Over the years, the Society of the Good Shepherd has helped on many construction projects for the regional hospital in Comayagua. Some of the projects we did in 2021 for the hospital were enlarging the maternity ward, adding a new roof on a large section of the hospital, and renovating vital storage rooms for medicines.
The government of Honduras built the original building 33 years ago, and it provides the hospital with medicines to give patients. But it has no funds (or so it claims) for repairs, expansions, and renovations to the building. The hospital has to come up with its own funds for such needs—but it has no such resources. So repairs are typically left undone unless the Society gets involved.
One of the operational philosophies of the Society is to select projects where the most good can be accomplished for each dollar spent. This is one reason we have taken on various projects on behalf of the Comayagua hospital. It services a population of three-quarters of a million people. Most of these people are very poor, and the hospital provides its services for almost free. So we know that every dollar we spend to improve the hospital will bless an incredible number of truly needy people.
When some of the Society representatives were down from the States in October, the hospital brought a special need to our attention. The hospital has two social services rooms where they interview and counsel people dealing with sensitive situations—such as victims of sexual assault or sexual abuse. The social services rooms were made of clear plastic panels similar to plexiglass. Unfortunately, these rooms were not soundproof, and they did not provide complete visual privacy.
On more than one occasion, other persons overheard highly sensitive interviews and then spread gossip throughout the community. In fact, this had just happened to a victim of sexual assault a few weeks before our visit. The hospital saw the urgent need to replace the plexiglass rooms with soundproof ones. The hospital had received a quote from a contractor to build these rooms, but the hospital had no funds for the project. The cost was not very expensive, and we told the hospital that the Society would be able to pay for this project.
Everything was arranged with the contractor, and plans were put into motion to begin work. But then the contractor learned that a Christian organization from the U.S. was funding the project. As a result, he suddenly tripled the price of the labor he was going to charge. (This type of situation is one reason why the Society works through local Honduran brothers and tries to stay as far in the background as possible.) Our Honduran director, Luis Vega, refused to give in to this type of blackmail. Among other things, it would set a bad precedent for future work projects. So he said “No” to the contractor, and the contractor refused to do the job.
However, God has an unlimited ability to turn evil into good. So two days after the contractor walked out on us, Luis received a call from a brother in the U.S. This brother had helped on various construction projects in the past, and he asked Luis if there were any pending Society projects underway on which he could lend a hand. Lo and behold, his skills were exactly what the hospital project needed! Within an hour of speaking with Luis, this brother purchased plane tickets for Honduras. Knowing the work would consist largely of drywall, he purchased and brought down some important drywall materials with him.
This brother and a local helper worked tirelessly, building two private counseling rooms made of sheetrock, with high walls up to the ceiling. The brothers tested the sound- proofness of each room to make sure that conversations could not be heard through the walls or doors. These brothers finished the work in three days and even installed a fan in each room for ventilation during the hot season. The original contractor had planned on 10 days to finish the project.
Because of this brother’s unselfish service and because of the generosity of our donors, in the future, victims of sexual assault or other sensitive situations will be able to safely pour out their hearts to counselors at the hospital without fear of others overhearing them. It is simply one more example of Christ’s love in action.
The Society of the Good Shepherd, P. O. Box 122, Amberson, PA 17210 • (717) 349-7033
Click on the following link if you would care to make a donation to the work in Honduras: Honduras Donations