The year 2020 was very different and in many ways so will 2021. For this one year, with the sponsor’s agreement, we are spending the sponsorship money across several children rather than just one child.

This is based on the following considerations. While Honduras remains in lockdown, the children are being given ‘homework’ by their schools. As you have probably guessed, the children we sponsor do not have the ability to receive lessons remotely via modern technology and are therefore largely missing out. Currently, there are no plans to open schools. Even if there were, many of the parents would not be prepared to risk sending their children back to school, in circumstances where there is little or no health care available. Most people have had no work and therefore no pay for nearly a year now. Many will not have a job to go back to when the lockdown is eased. This means that they are struggling to feed themselves and will have no money for things such as school uniform.

I am hoping the government will bear this in mind and relax some of the uniform rules. Even if they do, the children still need shoes, exercise books, glue, crayons etc. in order to function at school. In order to maximise our help, the children who usually receive our sponsorship will receive only the minimum needed to enable them attend school. Any remaining money can then be used to help provide school necessities for other children.

 

My thinking is that during the lockdown a child will not have used their rucksack, skirt, trousers and shirts etc. Their shoes will probably have been outgrown and handed down to another sibling or, in the rural schools, they will need replacing because they have been worn in the process of collecting their schoolwork from the teachers. Similarly, the boys may have grown out of their trousers but other clothing will still be good. School uniform is precious and therefore removed from a child immediately on their return home from school, including the shoes. Thus in the lockdown period, the children will not have taken full benefit from all of their last year’s issue of kit, some of which can now be employed during this year.

This year’s kit will therefore be in the form of a top up, thereby releasing some funding to help other children. As the schools provide nothing in the way of equipment, many children will not be able to attend school because they lack exercise books etc to write in. The funding released by the measures described will help some of these to continue with their education.

We provide sponsorship through seven different ministries in several parts of the country. Each will use the sponsorship in slightly different ways. This is the kit that Cesar is supplying to 750 children in the Valle area with our sponsorship money. He is also using some money to buy other essentials= like shoes or trousers where needed. In this way we are hoping to get as many children as possible accessing the education that the country can supply.

This is the first ministry that have sent their sponsorship photos. This is the village of Pedrigal. They work in the local sugar factory three to six months of the year. During 2020they were not allowed to work so many families have really struggled this past year.

 

Norman, Katerin and Angel:

These children have been blessed with a sponsorship, thanks to God and to you.

Norman has no parents as his mother passed away and he lives with his sister, who has two children.

Katerin is the only one to have been affected by dengue.

 

Widman, Jadver and Monserrath:

Widman lives with grandma, as his father passed away when he was 8 months old. He lives on what his grandmother manages to get. She is old and he is only 8 years old. This child needs a lot of help because the truth is they are in great need.

Jadver’s father had covid 19 and he was not working for a long time. The boy did not catch Covid but Jadver does have a problem with his ears, which is said to be an infection and he has difficulty hearing.

Monserrath's grandfather contracted covid 19 but has already been getting medical attention and has come back home. She lives with her paternal grandparents and they're very happy.