IF YOU GO

What: Operation Guacamaya Benefit Concert

Where: Funk ‘n Waffles

When: Today, 7-11 p.m.

How much: $5

 

A mother living in the rural outskirts of Copan Ruinas, Honduras, told Therese McKinny-Wood, a Syracuse University graduate student who went to the area on a Fulbright Scholarship, why she had to pull her daughter out of elementary school.

“She said, ‘I tried to send my daughter to school. But I kept her home for two weeks because she didn’t have a notebook,”’ McKinny-Wood said. “The things we think as accessible really aren’t. Although the school may be free in these villages, a lot of supplies are out of reach.”

McKinny-Wood and the rest of the fundraising committee at Operation Guacamaya are to host a benefit concert, “Chords for a Cause,” Thursday at Funk ‘n Waffles from 7 to 11 p.m. as part of the organization’s goal to raise money to provide school supplies to impoverished children in Honduras. The concert will feature four area bands, and the proceeds will be donated to Paramedics for Children, which will deliver the supplies to Honduras.

Hotel Reverie, The Boatmen, El Ka Bong and Melody Calley will each play for an hour. The bands will play a mixture of indie, alternative, reggae and rock covers. Because all the members of the organization started at SU in the fall, they had to research the area music scene and possible venues, said Claire Thomas, a graduate student in public administration.

But after becoming familiar with the options, Thomas said she’s excited to hear the bands that will be playing at the benefit.

Attendees will donate their $5 entry fee to Operation Guacamaya. The cost of providing school supplies to one child in Copan Ruinas is $12, Thomas said.

Although the town has a steady economy from the influx of tourists to nearby Mayan ruins, the rural outskirts are primarily agricultural. In the agricultural areas, there is a high drop-out rate before sixth grade, a phenomenon McKinny-Wood saw while in Copan Ruinas.

“One of the major conclusions was the financial constraint. They couldn’t afford the supplies or the opportunity cost,” McKinny-Wood said. “The family thought it would be more economical to be helping in the fields or helping with the family.”

Many parents in the region do not see how their children’s education would lead to a brighter future when the only occupation is working on a farm, she said. But she said many of the children she encountered still wanted to go to school.

It was because of this experience that McKinny-Wood helped start Operation Guacamaya in the fall when she came to SU, in hopes of promoting education in the region, she said.

“It’s so important because not having those supplies could mean cutting off their education at age 11,” she said.

Paramedics for Children, the organization Operation Guacamaya is donating the proceeds to, and other non-governmental organizations in Honduras are in a particular economic strain because of recent political turmoil in Honduras, said Sarah Yagoda, a graduate student in public administration who is also on the fundraising committee. Political unrest hit Copan Ruinas, causing the donor base of many aid organizations in the region to decline, Yagoda said.

During the semester, Operation Guacamaya sold coffee for donations once a week in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Administration. Members set up the table in the fall and raised about $200 throughout the course of the semester, Yagoda said. So far this semester, they have raised approximately $250, she said.

Thomas said she hopes the benefit at Funk ‘n Waffles will raise awareness about helping these children access education.

“We’ll be happy if people come. But we don’t have any expectations of how many,” Thomas said. “We’ll be happy if people come out and learn about this great operation.”

 

Published on April 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm