Dear Friends of HELPING HANDS FOR HONDURAS,

I am a retired United States citizen and have lived in Honduras since 2003 after a high-school teaching career. I came to Honduras “to live with the poor,” but I never realized how literally true that would
become.

Thirteen-year-old Juan Anselmo (Chemo) showed up at my door one night in July, 2007 after being kicked out of his house by his drunk older brother and came with nothing more than a little bag of clothes, mostly mere rags. Obviously undernourished, he was challenging me to take on a role I never imagined for myself: being a father. I had to clothe him, feed him and (since he had never attended school) educate him. I had to get him ready for first grade!

I soon noticed how quickly Chemo tired. If we went down to the river, for example, or visited his friends in surrounding villages he would fatigue quite rapidly. His little friends would take turns carrying him on their bikes, or even propped up on a tree branch. I knew for sure Chemo had a heart problem, having had a heart murmur myself. And I was right!

But I was at a loss. Even my own doctor had said he wouldn't want his child getting heart surgery in Honduras. And the money was just flowing out (hemorrhaging, you might say) while I was just getting along on social security and my teacher's pension, and giving most of that away to poor people who would come to my door.

That's when I was told about HELPING HANDS FOR HONDURAS and the work they do with children born with congenital heart defects and
related cardiac diseases.

Chemo was admitted last month into the pediatric cardiac mission, which HELPING HANDS FOR HONDURAS coordinated with International Children's Heart Foundation and the Gift of Life of Rotary International. Not only were these excellent pediatric cardiac surgeons and experienced ICU nurses, but also very generous souls hearts, I should say!) to dedicate their time and talents, leaving behind their own families, their own children, for two weeks or more, to “adopt” these poor ones, “the least of my brothers and sisters” as Jesus would say.

Once Chemo was released from the Hospital and we were back home in our village we celebrated Chemo's fourteenth birthday with cake (in the form of a heart, of course). Everyone in the neighborhood came to give Chemo their “Bienvenido” and to welcome him back home.

Chemo will now be able to live a normal life and will be able to do the things most teenagers do. He is already back in school and will soon begin the second grade.

I am grateful to HELPING HANDS FOR HONDURAS for helping my son Chemo.             Mr. Michael Dulick

Without your solidarity and generous sharing with the poor, HELPING HANDS FOR HONDURAS could do nothing! We –together with Chemo and his father, and many others– thank you and pray for God's choicest blessings upon you and your loved ones!

Ronald G. Roll
Executive Director
Helping Hands for Honduras, Inc.

(click here to download a PDF version of our October 2008 newsletter)

Please send donations to:

Helping Hands for Honduras, Inc.
3700 Big Ben Road
Virginia Beach, VA 23452

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