[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 193 (Tuesday, December 13, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S7131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO DEAN SEIBERT

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, in 1986, when much of Central America was 
embroiled in armed conflicts in which hundreds of thousands of people, 
overwhelmingly civilians, were killed, a group of parishioners from the 
Franconia, NH, Congregational Church established Americans Caring 
Teaching Sharing--ACTS. They traveled to Honduras to support peace and 
justice through community development, beginning in the small 
subsistence farming village of El Rosario in the highlands of 
northwestern Honduras.
  Since then, ACTS has become a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization 
involving hundreds of volunteers who have contributed thousands of 
hours to ACTS' mission of improving the lives of people in rural 
Honduras through community projects focused on basic healthcare, 
nutrition, sanitation, education, agriculture, and economic 
diversification. ACTS is governed and sustained by volunteers. Teams 
travel to Honduras several times a year, for a week or 2, to help move 
the projects forward.
  Over the years, the program has expanded to include about a dozen 
communities surrounding El Rosario. ACTS has developed a close working 
relationship with the villagers, who are the visionaries for progress. 
The villagers set the priorities and perform much of the labor. ACTS 
volunteers provide the technical skills, guidance, material resources, 
and hands-on help. The result has been a successful example of 
sustainable, community development in one of the most neglected, 
impoverished parts of the country.
  In addition to the Honduran communities in which ACTS supports 
projects, it has developed partnerships and associations with many U.S. 
and Honduran organizations, institutions of higher education, and 
foundations.
  I mention this to provide context and to highlight the extraordinary 
dedication and leadership of Dean Seibert, long-time resident of 
Norwich, VT, and professor emeritus at the Geisel School of Medicine, 
who has been affiliated with ACTS for over 20 years and led the 
organization for most of that time. He has visited El Rosario as team 
leader over 30 times. This year alone Dean traveled there three times. 
Some might find that remarkable, since Dean celebrated his 90th 
birthday in August. To those who know Dean, it wasn't remarkable at 
all. His enthusiasm and dedication are indefatigable.
  Dean has long had an interest in community development and the 
challenges of providing healthcare to people of different cultures and 
traditions. He has worked with the Tohano O'odum, Navajo, Hopi, and 
Pueblo tribes in the American southwest, and he provided care to flood 
victims in the Mosquito Coast area of Honduras after 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. He received the 
Albany Medical College Alumni Humanitarian Award and the Geisel School 
of Medicine John H. Lyons award for humanism in medicine.
  If that weren't enough, in the past year, Dean has played a central 
role in creating a new nonprofit, Honduran Tolupan Education Program--
Honduran TEP--devoted to building libraries and providing other basic 
services in half a dozen marginalized Tolupan indigenous communities in 
the mountainous province of Yoro. Honduran TEP is based on the 
recognition that literacy and access to educational resources are 
fundamental to enabling the Tolucan to develop their communities and 
defend against corrupt entities that threaten their cultural survival.
  In the Congress, we talk a lot about leadership, about what it means, 
about its importance. We talk about how the Senate can and should be 
the conscience of the Nation. When I think of Dean Seibert and what he 
has done in his life, how he has used his medical training and 
experience, combined with his commitment to social justice, for the 
betterment of others born into extreme poverty or victims of tragic 
losses, I can't think of a better example of leadership and conscience.
  For much of Honduras' modern history, the U.S. has propped up 
corrupt, abusive governments and provided their security forces with 
training and equipment to support poorly conceived strategies to combat 
drug trafficking and stop migration. The consequences for the Honduran 
people and Honduras' democratic institutions have been devastating. For 
the most part, it is not a history to be proud of.
  But all Vermonters should be proud of Dean Seibert and ACTS' and 
Honduran TEP's volunteers for showing a different face of America to 
the people of Honduras--a face of generosity, compassion, opportunity, 
and hope.

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