Making a Difference: Our Chief Wave Maker visits Roatan

Making a difference in children’s lives isn’t something we just do in the pool – we do it across oceans too. Tiernan Murphy, the Founder and Owner of Making Waves, along with his family visited Roatan a few months ago and came back with some special stories.

In April of this year, our family had the opportunity to travel to Roatan, an island off the coast of Honduras, as a part of a collective of over 100 other swim school families from all over North America. The purpose of the trip was to bring supplies, clothing and services to schools in need on the island. We were brought together by our dear friend Lynn Ledford who has selflessly championed the Roatan Expedition for over 7 years.

Through relationships that Lynn has fostered over the years, we were invited into 6 schools on the island where we delivered supplies and connected with kids. We had many conversations with administrators, not only discussing the needs of their schools, but about how grateful they were for the help.

One of the leaders we met was Valerie, a Canadian social worker who runs the Familias Saludades clinic and a school that serves children with or affected by AIDS. As representatives of Making Waves, we were humbled to be able to deliver 10 computers to her school and support the loving, impactful work she is doing.

We also met Deborah, a retired school teacher from California who spent 38 years teaching music in elementary and junior high schools. When she moved to Roatan, she founded the Steel Pan Alley School. The school aims to provides the children of Roatan the opportunity to learn music and grow in a friendly, cooperative environment. All programs are offered for free, in the hopes of turning steel pan music into a source of income for the teens of Bay Island.

It was especially moving to see our own children – 13, 10 and 6 – interact with the children they were meeting. Even though the language was often a barrier, they were able to connect through play. One of our sons brought his football to play with the kids and ended up leaving it with one of the little boys he played with. The trip was truly imprinted on them – on all of us.

On our last day, the group held a beach day where we invited the community to participate in swimming lessons in the ocean and some fun beach activities. We also handed out bathing suits to local families.

Our staff here at Making Waves are always striving to make a difference in children’s lives. It was a very special opportunity to see that gift spill over across oceans – literally – to be able to bring joy and assistance to children’s lives far away too!