In one week, I’ll be leaving to spend 95 days in Honduras. The first 12 weeks I will be working as a HondurasChildren volunteer in El Porvenir, Atlántida, at the Porvenir English Project and “homework club,” and the last week and a half, enjoying a visit with my mom and brother! I hope to also travel to other parts of the country during my stay, and will actually need to leave the country at some point to extend my 90-day visa. Since Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua are all considered one country visa-wise, I’ll probably go to Belize.
Why El Porvenir, Honduras? I’ve been to Honduras the past two summers with Global Medical Brigades, but a week was just not enough! So, as soon as I got back from our last trip, I started looking for an organization that would allow me to volunteer for a more extended period of time.
I found HondurasChildren on idealist.org, and chose them for a few reasons: first, they were okay with me only being able to volunteer for a few months, but more importantly, their programs are ones that I believe really make a positive, lasting impact on the kids. The programs that they offer are truly needed, and leave the children with valuable skills that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. HondurasChildren was founded by Charlie and Amalia Kirkhum, who now live in El Porvenir.
Their first project was the Kinder. Since the majority of employed adults in El Porvenir work in the pineapple fields and often have to work long hours six days a week, kids are often alone during the day, and older siblings must miss school to take care of little ones. The kinder not only helps the kids that attend, but also their older siblings who are then able to attend school during the day. At the kinder, the kids receive a healthy meal, vitamins, education, and love. HIV/AIDS is the second most common cause of death in Honduras, leaving many orphaned children to grandmas and other extended family members. HondurasChildren assists families like these, as well as single moms and their families, by providing clothing, school supplies/uniforms, and food, as well as emotional support and help with housing, so that the kids can stay in school.
HondurasChildren does not run, but provides volunteers for, the Porvenir English Project, the project I’ll be working on. PEP operates in a classroom across the street from Porvenir’s public elementary, so that classes are able to continue during teacher strikes (common in Honduras). Half of the kids go to school in the morning and half in the afternoon, so during the other half of the day, they attend PEP. The opportunity for students in a small town to learn English is rare, but helps students to attain further education and better jobs. After school, PEP volunteers run a “homework club,” which provides students with a clean place to work, school supplies, and extra help with any subject.
Other volunteers work at two orphanages near El Porvenir. They are very well run, but can always use help from volunteers to provide extra academic help, art and sports activities, and guidance to the kids, especially the older teens preparing to leave and start a life outside the orphanage.
El Porvenir is a rural town on Honduras’ Caribbean north coast, but is only about 20 minutes from La Ceiba, Honduras’ third largest city (174,000 people). La Ceiba has a tropical rainforest climate, so gets a substantial amount of rain, but is nice and warm with temperatures ranging from 70o to 90o throughout the year, averaging 80o-85o during the months I’ll be there. Lucky for me, the months I’ll be there are also the driest.
Since it’s a new organization to me, and about as far as possible from the parts of Honduras I’ve been to before, this will be a very new experience! I can’t wait!
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