{"id":197,"date":"2019-04-07T22:35:40","date_gmt":"2019-04-07T22:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ecconsultingwy.com\/?p=197"},"modified":"2019-04-07T22:41:02","modified_gmt":"2019-04-07T22:41:02","slug":"what-happens-next-learn-give-share-sustainable-volunteerism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecconsultingwy.com\/?p=197","title":{"rendered":"What happens next? Learn – Give – Share Sustainable Volunteerism"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The view from Montana de Luz<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I recently returned from my third trip to Honduras and my second in the last 3 months.\u00a0 The first 2 trips have been service trips on the mainland; the most recent trip was with my family to the island of Roatan.\u00a0 When I returned from my service trip this past January, I began writing this blog post, but life got in the way and I never seemed to be able to finish it up.\u00a0 While on Roatan during our spring break trip, I began to think about the ideas and information I had planned to share in the unfinished blog post while new stories and people were inspiring me further.\u00a0\u00a0 The time seemed right to finish the post. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 2019 I went on my second service trip to Montana de Luz (MdL) in the beautiful mountains of Honduras.\u00a0\u00a0MdL is a faith-based organization dedicated to empowering children, youth, and families affected by HIV\/AIDS in Honduras. \u00a0They have a vision\u00a0to\u00a0\u201cbecome the leading provider of family-based, coordinated care resources for individuals affected by HIV\/AIDS in Honduras- dramatically increasing anti-retroviral medication adherence rates, eradicating HIV stigma, and allowing thousands more individuals to live happy, healthy lives\u201d.\u00a0Since MdL\u2019s inception the place has transformed from a hospice for children with HIV\/AIDS to a thriving home and community center supporting the healthy development of amazing children. https:\/\/www.montanadeluz.org\/about\/<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spent the\nweek living on MdL\u2019s residential campus with a group from an organization\ncalled Youth Across Borders (YAB)whose\nchief visionary and dreamer is my best childhood friend Courtney Bosca.\u00a0 YAB is a volunteer based organization \u201cthat\ncreates mutually beneficial cross-cultural experiences for children and young\nadults living with HIV\/AIDS. Through education, YAB raises awareness and\nreduces stigma.\u00a0 YAB offers opportunities by sharing life experience as a\nmeans of fostering collaboration, hope, and contribution, locally and\ninternationally\u201d\u00a0https:\/\/www.youthacrossborders.org\/<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 2019 YAB Team!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As is often the case with service travel, I walked away from the trip\nhumbled.\u00a0 I reflected on and marveled\nthat I had received more then I gave. I made new dear friends within the YAB group,\nI had worked and played with children, and I had supported the staff of \u201ctias\nand tios\u201d whose role it is to be the guardians and family to the children of\nMdL. This was all wrapped up in the pure joy of spending a week in the beauty of\nthe Honduran landscape.\u00a0 If it were not for\none other amazing opportunity given to our group, I might have left my service\nexperience there.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the morning of January 12th<\/sup>, 2019 the YAB group headed into Tegucigalpa on our bus complete with armed guards, to spend the morning at the offices of Red Viva.\u00a0 Red Viva is a network of organizations working for children and youth in conditions of social vulnerability.\u00a0 A big part of their work is coordinating a 9-day course called the Honduras Volunteer Academy. http:\/\/redviva.hn\/index.php\/component\/k2\/item\/56-honduras-volunteer-academy<\/a> During our morning at Red Viva, we participated in a very condensed version of the Volunteer Academy with a focus on understanding the definition and thinking about the concept of sustainable volunteerism. Sustainable volunteerism goes beyond the simple time and experience of volunteer work and focuses on how to assure the long term impact of that volunteer work through the model: Learn \u2013 Give \u2013 Share.\u00a0 We were asked to reflect on how we could be sustainable volunteers and continue to help Honduras when we came home through awareness raising, fundraising, and staying connected.\u00a0 This blog post is one way I am trying to be a sustainable volunteer.\u00a0 I hope it will provide some understanding and awareness about the context of Honduras and its citizens through data and examples of both the challenges and hope I have witnessed while there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First some basic facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n