“TEAM #22 VICTORY HIGHWAY”

June-July 2013

Part 3

By: Michael J Miller Jr.

The women of Honduras live a life that is completely different than those in the States.  In the top photo is a woman who has to walk a half mile to a street faucet and fill her bucket with water. Her community like many still doesn’t have running water. So every day she has to carry buckets of water to drink from, bathe, and wash dishes, clothes and house with. Not to mention that the water is full of bacteria. This is just a small part of her chores. She has to wash the clothes on a rock or wash board, make handmade tortillas on the fire, clean by hand the kidney beans and cook them all day so they’ll be soft for dinner. She is welcomed by a “husband” that usually complains or sits and watches her do the work because he feels he has provided for his family with work. She has to go out in the afternoon to cut wood with a machete so she’ll have enough for the morning egg and tortilla. Escaping this routine is rare and hard. When our teams come they offer a chance for the women to escape the same old same old and learn about news ways of making things to earn more income for their family. I think the one thing they walk away with is a pride that they can get ahead and do something for themselves. These women also walk away loved, cared for, respected, and with new friendships. The teams also take a Saturday to purchase what the ladies have been making. It one of many ways we can change the bad side of this culture and reach out to them and give the women of Honduras a way of opportunity. With team #22 they taught the women how to make Bible covers out of leather, towels, and purses.

In the bottom photo the witness to this young boy is that he can see the difference in his mother, aunts, and with ladies as they laugh, share, and learn new things. Our hope is that young boys like this will remember what he has witnessed so he can be a better partner to his wife and support her in anything that she wants to do. Not stuck in the old culture of Honduras. The smiles on these women in the second photo say it all. May the Lord bless these women and man in all that they make and sell so their families will be able to have the provisions needed.

1Timothy 5:7 “Give the people these instructions, too, so that no one may be open to blame.”