Our Man in Honduras

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Sean Hawkey graduated from the GRC in Culture, Development and the Environment last year, and went to work with Chorti Indians in Honduras. He was there when disaster struck. He pitched in with the disaster relief, and this is his report about the situation:

"In Tegucigalpa the crisis deepens as the City enters its 7th day without water and communications by road. People are taking water from the rivers which are highly contaminated since all latrines and sewers flooded over. The few clean sources of water in the city have lines of people who wait for hours into the night to fill their buckets.

"The mayor of Morolica spoke on the radio today. He had walked 103 kilometres from his town. Weeping, he told how the town had been destroyed, it no longer existed. Yesterday I spent six hours trying to get a medical pack through for transport to the north. We had to travel along a forest path and, along with a hundred or so vehicles, got stuck. Many of them spent the night in mud despite having four by four jeeps.

"The dry season is not far off and our priority, in the midst of emergency operations for immediate disaster relief, is to rapidly plan the purchase of seed for sowing. This has to be fast growing varieties with low water requirements. If the dry season arrives and a harvest is not made the crisis will take on more tragic dimensions."

So far, according to Sean, £30,000 has been raised within the Brighton area for disaster relief in Honduras. If you are interested in making a donation, or you want to know more, you can email Sean on sean_hawkey@hotmail.com.