Slow sand filters. The first filter we introduced was a slow sand filter. These filters work well and can be maintained by the home owner. The main expenses involve buying a plastic barrel, PVC pipe and connectors, and a faucet. We initially placed filters at water sources thinking people could share the filters as is often done in Africa. It became clear that this level of collaboration was not desired by the population. We switched to the smaller and lower cost ceramic filters that are in individual homes.
Water flocculation. An external agency approached us about piloting a water flocculation intervention. This intervention takes turbid water and turns the water clear. Although the process worked well, the main problems in San Jose is lack of water. The water in San Jose is not excessively cloudy so people didn’t find the work involved worth their time. Additionally, they could not afford the chemicals to treat the water.
Adelante micro-finance. Adelante is a micro-finance organization operating in Honduras, including the state of Intibuca, where San Jose is located. The costs to join this cooperative model of micro-loan program was beyond the means of most of the San Jose people. Given some people in the area are doing better financially, we may want to explore partnering with Adelante again.
Micro-finance. See separate page.
Project Heifer. More than 10 years ago we had Project Heifer give a presentation to interested people in San Jose. They use a cooperative model to help poorer farmers raise animals for food and profit. Unfortunately, at the time they presented the cost to join the cooperative was well beyond what San Jose people could afford.
Bee keeping. We helped a San Jose woman start a bee keeping enterprise. After about one year it became clear she was spending more money on buying sugar to feed the bees than she was making from honey sales. Continuing to support this project seemed a bad idea.
Bread making. We helped area women bake and sell bread. We assisted in the construction of bread ovens, both traditional and one designed to use less wood. Margins were so tight and other people in the area were selling bread that the activity made minimal profit for the work involved. At that time, there was not market for different breads. We may try this again after researching the financial aspects.
Handicraft sales. Many women in the area do embroidery and approached us to help with sales. We put women in touch with a handicrafts store in la Esperanza. The sales were on a consignment basis. Local women really didn’t make any money. People do sell at times to members of our group, but that is not a sustainable model long term.
Terracing, drip irrigation, green manuring, composting, etc. We identified a progressive farmer in a community about 40 minutes drive away. We organized transport and brought a group of San Jose farmers to take a class to learn about these “new” ideas. The farmers were excited so we helped with some of the techniques, including drip irrigation. For various reasons, the farmers did not keep up with the interventions. These failures were not with the methods themselves, but more from external pressures on area farmers. We may want to revisit these interventions in the near future.
Lending library. When we first arrived in San Jose people were amazed to learn about some of the technical interventions we introduced to them. Given most of these interventions were well known in other parts of the world it was clear the people of San Jose were quite isolated and might benefit from increased exposures to other solutions. We made available multiple books dealing with rural development, general health information, dental care, etc. Given the majority of the population cannot read books were not seen as a useful resource. Most people learn by seeing and being guided. As the education of the population increases, we may want to revisit a lending library.
Adult education/literacy. We considered doing this but another group came into the area and did for a brief while with a small number of adults.
Cervical cancer screening and treatment. A number of residents and others over the years have wanted to improve this much needed area. As of 2021 significant barriers exist to us making a sustainable program. The easiest partial solution is to use an acetic acid wash to identify women with possible cervical dysplasia. What happens to the person after that is where the difficulty exists. We would like to perform colposcopy and cryo the lesion but we cannot get cryo materials in the region. If we refer the woman to the regional center for possible treatment multiple barriers exist. Most women have many children dependent on them and often cannot leave for days at a time. Most San Jose residents are very hesitant to go to a big city. They have no where to stay and usually cannot afford transport, let alone treatment. Even with this said, we still hope to pilot the process and see if we can find solutions to the multiple barriers.
Fluoride rinse program. Twice a week teachers would treat the children with a fluoride rinse solution that we would provide. It worked well to reduce dental caries in children. Over time the teachers had competing responsibilities and the treatment rate dropped off. They no longer contacted us to resupply their fluoride packets.
Hydraulic water pumps. Many homes are above a naturally occurring water source. We explored using a hydraulic water pump to get water up to the homes. Given the extremes in elevations in these mountainous areas the hydraulic pump could not lift the water far enough. Using electric pumps is generally not a long term answer because the local population does not have the financial resources to pay for the electricity, the technical knowledge to repair a broken pump, or access to spare parts when the pumps break.
Alcohol reduction / AA meetings. Alcoholism is a significant problem in the San Jose area, even though it is supposed to be a dry town. We have held various meetings with people and have attempted to get an AA group going in the area. To date, we have had limited success but will continue to work on this much-needed intervention.
Community Health Workers. As stated in the Medical Care page, we helped train two Community Health Workers to run the medical clinic when we were not there. Due to low visit volume the program was ended after 3.5 years. At least we helped two women become community health workers.
Traditional Birth Attendants. For many years we worked with area Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) to improve their skill sets and provide them with basic knowledge and materials to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes. About 5-7 years ago the government required TBA’s to stop being involved with birthing. All pregnant women are now required to deliver in hospital or face sanctions.