In the first trip to Honduras, we discovered the opportunity for a project
in the beautiful colonial city of Santa Rosa de Copán. Located in the western
mountains of Honduras, a mere 2 hours from El Salvador and Guatemala, this city
is the capital of the poorest state in Honduras and yet boasts one of the most beautiful settings
in the country. The second trip to Honduras landed us a meeting between 4 of 3CM
board members, a local pastor and the mayor of the city where the general outlines
for a community center in one of the marginal communities of the city emerged.
The third trip to Honduras saw a team of 7 volunteers and 2 board members venturing to Santa Rosa de Copán to start the center, even though none of our construction funding had yet arrived. However, the Alberta Wildrose Foundation came through shortly thereafter with funds that facilitated another group to work with the local community to start construction. At the same time we launched programs in a rented house to teach sewing and computers (using a single donated computer).
In March of 2001 we signed a
contract with a local man, Miguel Giron, who had been helping out as a volunteer
up to that point. Miguel basically built the balance of the facility itself with
the assistance of funds received from the Canadian International Development Agency through the assistance of the Canadian Consulate in Honduras. In May, 2002, Phil
Davidson (previously a board member of 3CM) drove from Canada to Santa Rosa de
Copán to oversee the completion of the construction and the launch of programs
within the center intself.
Classes were commenced in August, 2002 and in
October things began to gather steam. By December we had English, dance, art,
sewing, cooking and soccer programs going. In February, 2003, we added theater
and music through the cooperation of the local House of Culture and the government
of Finland.
