Hugging the thin frame of an orphaned Honduran boy, Senior Liz Earle knew her life would never be the same. Some think that pictures speak a thousand words, but according to Earle, a Periclean Scholar who traveled to Honduras this Winter Term, the pictures she took do not give justice to her experience.

The trek to Honduras was part of a fundraising effort that began in the fall of 2004. The Periclean Scholars Class of 2007 raised $6,500 to build a kitchen for patients in the Mario Catarino Rivas Hospital in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Adviser and Professor of History Jim Brown, visiting International Professor Raquel Cortes Mazuelas and senior Natasha Christensen participated in opening the kitchen facility on Jan. 18.

“Of course it was exciting. It was wonderful to see all the new equipment as the culmination of so much hard work,” Brown said. “But the most meaningful experience for me was going from room to room in the pediatric ward handing out to the children the supplementary snacks, which will be prepared in the kitchen. To place the food in a child’s hand was profoundly moving.”

The hospital is the largest public facility in western Honduras and provides services for more than 21,000 patients a month. The newly established kitchen will provide 100 meals a day for children of the pediatric ward.

Students planned and implemented the project with the help of Honduran local Donna Susana Pietro, Hope for Honduran Children Foundation and Flor Azul, Honduras, an organization that works with orphaned boys. The group knew that although a kitchen would aid the community greatly, more was needed to impact the lives of the children.

Senior Beth Roberts agrees that it takes more than money to change the world.

“Money is a necessary element,” Roberts said. “But if people do not know social injustices exist, how can they make a difference? That is what Periclean Scholars is all about: giving a voice to the unnoticed injustices of the world.”

In addition to financing the kitchen, senior Scholars Emily Aker, Christensen, Earle, Katie Franck, Kelly Lawrence, Emily Sargent, Jen De Simone and Rhiannon Staub traveled to Honduras during Winter Term and volunteered alongside Founder and Executive Director of Hope for Honduran Children, Karen Godt. They also donated a total of $1,850 additional funds to provide school uniforms, bicycles and shoes for orphaned and abused boys of the rural farm community Flor Azul.

“My life was more than impacted,” Earle said. “I honestly don’t think I can ever live the same again. I’ve never felt such deep love and appreciation in my life. When our class was leaving, the boys expressed concern that we would never come back again. I reassured them that I could never walk away. Honduras is now a part of my life and it will always be that way.”

The Periclean Scholars program, a branch of Project Pericles, began at Elon in 2002. It aims to increase civic service and social responsibility of college students. Previous classes have focused on projects in Nambia, Mexico and Angola, and the class of 2010, led by Dr. Heidi G. Frontani, plans to aid communities in Ghana.

“[Project] Pericles brings social responsibility and awareness back into focus,” Christensen said. “That is why I think it is so vital to the campus community. We need to remember we are part of a whole and then find ways to engage others in that understanding. How can we be the action that leads to change if we are unwilling to recognize the problems of the world?”

Features Editor: Caroline Matthews - 02/15/07