wfn.org | First construction team going to Honduras

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Jan. 29 1999       Contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-32-71B{053}

By Holly Nye*

Ten volunteers recruited by the United Methodist Church's Troy Annual
Conference (northeastern New York and Vermont) will form the first
construction team to go to Honduras as part of response efforts coordinated
by the denomination's relief agency.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has joined with Church
World Service, relief arm of the National Council of Churches,  in a
two-year commitment to help rebuild areas devastated by last fall's
hurricanes.  	

The ecumenical team, assembled in a matter of days, will be working Feb.
20-27, doing block construction to repair and replace damaged buildings in
the Central American nation. Medical teams were sent earlier, but the
arrival of the Troy Conference team will mark the beginning of
reconstruction efforts.
 
Roger Ellis, a veterinarian who is leading the team, said the effort has
been a chain of miracles.   "Everything is happening so fast, but every
problem that's come up has been solved."  

He received a call Jan. 16 from Nancy Osgood, who is coordinating volunteers
for UMCOR. She knew that Ellis had been to Honduras before, sharing his
skills as a veterinarian through the Peace Corps Farmer to Farmer program.
Teams were needed in Honduras as soon as possible, and plans for one team in
February had just fallen through. She asked if Ellis could assemble a team
on short notice.

Within a week, 10 people had signed up and were making plans to check their
passports and get their shots. Five, including Ellis and his wife, Claudia,
are members of the Granville, N.Y., United Methodist Church. Only one member
of the team is a professional building contractor. One is a Roman Catholic
who manages the local convenience store, and heard about the project because
he was "unlucky enough to sit next to me at Lion's Club meeting," Ellis
said. Another is a local businessman whose wife is pastor of  two nearby
United Methodist churches. 

Three are teachers at the Long Trail School in Dorset, Vt. Sarah Rath of the
Granville church, a Spanish teacher, recruited them.  She will serve as
translator for the group.  

All reside in Washington County, N.Y., or the neighboring Mettowee Valley of
Vermont, a rural region known for dairy farming.

The mission experience will be a first for several of the team members.  The
availability of Rath to translate for the group was one of the links in the
chain of miracles that Ellis observed. Another is the offer of a motor home
to transport the team on its 200-mile overnight odyssey to and from Kennedy
airport in New York City.  

Although the purpose of the team is to begin reconstructing buildings, Ellis
expects that he may also be called upon to offer veterinary services to
Honduran farmers. He is active with Heifer Project International, and is
eager to explore the impact of the hurricane on farmers in the region, and
how Heifer Project and UMCOR might help. Ellis said his previous experiences
in Central America with the Peace Corps and the Heifer Project are "the
reason this crazy veterinarian is going to Honduras for a week instead of on
a cruise!"

He hopes that team members will serve as a resource and catalyst to future
work teams, offering crucial information as well as inspiration from their
experience in Honduras. As they leave New York, each member will be carrying
the two suitcases allowed by the airline: one with clothing and personal
needs, the other with medicines, tools and other supplies to be donated to
the relief effort.

				# # # 

*Nye is editor of The Connection, the monthly newspaper for the Troy Annual
Conference of the United Methodist Church.

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