2006.11.25: November 25, 2006: Headlines: COS - Honduras: COS - Kenya: Service: San Antonio Express-News: Eddie O’Toole has shipped hundreds of school desks, chairs and other equipment from a renovated campus using banana company shipping containers that otherwise return empty to Honduras from the United States
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2006.11.25: November 25, 2006: Headlines: COS - Honduras: COS - Kenya: Service: San Antonio Express-News: Eddie O’Toole has shipped hundreds of school desks, chairs and other equipment from a renovated campus using banana company shipping containers that otherwise return empty to Honduras from the United States
Eddie O’Toole has shipped hundreds of school desks, chairs and other equipment from a renovated campus using banana company shipping containers that otherwise return empty to Honduras from the United States
Eddie O’Toole, who first saw Honduras as a Peace Corps volunteer, is the kind of cheerful American expatriate that can be found in remote corners of the planet. He’s been restoring old ambulances for reuse, and has brought a couple of neighbors in one of them to see the San Antonio doctors. “My wife was a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya, and I was a Peace Corps volunteer here. We had a little girl. When she was 3, we said let’s go — bought a school bus for $500, drove it down. I started teaching kids basic mechanics.” O’Toole plans to move his family back to the United States eventually, but his goal is convincing Americans that it’s cheaper to send their old but functioning stuff to countries like Honduras than it is to dump it in landfills, even if they have to pay shipping costs.
Eddie O’Toole has shipped hundreds of school desks, chairs and other equipment from a renovated campus using banana company shipping containers that otherwise return empty to Honduras from the United States
Reporter's notebook: South Texas Physician Outreach
Web Posted: 11/26/2006 03:06 AM CST
Don Finley
Express-News Medical Editor
I’m not sure when I first learned of South Texas Physician Outreach, the San Antonio group that in one form or another has been providing free surgical care at the same government-run hospital, in the same small town in the mountains of Western Honduras, almost every year for some 25 years. I’m looking at one of my old clips, dated from Valentine’s Day, 1988, about some children brought back to San Antonio for complex surgeries. The group doesn’t bring back kids anymore, limiting their work to Santa Rosa de Copan. But Staff Photographer Jerry Lara and I had a chance to accompany this year’s group of 29 doctors, nurses and support staff from across San Antonio on its annual trip, which took place Nov. 5-12. Below are some memorable moments from that trip. — Don Finley
[Excerpt]
The expatriate
Eddie O’Toole, who first saw Honduras as a Peace Corps volunteer, is the kind of cheerful American expatriate that can be found in remote corners of the planet. He’s been restoring old ambulances for reuse, and has brought a couple of neighbors in one of them to see the San Antonio doctors. “My wife was a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya, and I was a Peace Corps volunteer here. We had a little girl. When she was 3, we said let’s go — bought a school bus for $500, drove it down. I started teaching kids basic mechanics.”
In addition to the ambulances, he’s imported and restored a fire engine, a school bus, an entire building (in pieces). He shipped hundreds of school desks, chairs and other equipment from a renovated campus using banana company shipping containers that return empty to Honduras from the United States.
South Texas Physician Outreach does the same thing, sending down a huge banana container full of supplies a couple of months before their trip.
O’Toole plans to move his family back to the United States eventually, but his goal is convincing Americans that it’s cheaper to send their old but functioning stuff to countries like Honduras than it is to dump it in landfills, even if they have to pay shipping costs.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: November, 2006; Peace Corps Honduras; Directory of Honduras RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Honduras RPCVs; Peace Corps Kenya; Directory of Kenya RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Kenya RPCVs; Service
When this story was posted in December 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| All Volunteers Safe in Fiji All Volunteers in Fiji are safe and accounted for. The Peace Corps is monitoring the situation very closely. Volunteers are on standfast but there are no plans for evacuation at this time. Peace Corps is working closely with the US embassy and with host country partners to monitor the situation. Peace Corps is confident that volunteers are not in harm's way. The military seized control of Fiji on December 5 after weeks of threats. Subscribe to our news feed to read the latest breaking news. |
| Ron Tschetter in Morocco and Jordan On his first official trip since being confirmed as Peace Corps Director, Ron Tschetter (shown at left with PCV Tia Tucker) is on a ten day trip to Morocco and Jordan. Traveling with his wife (Both are RPCVs.), Tschetter met with volunteers in Morocco working in environment, youth development, health, and small business development. He began his trip to Jordan by meeting with His Majesty King Abdullah II and Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and discussed expanding the program there in the near future. |
| Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps Senator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments. |
| He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
| Peace Corps' Screening and Medical Clearance The purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process. |
| The Peace Corps is "fashionable" again The LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace. |
| PCOL readership increases 100% Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come. |
| History of the Peace Corps PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help. |
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Story Source: San Antonio Express-News
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Honduras; COS - Kenya; Service
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