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Transportation Truck School Phase IV

Puerto Cortés,

 Honduras

HOW TO USE THIS REPORT

Food For The Poor’s (FFTP) Transportation Truck School Phase IV project aims to construct a two-classroom building with an office and bathrooms to offer 35 eager students the opportunity to financially support their families. The project will expand much-needed space for students to thrive. In addition, 30 qualifying students will be provided scholarships, which include transportation and food stipends, personal protective equipment, and monthly aid bags with food and personal hygiene items. 

With your loving support, project components to be fulfilled include the following: 

Excavation and surveyingLandfill leveling Concrete foundations Concrete block walls (includes beams and columns)Concrete flooring and sidewalksRoof and roof structureCeramic tile on walls and floorsRain gutters and downspoutsWindow and doorsPlumbing and sewage (includes toilets and sinks)Electrical system and lightingEducational scholarships and student equipmentMonthly support stipendsSign

The new building will be located on the school’s land. This project is expected to directly impact 35 students and 175 community members indirectly.

Project Goal Project Description

Provide 35 men and women and future students with a means for gainful employment through the construction of a two-classroom building for a transportation school in Puerto Cortés, Honduras.

Completed project budgets are subject to change if not fully funded within six months. The completion date of this project may be extended for issues related to weather, natural disaster or civil unrest to the extent that such events exceed normal conditions and impede the project’s progress.

Total Project Costs: $140,583.15

Puerto Cortés Honduras

Bordering Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, Honduras is one of the poorest Spanish-speaking countries in the Western Hemisphere. In a country of more than 9 million inhabitants, Honduras has nearly 65% of its population living in poverty, with 48.3% living below the poverty line. Poverty rates are higher among rural and indigenous people as well as in the south, west and along the eastern border than in the north and central areas where most of Honduras' industries and infrastructure are concentrated.

Struggling with high levels of economic inequality, Honduras ranks among the worst 25 nations in the world for income inequality. Its Gini index coefficient, which measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income within a country, is 48.2, according to the World Bank. By comparison, Nigeria’s is 35.1, while the United States has a ratio of 41.1. 

The COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented impact of two successive hurricanes in recent years significantly affected Honduras’ economy, and its aftermath continues. Expectations are for the country’s gross domestic product to contract by 9% and the poverty line to rise to 55.4%.

FFTP began serving the poor people of Honduras in 1999, and works closely with our in-country partner CEPUDO (Capacitación, Educación, Producción, Unificación, Desarrollo y Organización) to implement international relief and economic development projects throughout all of Honduras.    

Puerto Cortés is a coastal town on the Caribbean Sea in the department of Cortés. The town is approximately 33 miles north of San Pedro Sula.

Home to the largest port in Honduras, Puerto Cortes' main industries include agriculture and tourism. Most residents work in agriculture during harvesting season as farmers, producing plantains, rice and fruit and earning meager incomes of less than $5 a day. This is unstable, hard work, and low incomes do not provide adequate financial support for families. Many residents are only able to eat once a day and their meals, which consist of beans, rice, and tortillas, lack key nutrients. Residents who are employed in tourism generate income by working in shops, restaurants or selling food on the roadside.

Ensure Sustainability and Employment for Families

According to the Honduran National Institute of Statistics, Honduras is experiencing a shortage of more than 5,000 certified drivers each year, and this number is expected to increase due to growth in road infrastructure. As a result, trucks sit idle, leaving truck companies unable to operate at full capacity, which stifles Honduras’ economic growth and development. In turn, residents, who seek a professional transportation career, are not able to provide a better way of life for their families.  

When the idea for a transportation school first blossomed, the goal was to make it self-sustainable by selling certificate training services to private transportation companies. This, in turn, enables the school to cover its operating costs (such as the maintenance and improvement of the school’s infrastructure, administrative and operating costs) and provide student scholarships. This year, 67% of these scholarships were covered, thanks to funds generated from certificate training services and local donations.

FFTP is happy to acknowledge that 290 students have been certified since the school’s inception in 2018, with some of the scholarships paid by our organization and through training services sold to private companies. 

School Funding Challenges

It is great to report that the number of certified students has increased from 39 per year in 2018 to 118 this year. Currently, the school can offer a maximum of 120 scholarships per year; however, due to the great demand of students eager to be admitted, the school has not secured sufficient funding to cover its operational expenses or to offer additional scholarships.   

Without continual outside funding sources to support its operations and scholarships, the school may have to close during a time when the industry is experiencing a massive shortage of qualified drivers. This is all the more challenging when the school has a waiting list of more than 200 students hoping to receive proper training they need to secure gainful employment to support their families. 

Students who qualify for scholarships must be under Honduran poverty guidelines and pass the eye and medical exams and basic skills test. 

Through this project, interested students will have the opportunity to obtain a commercial driver’s license and earn above the annual minimum wage of $375 since, on average, truck drivers earn approximately $700 per month. Your gift of monthly care packages, along with a monthly stipend, will provide strong incentive for students to complete their courses rather than drop out for temporary economic opportunities.   

There are myriad other benefits for Honduras. Since the school’s scholarships are also intended for women, such efforts take aim at eroding pervasive gender inequality. No longer will women be relegated to their traditional jobs, which lack the same income-earning potential. This project’s mission is in keeping with the goal of gender equality set forth in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.   

Furthermore, roads in Honduras will become safer. Knowledgeable, skilled drivers will be prepared to navigate and properly react to Honduras’ complex roadways, fraught with dangers such as inexperienced drivers potholes and bad weather conditions. 

The two new classrooms for the school can potentially increase enrollment from 30 to 40 graduating students per year, which means as a goal, 150 students would graduate, which is a 25% increase.  

The school currently has the capacity to train 200 students, 50% of whom will be women every year. These students must have a basic literacy level and no prior knowledge of commercial driving. Their certification process will take approximately four months and consist of the following course concentrations: 

TheoryPractice on open road with certified driver Computation (Microsoft Word, Excel and email usage) Visual simulator class

Specific courses will include: 

Human relationsPhysical educationMoralityPrevalent illnesses afflicting drivers and how to prevent them 

Fatigue classes EnglishTransport mathematicsDriving laws

A state-of-the-art virtual simulator will enable instructors to train students on how to navigate real-world scenarios such as inclement weather, human or animal obstructions, potholes, traffic, unsafe road conditions, and varying terrains.   

Your work to serve our Lord and Savior is why we ask if you would prayerfully consider supporting this worthwhile project. Your generous contributions will bolster the sustainability of a transportation school in Honduras that seeks to keep roadways safe. Not only would your gift build up a school, but it would secure profitable, stable livelihoods for residents in an impoverished communities, who wish to support their families and make a difference in improving the quality of life in their beloved country.

“In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God."

Isaiah 40:3

Testimonials

Transportation School Director Geovanny Guerrero is pleased with the quality of graduates who are now making a decent living for their families. The issue to be resolved is the lack of space. 

“New classes are starting because [we do not] have enough space or classrooms to be able to meet the great demand [for] more students,” said Geovanny. “There are simultaneously up to five groups of students. Training services are also offered to professional [drivers] from private companies. This is a great service that we offer, but unfortunately, we must suspend [some] classes to be able to teach [those individuals from private companies].

“There is also a great deficiency in the water service,” continued Geovanny. “Very little comes and there is not enough for the bathrooms and for students to keep their faces and hands clean. Your support will [help] people who need it.”  

Jorge González, a student at the transportation school, loves what he is gaining from his school experience. He is currently absorbing topics in his theoretical classes which focus on automotive mechanics.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to learn and transform my life as a professional [driver],” he said. “The school is a blessing, but we lack classrooms since you cannot have many students from different classes in the [same] classrooms. Also, there are not enough bathrooms for the men and women.” Would you help Jorge and his peers hone their driving skills in an expanded school environment?

Equally excited about the school is Jorge Galvez, who has been teaching at the school for more than a year.

“I am very grateful because it is nice to be able to be part of this great project,” said Jorge. “[Our] school needs to continue to improve and grow. [We] need a teacher's area where we can discuss our lesson plans. More bathrooms are needed since four bathrooms ... [are] not enough. It would be great to have a new building to continue to grow with the students. Thanks for the support.”

Please click the map below to see the Google Maps location for Puerto Cortés, where FFTP will serve through this project.

GPS Coordinates: 15°51'08.8"N 87°55'54.2"W

Here is a panoramic view of the transportation school and close-up views of the front exterior.

Here are the bathrooms that are currently available for the school community, which include sinks. More bathrooms are needed.

Students hunger for knowledge.

Below, a student tests out a road experience in a virtual simulation class..

In class, students are taught the basic components of trucks.

A few students wait for their road assignments and gather briefly outside before starting their day.

Here is the floor plan for the proposed two-classroom addition.

Drivers need to know how to handle these huge haulers to safely navigate through unpredictable situations such as inclement weather, potholes, inexperienced drivers and uneven road terrain.

A sign for the school is prominently displayed.

Students are proud of themselves and their school. Many have graduated and earn good income to support their families. With a waiting list of more than 200 people, your gracious gifts will make it possible for new students to enroll. We hope you join us in this endeavor.

"After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God."

Luke 8:1

God bless you and your mission-hearted service in His mighty name!

Please click the photos to view similar work that FFTP has completed in Honduras.

Budget

Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.

About Food For The Poor

To view this proposal online, please visit the following website: https://simplebooklet.com/2254DTransportationTruckSchool