Project 2019-017

Although water is abundant in Honduras, the drinking water in this area of Honduras is contaminated with bacteria and parasites.  Water is pumped into cisterns close to most homes, but it is not safe to drink. Consequently, only contaminated water is available and therefore stomach and intestinal illnesses are endemic throughout this area of the country.  The result is that many of the adults and children miss an inordinate amount of work or school. In this part of Honduras, missing work is quite costly because the laborer in the sugar cane and watermelon fields are only paid when they work, and the harvest season lasts only six months.  Additionally, if workers miss too much work, they may be immediately dismissed from their seasonal jobs. 

Once a year, a Honduras Hope Mission (HHM) Medical Team travels to La Villa to provide free medical care in La Villa and several surrounding villages.  As part of these trips, the HHM distributes portable water filters to the local families who come to the clinics – one per family. With the help of the Ingomar Living Waters Foundation, over the past eight years HHM has distributed 2,942 water filters.  The impact of these filters on the health of the community has been dramatic. Health workers, teachers and pastors in the various communities have noticed a significant improvement in the health of both adults and children. Gastrointestinal illnesses have dramatically declined (up to 90 percent).  Adults are missing less work and children are missing less school. Families have learned to take bottled water from their homes to work and school. Schools and churches in the areas visited by the HHM Medical Teams are also provided with filters.

Water filters provide clean water to a family for up to two years and only cost $25 per filter!  This request funds 525 water filters that will be distributed during a mission trip scheduled for February 2020 by HHM.  Providing 525 water filters will allow the team to replace many water filters (handed out in past years) that are approaching their two-year useful life and to have an ample supply of filters to hand out to families that have never had a filter before …allowing them to have access to clean, safe water! 

Completed February 1, 2020

With the COVID pandemic threatening world travel, the Honduras Hope Mission team decided to *not* travel to Honduras in February 2020 as initially planned.  If there’s a critical need for replacement of family water filters (each only lasts 2 years for a family of 4), those will be handled in-country.  Most of the ILW funding towards water filters will be held until the next visit planned for February 2021.  However, this visit too may be impacted by the COVID pandemic.

At this point, the generous $13,125 provided from the 2019 Wine to Water event, will roll forward along with some additional monies allocated to Honduras water filters in 2020 in order to provide additional water filters in Honduras in 2021 and beyond.  Therefore, we’re rolling funds forward and marking 2019 water filter donations as closed or completed.  Thank you again, so much for your generosity towards those in Honduras in need of clean water!