Class of 2016 Update

Last week has been filled with great progress! We have continued to work through out feasibility projects, analyzing and deciding which partners and what subject matter we want to pursue! These presentations looked at feasibility in terms of our timeline in Periclean Scholars, the accessibility of the various projects and contacts, what we would do in the partnership, and the projects’ sustainability.

The first presentations discussed partnering with our contact Cargill, a food packing company that Dr. Arcaro and Professor Post visited over the summer in San Pedro Sula, and ¿Vos qué harás por Honduras?, which is a grassroots social movement that is attempting to empower and inspire Hondurans to better their communities through taking positive action. We then looked into working with various organizations that deal with water issues, food and sustainable farming projects, and numerous avenues to working with education issues. Both Cargill and ¿Vos qué harás por Honduras? are viable options for our class to discuss in more depth, and the other three possible areas of focus, water, food, and education all have presented numerous possibilities for partners and projects to be pursued and researched further.

The next set of presentations focused on social justices within Honduras, including access to health care, child labor and worker’s rights, and some interesting microfinance options that have our class thinking about how we can potentially use the money we already have in our Periclean bank account. A for-profit business called Tegu, which sells magnetic block toys to kids and provides jobs for Honduran workers in Tegucigalpa, could provide us with opportunities to work on reforestation issues, education, or worker’s rights as well. Tegu’s model was a fitting model with which to end our feasibility studies with, because it is a sustainable model, which creates jobs for Hondurans, puts money back into the Honduran environment, and also donates money to a school that gets children in Tegucigalpa out of working in a trash dump. This school has fresh water, meals provided, computer labs, and a stable campus—it encompasses most of the issues our class has thus far been interested in.

Going forward, our class has a series of difficult decisions to make. Our feasibility studies helped us learn more about the issues and did spawn numerous project ideas, but it’s one thing to brainstorm and it’s another thing to agree on something. At the very least, we’ve learned a lot when looking at models like Tegu, Hope for Honduran Children, Cargill, and more, in terms of creating a sustainable project that we hope to model.

 

-Erin & Lauryl

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One Comment

  1. Posted December 11, 2013 at 3:43 pm | Permalink

    Thanks Erin and Lauryl! So many options, so little time!! Sustainability is definitely key!