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Stephanie Binder
NTD 435 - Nutrition Assessment, Education, and Service in Honduras
Final Reflection Paper
January 15, 2016

Thoughts, emotions, and realizations become more tangible and clear once written on
paper. This I have learned from keeping a journal throughout our service-learning trip to
Honduras. In the past, I have not maintained the energy and personal motivation to write in a
daily journal while traveling. However, this trip to Honduras was different - I knew in my heart
that I did not want to forget a single precious moment, emotion, or discovery, as I repeatedly
found myself in new situations. This journal is one I will cherish and look back on frequently,
and one which allowed me to make sense of all I was thinking about during our experience. In
this paper I will summarize some of the thoughts and observations I recorded in my journal.
As our airplane descended over Honduras, I was struck by the gorgeous green and
mountainous landscape. Yet as soon as we departed the airport I was confused and unsettled by
the sharp contrast between the country's natural beauty and the harsh reality its people faced. As
we drove to San Francisco de Yojoa I was speechless and my emotions were tangled as I tried to
absorb the details I saw out the window. I felt as if I was in a completely new world as we
zoomed by homes that looked like metal shacks, dirt roads, and children playing with piles of
trash and dirty water at their feet. It almost felt unreal, as if the thin glass window was a TV
screen, playing a fictional scene miles away. In reality, the truth was uncomfortably close. At this
point I remembered the travel doctor telling me that people in America, even the poorest, are

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among the wealthiest 5% of the world's population. Only by seeing the people and lifestyle
firsthand was I finally able to grasp this statistic.
As I tried to make sense of my confusion, I wondered how it all came to this point. How
such a seemingly abundant and beautiful nation could come to have such a difficult and
underprivileged way of life. I wondered what makes a nation struggle so much while others, such
as the United States, have thrived for so long. Memories from my high school history classes
came back to me, of powerful nations taking control over the small and weaker ones, oppressing
their people and exploiting their resources. Then when the foreign rulers decided to retreat from
the nations, they often left the people without a strong government or enough wealth to be selfsufficient. Seeing Honduras, which was ruled by the Spanish for hundreds of years, made these
stories more real (CIA). I found it a bit heartbreaking to wonder what Honduras, and other
nations for that matter, would have been like without a period of foreign rule. It is hard to
conclude whether they would be better or worse off. We may never know what truly contributed
to the delay and difficulty of such nations' development.
One of the largest observations I made while in Honduras was of the people living there. I
slightly expected the people to be closed off and rugged, like their surroundings and difficult way
of life. However, they were not that way at all. Most people appeared somber at first, but with
the gift of a single smile, they returned it, their entire face beaming with kindness. The hardness
of their surroundings did not harden their hearts one bit. I also noticed how grateful the
Hondurans in the communities were. When I worked with the construction team to put concrete
floors into homes in the communities, we came to one house that was situated atop a steep dirt
hill. The rain turned this dirt into a mud slope, and the sand and water needed for the cement
were both located at the bottom. While we tried to think of a solution, the homeowner, a young

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man, began hauling bags of sand up the slope on his shoulders. I was absolutely shocked. This
was a tremendous feat and the fact that we were coming to help him and he was working so hard
to help us meant so much. His willingness to help and his gratitude for us coming was so
different than the sense of entitlement we see in the United States. Oftentimes we, especially as
Americans, do not want to do more work than necessary and insist on getting exactly what we
expected, paid, or bargained for. It was the opposite with the Hondurans we encountered. I was
so impressed by the patience everyone had while waiting to come through the health brigade and
visit the doctors at the pharmacy. They waited for hours, even through our lunch break, without a
single complaint or negative attitude. Additionally, I noticed that the children were always kind
to one another. They never bullied anyone, lost their temper, whined, or fought over toys. Each
child I encountered was sweet and joyful. I wondered if this was due to their experience of true
struggles - so many that they feel no need to create even more drama. Regardless, I found that
gratitude and appreciation was a beautiful characteristic of every Honduran I met, and a part of
the culture as a whole.
Working in the brigades proved extremely valuable and left me with a much greater
understanding of malnutrition and health conditions in developing countries. I learned about
stunted growth, intestinal parasites, and micronutrient supplementation in a more meaningful and
fruitful way than a simple classroom lecture. While I did learn plenty of factual information that
will serve me well in my career, I also gained insight about the complexity of many of the
world's problems. No issue is black and white and there is rarely a perfect and conclusive
solution, but rather multiple factors that need to be addressed. For example, providing
deworming medication to community members is crucial and will make a positive impact, but I
learned it is not the complete solution to the issue of intestinal parasites. If a child or adult

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receives the medication, and they return to their same practices of drinking contaminated water
or consuming food grown in contaminated soil, they may be infected again and the cycle will
continue. We must make further efforts to make clean water more accessible, provide cement
floors in homes, and educate the community on sanitation. Medication must be readily available
to every community, and the Honduran health care system must be drastically improved. The
interconnectedness of each issue also became evident, as we saw soda being sold at a lower cost
than purified drinking water. If a family tries to avoid drinking contaminated water, they are
likely to choose soda or fruit juice due to its low price. This high consumption of sugary
beverages will then lead to an additional set of issues. Although each component of a solution is
important on its own, a true and lasting effect requires incorporation of every aspect. Solving
such problems calls for collaboration from multiple fields and community roles. This fact may
discourage some, but I am confident that through the work of strong organizations and leaders, a
solution will be possible.
Our trip to Honduras enlightened us as nutrition students and made a significant impact in
each of the communities we visited. Throughout the week I learned about the kindness of the
Honduran people and culture, the process of problem solving, and was able to expand my global
consideration. Yet overall, the greatest and most overarching insight I gained may have been
regarding my future career. Malnutrition and other problems developing nations face are not
solely the concerns of that one nation. After witnessing the harsh realities that people around the
world face, I now feel compelled to exercise my role as a global citizen. I have realized my
responsibility in working to solve issues such as malnutrition, and I can visualize exactly where
my future role as a dietician will come into play. This trip has re-awakened my love for
humanity, passion for serving others, and obligation to lead a meaningful career.

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References
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (2015, December 7). The World Factbook, Central America
and the Caribbean: Honduras. Retrieved from
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ho.html