Loma de Luz

During our most recent four week trip to Honduras, we visited a mercy hospital on the north coast called Loma de Luz (hill of light).  Our hosts were Brad and Trish Ward, who showed us great hospital-ality and brainstormed with us about future projects we could undertake together.  I was refreshed by this visit; I found kindred spirits, especially in Brad.  He and I spent a couple of nights talking late into the night about US culture vs. Latin American culture, about doing projects vs. building relationships, and about the sometimes unclear boundaries between capitalism, socialism, mercy, and kindness.  More on this discussion in another post coming soon to a theater near you.

[In the view from the top of the water tower at Loma de Luz you can see the Cayos Cochinos islands.]

[We toured the hospital that treats folks from all around the area.]

[Their facilities were nice and included a couple of operating rooms. They didn't let us operate on anyone.]

[The small (orange!) houses are for families with children needing extended treatments; think Ronald McDonald house.  The larger white house is a more permanent children's home that shelters vulnerable people like abused children, orphans, and women in crisis.]

[the front door to one of the little orange houses]

[This is Brad's "barn" and greenhouse.  He's making his own blend of fertilizer from manure, machette-cut hay, and biochar (like charcoal) for use with the acres of African palms you can see planted behind these structures. In the greenhouse he plans to build a system of hydroponics married with tilapia production.]

[Brad is experimenting with different chicken breeds.  The meaty breed used by McDonalds get so breast-heavy they can't even stand up.  I feel like that sometimes. He also has tougher free ranging chickens but they tend to smoke cigarettes and cuss a lot.  Maybe he can cross breed a happy medium?]

[Brad discusses his plans to use sheep to keep the grass down around the African palms, and to use free ranging chickens to keep the parasites down (they eat them out of the goat poop, mmm!). I tried to get a picture of Brad that was in focus but my camera kept focusing on the background, sorry.]