By C Evans | Fundraising and Comms Manager, WVC
May 2022 project update
By Carey Evans, Fundraising and Comms Manager
Thank you!
Our students at school in Tegucigalpa and Amarateca in Honduras want to say a huge thank you for your ongoing support and the chance you have given them for their life-saving education.
With your generosity, we welcomed 346 of the country’s most deprived boys and girls into our schools on 4th January this year bringing the total in our schools here for 2022 to 1578. The youngsters are progressing well, safe in our care and so excited and hopeful for their new future.
COVID-19 Pandemic - Impact on food prices and learning
As we mentioned in our January update, the poorest communities of Honduras have been severely impacted by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and although we have redoubled our efforts to accept more children, the effects of this continue to impact our work in this country.
As in so many places, the cost of living is rising dramatically. We rely on staple foodstuffs like rice, beans and flour to feed our children and help them recover and in the case of some items like flour, the cost per sack has tripled.
The schools grow much of their own food but maintaining adequate and balanced nutrition for the health and welfare of our youngsters is a priority and we are so grateful for your regular help in managing these challenges.
Learning and development leads to future employment
With so many state schools closed for the last two years in Honduras, the other enormous impact of the pandemic is lack of learning. Poor boys and girls cannot access online lessons and so we have found that those children joining us now are significantly behind academically. Many cannot read or write and some speak only their local dialect rather than their national language of Spanish.
Remedial lessons are being provided by the teachers at the Sisters of Mary schools to help these children and give them the education and development support which will be vital for their future success.
The constant focus of our work is ensuring that every child has the skills needed to get a stable job when they leave school. Thanks to your support, our older children at school have received more technical and vocational teaching so far this year and now enjoy additional computer classes on Saturdays to ready them for local job opportunities.
Despite their poor and chaotic start in life, the children in our care are now happy, settled and enjoying their school time. They make the most of the sports, new hobbies and the extra-curricular activities on offer and are busy and occupied both inside and outside of the classroom.
Easter at the schools in Honduras
At Easter, the Sisters and children at the schools in Honduras celebrated the end of Lent and as is our tradition, each child received a small Easter gift containing health supplements, fruit, personal hygiene products and school supplies. It was an opportunity to send a message of care and love to children who have known so little kindness.
It was a joyful time for children who have known very little compassion in their young lives and a chance for them to reflect and give thanks for the enormous support you provide and their hopes for a brighter future thanks to you.
We do hope we can continue to count on your support for this life-saving work.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
