Compassioneering

Sunday morning, three Engineers with a Mission students spoke with me at another church in town. There were 54 folks in the audience, and they were engaged and interested and asked lots of relevant questions. I was pleased with the way things went and quite proud of my students. Let me tell you about one of them, Anna, in the picture below.

Anna is doing research with another professor on how to maximize the use of coconuts in value-added products in the developing world. You can use coconut oil to run a generator, or make biodiesel to drive a car! You can make erosion matting out of the husks, and particle board out of the shells that is harder than the hardwood you can buy at Home Depot! Gilligan would be so proud. Many of the world's poor live along in equatorial/coastal regions. And those areas typically have lots of coconuts. So instead of rotting on the ground like they do in Papua New Guinea, for example, businesses can be established to use as much of the coconut as possible, and bringing economic vitality to suffering people. Anyway, that's what Anna is working on. Is she cool or what?

In regards to Honduras, our engineering student teams are starting to solidify. One team is going to a small village on the south coast of Honduras. This group will be designing and installing a rainwater harvesting system to catch rain from the roof of the village school. The village, whose name I can't remember, and that you've never heard of anyway, has a shortage of potable water. I'm not going on this trip, but rather a new friend is taking the students. His name is Bryce Boddie and he has a small business installing custom rainwater systems for ranchers in the Texas hill country.

The second group will go with me to La Ceiba on the north coast of Honduras. My plan is to have students cycle in and out in two-week tours of duty. Our goal is to establish small hydropower producing businesses in rural villages. It's ambitious, but we've done it once before. Pray for us! Oh yes, if you would like to partner with us financially, send me an email!