Aggielife
The Battalion
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Page 6A * Thursday, February 26,2d
Save the children
Two students take day care project out of classroom, into Honduran village
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By Jimmy Hissong
THE BATTALION
When attempting to contact project partner and
classmate Jose Mahomar, Robert Furr must pass
over the contact numbers in his cell phone for a
Hispanic engineering firm, two Catholic mission
aries and the office of Honduras’ first lady
Mahomar, a senior finance major and native
Honduran, and Furr, a senior management and infor
mation systems major, are currently working on a
plan to construct a day care center in Tegucigalpa,
Honduras, as part of a class assignment.
Students enrolled in the three-hour interna
tional studies course led by academic instructor
Dr. T. H. Kwa are asked to participate in a newly-
formed global perspective project designed to
impact international communities and Texas
A&M’s community.
“Basically, the project guidelines are relative
ly loose. The project has to tie the international
community and the University. Beyond that, it’s
their own creativity that limits them,” said Susan
Mallet, program coordinator for the Academy for
Future International Leaders.
The proposed projects range in size and scope.
“When I first started thinking about things to
do, I came up with the idea to build a school in
somewhere of need. I’ve had an interest in Latin
America, but the idea pretty much seemed like a
long shot,” Furr said.
By February, Furr’s long-shot idea had turned
into a blueprint.
First conceived for the spring 1998 semester,
the Academy for Future International leaders pro
vides an opportunity for student leaders around
the A&M campus to gain an international per
spective on current and future local and interna
tional affairs. Eighteen applicants are chosen from
A&M’s nine colleges. These 18 students meet
every Thursday evening to discuss topics from
global security to energy consumption
Varying vantage points and various back
grounds allow participants to observe a number of
views on a single topic.
“I try to get students to fertilize their own ideas
with the viewpoints of others,” Kwa said.
Degree plans and academic classifications are
the beginning to the diversity around the table. A
number of the speakers hail from different parts of
the globe so to add to the international experience.
“But the classroom discussion and the speakers
are just part of the academy,” Mallet said.
The students are also paired with an international
mentor and encouraged to participate in one of many
international opportunities the academy provides.
Possibilities for student projects are presented
before an international board composed of the
mentors who aid students throughout the semes
ter. These mentors are leaders from business,
industry and public service. Many are presidents
and vice presidents of corporations with interna
tional appeal. This board of mentors evaluates
the international and local appeal of the students’
proposals.
“Robert Furr kind of came to me with the idea
for a school, but wasn’t real sure where to go from
there. I thought it was a good idea too, and start
ed asking around when I went home for the
Christmas break,” Mahomer said.
The first step was finding a potential location
in need. Mahomar contacted people who would
eventually lead him to the site for the proposed
project. Mario Orlando Salinas Avila, president of
one of the boroughs of Tegucigalpa, offered a plot
for the future location of Furr and Mahomar’s
project. It was determined that a day care center
would better suit the needs of the area. With no
place for children to go during the day, parents are
forced to either give up working and stay home or
leave the children at home unattended.
“Much of the area is subject to extreme pover
ty,” Mahomar said. “Something like (a day care
center) would definitely help, but money is such a
big issue.”
After contacting two Catholic missionaries in
Honduras, Father Juan Matoses Torres and Father
Luis Lopez Martinez, Mahomar and Furr were
able to establish liaisons between A&M and
Tegucigalpa. The missionaries would oversee the
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Volunteers survey the future site for the day care center project spearheaded by two A&M students, J«
Mahomar and Robert Furr.
construction and handle finances. The only miss
ing factor was money.
A Honduran engineering firm has estimated the
construction costs to be 285,000 lempira, or
$15,800. Raising funds has consumed the majori
ty of Furr and Mahomar’s participation in the con
struction of the Honduran day care center.
“The mentors we’ve met through the academy
serve as an excellent contacts for corporate dona
tions, but we would also like to involve local busi
nesses and ultimately, the students in the process,”
Furr said.
Armed with photographs, contacts, an engi
neering estimate, location, official endorsement
from Honduras’ first lady and an approved project
proposal, Mahomar and Furr are ready to embark
on their capital quest.
“It would be nice to organize fund-raisers that
involve international students as well as local®
dents to give the project all the more ofanii
national appeal,” Furr said, “The money n«
for this project isn’t overwhelming. Ifonlyone
three students were able to contribute a dollan
the project, our needs would be more than met"
Mahomar and Furr intend to meet theirfk
cial goals by close of this spring semester,
that point, the construction of the day care ceiiii
can begin.
“It would be great if this was the beginninfi
something. Maybe academy projects in t
could follow up on this one,” Mahomar saidfi
like to go and visit the (day care) center
Tegucigalpa some day. It would be really neat
somehow we were able to physically displayit
Aggie symbol or something showing the
spirit somewhere on the center.”
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