SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2025: September 4

Our ninth day of distribution was held at Ibrahim Gamero school. Our first challenge was for our driver to negotiate access roads to the school which were very narrow and cluttered with vehicles. After drop-off we all descended steep narrow stone steps without hand rails and already congested with children, parents and numerous dogs, to enter the school. This slowed our progress.

The school had been built on the side of a cliff with small classrooms and two sets of access stairs. Our leader tĥen had to develop a plan for the steps of the distribution: registration, tee-shirts, backpacks, staging, pictures, bedkits and exit. All stages were set up quickly with the help of our Rotarians, Rotoractors and municipal supporters who had been working with us and knew our set-up plan. 

We were then ready to initiate our distribution and the waìting and excited children were processed into our stages initially in groups of 10.  This allowed our process to move quickly.

Some of the younger children at times seemed nervous and afraid of us as they did not fully understand who we were and what was happenin̈g, but we had individuals with us speaking Spanish and providing support to address any concerns. Several delays in our process occurred due to children being delayed by traffic or scheduling but eventually we completed our distribution of 501 bedkits.

Team Honduras, 2025

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2025: September 3

We are in Honduras, a country that makes your mind contort as you look around.  There is a large influence from the other “America” here - everything from KFC, to McDonalds, to Walmart, Costco, Dunkin Donuts - and coffee shops on every corner. When you look at the other side of the road you will see shanties (chabolas) that are merely stone walls with metal roofs with logs on the roof to hold them down in the wind. But what is also here is crime, although you might not see it as obviously. Here the gangs run the rural parts of the country, just outside the city, where the poorest of the poor are.

It is risky for us “gringos” to venture into those areas and also risky for the children who come to collect their bedkits, as we are traversing on their territory.  So we teeter on the edge . . . going to schools near - or between - gang run areas (with police or municipal escorts, of course - just in case).  That's about as close as we can get that will allow us to help the children, but not endanger anyone, and that keeps our Rotarian and Rotaractor colleagues safe and at peace with their community.  

So why do we come here if it's somewhat dangerous?  Well we don't really go into danger zones, but mostly because the children need us! So far we have been to 3 schools in borderline areas and each school has thanked us immensely for “not forgetting them,” and for including their children in our program.  The smiles, the comments such as “God bless you,” of “I love you” that we hear from the children  along with the high-fives and the hugs help us all know how gratifying this work can be. 

Maybe WE are the hope that these children need to feel pulling them towards a different way of life as they get older?

That’s why we come here.

Team Honduras, 2025

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2025: September 2

As a fellow Rotarian and a past Rotaractor (young/future Rotarians) it warms my heart to know how Rotarians are very dedicated in their service to mankind all over the world. Here in Honduras, members of the Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa have many projects but Sleeping Children is one of their top initiatives. This also applies to the Rotaractors who this year invited other Rotaractor clubs in the city to join the distribution to both see what it is and to engage in cross-club initiatives and networking.  It is the strength and dedication of these two organizations that pull this all together and deliver it alongside our SCAW travelling volunteers.

In cooperation with SCAW over the past approx. 20 years, these organizations have improved the lives and given hope for the future of over 100,000 Honduran children. 

We are very excited and humbled to be crossing this milestone with them on this distribution.

Team Honduras, 2025

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2025: September 1

Today’s school had a very confined centre court. The children were streaming in one closely guarded door as the street was full of excited parents, relatives and community members.

The school presented us with a very exuberant dance routine using vibrantly ribboned hoops and gymnastics.

The distribution of 486 bedkits flowed smoothly. As an added bonus for the children today they received medical attention from a team of health care providers.

Mawdy is an international organization in 23 countries and operates in Honduras to provide a suite of insurance services. They brought many staff and the health care organization they contract with (Integrasalud Hn) provided health care services to the children. Dental care staff applied fluoride treatment. Nurses and doctors gave out vitamins and deworming medication and did health checks as needed. Mawdy has been supporting SCAW with this one day of services for 3 years, and next year they want to extend it to two days.
This service is available for children, teaching and administrative staff of the schools, and parents, when the delivery of the bedkits allows it.

The family doctor who attended, identified the top three health challenges for Honduran children; access to care, tinea (fungal infections of the skin on the body and feet), and dengue (a mosquito-born viral infection). The mosquito netting included in the bedkits will be especially appreciated.

Team Honduras, 2025

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2025: August 29

So far, all the bedkits have been distributed on the grounds of schools.  Most of the schools have a central courtyard (play or assembly area) ringed by classrooms. 

Although gray cement abounds, great care has been taken to make these spaces bright and cheerful learning areas.  The walls are painted in bright colours, lessons are posted on the walls, interesting art hangs from the ceiling, and eye catching displays adorn the spaces.

Each day we look forward to seeing the creativity these educators bring to their students to enhance their learning experience.

Team Honduras, 2025

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2025: August 28

On distribution day 4, we left the city to travel 20 miles to the forest. With our trusty Rotarian driver, Casar,  we navigated hills, curves, bumps and dirt roads on our way to Los Limones in Central District, arriving at Sergio Palacios School. Upon arrival, our competent Rotarian and Rotaract teams initiated set-up of our shade canopy to provide a comfortable space for our distribution.

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Our distribution team reviewed the premises to plan how to use the space and set up our camera, bedkits and left space to manage the flow of the children.

Upon completion of set-up, a welcome and thankful exercise was presented by the school along with prayers and a musical performance by an aspiring young female vocalist. We then completed our distribution of 431 bedkits to very thankful, happy and smiling boys and girls. 

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Team Honduras, 2025

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2025: August 27

Beating the Rain

As all of our sights in Honduras are school locations, today is no different. This primary Catholic school, Escuel Monsenor Fallis, is much larger than previous schools with a huge courtyard. The Rotarians erected a large tent which provided ample protection from the elements for the kids. Rain threatened all day but it was the wind that caused more complications with the huge tent nearly achieving lift-off numerous times. With approximately 600 bedkits to distribute today’s distribution is larger than most.

When we finished, Rotarians and Rotaracts invited our team to lunch at Portobello, where we all enjoyed pizza. With impeccable timing the skies opened and it poured!

The day wrapped up with us attending the weekly Rotarian Social, which was held at our hotel. Another successful day!

Team Honduras, 2025

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2025: August 26

We arrived at the school, Pedro Nufio, which we had visited yesterday post-distribution to scope out the best site for picture-taking and to develop flow logistics. The municipality had set up a large tent providing shade over the small centre court for the children to enter, be dressed in t-shirts and given backpacks, and be ready to move for picture-taking.

The team was given a warm welcome and treated to a lively Honduran dance performed by girls dressed in brightly-coloured  skirts.

The boys wore their straw wide-brimmed hats (chapellerie traclet).

Their  smiles and joy were shared with us!

Many municipal volunteers, as well as Rotarian and Rotaracts, helped the SCAW team with all the steps involved in distributing the bedkits.

Some of children travelled an hour from other schools to attend and receive their bedkit. They were so thankful and happy.

Team Honduras, 2025

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2025: August 25

Distribution #1 is in the Books!

Today was a very successful start for Team Honduras.  Five hundred and twenty-three bedkits were distributed today with relative ease.  With Danielle on the photos, Masud lining up the kids, Cathy staging, Sue pulling labels, Jan checking labels and Bill handing out bedkits we preformed like a well-oiled machine. 

This could not have been achieved without the unwavering support and hard work of the Tegucigalpa Rotary and Rotaracts, and of course our very generous donors.  We hope all those adorable children are enjoying a good night’s sleep tonight.

Team Honduras, 2025

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2025: August 24

The Honduras 2025 team has arrived and is already hard at work. We had our first meeting with some of the Rotarian team this morning.  We examined all the items in the bedkit that the children will receive (spoiler alert: they are great!); were told of the locations; discussed the general site setup; and heard about all the hard work that has already been done by the Rotarians to make this distribution of 5000 bedkits run smoothly. 

Tomorrow we meet the children and we are so excited!

Team Honduras, 2025

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦