See You on the Square/Notes from Your Better Hometown Program

Monticello, I recently visited Honduras and a little village known as Villa San Francisco.

The village is just a bit larger in population than we are, but they have a Village Square they recently completed, and how proud they are of it. The Mayor, Eric Mejia, is their driving force and has a vision and plans to upgrade his village and he started with their Square.

What once was a muddy hole is now landscaped, has a celebrated old tree (like ours) and is a gathering place for the village residents (us again).

My visit was to present them with some information on Monticello (pictures old and new, newspaper clippings of our activities, etc.) and a formal letter from Mayor Susan Holmes announcing on behalf of the City and the Better Hometown Program that we want to establish a Sister City relationship with them.

The joy on the Mayor’s and the villagers faces was so heartwarming, and the thought that they would even be considered for such recognition was a great honor for them.
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Now, about being a Sister City. Monticello has an opportunity to be recognized for some high profile international goodwill. We would be the first Better Hometown Program to have a Sister City relationship with a foreign city. In adopting Villa San Francisco as a Sister City we can forge a relationship that will help them to help themselves.

Their makeup is that of a rural farming village and in need of many of the things we take for granted. Their roads remind me of ours…bumpy, gutted and in sore need of repair (us, once again), but the Mayor there already has plans to take care of the roads in the village.

Villa San Francisco is a poor village but is currently the site of some very high tech projects through Dr. Jean Walter at our County Extension Office, the University of Georgia, and Zamorano University in Honduras. (This project has a strong possibility of having its headquarters located in Monticello.)

The farmers there can take a digital picture of a disease or an anomaly with their crops and animals, send that picture from the telecenter there to experts at Zamorano University and the University of Georgia for a diagnosis of the problem and get the help they need to correct any problem that could devastate their food sources.

What I observed as a serious need for the village is bicycles. There are many cars in Honduras but a lot of their transportation is done on bicycles.

As a first project to Villa San Francisco I am asking for donations of old bicycles and/or bicycle parts to be shipped to the village. The bicycles would be owned by the village and loaned to villagers when they need to travel to the next village or to a job at a nearby farm.

The project “Bicycles for Villa San Francisco” could also provide a few jobs and bring some much needed revenue for the villagers. I start the launch of this project in the next few weeks and I am interested in hearing from the community on what we can do to help our Sister City.

My telephone number is: 468-8994 or email me at better hometown@bellsouth.net.

See You On The Square on December 17th for ‘Shop Monticello’ Day.