PWM Ministries > The Need > The Need in Honduras
The Need — and Opportunity — for Care in Honduras
Usually abandoned by mothers who are unable to care for them, orphans in Honduras typically end up either in a state-run institutional orphanage or on the streets. The former receive basic food and shelter, but little else in terms of emotional, educational and spiritual nurturing. The latter inevitably drift into a cycle of degradation and destruction on the streets, drifting about in loose bands with older children. These are the "street children" that are ubiquitous in countries such as Peru, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic.
The US State Department's 1997 Human Rights Report on Honduras notes: "There were an estimated 4,000 street children, of whom only half reportedly have shelter on any given day. Many street children have been sexually molested, and 40 percent regularly engaged in prostitution; approximately 30 percent of the street children in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, the two population centers, were HIV positive. At least 40 percent were addicted to sniffing glue. Over 75 percent of the street children found their way to the streets because of severe family problems; 30 percent simply were abandoned. Both the police and members of the general population engaged in violence against street children. When the authorities arrested minors, many of whom were charged with the commission of capital and other serious crimes, they were housed with adult detainees who abused them…."
The above was written almost a decade ago. The lingering effects of Hurricane Mitch (October 1998) and the onslaught of HIV/AIDS during the last 10 years has no doubt resulted in sharply higher numbers of street children in Honduras. Indeed, the 2005 edition of the US State Department’s Human Rights Report raises their estimate of street children in Honduras to 20,000 — an increase of 20%. In addition, both the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and violence against street children by police and members of the general population continue to rise.
The AIDS pandemic, along with other factors, is producing a wave of orphaned, abandoned and exploited children like the world has never known. Every month, AIDS claims 250,000 victims worldwide, leaving a wake of orphaned children behind them. Because of a host of factors, including the steady spread of HIV/AIDS, an estimated 65,000 children are expected to become orphaned in Honduras in just the next 5 years. In a country with state-run orphanages that are already full to overflowing, thousands of children will continue to be lost to the streets. In addition, as HIV/AIDS destroys Honduras’ middle generation (adults 20-50), just as it has in Africa, many elderly are left with no one to care for them in their elder years.
Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. With an unemployment rate approaching 30% and with a per capita income of just over $1,000 (nearly 70% living in poverty), government resources to provide social services are scarce. Unthinkable to those of us in more affluent Western countries, even the basic needs of orphans, widows and the poor in Honduras simply go unmet. This is the case in many nations around the world, just as it was the case in the ancient Middle East during the writing of the Bible. Christians have an opportunity – and biblically mandated responsibility – to step in with compassionate solutions for the urgent needs that exist in countries like Honduras.
