Gracias, Honduras
Celebrating Ten Years of Serving in Honduras
John 10:10b says, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”
Jesus’ love has been and always will be the model for the Luke Society clinic in Gracias, Honduras. Jesus surrendered His life to death so that we might have eternal life. Luke Society director Carlos Mendoza has dedicated his life to reaching out to some of the most needy, isolated, rural people in Honduras and the surrounding area. Lempira, the department (state) where the clinic is located, is the poorest department in one of the poorest countries in Central America.
Carlos and his staff understand the vision of the Luke Society. For ten years, they have worked to provide preventative, community care to empower the people of Lempira to improve their lives. They have also offered the life-saving knowledge of Jesus Christ to all who enter through the clinic’s doors.
The Luke Society in Gracias has focused its outreach on educating community health workers in rural villages. In San Sebastian, a small village nearly two hours from the main clinic in Gracias, Dr. Wilmer Lopez teaches community health in a small, government-owned building. Many of the health workers who attend the class walk for hours to reach San Sebastian. The two-day classes are a productive use of their time and effort.
Dr. Lopez teaches the workers about the advantages and necessity of eating a balanced diet. He educates them on the positive effect healthy nutrition has on development, explaining what is most needed at each phase of life, including infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The workers listen attentively, take notes in their workbooks and ask questions of Dr. Lopez or amongst themselves to clarify a certain point. After learning the concepts, Dr. Lopez asks the participants to act out what they’ve learned. The other health workers have to diagnose their new “patients.” It is a time of learning, but also a time of laughter and fellowship.
Also in San Sebastian, the Luke Society dentist regularly checks the dental health of preschoolers and kindergarteners. Dr. Adalila Martinez spends one day in the village giving dental examinations in a schoolroom. Children with serious problems are scheduled to come back later in the day to have bad teeth pulled.
The room is quiet. Mothers hold nervous children in their laps. Dr. Martinez gently injects anesthesia into each patient’s gums. The children then wait their turn as the anesthesia numbs their mouth. Each child bravely takes his turn to get his tooth pulled. His mother or teacher holds his arms to make sure he doesn’t interfere with the work of Dr. Martinez. There are a few tears and whimpers, but most of the children sit still until Dr. Martinez finishes her work.
With great passion, Carlos speaks about how the Luke Society provides a much-needed medical service in these small, rural villages like San Sebastian and Santa Cruz. “Nobody is performing a program like The Luke Society is doing in these villages. Most of the developing agencies…[only] work nearby Gracias. Just imagine the impact in the lives of these children. They will have changes in their lives with just a little touch of someone in their lives. They will have good dental health as well as good hygiene practices.”
The Luke Society also provides economic opportunities in rural villages. In Santa Cruz, a solidarity program has helped 65 families—almost 500 people—improve their own economic situation in just five years.
Carlos’ education in business and accounting has equipped him with the skills necessary to help members of the rural community learn to be leaders who can take action to improve their living conditions. The solidarity groups consist of approximately 30 members at a time, usually 15 men and 15 women, often married couples.
The members of the solidarity groups work together to help members of the community develop “micro-businesses.” Members of the community can apply for loans from the solidarity groups to start new businesses. The groups receive loans from the Luke Society in Gracias, with a 15 percent rate of interest. Banks and other non-governmental organizations have 35 to 40 percent interest rates, making it impossible for poor individuals to afford the loans.
The solidarity group has the authority to choose who receives a loan; they also are held accountable as a group if the loan is not paid back. This process has fostered a strong sense of unity and accountability among members of the group.
Maria Erma Hernandez and her husband, Jose Amado Milla, are among those who have been blessed through this program. Maria has been a member of the group for five years. Her first project was raising chickens, and she has progressed to owning her own “pulperia” or small grocery store, in her home.
In the dimly lit room, shelves lining the wall display bags of corn flour, boxes of hygiene products, some medicines, and candy. Her oldest daughter helps her manage the store.
Maria’s husband, Jose Amado Milla, is very eager to demonstrate his handiwork as a craftsman. In the back of their house, woodshavings carpet the hard dirt ground. Piles of two-by-fours are stacked against the wall, and bed frames, chairs, and tables tell of Jose’s skill. He spends a few moments demonstrating how he cuts and sands the raw lumber, as his son, Edras, looks on. He is learning his father’s trade, and plans to continue the business when he grows up.
Jose proudly shows us a nicely crafted wooden bench that he built. Maria smiles as she tells how her family has benefited from being a part of the micro-business program. They have been able to improve their home. They have running water and a flush toilet, as well as additional rooms. They have also been able to purchase a refrigerator and a car.
Diligence and perseverance have been the keys to the success of the Luke Society in Gracias. Carlos or a member of his clinic staff in Gracias visit the rural communities every week for evangelistic purposes, traveling about two hours each way. A staff person also visits the rural communities about once every month to observe and assist the health and economic development programs.
The Luke Society has touched generations of lives in Jesus’ name through its outreach to rural communities. Carlos prays that in the future they will touch even more lives. “My hope for the future of the Luke Society Lempira is…to have more resources to better impact community health, economic development and evangelism. I also dream of satellite clinics operating in other provinces of the west of Honduras.”
As Luke Society Lempira celebrates its tenth anniversary, Carlos ponders the success of the program. “I think our greatest success is the fact that everybody in Gracias and surrounding areas know that the Luke Society clinic will assist them with quality and love without demanding much or anything. We don’t have for now an advertisement for the clinic, but you can ask, ‘Where is the clinica San Lucas,’ and anyone can tell you. I feel blessed with the fact that we have assisted hundreds of people, and I know their lives have changed.”
As the program begins another decade of service to the Lord, Carlos and his staff continue to help bring “life to the full” to the people of Gracias, Honduras.
Anne Vogel