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At the same time, we saw how much the success of the plants could be connected to local politics. In Marcala, the plant operators were very dedicated to keeping the plant running. However, many times they have gone without chemicals because the local government won't purchase them. Despite this, the level of enthusiasm I saw for the plants was encouraging, and they appeared to be making a difference in people's lives.

Carloyn Evans

The Agua Clara Trip was an enlightening trip on a social and academic level. We spent three nights in the small town of Agalteca, where us students were paired up and sent to live in the town's people's homes. A woman named Petrona graciously opened her home to me and Katie. She had three children who were all grown and two married with children. They all lived in town and some even lived in her home, but she kicked her grandchildren out of their beds so that we could have somewhere to sleep. In our limited Spanish, we tried to convey our thanks to her and spend time with her family.
Her second daughter was inspiring because she was attending a university in Tegucigalpa to become a professor in the natural sciences. First of all, the city is very dangerous and few people want to send their children there, even though it is one of the few places to get a good education. After our stay in Honduras, we realized that education was a huge need. Especially since many people would not use the clean water we produced because they feared the chlorine. As American Engineers, we realized we could only do so much to help, but this Honduran woman who was educating herself, could connect to her people so much better and hopefully educate them to better their standards of living. That one women, raised in a poor town with no clean water, will probably end up doing more for getting clean water to Hondurans than I could.
I think this project is great because it is all about empowerment of the Hondurans. Our stay in Honduras has given me new energy to devote to the project and help the people we visited over winter break.