The photo above comes from Our Story Section in the website ceciskids.org. I came across it when looking for more detailed information on SHH (Students Helping Honduras), which I became interested when I first encountered it in the student involvement fair in the beginning of the school year. Since I’m from Honduras, I was automatically interested in joining SHH. It does not tell who exactly wrote that section of the website but, looking through it, it seems it was written by SHH.
SHH is a non-profit organization which is spread throughout in universities and high schools in the US trying to help Honduras. The page talks about how SHH began and what SHH is working on in Honduras. This organization began with Shin Fujiyama (CEO of SHH and a CNN hero) being a college student at the time, who visited Honduras and realized people needed help. Starting from scratch, raising money through different fundraisers, and with thousands of volunteers, SHH has been able to build schools, orphanages, and a village called Villa Soleada.
The website also gives out facts on the rankings and percentage of the poverty of Honduras. Also the types of gangs in which children join there. It’s a country being ranked in second place of poverty in the western hemisphere. It also talks about their values which they use on making their organization work, which are: local empowerment, jobs (not handouts), sweat equity, and sustainability.
While analyzing the page and understanding more of the organization, a few questions came in mind which has made me curious about SHH.
Which are:
1. How did Shin Fujiyama first encountered with helping Honduras and why Honduras?
2. How will these schools & homes be protected from the violence in Honduras?
3. Does SHH plan to expand their organization in Honduras universities and wealthy private schools, instead of US universities and high schools.
4. Why Villa Soleada? And the meaning behind its name?
5. How does the Honduras government feel about organizations, like SHH, reaching out on helping the country?
I will take in consideration of these questions.
Zaskia,
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a really interesting and important organization. You cover some really good information and raise some quality questions for further research. How might you connect it most strongly to the local community? I hope to see more on the topic.