DECATUR - Christine Becker is impressed by people who care.

The Decatur woman is particularly impressed with Camilla O'Brien, who operates with her husband, Ted, the Bay Islands Beach Resort in the western Caribbean island of Roatan.

Christine Becker and her husband, Scott, operate the Becker Chiropractor Clinic. They are scuba divers, and Roatan is prime diving territory. The Beckers were attracted by the laid-back lifestyle and the pristine coral reef of Roatan, 30 miles off the north coast of Honduras.

In visiting with Camilla O'Brien, Christine Becker learned of the effort to educate the island's children.

"We have 32,500 children of school age," said Camilla O'Brien, who last year was chairwoman of the Roatan education commission. "In 2006, the number of children going to school was 8,200. In 2007, the number was 7,900."

Fifty percent of the children leave school before the sixth grade, and 87 percent drop out before 11th grade, she said. "There are a lot of causes for this situation, but the raw truth is that there are a mere 167 classrooms."

Camilla O'Brien's long-term goal is to build sufficient schools for the children and to offer teachers professional training and the materials they need to teach with.

"While we are building the schools and the new system, we need to reach the kids today," she said. "We can't lose another generation while we find funds."

The Beckers hope to help them achieve this goal.

The strategy is to open learning centers in communities throughout the Bay Islands, with 18 learning centers in place by 2020 and 100 percent student attendance.

O'Brien said the centers will be a homework help/tutoring place for kids in school, "and hopefully, the computers will draw in the kids who dropped out or never attended school."

Each center will cost $2,000 a month to run with the director's salary, Internet connections and utilities, she said.

"We want to have 15 computers for the kids, three computers for the parents and two for the teachers, as well as a nice selection of books in Spanish and English, both fiction and reference.

O'Brien said four sites have been donated for learning centers. "I need funds, computers and books," she said. "We also want volunteers willing to spend some time in Roatan and work with the kids and teachers."

Christine Becker asks: "Is there a service club or group in Decatur who could help?"

She is a member of the Altrusa Club, which has earmarked money to send to Roatan.

"Can one person make a difference? Camilla O'Brien is certainly trying," Becker said. "Another woman there, a nurse, started a clinic on her kitchen table. Now she has a regular clinic. I was so struck by what they are doing in Roatan. I'm amazed."

Becker can be reached by e-mail at cbeckerdc@aol.com. O'Brien can be contacted at admin@roatanschools.org or Partners in Education for Roatan, 1370 Old Wilmington Pike, West Chester, PA 19382.

Bob Fallstrom can be reached at bfallstrom@herald-review.com or 421-7981.

Roatan

Population: 65,000

Tourism has replaced fishing as the major economy. An estimated one million cruise ship passengers will visit Roatan by 2009.