Programs / Public Health / Communities / Fray Lazaro «

About Fray Lazaro

Fray Lazaro is a community of approximately 650 people living in

130 homes.  It belongs to the municipality of Choluteca in the

department of Choluteca.  Fray Lazaro is primarily an agricultural

community that produces corn for sustenance.  A percentage

of the population works 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 Lazaro that provides medical consults with a nurse. 

Similarly, there is a primary school in Fray Lazaro, 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.  With the initiation of the Public

Health projects in Fray Lazaro, a Basic Sanitation Committee was

established and trained and the Caja Rural was formed with support

from the Microfinance Program. Currently, the Business Program is 

working with Fray Lazaro to establish a microenterprise bakery in the

community. Fray Lazaro was inaugurated as a Global Brigades Holistic

Community in November 2015, sustainably transitioning from a

brigade-intensive relationship to a follow-up relationship.

 

Fray Lazaro's Public Health Challenge

Many community members in Fray Lazaro 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. 

 

The creation of household infrastructure through Public Health Brigades improved the health of household members through enhanced sanitation and hygiene. It also improved quality of life in Fray Lazaro. Water storage units enable families to store water, showers allow them to bathe privately, and eco-stoves will reduce the amount of time spent collecting firewood and the consequent environmental destruction.

 

 

The Public Health Solution for Fray Lazaro

Public Health Brigaders from several different universities and the Public Health Brigades in-country team began work in Fray Lazaro 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 Santiation Committee

     • Increase cultural sensitivity and awareness by working side-by-side with qualified masons and project

        beneficiaries

     • Build over eco-stoves, latrines, hygiene stations, and hundreds of square meters of cement floor

     • Conduct educational workshops emphasizing the importance of sanitation and hygiene in local                     primary schools

 

To ensure the sustainability of the in-home infrastructure projects, the Public Health Program provides continuous follow-up in the community. It also forms and trains the Basic Sanitation Committee, a community body formed by local leaders which is entitled to monitor the correct utilization and maintenance of the infrastructures. Clear responsibilities and powers are assigned to each member, making the beneficiaries themselves an even stronger stakeholder of the Public Health projects.

 

Public Health Brigades Chapters that Worked in Fray Lazaro
Public Health Brigades Chapter	Month	Volunteers
Loyola University	May 2014	16
Emory University	May 2014	15
University of Oklahoma	May 2014	14
University of Missouri	May 2014	21
University of Michigan	May 2014	15
Arizona State University	May 2014	36
San Jose State University	May 2014	17
University of California Berkeley	May 2014	13
Illinois-Wesleyan University	June 2014	11
University of Washington	June 2014	12
University of California Los Angeles	June 2014	9
University of California Santa Barbara	June 2014	16
University of California Santa Cruz	June 2014	10
Marianopolis College	June 2014	24
King's College London	June 2014	7
University of California Riverside	June 2014	13
Memorial University of Newfoundland	July 2014	30
University of New Brunswick	July 2014	40
New York University	August 2014	15
Wayne State University	August 2014	37
University of New Brunswick	August 2014	15
Oregon Health and Sciences University	August 2014	17
Imperial College	September 2014	19
Dublin City University	November 2014	21
DePaul University	December 2014	26
St. Louis University	January 2015	24
Loyola University	January 2015	15
University of Virginia	January 2015	16
UC Berkeley	January 2015	31
Columbia University	January 2015	8
Boston University	January 2015	12
Johns Hopkins University	January 2015	3
University of Missouri-Columbia	January 2015	14
Mt. Allison University	February 2015	14
UNC Chapel Hill	March 2015	19
Duke University	March 2015	5
University of California San Diego	March 2015	28
Acadia University	April 2015	22
University of Calgary	May 2015	9
Boston University	May 2015	10
Loyola University	May 2015	13
Temple University	May 2015	23
Tulane University	May 2015	9
University of California Berkeley	May 2015	5
San Jose State University	May 2015	14
Arizona State University	May 2015	7
Dublin City University	May 2015	19
University of Texas at Austin	May 2015	4
SUNY Stony Brook	June 2015	15
Marianapolis College	June 2015	22
Memorial University off Newfoundland	June 2015	57
University of Birmingham	June 2015	18
Miami Dade College	August 2015	11
Wayne State University	August 2015	26
Rutgers University	August 2015	26
University of Toronto	August 2015	45
Dublin City University	February 2016	15
St. Olaf College	February 2016	35
St. Francis Xavier University	February 2016	11
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	March 2016	12

 

Current Status

IN PROGRESS

Community members and the Public Health Program began working in the community in May 2014. Work progressed quickly and community completion is nearly realized.

 

Project Photos

 

 

Visit Other Programs in Fray Lazaro

Global Brigades strives to implement a model of Holistic Development in communities through a system of collectively implementing health, economic, and education initiatives to strategically meet a community's development goals. Learn more about the other programs being implemented in Fray Lazaro:

 

Medical Dental CHW  Engineering Water   Business CHW