I would like to tell you about an upcoming team to the coastal area of Honduras.  AHMEN has worked in this area for the past several years, but this year the team will be more extensive and with some unique features.  As we are prone to do, AHMEN will be "partnering" with several other folks:

CHIMES, Cruzadas, SIFAT,the MAMUGA organization, several local libraries, as well as local Hondurans and Cubans medical persons.  Read on to see what this team is planning.

August Team 6 - 15, 2011

The team will, in actually, be four separate but interrelated teams.  Because of this I will try to explain them separately, then show where they interact.  All of these teams are joint projects of AHMEN and CHIMES.

Team: AHMEN/SIFAT/Library project

Team Leaders: 

Lou Altman: laaltman@netscape.net

 Tom Camp: llamacamp@gmail.com

Michael Franklin: frankmj42@gmail.com

 Bud McKinney: bud137@sbcglobal.net

Jesus Cacho: jesus@projectchimes.org

Location of main activity; Cosuna, Honduras

For more on AHMEN/SIFAT initiative read in www.honduranmissions.com.

This is be the 4th and final workshop for the promoters.  In addition to identifying their future projects, they will graduate from their first year as trained, certified 

 promoters.

Our team work will be to:

1. hold medical clinic for the promoters
2. hold medical clinic for the village of Cosuna, Honduras
3. teach health related topics for the promoters to take home to their villages.
4. hold eye glass clinics
5. teach promoters how to evaluate for vision problems
6. educate promoters on where to refer patients with vision problems
7. explore with librrians how to interest students in using the library
8. explore with librarians how to best utilize their libraries for the villages
9. explore, with the librarians, how to acquire more  books
10. Interact with the 5th Annual International Medical Seminar being held in Ciriboya, Honduras - which is being held 15 min away. (see www.honduranmissions.com for write up on this - front page)
11. some of the team members may then go into the jungle with the La Moskitia Jungle team.

part of the AHMEN/SIFAT team

Team: 5th  International Medical Seminar

Team Leaders: 

Bill Camp: billcamp9999@gmail.com

Bruce McFadden:BCMCF@bham.rr.com

Luther Castillo: wasurusian@yahoo.com

Location of main activity: Ciriboya, Honduras.

For more on this seminar and it’s history click www.honduranmissions.com and read the story on the front page entitled 5th International Medical seminar.  This will be a 3 day seminar with medical personnel from Honduras, USA, Cuba, Italy, and Germany.  It will include presentations appropriate for doctors, nurses, and midwives.  In addition, we will be seeing patients at the Ciriboya Hospital jointly to explore different approaches the different training has produced.

Bill Camp, founder of CHIMES, will be the road manager for the International Medical Seminar

obviously, he is from California. 

Team: AHMEN/CHIMES medical mission to La Moskitia Jungle.

Team Leaders: 

Bruce McFadden:BCMCF@bham.rr.com

Bud McKinney:bud137@sbcglobal.net

 Jesus Cacho:jesus@projectchimes.org

Location main activity: Moskitia Jungles, Honduras

This mission will be “purely” medical, traveling by pick up trucks and canoe into the Jungle of the Moskitia area to remote villages that rarely have medical teams visit.  This team has been traveling twice yearly into these area for the past several years and work with the local people of the villages and doctors from the surrounding area.  This is a very exciting and vital ministry, but is not for the “faint of heart”.

This team will leave after the two seminars mentioned above are completed.  All of the participants in this mission will have worked in one or the other of the seminars.  For exact dates contact the team leaders above.

Dr. Tom Arnold is a regular on this team, his step-son Michael has been going to Honduras since he was 13 years old,  will be joining him for the first time in this part of Honduras.

The Eye team will hold clinics during the AMEN/SIFAT/Library seminar in addition to the teaching part.  Following the seminar, they will move to the Mosqitia area and hold clinic and teaching program in the village of __Pueblo Neuvo  Here they will work on helping a local lady and her family establish a “micro enterprise” in evaluating and fitting for glasses.

The Guffeys have spread the eye program to many of the AHMEN teams - the Mt. Vernon Baptist from Jasper, Al.  team shown here working the eye program in Limon, Honduras.

Leonardas's Home of Hope, Feb Newsletter

AAHMEN began it's work in Limon, Honduras working with Cruzadas and Carolina  Clinic some 13 years ago.  Lots have changed over the past 13 years and one of the things is the formations of a special orphanage called "Leonarda/s Home of Hope.  One of the founding couples is Ken and Peggy Hook.  This is their news letter that I thought you would enjoy reading.  If you are ever in Limon, Honduras stop by and visit the kids in the home.  It will be a real eyeopener for you, at least it was for me.
Enjoy the news letter.
Vaya con Dios,
Tom Camp

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February 17, 2011   Dear Tom:   In late January my wife Peggy and I spent two days in Tegucigalpa for a meeting with Sor Leonarda and the twelve children being offered scholarships for the continuation of their education.   In addition, a meeting with the Director of Instituto Hondureño de la Niñez y la Familia (IHNFA), a Cabinet level position in the current Honduran administration, proved to be most productive. Students and Their Host Families    Meeting With Students   Twelve excited adolescents joined Ken, Peggy, two other volunteers who have close ties with LHOH, Sor Leonarda, and eleven others for a meeting on Saturday, January 30.  At this time, the children were transitioning from the orphanage to host families in Tegucigalpa in anticipation of the beginning of their new school year.  Each student had at least one member of his/her host family in attendance.      The purpose of this meeting was to reinforce the unique opportunity being afforded for a quality high school education and the shared responsibilities of the children, their home-stay parents, and LHOH.    Keynote speakers Darwin Pavon and Tino Hernandez  from the Tegucigalpa Micah Project shared with the students some details of their lives, how they were rescued from the streets, and how education has afforded opportunities to them which would not have existed otherwise.   In addition, businessman Jacobo Canahuati, LHOH facilitator in Honduras, spoke of the need for education in order to find employment in Honduras.  An agreement between LHOH and each student outlined the shared responsibilities and the expectations with regards to study, grades, adult supervision, church attendance, and social activities.  Each student and house parent received a copy of the agreement so that all understood their shared responsibilities.      Sisleny and Jessica Reviewing Agreement     Instituto Hondureño de la Niñez y la Familia (IHNFA)    On Saturday evening Ken and Peggy met with IHNFA Director Suyapa Núñez and with Mauricio Castillo, the legal advisor for IHNFA.  At this meeting, made possible by LHOH facilitator Jacobo Canahuati, governmental policy changes regarding Honduran families and children in need were discussed.    Orphanages are beginning to receive governmental support and programs are being initiated to assist poor families with children.  Adoption policy changes are being made which will allow for easier adoptions of children from Honduras.  Director Núñez made assurances that the process for adoptions which has previously taken as long as 4 years is now being shortened.  Working with the Supreme Court of Honduras, she anticipates that the process will, in the near future, take as little as 6 months.  Honduras is also reviewing some of the strict regulations which have, in the past, limited adoptions.  With over 15,000 orphaned or abandoned children, Honduras is making a serious effort to place these children in homes.     Mauricio Castillo, Ken Hook and Suyapa Núñez   Directora Núñez then pointed out that orphanages in Honduras were in dire need of medical assistance.   She questioned whether LHOH, working with the Carolina Honduras Health Foundation and other medical volunteers in Honduras, could help facilitate the coordination of medical teams assisting in orphanages in Honduras.  Presently these children are receiving little or no medical care; it is the hope of Directora Núñez that having medical teams visit periodically will lead to improved health of children in these orphanages.  She has promised to provide a list of orphanages needing medical assistance; this list will be disseminated to medical teams going to Honduras.  If you, or others, are interested in providing medical or dental assistance to any of these orphanages please contact LHOH at lhoh09@gmail.com  The list will be sent to you as soon as it is received from IHNFA.   In addition, Directora Núñez voiced her interest in working with Stop Hunger Now to obtain shipments of food for the children of Honduras.  This effort will be pursued at a meeting with Stop Hunger Now representatives in April.      The two days in Tegucigalpa were amazing.   First, there was the joy of sharing with the twelve children whom we have come to know and love.   Their heartfelt gratitude was obvious; they each committed to putting education first in their lives.   Their host families were there to promise support.   Sor Leonarda was glowing with pride as “her children” began a new episode in their lives.  The dinner meeting with the Director of IHNFA and others in her department opened doors for future cooperation.  Two short days … packed with emotion, information, sharing, commitment.     God has certainly blessed us with the opportunity to do His work in Honduras.  He continues to open doors and to provide new avenues of service to the children in this corner of the world.  As always none of this work would be possible without your prayers and support.  Through your prayers and generous support, these 12 children have the opportunity for an education and a bright future in Honduras.  Through contact made with LHOH, medical care may be provided to the orphanages housing over 15,000 children in Honduras.  Through your support, Stop Hunger Now food shipments have been sent to Honduras to feed those at Sor Leonarda's home and at other soup kitchens; more may be sent in the future. LHOH thanks you for your continued support of programs for the poor and needy children in Honduras.         May God continue to bless you and LHOH,   Ken  N. K. (Ken) Hook Jr Chairman, Board of Directors       Leonarda´s Home of Hope, Inc P. O. Box 624 Norge, VA 23127-0624 N. K. (Ken) Hook Jr 757-234-0073

When we began AHMEN, I mostly saw us going into an area, delivering a week of medical clinics, and then going home.  This was good for the people we served for the week, but how much long term difference did it make?  Over time, we realized that medical relief was just one part of what we could do.  I think AHMEN has moved into an area that could, ultimately, make a major impact on the parts of Honduras we are working in.  Here is how this happened.

AHMEN/SIFAT Initiative - What is it?

AHMEN (Alabama Honduras Medical Educational Network) became operational about 13 years ago.  We have had a rapid growth in both the USA and Honduras.   Mostly  concentrating on medical mission work, educational programs, feeding kitchens, sewing schools, woodworking schools, and evangelism, with  team members  coming from both the southern and western states.

About 3 years ago, two of our members, Lexie Hilton and Benny Rowe, met Tom Corson - one of the directors of SIFAT.  SIFAT - Servants in Faith and Technology, has a different approach from most organizations I have seen in solving problems.  They work with local folks from all over the “2/3 world” to develop local leadership and community development.  For more on what they do, click www.sifat.org

 

Yep, you guessed it.  We are now developing a joint project called the AHMEN-SIFAT Initiative.

Byron Morales, from SIFAT, has been working in Honduras for about 8 months and the initiative is well underway.  There are 45  “promoters” meeting every 3 months.  Let me give you an example of what they are doing.

 

     1.)  The promoters identify one or more areas from their community that they feel like will make a real difference in the life of their village

 

     2.)  Byron works with the “home base” of SIFAT to identify materials that could be used in the solving of the problem.

 

     3.)  At the workshops they work to solve the problem in such a way that the promoters can take the solution back to their village.

Let me give you another example.   In Honduras the ladies go out into the surrounding country each morning with their machete, cut enough wood for the day, then carry it back to their home on their heads.  They then cook over open, wood stoves  As a result, the kids all get chronic respiratory problems, the women get arthritis of the cervical spine, and the surrounding country side gets denuded of trees.

SIFAT, thru Byron, developed a means to build stoves out of local clay that uses 80% less fuel.

Byron then teaches the promoters to make the stoves.  

Local doctors hold seminar with the promoters on the importance of wood smoke in causing their kids to have respiratory problems.

The  promoters take all of this knowledge back to their own village and become teachers.

 

Benefits? Less woods destroyed

 

     - Women with less arthritis

 

     - Kids with less respiratory problems

 

     - Promoters become teachers and local leaders

 

     - Villages become empowered to make changes they can initiate and see the difference. They return to the

           next meeting with the second generation of promoters and identify new problems 

  

joshua and marianna from deaf school at workshop

In addition, Michael Franklin, a long time AHMEN member, spent part of last summer recruiting potential, future promoters.  Between Byron, Michael, and other AHMEN team members there is a possibility of opening up more sites for workshops.

What next?

 

     1.   This August AHMEN-SIFAT Initiative will graduate it’s first class of promoters.  The graduation will be in Cosuna, Honduras.

 

     2.   The same group will then begin it’s second year. The entire program is 3 years long, with workshops every 3 months.

 

     3.   Plans are being made to begin 2 or 3 new workshops in different areas of Honduras.  Three areas that are being looked at  

              are: Belarie, La Esperanza,, and Yorito, Honduras

   

How can you learn more about this?

Contact some of the folks working on this project.

Do we need financing?  Yep.  Always.  Again, contact one of the folks listed below.

Lou Altman: laaltman@netscape.net

Tom Camp: llamacamp@gmail.com

Byron Morales Morales:byromen@yahoo.com

Benny Rowe: bennyrowe@bellsouth.net

Lexie Hilton: hilton_lexie@charter.net

   Michael Franklin: frankmj42@gmail.com
 

byron at workshop in Cosuna, Honduras

Give a man a fish and feed him for a day,

Teach a man to fish and he feeds himself for a lifetime,

Teach a man to make a fishing pole and he changes a village

Gloria Lacayo remembers working with AHMEN

AHMEN and Gloria Layaco have been working together since the first team went to Limon, Honduras some 13 years ago.  These are some of her memories of our working together.  For those of us who worked with Gloria, we remember her tireless energy, her commitment to sick people, and wonderful big heart.  Gloria continues to be an inspiration to AHMEN.

My experiences with AHMEN Missionary Group

I can say that with AHMEN, I have had great  experiences.

One day we went to Punta Piedra, and while I was unpacking, a lady came to ask me if I could find a doctor to go and see her sister at home, because she was very sick and could not walk. Dr. Tom Camp was the team leader, and I gave him her message. At lunch time we went to see her sister with two doctors and about three nurses and a pastor, the nurses and doctors took care of her and the pastor said a prayer and we left. About two months later I saw this lady in Limon and she told me that two weeks after we visited her she was walking again. 

Many nurses rescued babies from malnutrition, because they were delivered at the clinic, and after the members of the team found out that the parents were poor, they sponsored the babies, some even were named after the nurses and doctors who helped the family.

 And if I mention all the patients sent to the hospital by the mission for specific treatment and surgery I think I will never finish writing.

Our trips to Tocamacho and Pueblo Nuevo, by invitation from Dr. Luther Castillo Harris, and Jesus Cacho, were fantastic; and I admired how those missionaries risked their lives in a storm, and crossed rivers on barges and traveled on the beach to reach and serve those communities.

I want to thank the Guffys (Guf an Mary) for inviting me last year to work with them in Belaire, and also the rest of the team ( Gregg, Peggy, Sharon, Doris and Brent) also Jose and Evelyn Castellar, who are like angels for those people that they support in this  remote area of Honduras.

I am sure that God will continue making wonderful work through AHMEN

MISSIONARY GROUP.

Gloria Lacayo  Feb. 2011

PIcture of Gloria in “her lab” at the Carolina Clinic in Limon, Honduras.  Her she is checking Sister Eleanor's brother Dick blood for malaria and blood sugar

Our Friends Doris and Brent Brady of Utila, Honduras have a request

Utila, Honduras Public School No. 1 Vandalized - should we do something?

Doris and Brent Brady have been AHMEN representatives in Honduras since our friend Larry Pitts died.  Doris, Brent, and Larry had met during a Bible study on the Island of Utila, Honduras - how many years ago?    They became good friends and, knowing what Larry did with AHMEN, they two became involved.  

When Larry died in Honduras, Brent called me up and told me they wanted Larry’s job.  I asked if they were willing to represent AHMEN for the same salary Larry received, they responded that since there would be two of them, they felt we should double the salary.  After intense negotiations, we  agreed: double Larry’s salary.  Of course, two times zero is still zero.  so, the deal was set. 

   

Then we began to see the positive forces of the combination of the Bradys.  Not only did they run the AHMEN warehouse in La Ceiba, they are excellent road managers, both speak fluent Spanish-English, will translate our broken Spanish, are great negotiators, and are wonderful friends to many of us.    They have kept me, and many of you, out of untold problems.

Two years ago they began to open new areas of mission work.  They have lead four teams into Utila and one exploration team to La Esperanza.  This is in addition to representing AHMEN two years at Project Honduras, multiple teams to Limon, Belaire, Ciriboya, Cosuna, Pueblo Neuvo, Limonales, and the list goes on and on.

Most of the members of the AHMEN organization have had some contact with the Bradys, and all  have received some “benefit” for their work.

  Ever-since I have visited and worked with them on Utila, I noticed, like many of you , they have a soft spot in their heart for the “poorer’ of the two schools on Utila.  Some of us have done work on the school, some have held seminars there, and some have sent books and school supplies.

Today I got an e-mail from Doris and Brent.   The school, called  “Public School no. 1” has been vandalized.  What does this mean?  The school cannot open on Feb. 8th when the rest of the schools in Honduras start.  

Unknown “vandals”, a rarity on Utila, have destroyed much of the school.  See below some of the pictures of the school and the work of the vandals.    Doris, Brent, Pat, Hannah,  the school director, and some folks from the Eduction ministry from Tegu will be meeting on Monday to help figure how to re-open  Utila Publi School No. 1. 

Doris and her friend Hannah have contacted AHMEN to ask if they can help Utila Public School No. 1.

How can we help?

1. Send Money.
1. how much? if everyone who has worked with Doris and Brent sent $10, there is no telling  what that would do.
2. I have asked Sharon Bowie to open a “Utila Public School No. 1 account” and anyone can send their check to :
1. Sharon BowieAHMEN
2. c/o Sharon Bowie
3. Financial Secretary
4. 516 Ridgeview Dr. 
5. Jasper, AL  35504
6. 205-221-6024 home
7. 205-275-3237 cell
8. mark check for “Utila Public School No, 1” 

1. Get together and ask your SS Class, your schools, etc to began to gather school supplies, look for computers, get maps (any kind), and get books to send down on the next container.  
1. be sure and mark the boxes:
1. “Doris and Brent Brady”
2. “Utila School program.”
3. we will ask Lou Altman to assign a specific color to their boxes.

Now we are back to the age old problem, there are so many programs to help in Honduras and the rest of the world, why this one?  Good Question.

here is my answer:

Doris and Brent are part of us.  Part of AHMEN.  Their program, their specific program, is in need of help.  So, let’s all give a little extra and show them how much we appreciate what they do and let them know that we are all in this together.

p.s. send this to everyone you know that has gone to Honduras, has gotten help for the “Brady Bunch of Honduras’, or who loves education, or who is just a nice person.

Who is Brother John Taylor?

Who is Brother John Taylor?


For a number of years, AHMEN (Alabama Honduras Medical/Educational Network) and  a local protestant church called Cruzadas in Central America have worked together in establishing and maintaining a woodworking school for young people in the coastal village of Plan de Flores, Honduras.  

Several years ago while visiting the wood working school in Plan de Flores, I met a fellow named Brother John Taylor.  I didn't quite understand his role, where he wondered up from, or why he thought he should get into what I considered a rather private conversation.  The next time I saw Brother John was in Limon, Honduras at the Carolina Clinic.  Again, he seems to have just wondered up from no where and got right in the middle of our conversation - not obtrusive, but still right in the middle of it.  Then I noticed he had many good points to make, knew everyone there but me, and was both informative and likable.

The next thing I know, we are looking for someone from the Cruzadas del Evangelico Church in Honduras to give us feedback on both their work, AHMEN's work in Honduras, and how we can continue to work together. 

Yep, you got it, Brother John Taylor pops up again.


Brother John has agreed to write for the web page from time to time.  So you might know him better, I am putting this "introduction to Brother John Taylor" here with a couple of pictures that speaks better than words what impression he made on me.

Enjoy his writings, look for him anywhere you happen to be in Honduras , and give him some feedback.

Vaya con Dios,
Tom Camp


About John Taylor:

A former teacher, I came to Honduras 38 years ago at the invitation of Jean Isbell for what was to be two weeks. I am still here.

Square one in all our callings is to make disciples for Christ. In my work in Honduras that takes on a number of forms, but this is the pattern:

Bring a person to know Christ as Savior, then grow him up to do the same.  

I focus on developing national leadership for indigenous Honduras ministries through mentoring, seminars, and counseling.  My modus operandi through the years has been to bring pastors and other church leaders together for a seminar, then to do a walking (or riding a mule or in a canoe, or bouncing along on the back of a pickup) tour of the given area, visiting each pastor in him home and church.

On these tours, I will take one to three pastors with me from a different area. This affords me 24/7 time with those men, and I can see them in action as they minister publicly and privately.

In the seminars, I have people at all levels of experience, eduction and spiritual maturity. This makes it difficult to speak to all at one level. I am in the beginning stages of building a Ministerial Education Center to which I can bring smaller groups of those already in the ministry for in-depth and focused study at their common level of education and experience.

I am as of Feb 5, 2011, 68 years old, and my physical ability for days of walking over mountains and through rivers and swamps will someday begin to wane. The Ministerial Education Center will enable me to continue the important job of commending unto other capable leaders what I have learned in 50 years of this work.

Fun in the Jungle of Honduras

A Jungle Mission in Honduras 2010.

One of the things I enjoyed about the International Medical Seminar, held in Ciriboya, Honduras, we attended and help sponsor last year was the the jungle clinics after the seminar. 

(Group picture of International Medical Seminar taken at the First Grifina Clinic in Ciriboya, Honduras.)

  This is the first Garifina clinic in Honduras.

above are participants from: Honduras, Cuba, Alabama, and California

The seminar is not all work and no play.  A big part of the mission is learning about the other cultures represented there.  Below  are Dr. Ben Coplan and Dr. Tom Camp taking a lesson from a local Honduran guitarist outside the front door of the community center.

After the seminar several of the mission team members proceeded to Palacio and stayed at the Cruzadas mission there.

Palacio is about 1 - 3 hours by pick-up truck along a beech, often with no road.  It is very interesting way to travel.

The mixture of folks you get to meet on these trips is wonderful.  Take a look at this canoe full.  

Here is Mario, a pastor from la Ceiba, a midwife - midwives deliver approx. 80%of all babies in Honduran, Bud from CHIMES, and a  Honduran doc stationed in El Progresso- all headed up river for a 4 hour canoe ride to another village to spend the day holding clinic.

Dr. Tom Arnold applied for and got a job as boat man.  To show off his new position, he immediately organized a team to head upriver to Limonaliasis.  Limonaliasis is a small jungle village three hour boat ride away that doctors visit about every 6 - 12 months.

How can you tell the Hondurans from the Americans?

The Americans all ware Baseball caps and the Hondurans are true cowboys.

-- 

Have you ever wondered what a real jungle house looks like?  Would you like to be able to tell your kids you have been places they will probably never see?

Below is a typical jungle home along the river to the villages we served in 2010

If this is the kind of thing you might like to put on your resumé, contact:

 Jesus Cacho:  from Project Chimes: jesus@projectchimes.org

Bud McKinney: form Project CHIMES; bud137@sbcglobal.net

Bruce McFadden: AHMEN: BCMCF@bham.rr.com

Dr. Tom Arnold: AHMEN: taspok@mindspring.com

Dr. Tom Camp:AHMEN:

llamacamp@gmail.com

written by Tom Camp

Feb. '11

-- 

Dr. Tom Camp:AHMEN:

llamacamp@gmail.com

written by Tom Camp