Tag: poverty

Advocacy, My Community

Community Day of Learning Presentation

Makenna Lenover

On February 23rd, Bryn Mawr College will be hosting the second annual Community Day of Learning. The title for this year’s theme is “In/ Visible: Class on Campus and in Our Lives.” Last year, over 800 students, faculty, and staff participated in some or all of the day’s program; the latter included 40 sessions offered primarily by combinations of students, faculty and staff and in formats ranging from workshops to films to panel discussions to lectures.

Little Known Help Zone will be hosting a session titled, Class, Culture, and Poverty: Bias Towards the Indigenous in Central America. The description for the session is as follows:
Before colonialism, aboriginals in Central America ruled the land. After Old World contact, a hierarchical class structure based in racism and ethnocentric superiority led to detrimental poverty in Central America, strongest in Indigenous Populations. Learn more, as well as how you can help.

This presentation will be a wonderful way to spread the word about the issues of Latin America and the causes Little Known Help Zone supports, as well as ways to get involved and help.

Children's Education Abroad, My Community

The Donation Is In- Two Girls Are Going to School in Guatemala

Makenna Lenover

After over a year of hard work and the generosity of the KTI 2015 Family, a longtime goal has been achieved. Not one, but two girls in Guatemala are now set to go to school for a year. Little Known Help Zone is officially the sponsor of Claudia Marina and Brenda Yohana, two 11th grade girls. Read the last post to find out more about their interest and background https://littleknownhelpzone.wordpress.com/2015/08/17/sponsoring-high-school-education-in-guatemala/

This is just the beginning, as hopefully more money can be raised to continue sponsoring children. In a perfect world, every child will be able to go to school. Let’s make this a perfect world.

This is such a heartwarming experience, and I can’t wait to see what comes in the future.

Thank you to everyone who made this possible.

Children's Education Abroad, My Community

So Tell Me About Roatan

Makenna Lenover
bay islands, Honduras
In red, you see the location of Roatan.

Today’s post is in honor of Roatan, Honduras. Many people ask, so why Roatan? Many even ask what Roatan is. Roatan is an island off of Honduras part of the Bay Island chain. The people are kind, the weather is warm and lovely, the sand is white, and the water is crystal clear.

I was mystified when I visited for the first time in 2012. Everything about this place was perfect. Some personal luxuries I enjoyed included attractive men and delicious smoothies from Earth Mama Roatan.

Along with my personal enjoyment, I was a bit taken aback by the living conditions. The island was very impoverished, and that’s what sparked my need to help.

Some statistics about Roatan…

  • Honduras is the second poorest country in Central America and has recently been declared a 4th world country.
  • Most of its citizens live off approximately $1 a day, and have limited access to education that exceeds the 6th grade.
  • Roatan itself has recently become a tourist destination due to the fact that it is almost entirely surrounded by the second largest barrier reef in the world, but the Islanders themselves rarely see any of the profit generated as most of the resorts and beaches that the tourists visit are entirely run by foreigners.
  •  Because Roatan is so far off of the coast of Honduras, the Islanders have very limited access to the medical facilities
  • young children die of preventable and treatable sicknesses
  • Most every young child has been through a bout of worms, most more than once in their lives. No child should ever die from worms, but it happens on the island.
  • The HIV/AIDS rate is the highest in Central America.  The rate of HIV in Roatan is 220 times the rate of HIV in the U.S.

These statistics devastate me, and that is why I have chosen Roatan as a main location for help. So if you get a chance to visit, not only take advantage of its gorgeous features, but aid its deprived people.