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Rotarians take humanitarian trip to Honduras

Courtesy of Trinity Rotary

Trinity Rotary leaders Barry Poppel and Carol Kinnard traveled to Honduras to help install water filters, financed in part by the local club. Courtesy of Trinity Rotary

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: April 29, 2009

TRINITY - Digging latrines for outhouses and installing water filters in some of the poorest parts of Honduras probably isn't most people's idea of a vacation.

Carol Kinnard and Barry Poppel, however, had other ideas.

The two members of the Rotary Club of Trinity joined a Pure Water for the World mission to help improve health conditions in the ruggedly mountainous country in Central America.

Kinnard and Poppel shared their insights with Trinity Rotary members during a recent presentation. The local club had donated $6,000 toward the Pure Water cause, Poppel emphasized.

After arriving at the Honduras capital of Tegucigalpa, the Trinity duo and company made their way over steep, treacherous roads to the hamlet of Trojes along the Nicaraguan border. Their trip rated coverage as a top story on a local TV station.

The caravan participants crossed some rickety bridges "with our eyes closed," Poppel observed. He recalled some "white knuckle" rides in the back of an old pickup truck over rutted roads.

Kinnard was struck by how every Honduran resident seemed to carry a gun. A restaurant devoted a space where guests had to deposit their firearms before dining.

The visitors were proud to see the Rotary logo on some of the scores of water filters. The filters use gravel and sand to remove most of the bacteria from disease-infested drinking water in Honduran homes. The latest filters are made with plastic housings to make them easier to transport up the sides of mountains.

The group also helped Hondurans dig latrines for outhouses. More than 500 homes in the Trojes area simply do not have bathrooms or latrines, Poppel pointed out.

Kinnard proved popular among the native children as she passed out some 400 toothbrushes.

The Rotary group visited a one-room schoolhouse in the Trojes area. Students ages 5 to 11 in six grades were grouped together, Poppel said. Education largely comes to an end when a Honduran child reaches age 12, he added.

The school children said a prayer before a community meeting, Kinnard noted.

Kinnard joined the playful children in several of their games. She taught them some English words as she picked up some Spanish phrases from them.

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