Anglican Communion News Service

The recovery continues. Yesterday the post office opened in San Pedro Sula for the first time in two weeks. Tomorrow the airport terminal will open again for the first time in almost two weeks. For the past several days TACA has been flying small planes in and out of here taking passengers to connect with international flights in La Ceiba and Tegucigalpa. As of tomorrow, the jets will once again be landing and taking off from San Pedro Sula.

Jorge Zepeda, one of our lay pastors who works in Cuyamelito came in to San Pedro Sula yesterday to see how his family had fared. He found them scattered among four different refugee centres in Choloma. He then came to the diocesan office to report on his community and to give thanks for the food and medicine that the church had sent them. The Episcopal Church is the only church that has done anything for that area. When the flood waters came up, many members of the church as well as other members of the community took refuge in the church, which is on higher ground. The waters have gone down, so they have now returned to their homes to clean them out and salvage what remained. But they have lost their food stores and their crops, so they were very glad to get food from the diocese. They will now need seed so that they can plant new crops.

The youth of the Diocese of Honduras are challenging the youth of the Anglican and Episcopal churches around the world to match their efforts. The youth here have been working to help those less fortunate than themselves and to help rebuild the country. The girls of Our Little Roses in San Pedro Sula were evacuated for several days from their orphanage. When they returned to the orphanage, they went through their closets to find clothes to donate to those who had lost their homes. The boys at the Instituto Tecnico Santa Maria in Tegucigapla have been helping to dig out homes from landslides and to remove ruble. Students at El Buen Pastor School in San Pedro Sula have been helping to make up family-sized bags.

They have also helped to distribute meals to those who are living in refugee centers. The students of Holy Spirit School in Tela are helping to clean up the beach of that resort community.

The youth of Honduras are doing their part. They are now challenging the youth in Episcopal and Anglican churches around the world to do their part. The challenge is this: get a container, fill it with goods, and ship it to Honduras. If the youth of one church cannot do it by themselves, get together with a neighbouring church or churches and together get a container, fill it and ship it to Honduras.

According to the latest news from the government, the following is what we need most:

• two-burner kerosene stoves
• tin roofing
• improved corn, rice & red bean seeds
• farming tools
• folding cots
• construction tools
• basic grains: rice & red beans
• flour
• corn flour to make tortillas
• milk
• insecticides
• insecticide sprayers
• antibiotics
• analgesics
• diarrhea medicine
• antitussives (cough medicine)
• antibacterial and antifungal skin creams
• syringes
• insulin
• bandages
• canned foods

The containers may be shipped to
CODER II -- IGLESIA EPISCOPAL
SAN PEDRO SULA, HONDURAS
TEL. 556-6155 556-6268

Please fax a detailed list of the donation so that we can obtain authorization to release the shipment from customs to 011-504-556-6467.

Please see the Diocese of Honduras' disaster web site at http://www.episcopalian.org/honduras/.

The Episcopal Diocese of Honduras is accepting monetary donations via the South American Missionary Society of the Episcopal Church (SAMS, PO Box 399, Ambridge PA 15003). Checks should be marked "Honduras Relief".

Donations can also be made to the Diocese of Honduras via SAMS using MasterCard or Visa at the following web site: http://mall.pacific-coast.com/cornerstone/honduras.tpl

Canadians may send cheques to SAMS-Canada, P.O. Box 21082, Barrie, Ontario L4M 6J1. Checks should be made out to: SAMS-Canada and marked: "Hurricane Relief - Bishop Frade" or "Hurricane Relief - Roger Hurtubise".

Faithfully,
John+

El Venerable John H. Park