UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — While many students traveled home or organized vacations for spring break 2024, Penn State Smeal staff member Tina Rose and a few Smeal students embarked on a journey to Honduras to aid in a medical brigade.
Of the six students who participated, three were Smeal students — Anna Waas, a second-year finance major; Beatrice Ke, a second-year supply chain and information systems major and global and international studies with a minor in international business; and Carlton Jarmon, a fifth–year integrated masters of accounting major with a minor in international business. Rose, director of professional development and programming in the Smeal Business Career Center, led the trip and worked with the non-profit Healthy Niños Honduras.
Established in 2017, Healthy Niños Honduras aims to combat malnutrition in children and families, as well as provide deworming programs, medical and construction brigades and community education. The organization has a nutrition rehabilitation center in San Francisco de Yojoa where families will stay for food and medical care in addition to hygiene and health education.
Healthy Niños Honduras and the Smeal group worked to help educate villages about nutrition and clean water, as well as distribute 24 suitcases of donations, including clothing, toys, personal care items, curtains and school supplies. The group donates to each school with each village it visits.
Through a GoFundMe page, Rose was able to raise money to cover the travel costs for the donation suitcases and new supplies for the villages. The group collected donations such as small toys, clothing, personal care items, school supplies, reading glasses, baby blankets and more.
“The students were able to see how we have such easy access to clean water, food and healthcare,” Rose said. “It was interesting for the students to see how an organization is trying to educate these smaller, remote villages to make a difference. They're [Healthy Niños Honduras] trying to make an impact on those communities so that it doesn't continue.”
Rose said a goal of the brigades is to help break the cycle of poverty that grips many areas like those they visited in Honduras.
During the four days, the group visited the villages, and it participated in various stations. At the stations, they distributed deworming and vitamin A medications, identified malnutrition by checking height and weight, distributed medications from a pharmacy and provided concrete floors and water filtration systems. They also distributed 419 donations, 331 deworming medications and 61 vitamin A medications. Eight concrete floors and 41 water filtration systems were also given to the villages. The group identified that 61% of the community members who attended were malnourished.
Waas said she got involved in the medical brigade through the Society for Community Development, a Smeal student organization. She said she gained cultural competency and awareness on the trip.
“I think it’s a valuable experience regardless of what field of study you’re in,” Waas said. “Sometimes with business, some students get a little too deep into the corporate world and they don’t think about the impact of what these corporations are doing. This experience has opened my eyes.”
Ke said she spent time playing with the children at the Nutrition Center and engaged with children in the villages, where she would paint their nails and participate in other activities.
“Since I’ve learned so many things about poverty and developing countries in the classroom, this trip has given me a broader view and an in-person experience about what I’m actually studying. This trip has enhanced my current schoolwork,” said Ke.
Jarmon said it was rewarding to practice his Spanish speaking skills and gain new perspectives on the affluence he grew up with in the United States.
“Smeal champions the values of ethics and integrity among all for the graduates that the institution trains to enter the working world of business,” Jarmon said. “This trip to Honduras to provide medical care for families and toys for children seemed like an ideal format to exercise those values.”
While the Honduras trip was integrated into an embedded course in the past, the course is no longer available. Rose said she hopes she’s able to take students on the trip as a part of a sustainability course next year.
“It's an opportunity really for students to have a completely different perspective on just basic necessities,” Rose said. “I think it helps you take a step back and really appreciate where you're at and what you have now. If you are sick, you go to the doctor. You don’t have to wait four to six months for a medical brigade to get help. We have such easy access to basic necessities that should be available to everyone.”