Honduran Tolupan Education Program
Supporting rural literacy through community libraries.
Dr. Lorena Juarez, MD, a Honduran member of the HTEP Advisory Council, gets to know some of the Tolupan villagers.
The Tolupan
The Tolupan, from the rural mountains in the Province of Yoro, are one of eight indigenous groups in Honduras. Their culture and their language, Tol, very likely predates by centuries the Mayan civilization.
Some of the Tolupan communities inhabit land that is rich in natural resources, including timber and the valuable metal Antimony. The Tolupan have resisted exploitation of these resources and consequently their leaders have been repeatedly assassinated .
It is difficult to fight back for those who struggle with literacy. In rural Honduras, when children graduate from the sixth grade, they are literate at a marginal level, but after a few years many lose their literacy due to a lack of books or other reading material.
Photo: Residents of the village of Los Planos gather for a group photo.
Libraries
Without greater educational opportunities the Tolupan culture, including their indigenous language, faces extinction in the next decade. Together we can provide a pathway that respects their traditions but embraces the changes necessary for their survival.
The Dr. Dean Regional Biblioteca, established in the community of El Rosario (State of Yoro, Honduras) over a decade ago, has evolved into a modern library, computer lab, and community education center. It is a model that H-TEP now seeks to replicate in a network of remote indigenous communities.
Photo: Residents of the Tolupan village of El Siriano gather to learn about community libraries.
Our Team
H-TEP’s team includes US and Honduran Board and Council Members, as well as library representatives from each of 5 Tolupan communities.
These dedicated volunteers include educators, librarians, language specialists, community organizers and activists, as well as Honduran and US health care professionals.
Photo: The HTEP Honduran/US team in May of 2022.
Dr. Dean Seibert, MD Active Emeritus
Dr. Seibert has been to El Rosario as team leader over thirty times. Dean has a major interest in community development and the unique challenges of providing medical care across cultural boundaries. He has worked with the Tohano o’odum, Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo tribes of the American southwest, and has provided care to flood victims in the Mosquito Coast of Honduras following Hurricane Mitch, to war refugees in Albania, Kosovo and Liberia, to earthquake survivors in Pakistan and Haiti and to flood victims following the Indonesian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina in the U.S.
Photo: Dr. Dean Seibert greets residents of El Siriano in May of 2022.