Projects
The Kinder in El Porvenir
We have built and are operating a kinder/ day care for the children of poor families working in the pineapple fields and packing plants. A healthy and breakfast or snack is served every weekday. The center also provides supportive childcare for single mothers who are struggling to work and care for young children.
Our international volunteers work at the kinder providing programs for young children in the morning and also provide enrichment activities for older children when they are not in school.
The idea to build a kinder began when Charlie and Amalia Kirkhum opened their home in El Porvenir to about 20 local children to teach them basic skills. Because many children had never attended school, some of these ‘kindergarten’ students were in their teens. Amalia and Charlie initiated the construction of the Kinder to be able to provide these kids with a daily nutritious meal, educational enrichment and a safe place to play and “hang out.”
The Need for the Feeding Center, Daycare and Educational Enrichment:
Honduras is about equal to Haiti in the incidence of malnourished children and almost half of the Honduran population is 16 years old or younger. A nutritious daily snack or meal, vitamins and educational enrichment provided in a nurturing and safe environment are crucial components to helping children reach their full potential.
El Porvenir is only 12 kilometers from the city of La Ceiba yet most employed adults work at the nearby pineapple fields. Their jobs often require a six-day workweek with long hours. For a single mother or grandmother this means leaving children to fend for themselves. It is not unusual to find young children on their own in the neighborhood. Older children typically miss school to care for younger brothers and sisters.
With the help of our friends at Amigos of Honduras, Ryan Daniels, then a 17-year-old high school student from Utah made it possible to begin construction on this kinder. Ryan and ten friends traveled to Honduras to begin the construction process for the facility. These high school students donated substantial funding that they raised from a dinner they held in their hometown as well as their energy and hard work at the construction site!
The finishing touches and lovely murals were done by a workgroup from Colorado that came via our association with Peacework. ¡Muchas gracias to all of our friends who helped to fund and build the kinder!
Grandma’s Children
Sadly, HIV/AIDS related diseases are the second most common cause of death in Honduras. This leads to countless orphans who are living with grandmothers or other extended family members with a limited ability to provide quality care. In other cases, children are abandoned when their mothers have just too many children to adequately support. The Grandmas and the children in their custody live a precarious day-to-day existence.
In 2005, Charlie & Amalia Kirkhum, began assisting Grandmas in the north coastal beach town of El Porvenir. Since then, this HondurasChildren program has grown to assist nearly 40 children living with Grandmas, single moms and other extended family. This HondurasChildren program identifies family groups at risk and provides material and emotional support to the caregivers.
Sponsorship:
By financially helping the children to stay in school, by helping to improve living quarters, by providing clothing, school supplies and uniforms, and by supplementing the children’s diet with nutritious foods from the local markets, it is hoped that family units will stay intact, thus avoiding the heartbreak of sending children to institutions.
The name of the town these children live in is El Porvenir. It translates as, “the future”. Sponsor a child from our Kinder and with your help, these children will certainly have a brighter future! 
Sponsor a child for $25/month! Your sponsorship provides nutritional & educational support for the children in our program. (Please let us know if you have a preference for the age or gender of the child or children you wish to sponsor.) Click HERE for pix of the children who need a sponsor.
We invite volunteers and work-groups to join us in this joyful and satisfying work!
Additional Projects:
We at HondurasChildren are regularly involved and value collaboration with like-minded organizations and individuals working to create a better quality of life in the El Porvenir / La Ceiba north coast area.
With this in mind, we support (but do not operate) several other projects in the area by providing volunteers, training and material supplies. Please see our ‘volunteer‘ page for more info about how we are working with local children’s homes and developing an English language project in the public schools.
Our volunteers are currently providing studies on water quality as well as sex-ed and HIV prevention info to the local community.
Along with international volunteers from all over the world, we currently host university groups from Duke University (Project HEAL), VA Tech and Drew University as well as youth groups from religious organizations. We always welcome volunteers and work-groups so please feel free to apply!
La Ceiba, HONDURAS