Category: Blog

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Testing the Waters with Nava

Nava (left) collects water sample

By Mariela Rodriguez – Communications Coordinator

This spring we had the privilege of welcoming back third-time volunteer, Nava Barman. When he first arrived in 2017, Nava shares how our mountainous region was reminiscent of “my family’s hometown in Northeast India,”- which is one of the reasons he has enjoyed returning. Now as a medical student pursuing his Masters in Public Health at Harvard he reached out to Shoulder to Shoulder to do his practicum.When Nava met with our Hens Hatching Hope staff they asked him whether our region’s drinking water could be causing children to continue contracting diahrrea. To prepare answering this broad question, Nava consulted with two field experts. This allowed him to strategize a needs assessment in Santa Lucia and Colomoncagua which included 2 main activities: testing multiple water sources for E.coli and interviewing key members to understand how water is treated and consumed by children under 5 years old.

Nava met with the local ‘juntas de agua‘ – community water committees who volunteer to do anything from keeping the water pipes clean to distributing water. They were happy to hike up the mountain with Nava to collect water samples for testing, amounting to 20 samples, from 8 communities.

After Nava conducted a portable water test, he had to grapple with delivering difficult news. Over 90% of his samples came back positive for E.coli shedding some light on what kind of water our children are drinking at home and at school. While there is no easy solution to many complex public health problems, projects like Nava’s help to create data and bring evidence to pre-existing suspicions that are present in our communities. In this case, what is contributing to our children’s frequent diahrrea bouts.

Thank you to Nava who chose to return to our region to conduct his practicum. We wish him the best as he continues his studies and we hope to see him back in Honduras once more.

To read Nava Barman’s full blog entry on Harvard’s website, click on the link below

Links:

Nava Barman's Intibuca Frontera Community Water Schema
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Fundraising Campaign End Updates

By Mariela Rodriguez – Communications Coordinator

Scholarship student and mother

Scholarship student and mother
2 weeks ago, you played a vital role in our participation of GlobalGiving’s Little by Little fundraising campaign. By joining 21 fellow donors both our nutrition and scholarship program received your support.
In total you raised $1,547 and with GlobalGiving’s help we received $448 in matching, totalling $1,995!!
  • Hens Hatching Hope, our nutrition project received donations totalling $368.
  • Our Scholarship project received donations totalling $1,627.
Thanks to your help we’ll be able to provide a year’s worth of eggs to 3 children and a year-long high school scholarship for FIVE students!
No words can capture how much your generosity means to the children and youth that we serve in Intibuca.
Thank you for reconnecting with Shoulder to Shoulder and helping create big change!

With gratitude,Shoulder to Shoulder

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Little x Little for Scholarships

Dear Donor,

There are TWO more days left to take part in GlobalGiving’s Little by Little Campaign where little acts of kindness can make a BIG difference. This campaign we are aiming to fund a 1-year scholarship for 6 high school students by raising 25, $50 donations. Alone, our goal may seem impossible—but together, we can accomplish anything.

Meet Jerson, as a part of our grandfathered scholarship program, he received help to finish his high school and university studies. Having graduated from a renowned university, Zamorano, he shares his wisdom to other students, “Despite the circumstances that may present themselves in life… persevere and with a little bit of ambition you can succeed. Because dreams do come true, but it is not a matter of having luck – rather of knowing how to utilize the opportunities that life gives us. Give the most of yourself every day in each task, because that is what can mark the difference from the rest.“
You still have time to get your donation of up to $50 matched by 50% during GlobalGiving’s Little By Little campaign.

Don’t miss out—matching ends at midnight EST tomorrow!

Are you looking for a bigger commitment? Many services from document editing, cloud storage to music channels – now charge a monthly fee. Invest in a ‘monthly gift’ instead to help another Intibuca youth walk across the graduation stage. AND GlobalGiving will match your generosity up to $50…twice! Here’s how it works:

Set up a monthly donation today and GlobalGiving will match it by 50%.  After your fourth consecutive monthly gift in August, Shoulder to Shoulder will receive an additional one-time match at 100%!

Just $10 a month gets a year of school supplies to 1 student
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