Cornell's Honduran Student Association and Friends is helping contribute to the massive international relief effort in Central America in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch. At a weekly seminar for the campus Camel Breeders club, Nov. 20, in Warren Hall, representatives of the association gave a brief presentation detailing conditions in Honduras as well as the status of the student-initiated relief effort currently underway on campus.
The Camel Breeders is a student-run organization interested in sharing ideas and educating themselves and others in the Cornell community about issues related to international development. The organization accomplishes this through a weekly seminar series, an online listserv and various social activities. The Camel Breeders was founded in the late 1970s by returned Peace Corps volunteers and other people who had worked in international development.
"The group was started because of an absence in the '70s of forums to discuss international development issues," said graduate student Stefan Cherry, president of the Camel Breeders and Cornell campus Peace Corps recruiter.
The Honduran Student Association and Friends was founded by a small group of Honduran students within days after the region was hit by the hurricane. The organization quickly developed immediate and long-term goals and devised plans to address both.
Hector Suazo, a graduate student and president of the association, told the gathering that Hurricane Mitch hit the northeast coast of Honduras Oct. 26 as a category five hurricane (plus 150 mph winds) and loomed over the country for seven days, resulting in massive destruction and more 6,600 deaths. The most recent reports, Suazo said, are that hundreds are still missing; over 2 million people evacuated from their homes are now homeless, living in overcrowded shelters; and 75 percent of the infrastructure of Honduras was destroyed as well as 75 percent of the country's agricultural crops. The hurricane left Honduras' four largest cities in shambles, with 50 percent of the power and telephone lines still inoperable.
"Right now, we are concentrating on getting immediate help to those in need in Honduras," said graduate student Laura Suazo-Gallardo. She is a founding member of the association and has family members in Honduras affected by the hurricane. The immediate goal, Suazo-Gallardo said, is to gather material goods, such as canned food, clothes and medicine, to send to those in need in Honduras. A shipment of material goods from Cornell will be sent this month to an organization that will distribute it to hurricane victims throughout the country, she said.
Tahnee Robertson, a staff member with Cornell's Center for the Environment, is in charge of organizing the group's long-term relief efforts. One of the major goals of the Honduran Student Association and Friends, she said, is to help organize and coordinate available resources on campus. "Cornell can contribute a lot because we have unique resources as well as expertise in rural development," Robertson said.
The association, she said, plans to send a multidisciplinary team of both students and professors to Honduras in the next few months to perform various field assessments. The field results will then be analyzed and needs will be prioritized and brought to a workshop for discussion.
"Our contribution may seem small, but it has provided us with the satisfaction that we are helping our people," Suazo said.
Cherry said the Camel Breeders sponsored the seminar on the relief effort because the group wants to help educate others on campus about the dire situation in Honduras.
"It is very easy for students at Cornell to become very shut off from the rest of the world with the work loads we all carry," Cherry said. "We need to make conscious efforts to stay tuned in with world events, and [we need to] be as active as possible in staying informed and being proactive."
Those who want to contribute to the Honduran relief effort on campus should contact the Latino Studies Program at 255-3343, 190 Uris Hall, or, for more information, send e-mail to honduras_friends@hotmail.com.
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