It was a meeting of cultures when parishioners from St. Francis Xavier in New York, including Nancy Lorence (pictured here with Anna) journeyed to Honduras this summer to help repair damage caused by Hurricane Mitch last fall.

Sr. Beverly Bligh and Mary Phelan drew the job of loading corrugated tin to repair roofs. The substandard housing in the area is particularly susceptible to storm damage.

You can count at least three generations in this photo of Maria Irene Gomez’s household. Xavier parishioners helped Maria get her mother to a hospital.

A Honduran woman proudly shows off her store and wares, which include bottled water, snacks, soft drinks, and ice cream.

Finding clean water has plagued Guacamaya since the hurricane, which flooded latrines and contaminated water. New Yorkers and Guacamayans work to drain a spillway of water that has not run clear since the hurricane.

Along with ten parishioners from the Jesuits’ St. Francis Xavier Church in New York City, I went to Honduras for ten days this summer to help repair the damage done by Hurricane Mitch. Though the storm hit this and other Central American countries way back in November 1998, most of the small Honduran villages have not yet recovered. In many places there is still no running water, and some of the housing remains temporary. These villages, poor even before the storm, struggle for the very basics.

What I saw were patient, strong people working tirelessly day in and day out just to survive. Everything is a constant battle; yet these people persist. Honduras is a beautiful country apart from the prevalent poverty. Mangos, avocados, and bananas grow plentiful among the colorful flora. Bright and exotic butterflies decorate the landscape.

Our group began each day with a morning prayer; in the evening we reflected on our day in silence and then discussed our experiences. Though we have now been back in the States for a few weeks, we are still processing what we experienced in Honduras. While there, we built relationships with the communities of Guacamaya and Urraco and with the Garifuna people in order to continue helping each other in what we hope will be an ongoing collaborative project.

Kristen Artz’s photos have illustrated children’s books, appeared in the New York Times, and been exhibited in New York galleries.

Xavier parishioners attended a community meeting in Triunfo de la Cruz and offered to contribute money for an addition to a primary school in the village.

Fr. Jose Maria Cabello, SJ, "Padre Chema," is the master of microbusiness in Urraco; he manages a woodshop and carpentry school, a fish hatchery, and programs for raising chickens and building two-story homes, among others.

Donya Marco and Angelica, residents of Guacamaya, can make 60 cinder blocks a day, but it takes 700 to build a house. Xavier parishioners took turns shoveling cement, stacking bricks to dry, and loading them into trucks at a blistering pace.

This man stands proudly in his new home, which took him one month to build. Designed by Padre Chema and built with donations from worldwide Catholic organizations, the house is up on stilts for protection against storm damage.

The St. Francis Xavier Parish trip to Honduras was the brainchild of Monica Maher (on the right), who lived in Honduras for six years while with the Concerned America Volunteers. She is currently a pastoral associate at the New York parish.