Dr. Michael J Franklin's Resume and CV

Learn to Lead Your Own Medical or Educational Brigade by Joining the Río Team!

 

Río de Agua Viva 2025

LEARN and Teach!

Over the last eleven years, AHMEN’s Rio de Agua Viva team focused primarily on sharing knowledge with community leaders.  We ask focus communities what types of education would be beneficial for our team to bring and plan around those concepts.

This last summer I visited with my dear brother, Dr. Luther Castillo Harry, Secretary of Science, Technology, and Innovation for the Republic of Honduras.  I asked him what AHMEN needed to do to remain relevant.  He encouraged us to keep bringing the medical brigades, keep partnering in community development, but he recommended we take our mission a step further.  “The focus of the world has been on Honduras as a victim of the narco-state and U.S. politics.  Very well-minded people seek to ‘help’ Honduras.  You come to teach, but why not bring people to learn?”

As always, we welcome all those called to join us, but we specifically aim to recruit teachers, professors, college students, and high school graduates to come to Honduras with us on a leadership training team.  This team will have three main objectives:

·       Address local needs via educational training

·       Facilitate team membership as community service hours, school/university credits, and/or CEUs

·       Train and equip volunteers to lead their own learning and teaching teams in the future

The team dates (7-10 days) for Summer 2025 will be released by Halloween 2024.  The team fee will be around $1,200 per person which includes all in-country travel, food, and lodging.  It does not include airfare or one’s worldly pleasures.

Where will we go?  It depends on how large our team ends up becoming, the greatest need, and the common interest. 

·        Cruzadas del Evangelio (AHMEN’s base operations in La Ceiba and home to the Shalom Dorm for At-Risk Young Women)

·        The mountain community of Yorito welcomes a strong planning focus to help the dozens of NGO members and community agents ensure every home has clean drinking water.  The mayor seeks help long-term planning in sustainable development.  Medical brigades are also welcome.

·        The shoreside community of Ciriboya hosts the first public Garifuna hospital in Honduras.  Medical and education brigades requested.  Additional goals involve evaluating the revitalization of the healthcare facility.  You will be speaking Garifuna after just a few days!

·        Journeying up the river in La Moskitia to conduct medical brigades and lead community health seminars entails adventure few ever have the opportunity to experience elsewhere.  A linguist and nature lover’s delight!

·        Las Islas de La Bahía: We will participate in the first interest group meeting with future potential community agents on the beautiful Roatan island.  SCUBA and snorkeling encouraged!

As you can tell, AHMEN can introduce you to many places where you may begin to open the doors of your educational institution to learning in Honduras.  By joining the 2025 Rio de Agua Viva team, you will not only engage deeply with leadership in multiple areas where AHMEN teams serve, you will train as a team leader to plan the ways you will partner with AHMEN in the future.  Email us for more info at AHMENinHonduras@gmail.com today!

 

Shine Bright, Like a Diamond!

 **This blog is by Dr. Ezekiel Nichols of the La Ceiba Jewelry School Project**

Hello, I am Dr. Ezekiel Nichols, an economist. Currently I have just laid the ground work to establish a business ministry for the people that live in the La Ceiba dump.

 

The idea is to get some kind of workable skills they can use to better themselves. Several years ago we had a jewelry maker that would spend time with residents showing them how to make jewelry but never had true success with this project.

 

Now that Covid is through, we have started the jewelry project back up again. However, we are still a good ways away from getting it to the dump. Carol Iveth Lopez Diaz is a woman who is 39 and suffers from spina bifida. Several years ago, she learned how to make jewelry but has never really had a market for her products. Today we just finished the transfer of 20 sets of earrings and bracelets to bring her work to the American market. We are still working on IRS rules and getting a reliable supply chain established but we are one step closer to our vision at the dump.

 

To learn more about this ministry or to ask how you can help, contact me today at nicholsezekiel@gmail.com .  Also, if you would like to purchase some of Carol’s jewelry, stop by the site below today.

Will You Sit Down and Pray With Me?

 

Super Mario Chair Fund

 

Buh dun duh dun dun duh, DUNH!  Super Mario is what I have come to know him as over the years.  There is really no problem too small or large he can’t fix. 

One time after a long week of work in and out of Tocomachu, Ciriboya, and Limon, the medical brigade I was on went out dancing at the local festival in our honor.  After many a do-see-do, lawnmower, and fisherman, Super Mario gave us the go sign as soon as he detected the smallest chance of trouble entering the discoteca. 

Other times he has gotten our trucks out of the mud, solved logistical crises, become a pseudo-interpreter, and served as an information hub.  However, what makes Mario so super is his work as a pastor.

Pastor Mario’s church, “Arco de Jehova,” in La Ceiba continuously grows.  More children, teenagers, and their families join the church for the lively services and personal sense of community.  The knockout sermons aren’t too bad we hear either!  What Mario and his wife “Pastora” Leslie (Princesa Durazno) are running out of, however, are CHAIRS!

In order to accommodate growing attendance, Mario asks for 100 chairs or $1000 in donations to purchase the chairs the church prefers.  He and Leslie will gladly accept chairs donations on the AHMEN Christmas container and urgently need help purchasing the seats they have in mind now.

Why should you donate?  Mario and Leslie are liaisons to AHMEN in Honduras.  Mario teaches clean water using Sawyer Water Filters, and Leslie makes jewelry using natural materials to fundraise for projects.  Their success, for many AHMEN teams, is our success.  If a set of 100 chairs is holding them back from the confident and comfortable cathedral expansion in the name of Christ, then let’s break down this barrier with Mario and Leslie together!

Donate to the Super Mario Chair Fund today!  You can donate here by selecting Rio de Agua Viva team and then emailing where your donation goes to AHMENinHonduras@gmail.com.  You can also make out a check to AHMEN with “Super Mario Chair Fund” on the “For” line and mail to AHMEN at 287 Tommy Robinson Road Jasper, AL 35504.

Thank you for your help expanding God’s kingdom in Honduras with AHMEN today.  Tomorrow, let’s talk about how you can volunteer on a team to serve on the ground!

Together, we are the difference!

 

Don't Make People Wait. Take Action on What God Tells You..

One rainy day in Murfreesboro, Tennessee I received a message from an unknown Honduran number.

The person on the other end knew many details about me and our work in Yorito, Yoro, Honduras.

After many chats back and forth and confirmation with people in Yorito I actually knew, I decided this person was not a scammer.

In fact, he was an advocate. He wanted to do something to help his people and knew AHMEN did too.

Four years later, Roberto was the fundamental impetus for beginning the second round of educational workshops in Yorito with AHMEN's Agentes Comunitarios de Salud Integral.

What is the moral of the story? "Trust but verify?" Not at all. The moral of th story is that the conviction from God to continue our work in the tiny mountain town was already on my heart. Looking back, I had already made attempts to get the workshop going again in 2019. It just took a little push from Roberto and for the pieces to fall back into place. When Greg Thompson and I made the decision to contract Bayron Morales to start a round two of workshops in Jutiapa, it only made sense to follow suit in Yorito.

The moral of the story is not only listen to God but act on what the Holy Spirit calls you to do.

What is God asking you to do with @AHMENinHonduras? How can you help?

Together, we are the difference.

Renaissance in Yorito: AHMEN Begins Sustainable Education

Everyone who has met Sergio over the years knows he is a mild man of smaller stature.  However, our physical characteristics do not define us.  Sergio is a giant among men for his persistence and wishes for his community.  AHMEN's Rio de Agua Viva team has been lucky over the years to count on Sergio's participation in our community empowerment workshops; however, it is Yorito that is the true lucky one.  Watch Sergio's interview below and learn about what makes this friend of mine so powerful.

Now that you know a little about Sergio, it is time for me to tell you something just as important.  AHMEN does not currently have volunteer team going to Yorito.  The people of Yorito want and need a yearly medical team and a regular group of educational volunteers to come teach organic gardening practices.  While, Sergio is a man that can make mighty things happen, it is together that we are the difference!

How can you help?

Sometimes Equity Involves Inviting Men to the Table

 

Equity isn't always one direction. When a group of all women community leaders train on the empowerment process, it is a male perspective increasing diversity in the group. Who is this lone man who has joined ACSI-Jutiapa? JOSÉ MERAZ!

Do you know whose voice is missing, whose voice would also illuminate the diversity of AHMEN's community empowerment program.  YOURS!  Sure, many people are already on the job, in the group, and receiving the feedback.  However, your unique experience would propel the sustainable development process even further.  Contact me today to learn how to join the momentum of change. Alone, we can spark change, but together, we are the difference.

Moving Parts are Moving: Río Team Recruiting

Happy New Year!

I don't want to scare you this close to Valentine’s Day, but I've got to tell you now that the Río team canoe is running out of seats.




And we need you to sign up fast!




Don't miss out on an opportunity to help us keep the team fee to a low $1000 per person. Join us June 1-8 to "teach the teacher" to the Youth and Women's Networks of Jutiapa and Nueva Armenia. Check out our schedule below:
June 1: Atlanta to Roatan Island (only $512 as of 2/4/24)
June 2: Ferry from Roatan to Mainland, Practice Lessons, Cultural Welcome Celebration
June 3-5: Community Development Lessons
June 6: AM Graduation and PM Ferry to Roatan
June 7: Fun in the Sun
June 8: Return Home

What will you be teaching, you might ask? Well, we are open to your suggestions but have some from your students as well:

-Microbusiness/Microloan

-Human Rights (Women and Children)

-Baking and Bake Sales

-Clean Water Culture from Kindergarten to the Retirement Home

-Water Safety and Lifeguarding

-Community Gardening and Compost

To sign up, you can send in your full team fee of $1000 or reserve your spot with a $100 deposit online at ahmen.org or send in a check made out to "AHMEN" with "Rio Team" on the "For" line and addressed to AHMEN/Andrea Nuss 287 Tommy Robinson Rd. Jasper, Al 35504.




Let's make this year's team the best one in ELEVEN years! Join us today to make a difference in helping local Hondurans build the country they want to see their grandchildren inherit. Together, we are the difference.