Brigade Volunteers
Medical Patient Consultations
Dental Patient Consultations
People with Access to Clean Water
Loans Disbursed
Eco-Stoves Constructed
Latrines Constructed
Trained Community Leaders
Fray Lázaro is a community of approximately 650 people living in 130 homes. It belongs to the municipality of Choluteca in the department of Choluteca. Fray Lázaro is primarily an agricultural community producing corn for sustenance. There is a percentage of the population who work in construction or for nearby shrimp or sugarcane processing companies. This is generally day labor and does not provide steady employment. There is a rural health center (CESAR) in Fray Lázaro providing medical consults with a nurse. Similarly, there is a primary school in Fray Lázaro, which has kindergarten through 6th grade. The nearest secondary school is in Choluteca, so students continuing on to middle school must travel about 30 minutes by bus.
Municipality: Choluteca
Department: Choluteca
As a larger rural community, Fray Lázaro has a CESAR community health center located within the community. It is not consistently staffed with nurses or doctors, but there is now a partnership with the community health workers to be able to provide medical attention and health care to community members year-round.
Volunteers
Patient Consultations
Vision Screenings
Health Education Workshops
COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS & PHARMACY:Fray Lázaro is in the process of creating a community pharmacy, led by Community Health Workers that the Global Brigades Medical Team trained in 2015. Not only do these CHWs promote health and offer consultations with all community members, but they are opening the pharmacy to be able to sell basic medications to their community at a fair price. This means community members won’t have to travel to the nearest town to buy medication.
Medical brigades use the Fray Lázaro health center as their brigade site. Doctors spend an average of 10 minutes with each patient and we are able to provide 5-6 educational charlas a day.
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers | Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia University Medical Brigade | January 2013 | 20 | Brown University Medical Brigade | January 2014 | 21 |
| University of Birmingham Medical Brigade | August 2014 |
In 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.
Patient Consultations
Number of Extractions
Fillings Performed
Dental Education Workshops
BRIGADE INFORMATION:Dental brigades use the Fray Lázaro health center as their brigade site. The health center was designed with brigade structure in mind and therefore is very conducive to running mobile clinics. It is a 2 story building with 6 rooms and a large open meeting area. Doctors spend an average of 10 minutes with each patient and we are able to provide 5-6 educational charlas a day.
AVERAGE PATIENTS ATTENDED: 522
NEARBY COMMUNITIES: JOCOMICO, CERRO MORAZAN, MORILLAS, PALO HERRADO, COPAL, CALERO COPAL, CENON ROJO, SANA ELENA
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers | Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia University Medical Brigade | January 2013 | 20 | Brown University Medical Brigade | January 2014 | 21 |
| University of Birmingham Medical Brigade | August 2014 |
Although most of homes in the community of Fray Lázaro have access to a centralized water system constructed by the government in 1980 and subsequently renovated in 1999, those living in the neighborhood of Los Zimarros are not connected to the system as they built their homes following its completion. Thus, roughly 40 community members living in 11 houses lacked access to a sufficient supply of potable water. They had to carry their water from nearby streams and wells to their homes. Given the difficulties inherent to collecting water, community members often lacked a sufficient supply, which forces them to forgo many basic hygiene and sanitation practices that would protect their health and well-being.
Further endangering their health, few community members treated their water prior to consuming it. There is no centralized water treatment plan, which greatly increases their risk of contracting water-borne disease. The majority of community members do not treat the water in their homes either. Thus, there are very high rates of water-borne disease in Los Zimarros.
Volunteers
Beneficiaries
Kilometers of Pipeline Designed
Average Community Volunteers
Water Brigaders from several different universities began working in Fráy Lazaro in June 2014. Throughout the next few months, volunteers worked with community members to: construct a 1,500 gallon storage tank with chlorinator; dig approximately 660 meters of trench and lay pipeline; connect approximately 11 houses to the system; provide educational seminars to children in the community on water and health related topics.
To ensure the sustainability of the project, a new seven member Water Council was established and trained by Water Brigades in addition to a Basic Sanitation Committee.
Although most of homes in the community of Fray Lázaro have access to a centralized water system constructed by the government in 1980 and subsequently renovated in 1999, those living in the neighborhood of El Cimarro are not connected to the system as they built their homes following its completion. Thus, roughly 48 community members living in 12 houses lacked access to a sufficient supply of potable water. They had to carry their water from nearby streams and wells to their homes. Given the difficulties inherent to collecting water, community members often lacked a sufficient supply, which forces them to forgo many basic hygiene and sanitation practices that would protect their health and well-being.
Further endangering their health, few community members treated their water prior to consuming it. There is no centralized water treatment plan, which greatly increases their risk of contracting water-borne disease. The majority of community members do not treat the water in their homes either. Thus, there are very high rates of water-borne disease in El Cimarro
Volunteers
Project Beneficiaries
Kilometers of Pipeline Installed
Storage Tank Volume (gallons)
Water Brigaders from several different universities began working in Fráy Lazaro in June 2014. Throughout the next few months, volunteers worked with community members to: construct a 1,500 gallon storage tank with chlorinator; dig approximately 1,170 meters of trench and lay pipeline; connect approximately 12 houses to the system; provide educational seminars to children in the community on water and health related topics.
To ensure the sustainability of the project, a new seven member Water Council was established and trained by Water Brigades in addition to a Basic Sanitation Committee.
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers | Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of California Santa Barbara Water Brigade | June 2014 | 12 | Explore Water Water Brigade | June 2014 | 4 |
| University of Chicago Water Brigade | June 2014 | 7 |
The people of Fray Lazaro are hard working and engage themselves in a wide variety of activities to be able to maintain their families. Most households have their own small plot of land where they grow corn and beans, which they keep for themselves as their main source of nourishment. Only some families are able to harvest enough for sale and profit. Many community members work by the day for the standard pay of 100 Lempiras (around USD 4.25) as masons or peasants on others’ land, but this is far from representing a stable and predictable source of income. Some workers obtain seasonal jobs in the neighboring shrimp processing or sugar cane factories, or work as cooks or waiters in the restaurants located in the nearby beaches. Nevertheless, most households struggle to make a living.
Volunteers
Loans Disbursed
Savings Accounts Opened
Capital Invested
FRAY LÁZARO’S MICROFINANCE SOLUTIONThe Global Brigades Business and Microfinance Team trained a new community bank in Fray Lázaro in 2014. They also brought Microfinance and Business brigades in order to strengthen both the knowledge and the credit of the community bank, fostering the opening of more savings accounts, gathering more seed capital, and enabling the bank to start giving out loans to community members.
FRAY LÁZARO’S BUSINESS SOLUTIONIn addition to the community bank, community members started two new businesses in the community. The first is a bakery, led entirely by women who were inspired to start their own business after speaking to another women’s microenterprise from another part of the country. The women have been trained in business administration and commercial baking techniques. They are in the beginning stages of their bakery. The second business is a community pharmacy, led by Community Health Workers that the Global Brigades Medical Team trained in 2015. Not only do these CHWs promote health and offer consultations with all community members, but they are opening the pharmacy to be able to sell basic medications to their community at a fair price. This means community members won’t have to travel to the nearest town to buy medication.
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers | Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Allison Business Brigade | February 2015 | 11 | Penn State University Business Brigade | March 2016 | 15 |
| University of Connecticut Business Brigade & University of Southern California Business Brigade | March 2015 | 36 | University of Calgalry Business Brigade | March 2016 | 11 |
| University of Calgary Business Brigade | May 2015 | 12 |
Many community members in Fray Lázaro lacked the resources needed to improve their homes and prevent disease caused by unsafe living environments. Prior to Public Health Brigades, only 25% of homes had washable latrines. Similarly, the majority of homes had dirt floors and utilized traditional wood burning stoves, causing both parasitic disease and respiratory infection. Although community members in Fray Lazaro recognized the problems inherent to their living environments, they did not have the economic resources nor the technical knowledge needed to address them.
Volunteers
Sanitation Units Installed
People Benefitted with Public Health Infrastructure
Hours of Public Health Education
FRAY LÁZARO’S PUBLIC HEALTH SOLUTIONPublic Health Brigaders from several different universities and the Public Health Brigades in-country team began work in Fray Lázaro in May 2014. Since this time, volunteers and staff members have worked with community members to identify community leaders and train them to form the Basic Sanitation Committee; increase cultural sensitivity and awareness by working side-by-side with qualified masons and project beneficiaries; conduct educational workshops emphasizing the importance of sanitation and hygiene in local primary schools; and build over eco-stoves, latrines, hygiene stations, and hundreds of square meters of cement floor.
To ensure the sustainability of the in-home infrastructure projects, the Public Health Program provides continuous follow-up in the community. Clear responsibilities and powers are assigned to each member of the Basic Sanitation Committee, making the beneficiaries themselves an even stronger stakeholder of the Public Health projects.
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers | Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loyola University Public Health Brigade | May 2014 | 16 | Wayne State Public Health Brigade | August 2014 | 36 |
| Emory University Public Health Brigade | May 2014 | 14 | University of New Brunswick Public Health Brigade | August 2014 | 15 |
| University of Oklahoma Public Health Brigade& University of Southern California Public Health Brigade | May 2014 | 15 | Oregon Health Public Health Brigade & Sciences University Public Health Brigade | August 2014 | 17 |
| University of Missouri Public Health Brigade | May 2014 | 21 | Imperial College London Public Health Brigade | September 2014 | 19 |
| University of Michigan Public Health Brigade | May 2014 | 15 | Dublin City University Public Health Brigade | October 2014 | 21 |
| Arizona State University Public Health Brigade | May 2014 | 36 | DePaul University Public Health Brigade | December 2014 | 26 |
| San Jose State University Public Health Brigade | May 2014 | 17 | Saint Louis University Public Health Brigade | January 2015 | 24 |
| University of California Berkeley Public Health Brigade | May 2014 | 12 | Loyola University Public Health Brigade & University of Virginia Public Health Brigade | January 2015 | 30 |
| Illinois Wesleyan Public Health Brigade | June 2014 | 12 | University of California Berkley Public Health Brigade | January 2015 | 31 |
| University of Washington Public Health Brigade | June 2014 | 11 | Columbia University Public Health Brigade & Boston University Public Health Brigade & John Hopkins University Public Health Brigade & Mizzou University Public Health Brigade | January 2015 | 37 |
| University of California Santa Barbara Public Health Brigade & University of California Santa Cruz Public Health Brigade & University of California Los Angeles Public Health Brigade | June 2014 | 35 | Mount Allison University Public Health Brigade | January 2015 | 15 |
| University of California Riverside Public Health Brigade | June 2014 | 13 | University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Public Health Brigade & Duke University Public Health Brigade | March 2015 | 25 |
| Marianopolis College Medical Brigade & Kings College London Medical Brigade | June 2014 | 31 | University of California San Diego Public Health Brigade | March 2015 | 28 |
| Memorial University of Newfoundland Medical Brigade | August 2014 | 30 | Acadia University Public Health Brigade | April 2015 | 22 |
| New York University Public Health Brigade | August 2014 | 15 | University of Calgary Public Health Brigade | May 2015 | 9 |
| University of Birmingham UK | August 2014 | 41 | Boston University Public Health Brigade | May 2015 | 10 |
| Loyola University Public Health Brigade | May 2015 | 13 | Temple University Public Health Brigade | May 2015 | 23 |
| Tulane University Public Health Brigade | May 2015 | 23 | University of California Berkeley Public Health Brigade & San Jose State Public Health Brigade & Arizona State University Public Health Brigade | May 2015 | 26 |
| Dublin City University Public Health Brigade & University of Texas Austin Public Health Brigade | May 2015 | 23 | SUNY Stony Brook Public Health Brigade | June 2015 | 15 |
| Marianapolis College Medical Brigade | June 2015 | 22 | Memorial University of Newfoundland Medical Brigade | 57 | |
| University of Birmingham Public Health Brigade | July 2015 | 18 | Miami Dade University Medical Brigade & Wayne State University Medical Brigade | August 2015 | 36 |
| Rutgers University Medical Brigade | August 2015 | 26 | University of Toronto Medical Brigade | August 2015 | 45 |
| Dublin City University Public Health Brigade | January 2016 | 15 | St Olaf College Public Health Brigade | January 2016 | 11 |
| St Olaf College Medical Brigade | February 2016 | 24 | St Francis Xavier University Public Health Brigade | February 2016 | 11 |
| University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Public Health Brigade | March 2016 | 12 |