By KRISTINA SCALA
Nine Haddonfield Memorial High School students went on a journey to Honduras not knowing what to expect from the third-world country and underprivileged children they set out to help.
As a part of Students Helping Honduras — a nonprofit organization raising awareness and funds to provide opportunities for children in Honduras — volunteers had a hands-on experience building schools in rural parts of the country.
The goal is to build 1,000 schools. So far, there are 12 completely built. But the organization, school building and the village have come a long way, said Christine Hluchan, trip organizer and HMHS alumna, class of 2004.
She originally became involved in the program while attending Georgetown University and is now pursuing her Ph.D. in medicine so she can one day open a medical facility in Honduras.
This is the first time students from HMHS traveled to Honduras as part of this program. They helped mix and pour cement and haul buckets all by hand to help complete the 12th school in Balsamo.
For most, it was the first time being out of the country, but it was an emotional experience for all.
“A lot of these kids have done services [in this area]. There is a need, but when you go somewhere like Honduras it’s on a different level,” Hluchan said.
According to Hluchan, the economic standard in Honduras is different from the U.S. Hondurans don’t own land and can’t drink the water.
For junior Addison Coryell, it was her first trip to Honduras and would not be the last. She has been out of the country before, but to more affluent cities in Europe and China.
“I would definitely try to do more of it. It’s a lot of time out of your own schedule but it’s rewarding in the end. It’s a sense of accomplishment helping them reach their goals when we grew up with a lot already,” she said.
Hluchan said she remembered what the land looked like on her first trip, when Students Helping Honduras set out to build a small village, Villa Soleada. She said she helped clear the land for the village using a machete.
The organization built 44 homes for 275 people with self-sustaining water and sewer systems and electricity for families who previously lived in a squatter community. The villagers were happy to have running water, working plumbing and concrete walls for a home.
The hope is to build a library, meet the goal of schools built in rural communities, complete the girl’s children’s home to house state orphans and more.
“It’s possible. Everything else that we have done people said would be impossible,” Hluchan said.
For the students at HMHS, the next step in the Students Helping Honduras process is to organize a chapter at the high school.
Hluchan said chapters started forming in colleges after the organization was founded in 2005 and more recently started forming in high schools. But most chapters do not recognize the trips as part of the organization.
She said the idea would be to have a teacher lead the organization, go on the trips with the students and help form an official chapter — the biggest hurdle in the process.
Students who went on the trip are likely to aid in forming a chapter at not only the high school, but help form a chapter at their college of choice if one does not exist.
Even if an official chapter is not formed in HMHS, students can create an unofficial chapter that is not associated with the school. The goal would then be to educate the students on the issues in Honduras, recruit volunteers and raise money for the trips.
“The biggest thing is word of mouth,” Hluchan said, adding Tracy Matozzo, HMHS dean of student life, has taken an interest in seeing an official chapter form at the high school.
The organization’s focus is on the children of Honduras, providing them with opportunities that were not available to them before. The program is also for the student volunteers, opening their eyes to the problems out of the states and showing them how they could make a difference.
“Changing the way the [Honduras children and student volunteers] look at the world — that’s the future of tomorrow,” Hluchan said.
For more information on SHH and its projects, visit www.ceciskids.org/index.
