HONDURAS MISSION
Volunteers find work in Costa Rica
Just days after the coup in Honduras forced the cancellation of a local medical mission, the group— thanks to a flurry of phone calls and coordination between a number of involved parties — will travel to Costa Rica on Sunday.
The annual trip, which has been organized by Dr. Lee McCune since 1996, was scratched Tuesday night after last Sunday’s ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya prompted a travel alert from the U. S. State Department. The group’s dilemma was reported in a story in Thursday’s Buffalo News.
By Thursday night, plans were in place for the group to spend a week in Costa Rica with Score International, a Christian not-for-profit organization. Delta Airlines accommodated the change in flight ticketing, and a private donor made up the difference from the original $1,300 air fare cost.
“We’re pretty blessed to land on our feet and still be running,” McCune said.
One of the mission’s other doctors, David Holmes, knows Jeff Hackett, Score’s Northeast representative.
Hackett, of Lancaster, checked in with Score’s different missions and found that a Nicaraguan refugee camp on the outskirts of San Jose, Costa Rica, as well as two villages, could accommodate the group next week.
Hackett, who has seen many mission trips canceled and others that have taken months to reschedule, said he has never seen this sort of turnaround.
“It all fell in place on our end,” Hackett said.
Only 20 of the original 32 participants will still be making the trip, McCune said. The others took jobs, made other plans or had medical or family emergencies.
Sam Jemiolo, 16, of Orchard Park, said she couldn’t believe it when she learned she still will be going on the medical mission.
“It was a roller coaster of emotions,” Jemiolo said. “We went from crying to, two days later, finding out we’re going to Costa Rica.”
Holmes said he believes there is a reason why everything worked out.
“It’s hard to understand why these things happen,” he said. “We pray and believe it’s all somehow part of God’s plan.”
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