Santa Barbara School Sanitation Project
Our Goal:  Bathrooms and Clean Water for all Schools in Santa Barbara, Honduras.
Imagine sending your child to a school with no running water, where the only toilet is an out house and there's nowhere to wash hands before lunch. 
 

For many children in Santa Barbara in Honduras, a region of 500,000 people, that is everyday life.  Without clean water and proper sanitation, preventable illnesses spread quickly, children miss school, and learning suffers.  


So far, HELP Honduras has completed 37 sanitary units.  About x schools are still waiting.  
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Imagine sending your child to a school with no running water, where the only toilet is an out house and there's nowhere to wash hands before lunch. 
 

For many children in Santa Barbara in Honduras, a region of 500,000 people, that is everyday life.  Without clean water and proper sanitation, preventable illnesses spread quickly, children miss school, and learning suffers.  


So far, HELP Honduras has completed 37 sanitary units.  About x schools are still waiting.  
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Each unit costs 
USD $10,000 and includes
  - Clean, running water and wash stands
   - New flush toilets, each fully enclosed in its own room for privacy
    - A study cement block building with tiles floors nd a metal roof
    - A large water tank so there is still water when local  pressure drops
    - Hygiene training for parents, teachings and children.  
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Communities Invest Too.  We only build where the community is ready to share the work.  Parents contribute the labour and the parents' committee commit to keeping the unite supplied with soap and toilet paper.  This partnership is why the units last, and why the hygiene habits children learn go home with them to their families.  

Every project is organized on the ground by the Santa Barbara Rotary club, led by Rene Vasquez.  They choose the schools, work with local parent committees, and arrange the purchase and delivery of supplies, so every donation goes directly into building facilities that communities have asked for and will maintain.  

A Recent Example:  Saturnino Guardado School - The photo above shows the new sanitary unit here.  It was funded by a gift from the estate of Dr . John McKay, a much-loved Nelson Rotarian, and built by local parents under the supervision of Rene Vasquez and other Santa Barbara Rotarian s.  Today 50 students and their teachers have clean water and safe, dignified toilets because of his generosity.  

More Schools are Waiting.  This year the Creston and Cranbrook Rotary Clubs are jointly funding two more units.  But x schools still rely on outhouses, many with no water at all and every unit depends on donors like you.  

Rotary Clubs, family foundations or individual donors can fun a complete sanitary unit for USD $10,000, and have it named in their honour or in memory of a loved one.  You can also make a gift through a bequest to HELP Honduras in your will.  Like Dr McKay, you can leave a legacy that keeps children healthy and in school for years to come.  And every donation, large or small, brings the n ext school closer to clean water.  



Support Our Mission

Help us continue our work in empowering communities and improving lives in Honduras. Every bit of support counts.