Women around Honduras who have graduated from Leadership Mission International continue to lead efforts to support their communities during this difficult time through agriculture projects, chicken co-ops, safe food delivery to families lacking food security, and more. Here is more on Nely Vasquez’s story!

Click on subtitles “cc” button at the bottom of the screen to see translation for Spanish portions of the video.

Nely is a 2018 graduate of The Leadership Center and has worked for community-based NGO, Shoulder to Shoulder (StS), since her third year at TLC. StS implements basic health care, advanced medicine, dental services, bilingual education, local health programs, and nutrition to over 69,000 rural Hondurans. Prior to StS, Nely worked in a bilingual elementary school classroom with BECA and is now working on literacy projects to support schools across the Honduran department of Intibucá. In March, Nely was sent back to her hometown of Yamaranguila to work from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

When Nely returned home, she thought she would only be staying for 14 days but she and her family are now under their nearly 135th day of lockdown. During this time, Nely has seen both food prices and unemployment rise in her community. In response to the situation, Nely decided to establish a community chicken farm. With the help of LMI, Nely and her chicken farm team purchased 13 hens, one rooster, food and supplies to set up the chicken farm. The farm will provide more affordable eggs than available in local markets, chicken meat and organic fertilizer, all sustainable benefits to the people of Yamaranguila. Learn more about the project in this video by Nely and her niece, and chicken farm team member, Glenda.