On June 1, 2021, after a journey of 3500 miles, a shiny white ambulance finally pulled into its new home—the rural health clinic of Taulebé, Honduras. The account of getting it to Honduras has been an incredibly complicated and engaging story. In fact, the narrative reads like a novel, and the hero of the novel is a young brother named Victor Fox.
It all began in Colombia a few years ago. Victor Fox was in Colombia working in a soup kitchen serving the physical and spiritual needs of the thousands of refugees pouring into Colombia from Venezuela. While he was serving there, Victor met Karolina Maldonado, a sister from Siguatepeque, Honduras. She had been raised in the children’s home in Siguatepeque operated by the Mennonite church there. She was volunteering at the same soup kitchen in Colombia.
A romance developed between Victor and Karolina, and in December of 2019 they became engaged. The wedding date was set for July 24, 2020. In February, both Victor and Karolina returned to their respective countries to prepare for the coming wedding. Victor planned to rejoin Karolina in Honduras in a few months. But then Covid-19 hit. Honduras was put on total lockdown. No flights or vehicles were allowed in or out of the country. Victor could not get to Honduras. He waited patiently, month after month. But Honduras remained in lockdown, with no end in sight. July 24, the wedding date, came but Victor still could not travel to Honduras to get married.
Victor is not a person who gives up easily, so he began looking for creative ways to get to Honduras. He learned that there is a shortage of ambulances in Honduras and that the Honduran government was allowing ambulances to be brought into the country. So Victor began searching and found a used ambulance for sale for $14,000. He was able to raise $6000 in donations, and he put in $8000 of his own money to purchase the ambulance. The ambulance would not only get him to Honduras, but it would make a wonderful gift to the rural medical clinic in Taulebé, Honduras. Victor then asked his friend Kervin Martin if he would be willing to accompany him on the potentially perilous journey from Pennsylvania to Honduras—a distance of about 3500 miles.
Meanwhile, the hospital in Comayagua, Honduras was desperate for regulators for their oxygen tanks. These oxygen tanks were crucial for treating patients with Covid. So the hospital contacted the Society of the Good Shepherd, and we were able to locate a company in the U.S. that could quickly supply us with ten of the crucial oxygen regulators. This company actually spoke with the hospital director in Honduras to be certain of sending the right type of regulators. But, with the borders closed, how were we to get the regulators to Honduras?
It was at that point that we learned about Victor and Kervin and the ambulance they were going to drive to Honduras. Unfortunately, when the regulators were ready to ship, the two brothers had already left Pennsylvania and were headed to Mexico. At its own expense, this same company shipped the regulators overnight to Texas, where the brothers were able to pick them up before they entered Mexico.
Despite the potential dangers, Victor and Kervin enjoyed smooth sailing through Mexico. They reached Guatemala safely and were able to get the ambulance into Guatemala. It appeared that their final destination was now only a few days away. Then disaster struck!
Guatemala was also on lockdown, and they would not permit foreigners to enter the country, even to drive an ambulance through it. The two brothers pleaded with the Guatemalan authorities, but to no avail. Various Christians in Guatemala tried to intercede on their behalf but without success. By now, Christians all over the world were praying about the situation. Honduras desperately needed both the ambulance and the oxygen regulators. And Victor needed to be united with his fiancée!
Just when it appeared that the situation was as bleak as it could be, things got dramatically worse! Because of the delay at the Guatemalan border, the brothers’ Mexican travel visas expired. Given the situation, one would think that the Mexican officials would have extended them some leniency. Instead, they arrested the two brothers and placed them in a detention center. The Mexican officials held them for a week in the detention center before expelling them from the country by flying them back to the U.S. So Victor was no closer to reaching Karolina.
However, just when the situation looked hopeless, Honduras opened up its airports. Victor was able to fly to Honduras and to be reunited with Karolina. The couple were married on October 16, 2020.
The Rest of the Story
This was a happy ending for Victor and Karolina, but what about the ambulance? It and the oxygen regulators were still stuck in Guatemala. At that point, Victor asked the Society if we could take care of getting the ambulance from Guatemala to Honduras, which we were happy to undertake. Now began a long bureaucratic struggle that lasted nine months. Thankfully, the Lord provided a safe place for us to keep the ambulance in Guatemala while all this was going on. After several months of long-distance negotiations, we were eventually able to get the ambulance released from the Guatemalan customs authorities, and we found a Guatemalan brother to drive the ambulance across Guatemala to the Honduran border.
It appeared that we were finally going to get the ambulance to Taulebé. However, once again, we ran into a huge roadblock. Traditionally, ambulances have been allowed into Honduras duty free, since there is such a need for them there. However, over the years, enterprising persons had begun importing ambulances into Honduras duty free, and then converting them into regular vans. They were able to sell these vans at a sizeable profit. So Honduras had decided to slap a hefty duty on all ambulances in the future. We were told that we would have to pay a duty of $20,000.00 U.S. to bring the ambulance into the country.
Our primary director in Honduras, Luis Vega, negotiated tirelessly with the customs officials, but to no avail. The director of the clinic in Taulebé talked to them, but with no results. Luis then went directly to the national government of Honduras. He spoke with several government officials who promised to help. Several times we thought everything had been worked out, but each time the arrangement fell through. Month after month passed. The ambulance remained stuck at the Guatemalan-Honduran border. We continued to pray, and Luis continued to talk to one government official after another. But no progress.
Finally, the break-through came! We discovered that if the ambulance was re-registered in Guatemala, then it could be brought into Honduras as a Guatemalan vehicle. In that case, the duty would be only $3000. So we went through the steps of getting the ambulance re-registered in Guatemala, and we were then able to bring it into Honduras and drive it to the Taulebé clinic. Victor and Karolina came down to Taulebé once they heard the ambulance had arrived at the clinic. Victor shared his story about purchasing the ambulance, and he officially donated the ambulance to the clinic.
The pretty white ambulance now finds regular use at the Taulebé rural health clinic—mainly for transporting women in high-risk labor situations and for pediatric emergencies. Since the clinic serves a population of 34,000, it is a rare day that the ambulance is not in use.
One final happy note: Given the nine-month delay, we were afraid there would be little chance that the valuable oxygen regulators would still be in the ambulance once it reached Honduras. However, we had prayed continually that God would put His hand of protection on them. God answered our prayers, and when the ambulance arrived in Taulebé, the regulators were still in it. They were quickly delivered to one of the hospital officials, and they are now being put to valuable use in the hospital in Comayagua.
We rejoice with the people of Honduras, and we praise God for His faithfulness in getting this ambulance to them.
Julie Nyhoff de Valladares and David Bercot
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