32-year-old San Antonio, Texas Resident works in an orphanage with Needy Children in Honduras

Mary Held left the United States in August 2006 in order to spend six months to work in an orphanage in Honduras.

Here is what Mary thinks about her experience in Honduras with United Planet:

“The richness of the experiences and relationships will impact my life's work and outlook. When I complete my PhD in social work, I hope to do further work in Honduras - so this is an opportunity to lay the groundwork and gain a better understanding of the culture and language.”

What has she learned so far? First of all, Mary improved her Spanish right away! She is learning the differences in providing social services in Honduras as opposed to the United States. And also how much more important love and relationships are in one's life than material items.

Mary had to face the challenge to live there with so many wonderful and spiritually rich people knowing where she comes from and how much they want what she has. But for the luck of fate, it would be reversed.
This experience is important to her because the experience of better understanding the language and culture are so important to her work as a social worker. She lives in San Antonio that is 60% Latin American and believes that it is crucial for her to speak Spanish. It also means fulfilling a dream and what she considers a responsibility. She believes that having received so many privileges in her life provides her with a greater responsibility to give her time to those without such privileges.

As featured on CNN, United Planet is a leading international, educational, humanitarian, and peace-building, non-profit organization with members and volunteers in over 150 countries The mission of United Planet is to foster cross-cultural understanding and friendship, support communities in need, and promote social & economic prosperity among cultures in order to unite the world in a community beyond borders.

United Planet Quests provide a meaningful opportunity for both skilled and unskilled volunteers to make a difference in communities in need in around fifty countries worldwide from 1 to 52 weeks, while immersing in and learning about the culture and language of the host country.

Quests enable participants to broaden global perspectives and cross-cultural understanding; improve foreign language skills; work in international teams; develop leadership skills; build lifelong friendships; and most importantly, make a true difference and have a lot of fun along the way.

For more information regarding United Planet and its initiatives, please visit the organization’s website at www.unitedplanet.org.

We hope that this experience interests you as we are convinced it is of interest to your readers to see how much a member of the San Antonio, Texas community cares about making a difference in a country such as Honduras.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,

Cecile Chappey
Project Coordinator
UNITED PLANET