Once again, a team of University of Mary Washington students is helping improve the environment for families living in Honduras.
Seven students and Shawn Humphrey, UMW assistant professor of economics, recently returned from the village of Siete de Abril, after surveying more than 50 families who are suffering from indoor air pollution from wood-burning stoves.
The pollution is the fourth-leading cause of death for children under 5 years of age who live in developing countries. The health hazards are similar to the symptoms smokers confront.
The UMW team, along with two undergraduate researchers from UNITEC University in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, spent a week in January conducting in-depth interviews and assessments of the residents’ respiratory health.
While there, they met and interviewed a family who had recently lost a child to asthma.
“They know the smoke is deadly, but they haven’t been able to do anything about it,” said senior Ashley Lippolis. “We’re giving them that chance.
The students aim to raise enough money to provide every home in the refugee village with improved cookstoves. The group also plans to establish a program for monitoring air quality in the homes after the new stoves are installed.
The project was partially funded by both a UMW Student Research Grant and a nationally competitive grant of $1,000 from the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation. The foundation awards projects that “represent the most innovative and promising ways to serve the community while applying what is learned in the classroom.”
This community effort involves the UMW Department of Economics, the student-run nonprofit Students Helping Honduras (SHH), the Honduran Association for Development and the families of Siete de Abril.
The students are actively looking for sponsors for the next phase of the project. They plan to match a donor with each family in the village. The stoves cost $83 each, and the Honduran Association for Development will provide training to the villagers in how to properly use the new stoves in their homes.
SHH is currently waiting for verification that it has won $50,000 from an online contest sponsored by Parade magazine and the Case Foundation. The group also has received $28,000 in donations from the contest.
SHH was co-founded by UMW alumnus Shin Fujiyama. The goal of the organization is to expand the economic and educational prospects in Honduras by involving students and other young people in the United States. SHH has won tens of thousands of dollars in contests from such Web sites as Razoo and GrabLife GiveLife, and the group has raised event more through events in Fredericksburg and matching grants from the Sunshine Lady Foundation.
