I departed on the morning of Thursday, November 4th for Willard airport on a solo trip to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and then in true soy-cowboy style, I roped up all the soy cows, checked the herd, and patted my fellow herdsmen and herdswomen on the back in time to ride out of town in the wee hours of Sunday morning to meet up with the Associate Director of NSRL Bridget Owen and WISHH Executive Director Jim Hershey in Guatemala City.
Everything on the way down to San Pedro Sula went off without a hitch, save light rain in Miami, a few bumps, and 100 mph headwind as we tipped our hat to Hurricane Tomas, passing him on his west side with enough clearance to stay out of that potential airborne rodeo he might give us. I arrived in San Pedro an hour late on Thursday night just as Tomas was making the squeeze between Haiti and Cuba. I gave my apologies to Carlos Coello, our worthy consultant in Honduras, who had been waiting patiently for my arrival at the airport. As soon as we hopped in his car and headed out of the airport, he was excited to tell me how everything was going for CEPUDO. Over the next couple of days, I would find out what was behind all of his excitement.
I was surprised by the number of fast food restaurants we passed on the way to the hotel. San Pedro Sula has quite possibly the largest concentration of American fast food chains outside of the U.S. It is the only place on Earth that I have seen a Pizza Hut on the same block as another Pizza Hut. After driving through restaurant row, Carlos dropped me off at a nearby Holiday Inn.
My first site visit of the trip was the SoyCow at Father Vicente's center. The people at Father's keep their heads held high and really work hard to meet the needs of the surrounding community. The SoyCow was in great shape and I could tell things have been taken care of very well. My only work was to tell the operator to keep an eye on the various gaskets in case they need replacing.
Next, we headed to the CEPUDO warehouse and training center. As we arrived, I was greeted by several CEPUDO staff and volunteers as they were sorting donated clothes to give to the community. Carlos informed me that they normally don't take on used clothes for donations but current situations made for an exception. CEPUDO has a preferred beneficiary called Angels of Hope. This is an organization that cares for orphans. CEPUDO assures that this organization receives what they need by setting aside items for them first. Included in the Angels of Hope batch were multiple pallets of NIKE Air Jordans and Crocs of all sizes and colors.
Next it was on to the CEPUDO SoyCow. I observed and assisted with one of the day's batches, monitoring the process used, troubleshooting and making sure that everything was in place and that precautions were taken to ensure the health of the SoyCow and that safety and sanitary procedures were being rigorously followed. CEPUDO's beneficiaries ask for the soymilk consistently and the current SoyCow operates at 100% production.
The next day included mostly discussions of the different important factors that lead to sustainability in a small business. We talked about the game plan for soy dairy in Honduras--how to make the SoyCows as efficient as possible and how to lower costs by taking steps to ensure longevity of the many parts of the SoyCow.
We also journeyed out to the fish farms that CEPUDO manages where sustainable fisheries are created for local fish farmers. At this site, they not only raise fingerlings to sell to local farmers, but it is also used as a community training site. CEPUDO holds training sessions at the on-site building--for example, health and nutrition seminars for women who may be mothers or expectant mothers.
CEPUDO also provides assistance to a second sustainable fish farm which has taken off rapidly and is seeing major success. The community members that run the farm are very forward thinking and creative entrepreneurs. On top of one of the ponds they have built a seafood restaurant where they sell their fish and prawns to passersby. I was overwhelmed by how quickly these people grasped and ran with the idea of agro-tourism.
After Carlos and I declared "mission accomplished", it was off to bed for me. I had a 4:30am wake up call and an early morning flight to Guatemala.
Sunday in Guatemala City was spent preparing for the week ahead of me and squeezing in a trip to historic Antigua to breathe in some of the local culture and see what historical relics I could snap some shots of before sundown.
As part of my work for the week, I visited Centro de Artes y Oficios and Fundas Ninas. At Centro de Artes I was warmly greeted by Luisa Maria, the principle of the center, and Juan Jose, the gentlemen that would work with me and who I would offer the refresher training on the operation of the SoyCow.
The center is selling a steady supply of soymilk to the community and the project is showing many signs of success, from the enthusiasm of the staff to the great taste of the product. I was so impressed with the center that I was compelled to invite the head operator from Fundas Ninas, Angel, to come to Centro de Artes y Oficios to get experience on the SoyCow that is going to be delivered to Fundas Ninas in December.
The highlights of the trip to Fundas Ninas were seeing the new soy dairy facility which is getting closer to completion, as well as the humiliating experience of getting absolutely schooled by little girls in a quick game of basketball before taking Angel to Centro de Artes to meet an exact replica of the SoyCow that will soon be delivered to Fundas Ninas.
Stay tuned for updates as I will be at the Fundas Ninas in December to install the SoyCow and refresh Angel on operation and maintenance of the new system.
Warm regards,
Nick Scates
