Mathews resident Jeannette Needham is once again working on a project to help poor people in her native country, Honduras.
A U.S. citizen whose family immigrated to New Orleans when she was 13, Needham regularly visits family and friends in Honduras, and she always comes home longing to help that country’s less fortunate citizens.
Several years ago, she raised enough money to buy a used school bus for students who had been riding to school standing in the back of an open flatbed truck. That bus is still in operation, she said, and the local Catholic church is providing gas and maintenance. This time, she said, she hopes to build a kitchen.
When Needham visited Honduras this August, her 25-year-old cousin, Doris Paz, took her to a one-room village schoolhouse in the mountains of Honduras where 60 children are taught by one teacher, who supplements his meager salary by moonlighting as a welder.
Needham said the children at the Las Flores school have few books and supplies, so while she was there she donated some money for two new blackboards and some paint, but what the school needs most of all, she said, is a kitchen and storage space.
A charitable organization, Viveres Mundial de Alimentos, gives food to the families of the children, said Needham, but there’s no way to monitor how the food is used. It could be eaten by the family, she said, or it could be sold. But if the school had a kitchen and storage space, the food could be stored there, and the children could be fed regularly.
Although the village recently got electricity, said Needham, the kitchen stove wouldn’t be a shiny modern appliance. Rather, it would be an adobe woodstove on which the school’s small staff could prepare beans, rice, tortillas, oatmeal and sometimes rice pudding for a treat.
“They’re 50 to 60 years behind us in terms of technology,” she said, “but they’re bright and eager and they want to learn.”
Needham said it will take $8,000 to build and equip the kitchen and the storage building, to pay for some greatly-needed books and supplies, and to possibly buy some uniforms and shoes. She said 100 percent of the money she collects will be spent for the intended purpose. If there’s any money left over, she said, she’ll help another school.
“When you go to Honduras, you’re happy to see everybody, and the country is beautiful,” she said. “The people have themselves and their beautiful heart … but you notice how they live and what they do without, and you think about all we have here and what we could do to help.”
So far, Needham has had a yard sale to raise money, and her neighbor’s Bible class at Central Methodist Church has donated some funds, but more is needed.
To help out, send a donation to Jeannette Needham, P.O. Box 337, Mathews, Va. 23109. Write “Honduras” on the check. For more information, call 725-7140.