Short-Term Construction Information

Here are some basic details and costs for a team to do a construction project and stay at the Border Buddies Mission House in Tegucigalpa, Honduras:

• Teams scheduled from March through October.
• Trips usually 10-11 days.
• Group sizes 8 to 12 persons. (We can accommodate up to 16)
• Lodging in the up-to-date mission house of your missionary hosts, in the city of Tegucigalpa. Showers, all modern conveniences, internet, etc.
• Airplane tickets at the current price – typically ranging between $1000 and $1200 depending on where you are located. Border Buddies can book your flight for you.
• $50.00 per person for each day in Honduras covers Food and Lodging, which includes food from COSTCO, purified water, electricity (same outlets as in the U.S.), wi-fi and ground transportation. Optional trips for ice-cream or special outings will be elective and at your additional expense. All meals are prepared in the Mission House and consist primarily of U.S. products. We are extremely careful about food and water safety for your team.
• $6,000.00 minimum for project materials for a construction team of 10 or less.   Groups over 10 should plan on $600 per person. If you can meet that figure, it greatly enhances the overall project by helping to hire locals to work with the team. All tools and materials supplied by Border Buddies. Bring your own gloves, etc and anything else you might want for the specifics or your project.
• We can offer a side trip to the Mayan Ruins in Copan, or to the beaches on the Pacific Ocean. Those are additional costs and can be worked out between a team and your mission hosts.
• Day trips to Valley of Angels and Picacho Mountain are easy to fit into the schedule; the gas and entry fees are included with the Food and Lodging fee.

If you think you’d like to lead a construction team click on the Team Leaders Manual: (these manuals are in effect for 2024)

• 2025 Team LEADER Manual

If you are interested in being on a team click on the Team Members Manual.

• 2025 Team MEMBER Manual

Why we need teams

We are looking for short-term mission teams to come to the city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras to help refurbish public school buildings. In the United States, tax money provides what the schools need. However in Honduras the taxes pay only for the salaries of the teachers. The families in the local neighborhoods have to provide money for all of the maintenance and repair of the buildings and all the school supplies such as books, chalk, markers, paper, encyclopedias, dictionaries, desks, and anything else the school needs. Most families of these public schools can hardly feed themselves let alone help with school needs. The classrooms are very overcrowded, there are holes in the roofs, peeling paint, no screens or glass in their windows, and poor restroom facilities. The children and the teachers lose hope, and most children drop out of school by the end of 6th grade. As a result, these children have a no skills and a very bleak future. In desperation they turn to the gangs as their only way to make a living. We believe with all our heart that this is not fair to the children, their families and the future of Honduras.

We have completed upgrades on five schools now, expanding some, adding rooms, including a computer lab in one, and in every school we establish a cafeteria capable of serving 300-400 children a hot meal each day, and we not have 4 cafeterias operating. In each school that we assist, attendance improves, grades improve, health improves, hope increases, teachers find purpose, and the children have hope for a successful future.

CONSTRUCTION TEAM HISTORY

• In 2005 we began work on our very first school, Escuela de Venezuela, in Barrio Rincon. New roofing, paint, screens in the windows, roofed-over and walled in soccer/play area, plus an additional two story building with a fully modern cafeteria on the first floor and air-conditioned computer lab, offices and library on the second floor. With the success of that venture we now have seven other schools who have asked for help.
• Since then we have upgraded:
  • Escuela Fuerzas Armadas (was Junior only, now is Junior/Senior)
  • Escuela Roberto Sosa (Junior)
  • Escuela Santa Margarita (Junior)
  • Instituto 21 de Octubre (large Junior/Senior 1100 students)
  • Escuela San Miguel Heredia (Junior)
  • Escuela Arturo Quesada (Junior) still under construction

Despite the major interruption from Covid we never stopped working on the schools.

MEDICAL TEAM HISTORY

Clinics for the poor and elderly can’t handle all the needs. We go to the people and set up clinics in those neighborhoods where we have worked on the schools and have established relationships with the the children, the mothers, the fathers, the barrio leaders. Teams composed of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and administrative personnel are needed to help meet their needs. For many people this may have been the first time they ever were examined by an actual doctor.

• In 2013  Medical Team #1 come to Tegucigalpa in October. They saw over 1200 people in their 10 day trip and touched many, many lives.
• Medical Team #2 saw over 1200 people in October 2014.
• Medical Team #3 saw over 1400 people in October 2015.
• Medical Team #4 saw over 1300 people in October 2016.
• Medical Team #5 saw over 1200 people in October 2017
• Medical Team #6 saw over 1200 people in October 2018.
• Medical Team #7 saw over 1200 people in October 2019
• Medical Team #8 got postponed from 2020 to 2021, then cancelled with just one week’s notice, due to administrative entanglements exasperated by COVID shortages and requirements.

Each of these teams has had a huge impact on the people, as they not only administered medicines, diagnosed problems, but also took time to pray with people.

We are praying for more Medical Teams, but we admit, it is very difficult.

DENTAL TEAMS

We have been praying since 2010 that someone or some people will answer the call to begin bringing dental teams to Tegucigalpa. The need is huge and only dental professionals, aides and assistants can answer the call. If you are moved to be part of or even to lead a team contact Michael Miller at mjgm2004@yahoo.com.