Destroyed houses 0

Destroyed floors 5

Roofs destroyed 9

Cassava crop destroyed 100 plots

Banana crop destroyed 80 plots

 

Iriona Viejo

Destroyed houses 0

Destroyed floors 4

Roofs destroyed 2

Cassava crop destroyed 50 apples

Banana crop destroyed 10 apples

 

San José La punta

Destroyed houses 1

Roofs destroyed 2

Destroyed floors 5

Corn crop destroyed 1 plots

Yucca crop destroyed 70 plots

Cultivation of bananas 30 plots

 

Sangrelaya 

Destroyed houses. 2

Roofs destroyed 8

Cassava cultivation 75 plots

Banana cultivation 20 plots

 

Cocalito 

Destroyed houses 8

Roofs destroyed 20

Yucca crop destroyed 120 plots

Banana farm destroyed 80

 

There is an urgent need for clothes for 300 families throughout the seven Garifuna communities of Iriona.

 

Covid-19 Report

3 confirmed deaths by Covid-19 in all of Iriona

 

Requested Teaching Topics for 2021

1 = talk about food security from as mission and culture of indigenous peoples

2 = protection measure on risk and vulnerability in natural disasters

3 = human relationship to the destruction of the environment

4 = strengthening on the initiative of production and marketing of the product made by the communities

5 = management of the water and sanitation system for human consumption

6 = comprehensive attention to the child's growth

7 = right of indigenous peoples in Honduras

Let's do the right thing and stand beside our sisters and brothers in Honduras.  Together, we are the difference!!

Hurricane Etta and Honduras: Conversation from Afar

The extensive damage represents but one of the increasing effects of climate change.  We of ASI strive to build educational relationships for long-term sustainable development.  The pandemic, and now Etta, magnify the effects of poverty for many Honduran communities.  Please hit me up here to join the conversation.  The community agents are ready to plan projects now!