Gracias

Luke Society director Carlos Mendoza understands poverty. His father left when he was just a year old. His mother was pregnant and had no family in San Pedro Sula, so he was sent to live for a while with his grandmother eating only beans and tortillas. By age five, he had developed significant malnutrition. His grandmother thought, "I'm going to take this child to his mother because he's going to die here anyway."

"I remember the first thing I ate with my mother was rice and cheese," he said. "It was like a filet for me."

He walked four miles every day, following train tracks to and from elementary school and six miles to and from high school until winning a bicycle in a raffle.

Having never heard the gospel, he would often get together with classmates with different religious beliefs. An evangelical friend kept saying that the Word of God tells of an abundant life. Carlos read the New Testament as well as books from an agnostic friend. At that time, Carlos was spending a lot of time at the dance hall and began visiting prostitutes.

"One day, while I was dancing, somebody struck me," he said, mimicking a punch to the face. "My cousin was changing the records and was drunk. The mother of the man who struck me asked forgiveness for him. I said 'Sure,' but then I thought, 'Why should I forgive him? I should punish him.' A few minutes later I went outside and looked at the stars and said, 'Lord, do you exist?' I went inside, and my cousin was drunk and looking for the person who struck me. I went to bed confused."

That week, he talked to his evangelical friend and continued to read the Bible. A couple of months later, he accepted Jesus.

With a background in cost accounting, Carlos went to work at the Luke Society clinic in Olancho as an administrator alongside Dr. Nestor Salavarria. He left an organization with a $5 million budget for the opportunity to work more directly with people, serving as pastor as well as manager. After five years in Olancho, he finished his seminary and accounting degrees in Tegucigalpa and in 1994 established another Luke Society ministry in the country's second poorest province, Lempira.

In addition to running a clinic with three physicians and a dentist, Carlos has created an economic development program in one of Lempira's poorest communities, Santa Cruz.

Investing in People

The two-and-a-half-hour drive to Santa Cruz is beautiful but bumpy. As our 4-wheel drive climbs the rocky terrain, Carlos informs me that they've just fixed the roads, saving us a two-hour hike to the town, nestled comfortably into the hillside. A few years ago, the Luke Society trained 40 community health workers here. All but one are still active, assisting the region's government nurse in monitoring children for malnutrition and respiratory infections.

Now Carlos' tie to the community is an economic one. With a grant from Christ Memorial Church in Holland, Michigan, he set up solidarity groups to receive small loans for micro-enterprise. Each member of the two groups is responsible for the loans of their fellow members, securing the loans and providing peer accountability to the program.

After helping entrepreneurs in the community enlarge their farms, buy items for resale or establish pulperias (small window front stores), Carlos hired Ana Guevara, a young woman from Santa Cruz, to oversee the groups.

"Training is continuous in the program," she said. "Most of the people don't know how to read and write."

Santa Cruz is in the midst of a ferria -- a three-day fair -- its numbers swelling as merchants peddle their wares; a procession, noisy with drums and fireworks, moves away from the Catholic church with a statue of the Virgin Mary. Walking through the crowds, we meet several members of the solidarity groups taking the opportunity to find new customers.

With the loan from the Luke Society, Mardonio Hernandez bought plasticware and spices to sell from his house and on market days. Nearby his wife is cooking tortillas with meat, corn and beans to sell to hungry visitors. Mardonio also serves as president of the solidarity advisory board, assessing those who want to join and approving loans.

"The profits from my business have helped cover various health needs, provided money for crops and clothing and gone to repair my house," said the father of three. "And not just me, but others in the group. People are seeing a better way of life."

Before joining the solidarity group, Justo Gonzalez struggled to keep his family clothed and fed on an income of $35 a month. He can neither read nor write and had very few resources. Carlos knew that it would be difficult to help him but hoped the program could benefit those in greatest need. The group approved a $100 loan for Justo to buy straw baskets and mats and some spices to resell in the surrounding villages.

At the end of the 9-month loan cycle, he couldn't fully repay the loan. He had a choice: either walk away from the group or continue to attend the meetings for the next nine months without a loan. He attended the meetings faithfully and was given a second chance. Now Justo is doing well and working diligently. With six dozen baskets on his back, he journeys up to three days to distant villages. With the profits, he is able to buy food and clothes for his family and purchase seeds for his own farm.

"I praise the Lord for what I have," he said, "Now I have the opportunity to go out to the villages and sell something."

One of the solidarity groups is made up of 13 women, six of whom are single mothers.

"Before it was very difficult for them because they had no money," said Ana. "Mostly they had to work as jornales -- day laborers -- doing hard work with a hoe or machete alongside the men. Now their children are eating much better."

The women have also formed a cooperative business from their profits, running the only shoe shop in the town. With $300 of their money plus a $600 loan from the Luke Society, they've doubled their capital to $1800. The store has created another job in the town, paying a young woman to attend the store.

Each month, members must put money into savings, in addition to paying low interest and donating a small portion to a community development project of their choice. After repaying the loan at the end of the nine-month cycle, they've saved 10% and are eligible to receive the loan amount again.

Together, the 36 members form a cooperative to buy farming supplies at a discount for group members and to resell in the community. The cooperative has been able to pay the original loan back to the Luke Society and is now operating with its own money.

"Someday I will die," said Carlos, "but I know that they'll still have their businesses and will teach them to their children."

Through their contact with Carlos and Ana, four of the group members have become Christians.

Reaching Out

On the way back from Santa Cruz, we pass through the town of San Juan with its rows of uniform concrete buildings to pick up the Luke Society's medical director, Dr. Josue de Dios, and a visiting medical student from New York, Uggo Iroku. Josue comes every Friday to the Luke Society's satellite clinic, the only clinic serving the area's 10,000 people when he began visiting three years ago. A young woman from the town trained under Josue and serves as his assistant.

When Josue first came to San Juan, the Luke Society held an evangelistic campaign. The resulting church now has 75 people coming each week and recently bought property and hired a full-time pastor.

Gladys Nolasco, one of the members, spoke of the relationship between the clinic and the church. "It's been excellent. There are people that have come to the church through the clinic."

The church is one of several started by Luke Society staff.

"Since we've started here," Carlos said, "we've planted or helped to plant nine churches. We have a goal to start three churches each year."

Sunday morning we visited the church in La Lima, which Carlos started a few years ago with 12 believers. The church is now growing strong with 125 attending each week. Recently, the church called a full-time pastor, allowing Carlos to step into the role of assistant, he reports with a smile.

On Saturdays, Carlos travels 40 minutes to Lepaera to help plant a church there, and he visits Belen twice a month, where he helps another pastor do the same. The clinic's pediatrician, Dr. Abel Castro, drives to Mejocote on Mondays to help plant a church as well.

"This year," said Carlos, "I'm praying for another place where there is no evangelical church."

Like the other Luke Society ministries in Honduras, medical brigades also play an important role in Gracias. After Hurricane Mitch, Carlos and his Partnership Management Team organized groups of physicians, nurses and construction volunteers to visit one of the country's hardest hit areas. In addition to seeing nearly 2,000 patients and helping rebuild homes, the groups helped start a church there that is still thriving.

Honduran physicians also volunteered for a medical brigade in a local prison, where 90 people were treated.

Providing Care

When the clinic opens on Monday morning, patients quickly fill the waiting area. Young mothers nursing their babies, children squirming quietly in their seats, and mustached men with machetes and cowboy hats watch The Jesus Film and cartoon health programs on the television. Josue, Abel, Dr. Wilmer Lopez and dentist Dr. Walter Ventura begin seeing patients after a time of morning prayer.

Abel's office -- decorated with Matchbox cars, Beanie Babies, Happy Meal characters and an inflatable, squeaky Donald Duck -- betrays his specialty. He puts his young patients at ease, shaking their tiny hands, showing them his toys and humming and whistling upbeat tunes while he works. Still the respiratory infections, diarrhea and parasites he battles each day are serious problems in the impoverished region. A Gerber's jar on his shelf is filled with long, spaghetti-like worms that were removed from a single patient.

Abel worked for several years under the tutelage of Dr. Nestor Salavarria in the Olancho province before joining the staff in Gracias.

"Nestor was my inspiration for becoming a pediatrician," he said. "He is a special man."

By lunchtime, each of the doctors has seen between 15 and 20 patients.

A second building is currently under construction, which will allow the Luke Society to provide more medical services. Carlos hopes that he will soon be able to add the city's first X-ray and an ultrasound machine to help his physicians improve diagnosis and treatment. Now, people have to travel to one of Honduras' major cities for an X-ray.

Also new is an open-air conference room for training pastors and health workers. A local woman who was recently blinded is training as a masseuse with the help of an American who served on a recent Luke Society brigade. She will use her skills in the new clinic as well.

The accomplishments of the Luke Society in Gracias these last six years are many, but Carlos' focus is on the future -- planting more churches, helping lift more families out of poverty and improving the level of care at the clinic.