A Walk Down Memory Lane

Cindy, Bobbi, and Don (2023)

A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE

As we celebrate 25 years of service in Honduras, we thought it would be great to talk to the founders, Don and Bobbi Hopkins, and Cindy Smith, about some of their memories of those early days. Here is their story.

Dr. Don Hopkins first traveled to Honduras with other church groups in 1997 and 1998. The 1998 trip was with a group out of Seguin and was a “training trip” for him. They stayed in the dormitory in a small village called Corral Quemado, slept in the cinderblock dorm, on wire rabbit cages. Don said he would have to change his out after a few days, as they would develop a “U” shape! The rabbit cages were a remnant of a dream that the local pastor, Roger, had had—that they raise rabbits and sell them for food, for a profit. Instead, the villagers treated the rabbits as pets and wouldn’t sell them, Eventually the rabbits succumbed to coyotes etc., and the cages were no longer in use. During those trips, Don and his wife, Bobbi, who is a PhD, RN, learned what they liked and what they didn’t-for example, that team counted meds as needed in the pharmacy. They had to stop the clinic at least 2 hours early to allow the pharmacy to catch up. So, even for the first medical brigade they led, they pre-packed meds.

1999 Group Photo

In February 1999, (after Hurricane Mitch decimated Honduras in 1998), Don lead a team of 34 to Corral Quemado. They had a bus and one of Roger’s vans, initially only going to one village a day. Later they had a second “Out team” who took trucks to remote villages. Quite the adventure. The roads were terrifying, as they had been washed out with Mitch. Bridges were gone. Bulldozers refashioned the roads, but they were terrible. The team stayed in the dorm at Corral, but by now there were bunk beds and mosquito nets. Roger’s wife would cook for them. They were limited to 36 people as that was all the bunks there were. There were 2 bathrooms, but no electricity or running water. They did have drinking water in large, purchased bottles.

Traversing Flooded Road (1999)

One of Don’s favorite memories is sitting on the porch of the dorm at night with the local pastor, Fr. Rafael and all the village kids would come by. The locals would bring their instruments and they would play music. He felt like family. Bobbi and Don both recall that there was desperate poverty then, many were skinny, with shabby clothes and shoes, or even no shoes. They had lost jobs because all the crops were washed away, and it would take years for them to produce a crop again. They handed out a lot of rice and beans. They saw a lot of dysentery and water borne diseases, but overall, the people were fit due to their rural lifestyle of hard work.

In 2003, the new Honduran bishop told them they couldn’t stay at the dorm any longer as it wasn’t nice enough and referred them to the Kellog Center at Zamarano. With that change, more beds were available, and the team sizes rapidly grew, the largest team being over 100 missioners. With teams that size, over 3000 villagers were cared for in the one week of clinics. But that team size was logistically difficult. Currently our teams are usually about 45-50 Americans and 25-30 Hondurans, and 2000 villagers are cared for in the week.

In those early years, the third founder, Cindy Smith, APN, was invited into the home of an 8 year girl. She became friends with the whole family and would frequently remain a few days after the mission trips and stay with them, in Corral Quemado in their small house. Typically, three slept in each of the two beds. They cooked outdoors. Cindy and the mom would walk down the river to other villages and sit and visit and drink coffee at various homes. It was in this way that Cindy connected with so many locals. They all greet her with huge smiles and hugs when she arrives on a medical brigade.

Primitive House (1999)

Cindy saw that kids quit school after 6th grade because it was impossible to afford a high school education, due to the cost of the long-distance transportation, uniforms, books and supplies. She initiated the scholarship program, to raise money to help families send their kids to school beyond the 6th grade. They started with a handful of students and that grew each year, to the current number of 225. Cindy says that education has changed the kids- they have more self-confidence and see themselves as someone now. “While our medical brigades help someone for a few months, education is a gift that lasts their entire lives”.

In 2010, Don and Bobbi successfully formed the non-profit Honduras Good Works. That move was very good as it helped open a lot of doors. In 2014, Don and Bobbi started turning over some of the brigade planning to a committee, and they gradually stepped back from leadership.

Getting Reading Glasses (2023)

Bobbi says Don is the real founder, that she and Cindy just went along those first few years. While Bobbi didn’t say it, we all know she was the one who organized the brigades, ordered the meds and did all the planning in those early years for the brigades. She recalls severe poverty in the early days, doing a house call for a widow who was all alone and hadn’t eaten in 3 days...and giving her a LOT of rice and beans. For both Bobbi and Cindy, a favorite memory is of the first time someone received reading glasses—to see someone who couldn’t see to read, now be able to, was so amazing and yet so simple. And Bobbi emphasized that the missioners that go to Honduras, grow spiritually through the experience. They are spiritually lifted by the experience. As long-time missioner Fr. Paul Moore says, “we go with full suitcases, and return with full hearts”.