Welcome to today’s Philanthropy Friday!
A collection of thoughts and information about making the world just a little bit better
Serving in Honduras
It has been an incredible week in Honduras. It is thrilling to meet with our microbusiness owners and witness their success and determination first-hand. After all these years and am still so impressed and inspired by them. We expect to fund 16 new businesses while I am here!
This week I had the pleasure of doing a follow-up visit with one of our microfinace recipients, Javier. We funded Javier with a $1000. Micro loan three years ago to help launch his produce stand. The result? He has grown his business, has three employees, purchased a new truck to help his business operations, paid off his loan, and is simply thriving! Beyond that, Javier is a giving soul, and a great leader in his community of Ojo de Aqua, Honduras. When COVID deeply impacted his neighborhood, and safe water was hard to come by, Javier purchased water for his entire community and had water trucks deliver safe water to residents. We asked Javier if he is concerned about gangs now that he has become successful, and he replied: “My generosity protects me.” See nearby photo of me and Javier with the “Prayer Cross” made by hand by my dear friend, Dave Sackett, that I presented to Javier.
We are so proud of Javier! Making a difference and impacting lives. The “Butterfly Effect” is alive and well!
You should talk to your kids about this
All of us feel sorry for ourselves from time to time, and perhaps children are even more susceptible to grumbling about life’s occasional “difficulties.” “I don’t want to do my homework!”, or “why can’t I have a new bike?!” As I re-experience the extreme poverty and hardship here in Honduras this week, I am reminded of my encounter with a charming little girl a few years ago during one of my Hondurans visits. The girl, Allison, was a rather typical 11 year old; funny, playful, and curious. Soon, Allison’s mother presented herself to us. A desperate and disheveled woman who could not have been more than 25 years old, she literally begged us to take her daughter back to the United States with us. I can not even imagine the hardship and desperation that must have driven this young mother to deciding that giving her daughter to complete strangers so she would have a chance to avoid the near-certainty of a life of misery would be worth the pain of losing her.
I often say that we here in the United States have “won the geography lottery.” Just by being born here we are blessed beyond measure, and have been spared the extreme hardship and suffering that is a tragic reality for a couple billion of our brothers and sisters around the world.
I encourage you to find ways to remind our kids how lucky and blessed they are, and you might even use Allison as an example. This can help them develop a lifelong attitude of gratitude.
Something to ponder
“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he comes to see.”
-C.K. Chesterton
A verse I am meditating on
“He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will be rewarded for what he
does…”. (Psalm 19:17)
Keep it light
One of the joys of travel in the developing world? The little “surprises” that you encounter. Like this morning, when my hotel did not have hot water for my shower! A brisk way to start the day…followed by LOTS of hot and strong Honduran coffee!