Los Hatillos 2 is a community in the municipality of Choluteca in southern Honduras. This area of the country is extremely hot with temperatures often soaring to well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Los Hatillos 2 neighbors Los Hatillos 1 and Familias Unidas, two other communities that share a water system with Los Hatillos 2.
Municipality: Choluteca
Department: Choluteca
The nearest health center to Los Hatillos 2 is in the community Guanacastillos, about 30 minutes away. The local health center is known as a CESAMO, which is visited by at least one doctor and several nurses. On occasion, community members have access to a dentist. Community members from Los Hatillos 2 attend Medical Brigades in Los Hatillos 1.
*Numbers based on brigades in the community of Los Hatillos 1
Volunteers*
Patient Consultations*
Vision Screenings Provided*
Health Education Workshops*
COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS:In June of 2016, Global Brigades finished training 9 Community Health Workers based out of Los Hatillos 2. They have built a connection with the health center in Guanacastillo in order to strengthen each others impact. These volunteers include members of Hatillos 1, Agua Caliente, Las Marias, El Garzon, El Piton, and Guanacastillo. The Community Health Workers bridge a gap in the healthcare system by providing basic medical attention to community members that can’t travel to the health center. CHWs also help to treat and prevent common illnesses and address other health topics such as first aid, caring for pregnancies, and first response in emergency situations.
Community members from Los Hatillos 2 attend Medical Brigades in Los Hatillos 1. Since space is limited in the health care center and due to the lengthy distance, brigades are held at the local school. Doctors spend an average of 10 minutes with each patient and volunteers are able to provide 5-6 educational charlas a day.
Working closely with the Medical program, the Dental program provides fillings, extractions, and fluoride treatments as a standard part of Medical Brigades. Most community members do not have regular access to dental care due to the lack of dentist within a reasonable distance. Community members from Los Hatillos 2 attend Medical and Dental Brigades in Los Hatillos 1.
*Numbers based on brigades in the community of Los Hatillos 1
Patients Consultations
Number of Extractions
Fillings Performed
Dental Education Workshops
BRIGADE INFORMATION:Community members from Los Hatillos 2 attend Medical Brigades in Los Hatillos 1. Since space is limited in the health care center and due to the lengthy distance, brigades are held at the local school. Doctors spend an average of 10 minutes with each patient and volunteers are able to provide 5-6 educational charlas a day.
Prior to Global Brigades’ partnership with the three communities, Los Hatillos 1, Los Hatillos 2, and Familias Unidas, members of each community used various strategies to obtain water depending on their neighborhood. In Los Hatillos 1, some community members had built wells to fulfill the water needs of the community. These families allowed neighbors to fill buckets and tubs with water from their wells and then lug the water to their homes. Similarly, those living in Familias Unidas went to nearby wells to collect water and carry it to their homes. Regardless of how they accessed water, there was no central treatment and few families treated the drinking water within their homes, increasing the risk of water-borne disease.
While most community members in Los Hatillos 2 were already connected to a water system, it only worked roughly twice per week, and many complained that the water was contaminated by a local power plant. Community members believe that the contaminated water caused both skin rashes and diarrheal disease.
*The number of project beneficiaries and general information reflects the entire system, which supplies water to Los Hatillos 1, Los Hatillos 2, and Familias Unidas. For more information on the communties of Los Hatillos 1 and Familias Unidas please visit their community profiles.
Volunteers
Project Beneficiaries*
Kilometers of Pipeline Designed
Average Community Volunteers
LOS HATILLOS 2’S ENGINEERING SOLUTION:To ensure the sustainability of the project, a Basic Sanitation Committee and a Water Council were established and trained by Water Brigades.
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers | Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC Irvine | March 2014 | 15 | Summer Interns | July 2014 | 4 |
Prior to Global Brigades’ partnership with the three communities, Los Hatillos 1, Los Hatillos 2, and Familias Unidas, members of each community used various strategies to obtain water depending on their neighborhood. In Los Hatillos 1, some community members had built wells to fulfill the water needs of the community. These families allowed neighbors to fill buckets and tubs with water from their wells and then lug the water to their homes. Similarly, those living in Familias Unidas went to nearby wells to collect water and carry it to their homes. Regardless of how they accessed water, there was no central treatment and few families treated the drinking water within their homes, increasing the risk of water-borne disease.
While most community members in Los Hatillos 2 were already connected to a water system, it only worked roughly twice per week, and many complained that the water was contaminated by a local power plant. Community members believe that the contaminated water caused both skin rashes and diarrheal disease.
*The number of project beneficiaries and general information reflects the entire system, which supplies water to Los Hatillos 1, Los Hatillos 2, and Familias Unidas.
Volunteers
Project Beneficiaries*
Kilometers of Piping Installed
Storage Tank Volume (gallons)
Global Brigades volunteers first broke ground in Los Hatillos in December 2014. Over the course of the project more than 20 groups of brigaders and hundreds of community members performed the following tasks:
To ensure the sustainability of the project, a Water Council and Basic Sanitation Committee were established and trained by Global Brigades staff. The completion of this project comes after an arduous process of tackling various obstacles, such as seeking a viable water source. In late 2015, the community joined together in a celebration to inaugurate the project.
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers | Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Illinois at Chicago Water Brigade | December 2014 | 13 | DePaul University Water Brigade | December 2014 | 20 |
| University of Texas Medical Branch Water Brigade | December 2014 | 9 | University of Virginia Water Brigade & University of Rochester Water Brigade | January 2015 | 26 |
| Boston University Water Brigade | January 2015 | 22 | Loyola University Water Brigade & Lehigh University Water Brigade & Saint Louis University Water Brigade | January 2015 | 33 |
| Mizzou University Water Brigade & Columbia University Water Brigade | January 2015 | 12 | University of Victoria Water Brigade | February 2015 | 9 |
| Mount Allison University Water Brigade | February 2015 | 11 | Brandeis University Business Brigade | February 2015 | 29 |
| Central Michigan University Water Brigade & Georgetown University Water Brigade | March 2015 | 22 | University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Water Brigade & Washington University St. Louis Water Brigade & Yale University Water Brigade & Sherman Texas University Water Brigade | March 2015 | 37 |
| Carnegie Mellon University Water Brigade | March 2015 | 11 | Indiana University Water Brigade | March 2015 | 10 |
| University of Arizona Water Brigade | March 2015 | 18 | University of Illinois at Chicago Water Brigade & University of California Irvine Water Brigade & University of California Davis Water Brigade | March 2015 | 28 |
| University of California San Diego Public Health Brigade | March 2015 | 28 | Tulane University | March 2015 | 14 |
| Acadia University | April 2015 | 8 | University of Pittsburgh Water Brigade | April 2015 | 27 |
| University of Calgary Water Brigade & British Columbia University Water Brigade | May 2015 | 13 | Chicago Brigades Water Brigade | May 2015 | 13 |
| Pennsylvanian State Water Brigade & Emory University Water Brigade | May 2015 | 29 | Temple University Water Brigade | May 2015 | 23 |
| University of North Carolina Wilmington Water Brigade | May 2015 | 13 | Pennsylvania State University Water Brigade | May 2015 | 28 |
| Case Western Reserve University Medical Brigade | May 2015 | 32 | University of Texas Austin Water Brigade & University of California Berkeley Water Brigade & Dublin City University Water Brigade & Dublin Institute of Technology Water Brigade | May 2015 | 25 |
| New Hampshire University Medical Brigade & Cornell University Brigade | May 2015 | 55 | Stevenson University Water Brigade | June 2016 | 21 |
| Chapman University Water Brigade & San Diego State Water Brigade | June 2015 | 21 | University College of London Water Brigade & University of California Santa Barbara Water Brigade & University of California Riverside Water Brigade | June 2015 | 13 |
| University of California Riverside Water Brigade | June 2015 | 48 |
The majority of community members in Los Hatillos 2 grow corn and beans to eat and sell. Others work on nearby shrimp farms to earn money. This work is generally seasonal and does not provide steady employment. For their labor, community members earn roughly 3,500 Lempiras or US $150 per month.
Volunteers
Loans Disbursed
Savings Accounts Opened
Capital Invested
LOS HATILLOS 2’S MICRO-FINANCE SOLUTION:Los Hatillos 2 has a newly-formed community bank that will provide financial services such as loans and savings accounts to community members. The bank has 7 female and 5 male shareholders, and the members meet in the bank’s own structure every month. They are able to offer loans and savings accounts to community members so that families can plan and stabilize their finances. This is especially beneficial for farmers, who are able to take out loans before planting season and pay them back after the harvest. Loans allow many subsistence farmers to not only consume the crops they harvest but also earn an income from selling their excess.
The next step for Los Hatillos 2 will be to establish a micro-enterprise that can bring more capital into the community. The Global Brigades business team will soon host Business Brigades in Los Hatillos 2 to study the local market and identify potential business opportunities for the community.
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|
| Vanderbilt University Business Brigade | March 2017 | 17 |
Many community members in Los Hatillos 2 lacked the resources needed to improve their homes and prevent diseases caused by unsafe living conditions. The majority of homes were made of adobe, straw, and mud, and very few homes had hygiene stations, cement floors, or eco-stoves prior to the arrival of Global Brigades. Such living conditions triggered disease. The lack of hygiene stations led to high rates of diarrhea and water-borne disease and the lack of eco-stoves resulted in respiratory problems in many community members.
Although community members recognized many of the health hazards in their living environments, they did not have the economic resources nor the technical knowledge to address them. It also was necessary to increase the level of awareness concerning sanitation and the importance of health advocacy in the community.
Volunteers
Eco-Stoves Constructed
Latrines Constructed
Floors Constructed
Public Health Brigaders from several different universities and the Public Health program’s in-country team worked in Los Hatillos 2 from March 2016 – January 2017. During this time, volunteers and staff members worked with community members to identify community leaders and train them to form the Basic Sanitation Committee, conduct educational workshops emphasizing the importance of sanitation and hygiene in the local primary school, and increase cultural sensitivity and awareness by working side-by-side with qualified masons and project beneficiaries, build eco-stoves, latrines, water storage units. Each project was funded through a subsidy program with the newly established rural bank in El Zurzular. Although Global Brigades subsidized 75% of the project cost, each family was expected to take out a loan through the rural bank and pay back approximately 25% of the total project cost over time. This was a great way for community members to invest in the health of their own family and to encourage their use and trust of the newly established bank. To ensure the sustainability of the in-home infrastructure projects, the Public Health Program provides continuous follow-up in the community.
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers | Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Medical Brigade | March 2016 | 28 | Georgetown University Public Health | March 2016 | 28 |
| Rutgers University Medical Brigade | May 2016 | 40 | San Francisco State University Public Health Brigade | June 2016 | 32 |
| Acadia University Public Health Brigade | April 2016 | 8 | University of Calgary Public Health Brigade | April 2016 | 11 |
| University of Pittsburgh Public Health Brigade | May 2016 | 16 | Ferris State University Public Health Brigade | May 2016 | |
| University of New York Stonybrook Public Health Brigade | May 2016 | San Francisco State University Public Health Brigade | May 2016 | 11 | |
| Dublin City University Public Health Brigade | May 2016 | 19 | South East Missouri State University Medical Brigade | August 2016 | 28 |
| Saint Louis University Public Health Brigade & University of Virginia Public Health Brigade | January 2017 | 17 |