Listos,
I want to take this opportunity to extend my personal thanks to my
friend Mario Gutierrez Minera, who is the founder, chief editor and
publisher of Honduras This Week (www.hondurasthisweek.com). For many
years now, Mario has graciously provided projecthonduras.com and the
Conference on Honduras endless amounts of free publicity in his
weekly English-language newspaper, both in terms of advertisements
and articles. I know also that Mario has tirelessly promoted our
network and conference within many circles in Honduran society.
Our "unconventional movement" would not have grown nearly as fast or
developed as strong a reputation had it not been for Mario's
efforts. This is excellent teamwork. Gracias Mario!
For the Conference on Honduras 2004, Mario is once again helping us
with disseminating information throughout Honduras via HTW. Toward
the end of September or early October HTW will publish a list of all
the individuals and organizations registered to attend the
Conference. If you would like to be included in this list, please go
ahead and register before the end of this month. Go to
www.projecthonduras.com/conference for info. Also, I have just
submitted the following article to HTW for publication in the next
few weeks.
Marco
>>
Conference on Honduras Evolves While Remaining Consistent to Core
Themes of Education, Healthcare and Community Building
As we near the start of the fifth annual Conference on Honduras on
October 21, 2004, I continue to evaluate the myriad of suggestions
I've received regarding ways to improve the event. Even though the
conference has grown in size and recognition, and I am pleased with
its format, I want to always remain receptive to critique… both
positive and negative.
One of the critiques with which I've been wrestling is the idea that
we should do a better job of screening speakers for the conference to
ensure that the panel presentations are of a higher caliber. This is
an excellent suggestion. After all, why wouldn't we want to have top
notch speakers? The easiest response to that is… "Of course, we want
great speakers and professionally-done presentations."
The fact is that we do have a screening process in place, designed to
weed out people who are either not in sync with the networking vision
of projecthonduras.com or seem bent on focusing on themes that are
not relevant to the conference. Almost every year, we receive
proposals from individuals who wish to give presentations on
corruption, human rights abuses, land reform, trade expansion,
amnesty for illegal immigrants, etc. And each year, I must point out
that the themes of the Conference on Honduras series are education,
healthcare, and community building.
When people insist on being allowed to speak and stress the
importance of their issue, I am placed in a position of having to
remind them that this is a private conference. I acknowledge that
their issue should receive attention, and I proceed to encourage them
to organize their own conference.
Thus, our screening is designed more to guarantee consistency in
the "content" of the program, rather than the "quality" of the
individual presentations. That, in-and-of-itself is a huge
accomplishment. I think that is the main reason the conference has
been successful. We've always managed to stay on-theme, and this has
allowed us to remain positive, constructive, civil, and united.
As the Conference on Honduras grows and evolves, I have no doubt that
the competition to fill the limited number of speaking slots in our
program will increase. With more competition, the quality of the
presentations will improve naturally.
For now, I should say that I am very pleased with both the range of
the speaking topics on our program, as well as the experience and
skill of our speakers. Each speaker will have 15 minutes to
introduce themselves, their organization, and their project, and then
proceed to talk about specific successes/failures,
strengths/weaknesses, and plans/vision for the future. The hardest
thing in any short presentation is to be concise and to the point.
Some people are better at this exercise than others, but it is this
diversity that gives the conference its grassroots character… and I'm
not sure that I'm ready to alter this too much at the moment.
The Conference on Honduras 2004 will run from October 21-24. It will
feature a total of eight panels, including the Panel on HIV/AIDS,
Panel on Community Building #1, Panel on Education, Panel on
Healthcare, Panel on Community Building #2, Panel on Orphanages &
Homes for Children, Panel on Youth Empowerment, and Panel on Missions.
The conference will offer a full-day Workshop on Sustainable
Programs, led by Kathy Tscheigg, RN, of the Central American Medical
Outreach (CAMO) based in Orrville, Ohio and Santa Rosa de Copan.
There will also be four stand-alone presentations. Dan Downing of
Helps International Ministries of Asheville, North Carolina and
Tegucigalpa will give a presentation on Networking. Tony Stone of
the Adelante Foundation in La Ceiba will talk about Sustainability.
Catherine Docter of the Copan Maya Foundation of Santa Barbara,
California and Copan Ruinas will provide insights on Fundraising.
And Chuck Newman of Schools for the Children of the World in
Naperville, Illinois will present on Future Schools in Honduras.
The HIV/AIDS panelists will include: Denise Main, MD of St. Stephen's
Episcopal Church, Tiburon-Belvedere, California; Valerie Nelson of
Familias Saludables, Roatan; Helmuth Castro, MD, MPH of the Peace
Corps, Honduras; and Renata Lynn Dennis of Emory University's School
of Public Health and North Avenue Presbyterian Church, Atlanta,
Georgia.
The Community Building #1 panelists will include: Kathleen March of
the University of Maine, Orono, Maine; Melissa Wafer, RN, MSN of
Southeastern Louisiana University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and
Anashay Murphy and Ron Lopes of the Lisa Lopes Foundation, Stone
Mountain, Georgia.
The Education panelists will include: Jerry Thompson of Special
Missions Foundation, Inc., Georgetown, Texas; Danilo Levi, PhD of
Southeastern Louisiana University, International Initiatives Office,
Hammond, Louisiana; Carol Maria Penman of My Little Red House
Bilingual School, Ocotepeque; and Ben Udy of Cofradia Bilingual
School, Cofradia.
The Healthcare panelists will include: Tom Brian, DDS of Send Hope,
Allen, Texas and Elizabeth Madrid, MD of Clinica Médica Ruth Paz, San
Pedro Sula.
The Community Building #2 panelists will include: Kim Walsh Stone of
The Adelante Foundation, La Ceiba; Yadira de Cruz of
GreenWood/MaderaVerde, La Ceiba; José Yeovany Munguia of Fundación
Cosecha Sostenible Honduras, San Pedro Sula; Sonnie Samuelson of St.
Timothy Lutheran Church, Bemus Point, New York; and Linda Johanna
Stern of PROMESA, Zamorano.
The Orphanages & Homes for Children panelists will include: Diana
Rodríguez (presenting for Tracy Houpt) of MamaTara Miskito Orphanage,
Marietta, Georgia; Rev. Richard Kunz and Lazaro Juarez of El Hogar
Projects, Tegucigalpa; and David Ashby of Helping Honduras Kids, La
Ceiba.
The Youth Empowerment panelists will include: Graco Guerra Bonilla
and Ernesto Galvez of Confraternidad Carcelaria de Honduras,
Tegucigalpa; Sandra Gomez, MPH, PhD of the Peace Corps, Honduras;
George and Betty Mealer of Bless the Children/ProNiño, El Progreso;
and Michael Miller of The Micah Project, Tegucigalpa.
The Missions panelists will include: Gary Becks of Rescue Task Force,
San Diego, California; Richard Becton of Casa de Servicio
International, Cleveland, Tennessee; Jackie Makinson-Sanders of the
Ruth Paz Foundation, San Pedro Sula; and Andrea Jobe of RSF-
EARTHSPEAK, Scott's Valley, California.
Not too shabby a crowd.
The Conference on Honduras 2004 will be held at the Municipal
Conference Center and Hotel Marina Copan in Copan Ruinas, Honduras.
For more information about the event, go to
www.projecthonduras.com/conference or e-mail hondopost.....com.
The conference will be presented by projecthonduras.com and sponsored
by Special Missions Foundation, Inc. of Georgetown, Texas.
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