Villa Linda Miller is a community of 167 homes, located in the mountains six miles to the northeast  of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras.  The community was founded in February, 1999, just four months after Hurricane Mitch tore a destructive path through Honduras and much of Central America.  One community in the capital that was especially devastated was the riverside neighborhood of Miramesi.  About 220 families lost their homes in Miramesi in the space of hours as the rain-swollen rivers washed away all their worldly possessions.  Michael Miller (currently the director of the Micah Project), who at the time was a missionary supported by the Central Presbyterian Church working with street kids, met many of the families in a church that was being used as a makeshift shelter.  He began to meet with the leaders of the Miramesi community to begin to plan the next steps in their shattered lives. 

       Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of churches, schools and individuals, Michael was able to buy about 22 acres of land to begin to rebuild homes and lives.  The community participated in a six week strategic planning process to begin to dream about what their new community would look like.  During that process, they designed a collaborative, community-led process, in which everyone who would receive a house would participate in the day-to-day building of the community.  In February of 1999, these pioneers met on the new piece of land and began to prepare it for construction.

         When the larger relief organizations found this passionate, organized community, they were more than ready to help!  The Red Cross donated the materials for the homes, the Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF) donated funds and materials for the sewage system, and USAID, in cooperation with the Honduran governmental agency FHIS, donated the funds for the water system.  An architect named Ronald Torres created a beautiful layout in which every house would have a view of the surrounded mountains.  Within three years starting the project, the families were able to move into their beautiful new community.

          Today, the Micah Project is still very involved in the Villa Linda Miller community.  We host work teams several times a year that work side-by-side with community members to continue to develop the community.  Recent projects have included the elementary school, a medical and dental clinic, homes for single mothers, and retaining walls for needy families.  The Micah Project also helped Pastor Jeony Ordonez to plant a church in the community, which meets every Sunday in the community center.  In 1999, Villa Linda Miller set out to be a pioneering community; now, when you see the kids running happily through the streets and the elderly tending their gardens, you get the sense that that dream is awfully close to beautiful reality.