Gardens

The staff uses drip irrigation systems in the community gardens at Quiscamote and Santa Ana. This has permitted them to grow good crops despite the drought the area has been experiencing. In August, fresh corn and bananas were harvested and shared with local residents. September brought harvests of beans and yuca. Yuca is a tuber that grows rapidly in Honduras. It is a starchy staple enjoyed in the region. The students at the school garden in Coyolar planted their second crops in August. Project Eden staff started tomato and pepper seedlings and have prepared the ground at El Hogar to transplant those soon. 

Reforestation

The staff has planted thousands of tree seedlings, including pine, maquilisa, palito verde, mahogany and cortez. They will nurture these for distribution as young trees next year. Recently, they have given 150 trees to the local Lion’s Club and 200 trees to a local family committed to planting to help with reforestation. Fruit trees have been sold and palms have been given to plant in a road median of a local village. 

Adelante

Adelante students are entering the last term of the school year and stipends were distributed in late September. These stipends are used to purchase uniforms, books and school supplies, critical to keeping kids in school through high school. Twenty students are expected to graduate this year. The students have performed various acts of community service in their villages. Adelante currently has 120 registered participants but also has a waiting list of 40 students. More sponsors are required to meet this need for educational support.  The cost of sponsorship is $300/year per student. Please visit our website (projectedenhonduras.org) to read a letter submitted by Norma Lidia Cardona Meza, a past Adelante student and graduate.

Clean Water

The water filtration systems in place continue to function for the 58 villages that have them. Rigo Ramos, the staff member overseeing water systems, visits the systems and does repairs and filter replacements as needed. Construction of new systems is on hold due to lack of funding at this time. 

Healthy Beginnings
(Comienzos Saludables)

The program expanded to include children ages 3-5. A donation of 15,000 children’s chewable vitamins was purchased and sent to Honduras to kick off the program expansion. The September meeting coincided with Children’s Day in Honduras. In addition to presentations by a local dentist and a physician, the children enjoyed a pinata to highlight their day. Fresh eggs were distributed, along with yuca from the garden at El Hogar and other food staples. 

Fr. Dan’s Journey (continued)

This portion of the journey is told in Fr. Dan’s words.

The Lady With The Painted Eyebrows

“As we pursue our Christian missionary journey, aware of our need for sustaining food, we are immediately faced with a choice: we may prepare and take our own bread with us, or we may, in the Spirit of Jesus, take no bread for the journey (Mark 6:8). Or perhaps, prudently acknowledging that we do indeed hold a treasure 4we wish to share, we may choose both options. But unless we believe that those to whom we go have some bread themselves, and unless we trust that they will share their bread with us, our journey will be a travesty of the Christian mission.”

Bread For The Journey, Anthony Gittins

The Lady With The Painted Eyebrows lived in a house on the corner of the main street entering San Francisco de La Paz. It was an old house, made with adobe bricks and painted white. Let’s just say that it had seen its better years. Anyway, the woman who lived there was called “Chavela,” a nickname for Isabella. She wore a woolen hat and had oversized rims for her glasses and, yes, she did have painted eyebrows! If she were five feet tall that would be an exaggeration.

Every time I would drive by, she would be standing in the doorway and I would give her a wave and a big HOLA! One day she told me to stop and wait a minute. She went into her house and soon came out with a freshly baked cookie, the beginning of a deeper relationship. From then on, she would stand in the doorway and when she saw me, she would signal me to stop. Then, she would give me another cookie and another and another.

Simple but profound. An act that brought joy to both of us. Her earthly journey has come to an end but the memory of her with her painted eyebrows, woolen hat and oversized glasses and her hand holding a cookie to give to me remains.

Thanks, Chavela, for the cookies and much more.

To be continued. If you missed previous editions of this story, you can find them in the 2025 and 2026 quarterly newsletter on the website https://projectedenhonduras.org