I’m in this club on campus called Students Helping Honduras, also known as SHH. The organization is recognized by a lot of different universities, but It began here at UMW by a recent graduate, Shin Fujiyama. He had a vision that pushed a relief wide-spread relief effort that reached out and helped many impoverished people in Honduras. Orphans were given a place to live. People who were forced from their homes and placed in shantytowns were given their lives back, and it’s given us as students–rather citizens of the world to unite and help our fellow man.

I got my first brush of what SHH could do, when I went to last year’s Summit even in George Mason University. I got to meet Shin and a lot of the other heads of the organization. Summit was a lot of fun and as a new member, I was well-received and perhaps even welcomed like family. Of course the defining moment wasn’t in the social gathering because I could have joined a lot of other clubs to accomplish that. Shin and the heads of SHH showed me a video of the work that they have done down in Honduras. I saw how the situation was before SHH intervened and how the standard of living was improved by a little can-do attitude and a lot of love and perseverance.

I was able to relate to the experience that I saw when I viewed the video that Shin and SHH produced. I grew up as a military brat and as a child, my family never had much. I may not have been forced to live in shantytowns or scrape for a living, but I do remember getting clothes from yard sales and living in a small home with meager accommodations. I had to improvise when it came to games because there wasn’t enough money to buy expensive sports equipment or a simple gym membership. Eventually things did get better, but seeing the video made me want to lend a helping hand like the military did to my family.

So this year, I’m going to Summit again and hopefully take a more active role in the organization when I can spare the time. With permission, I also hope to have taken a couple of video logs in hopes of sharing my experience and spreading the word.