The Education Crisis in Honduras

This article by Jorge Gallardo Rius was originally published in HondurasWeekly.com on January 16, 2010. It is an informative account of the current state of public education in Honduras. It is great to know the parents are organizing to improve the education of their children. We should do everything we can to support them.

Education and Development

One of the indexes used to measure the educational level of a population is the average amount of years of formal schooling. In Honduras, that index is 6.5, that is, the average Honduran has 6.5 years of formal schooling. It grows one school year every 10 years.

In the early 1960s, this index was similar for Honduras as for Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and other nations known as the Asian Tigers for their rapid economic growth. Since, these countries have advanced the education of their people and their index is now above 12 years.

If you make a graph of the average years of formal schooling and compare it to a graph of the people’s income in that country, you will find that both follow a similar pattern. The close relationship between education and economic development is unquestioned today.

Public education is a form of wealth. In Honduras, many people still don’t see it that way. Yet many parents pay private schools that do nothing better than complete the public study plan, because usually the public schools don’t complete it. In developed nations, the quality of public schools has even been linked to the value of real estate: properties are worth more in districts where the quality of public schools is higher.

The quality of public education is not only a matter for the parents who have their children in public schools, but a matter that should concern all Hondurans interested in living in a better country.

Education and the Political Crisis

In Honduras, we have a saying that “It’s not the same thing to see her coming, as talking to her.” When Zelaya boosted the minimum salary by 62%, teachers’ salaries, which are a multiple of the minimum salary, skyrocketed. But not only did their salaries jump, also the side benefits, like the contribution that the government makes to the teachers’ pension fund, also skyrocketed. So it didn’t come as a surprise that, when Zelaya’s government went to the bank, there weren’t enough funds to pay the new salaries.

Before Zelaya’s ouster on June 28th, it had already been a conflictive year between the government and the teacher unions. Not only was the government behind on payment of their salaries, as usual, the government was also withholding both the government portion and the amounts deducted from teachers’ salaries as contribution to the Teachers’ pension fund, something which had never happened before. The Pension fund (IMPREMA) faced a lack of liquidity with which to pay the pensions of retired teachers.

Teachers had been on and off strikes for months and naturally, the children’s education suffered. Suddenly, 5-6 days before the illegal referendum of June 28th, the government made a partial payment of teachers’ salaries and the major union leaders came on national TV announcing their support of Zelaya’s illegal Constituent Assembly. No one doubted they had been bought off.

After June 28th, the teacher unions called another national strike, as always with suspension of classes, but this time for indefinite time, until Zelaya was reinstated as President, they said.

And that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Parents rose in anger, tired of teachers making their children the victims of politics. They demanded that politics not be mixed with education and that their children’s human right to a quality education be respected. The Interim Government and the Human Rights Commission assigned inspectors to witness teacher’s absences and threatened to deduct missed school days from teachers’ salaries. In the end, most teachers, conscious of their rightful duty, returned to the classrooms and the government backed away from their threat.

ASOPAFA – Asociación de Padres de Familia

The rebellion of the parents was spontaneous. They were disorganized and lacked the resources to sustain greater actions. Recently, they have become a legal NGO and are struggling to implement coherent actions to protect and advance their children’s education under very tough circumstances.

Once again, the teachers are rebelling against the start of the new academic year, refusing to follow the calendar established by the Ministry of Education. Currently, they have postponed the start of school activities from January 18th to February 1st under the pretext that they don’t recognize the Interim government (although they accept the government’s paychecks). But they threaten to not start classes even then, if the government is not fully up-to-date with their payments, which has never happened before because it’s a new year under new contracts. In other words, they’re making unreal demands.

ASOPAFA is facing enormous challenges for the present and the future of education of Honduras. They must find a way to break the interference of politics in the national school system. For years, the administration of public schools has been left in the hands of inefficient government and union appointees, who use the public school system as a means to hire their political activists, with no clear-cut rules of accountability for their misdeeds and mismanagement of national resources.

In many schools, they face serious social problems with drug-trafficking, prostitution and gang violence. They face serious health issues, such as the lack of drinking water, food and epidemics. Some schools are in such dire physical conditions that they pose a threat to safety of the attendants. There is a lack of materials, such as textbooks, desks, blackboards, and computers, even chalk, pencils and paper are in short supply and hard to acquire by poor parents.

The parents need instruction on how to plan and manage a school budget and how to assist their children’s school in better ways. The Parents Association has 15,000 registered members of about 2.5 million possible, but their contact data is stashed in cardboard boxes. They receive calls from towns outside the capital with hundreds of parents who need help and want to join up, but don’t have the means to visit and assist them. They lack the organizational know-how and resources, yet they recently sponsored a televised forum of the presidential candidates speaking on their public education programs, with no other resources than a concentrated effort and a strong will to do everything in their power to better their children’s education.

Personally, I have always believed that a good public education system is a key to achieve progress and development in a country, and that the key to advance the public education system is that parents become involved in their schools. We now have the opportunity to promote progress and development in Honduras by strengthening ASOPAFA. I encourage all of you to search for ways to support this group of concerned parents with your time, efforts, ideas and resources, whichever way you can, to advance their cause for a good quality education in the Honduran public school system.

We are currently working to get their website up and running, and will continue to keep you posted on the progress they make.

Adelante- Roatan and La Ceiba, Honduras Summer 2009

I first heard about Adelante unexpectedly during my Alternative Spring Break in the Central Valley of California, which was focused on improving the health care of migrant farm workers. Tony and Kim Stone, Stanford alumni, were kind enough to allow our group of students to stay at their house while we were in Sacramento to meet health policy leaders. It was through this visit that I learned about Adelante, the microfinance organization that Tony and Kim Stone founded to help the poor women of Honduras.
Having already planned a trip to Roatan, Honduras that summer to intern at the Roatan Volunteer Pediatric Clinic, I found it to be such a coincidence that that was the very same country where Adelante was started. Thus, once I arrived in Honduras, I decided to make the most of my educational stay by attending an Adelante assembly meeting to learn more about the organization.
I found my experience with the Adelante clients to be completely inspiring. For the assembly, fifteen Adelante women, the credit officer, and I gathered outside on chairs, sitting beneath the shade of the trees. The meeting started with the women saying in unison: “Unidad, disciplina, trabajo, y valor” (unity, discipline, hard work, and courage) which was repeated three times. The credit officer then hung her large presentation papers over a clothesline and started presenting proper ways to conduct a business so as to generate a profit. The meeting ended with each woman going over how many lempiras they had earned within the past few weeks. I was impressed by the women’s hardworking and motivated nature, and the fact that these meetings, held in such a simple outdoor setting, were slowly transforming these women’s lives for the better. After the meeting, I joined the credit officer as she went door to door to visit some of the other Adelante clients. We traveled to Los Fuertes and French Harbour, different barrios in Roatan, reminding the women who were behind on paying back their scheduled cuotas the importance of staying on track, while encouraging the women who were thriving in their businesses to continue working hard.
I think what makes Adelante so successful is the fact that these women are placed into groups—so that each woman is accountable for another. When one member of the group is falling behind, all must collaborate to solve the problem together. By seeing how empowering women to help themselves worked to help achieve stability for the entire family, I decided to bring back Adelante brochures to pass out to women who visited the Roatan Volunteer Pediatric Clinic, so that they too could be aware of such opportunities. I also realized how important it was to understand the employment status of the mothers in Roatan, and how this could have affected the health and care of the children. Thus, I decided to do a short survey on the employment status of the women who visited the clinic. Of the thirty-one women I interviewed during my internship, only five turned out to be employed. However, of those who were unemployed, all were interested in having a job. The scarcity of jobs among these women may have indeed led to poor health outcomes in the children, since only five of twenty-four women said that family income was high enough to pay for the hospital visits. Luckily, by introducing these women to Adelante, explaining to them the successful businesses other women had established through the guidance of this foundation, I was able to witness women light up with the knowledge that there was an opportunity to start their own businesses and henceforth improve their quality of life.
After speaking with Tony Stone about my experiences, I was referred to a friend of his, Jose Herrero, who was willing to host me for a weekend so that I could visit the main Adelante office in La Ceiba. I ended up staying at a house in the forest near a beautiful river called the Cangrejal. That Monday, I visited the Adelante office and was introduced to their staff members. I learned that there are over five thousand women in Honduras who are Adelante clients; of these, over three hundred have now volunteered to become educators of new clients. It was inspiring to see how successful a program can be when just a few dedicated people come together to work toward a sustainable solution to a common problem.
What truly intrigues me about Adelante is the fact that, in addition to opportunity, it offers education on business topics and healthy living. More and more do I recognize that, in order to address problems of poverty and poor healthcare in developing countries, one needs to set up a sustainable system. This is why I believe that giving mothers the chance to improve their quality of life through entrepreneurship and educational opportunities can truly lead to better health outcomes for their entire family. Although I realize that my basic research project was not nearly developed enough to come to any major conclusions, I find myself understanding just how important community-based need assessments are toward understanding the social and environmental determinants of poor health outcomes. This has now inspired me to pursue community-based research projects once I enter medical school, so that I can discover the best ways to help those who need it the most.

By Quynh Nguyen

Honduras Wins the Election!

In undoubtedly the most internationally observed Honduran election in history, Honduras itself came out the winner with 61.3% percent of eligible voters turning out to vote.  This was an almost ten percent increase over the 2005 election in which now-deposed President Manuel Zelaya won with 49.9% of the vote.  This time, the National Party presidential candidate Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo won 56% of the vote in a surprising landslide victory over Liberal Party candidate Elvin Santos who won only 38% of votes, but had the backing of Honduras’ influential business community.  Lobo lost to Zelaya by a small margin in 2005.

Perhaps the biggest loser was Manuel Zelaya himself who had hoped that a low turnout would bolster his claim that the election was illegitimate – this morning he continued this assertion saying that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) had inflated the result and that, in reality, there had only been a 31-35% turnout.  In fact, several countries have already recognized the results, among them the United States, Germany, Mexico, France, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Peru, Costa Rica, Columbia, and Panama.  Spain remains divided over the results of the election carried out by the de facto regime, but Spanish chancellor Miguel Angel Moratinos said that while the country does not yet “recognize the election results,” they also “cannot ignore” the popular support won by Pepe Lobo.  Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Uruguay, Ecuador, and Bolivia continue to insist that they will not recognize an election carried out by any other president than their political ally Manuel Zelaya.

The Organization of American States will convene on Friday, December 4^th to discuss the election results and decide whether or not to recognize them – just two days after the Honduran Congress votes on whether or not to allow Zelaya to carry out the last month of his presidential term.  This congressional vote was agreed upon by both Zelaya and Micheletti when they signed the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord on October 30, bringing a beginning to the end of the political crisis that has paralyzed the country since June 28.  However, while Zelaya signed the accord believing he would quickly be returned to office, Micheletti put off the vote until after the general elections to ensure that Zelaya would not interfere with them.  Congress is not expected to approve Zelaya’s return to power.

By Sophia Anderson

Honduras heads to the polls

With some cautiously optimistic that an end to the crisis that has plagued the country for nearly five months is imminent and others fearful of terrorist acts threatened by the Resistencia, one thing is certain – the Honduran population awaits this Sunday’s general elections like none previous.

Supporters of Zelaya continue to demand his reinstatement and have been posting fear propaganda in cities and towns urging the population to boycott what they call “fraudulent” elections.   The front pages of today’s major newspapers exhibited an arsenal of heavy weaponry seized by police in the city of El Progreso and belonging to a terrorist group planning on destroying what is left of that city’s “Democracy Bridge,” among other targets, on Election Day.  Only half of the bridge was left standing after the earthquake of May 28.

Meanwhile, the country prepares as usual for the upcoming civic event.  Armed soldiers distribute truckloads of ballot boxes throughout the country while candidates hold rallies and hand out fliers encouraging citizens to vote for them.  The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) is urging citizens to do their part to restore the world’s faith in Honduras’ democratic process by voting on Sunday.  The National Registry of Persons (RNP) reports a three-fold increase in cedula (the national identity card presented in order to vote) requests in the past few weeks, with young people making up a majority of the applicants. The TSE expects a voter turnout ranging from 57 to 68%.  In the last general election there was roughly a 50% voter turnout and Mel Zelaya won by a small margin.

Opinions in the international community are mixed.  Several countries, among them Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil, have warned that they will not recognize the winners of an election carried out by the de facto regime.  Others, namely the United States and Panama, have said that they will because both Micheletti and Zelaya signed the San Jose – Tegucigalpa accord, which did not require Zelaya’s reinstatement.  Still others, such as El Salvador, have not decided yet where they stand.

A delegation of twenty reporters and human rights defenders from the United States and Canada will be present to observe the electoral process in various cities and towns throughout the country in order to prevent possible human rights violations by police and military personnel.  Panama has also pledged to send election observers.

The right to bear arms has already been temporarily suspended in order to prevent violence in the days leading up to the elections and alcohol sales will be strictly prohibited from six a.m. on Saturday to six p.m. on Sunday.

By Sophia Anderson

Hunger in the World

The following editorial was written by Andres Vallejo and published in Diario La Prensa on 10/26/09.

It seems incredible and is frightening that there are more than one billion undernourished people in the world, one hundred million more than last year. Instead of improving, the situation gets worse every day. One out of six people in the world goes hungry every day.

Ironically, this situation exists not because there is less food produced, but because the income of the poor and their opportunity for employment has decreased – therefore decreasing their ability to afford proper nourishment.

This is the explanation given by the general director of the FAO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, on World Food Day. It is ironic that World Food Day is being celebrated with these figures.

It reminds us also, and the authorities should be very conscious of this, that world economic problems that make maintaining employment more difficult, do not only affect people who work in offices, banks, and factories, but also in rural areas where 70% of the world’s hungry live and work.

At the same time, the prices of agricultural supplies have increased geometrically: fertilizers by 176% and seeds by 70%; this makes acquiring them by big and small farmers that much more difficult, setting off a vicious cycle that results in less or more expensive production in the short term. In sub-Saharan Africa more than 80% of the prices of cereal grains are over 25% higher than they were two years ago. In Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean between 40 and 80% of the prices of cereal grains are 25% more expensive than they were two years ago. And, as a result of the lower demand in developed countries, what is produced is harder to sell or sold at lower prices, without benefiting the poor, whom the food does not reach anyway.

The remittances of emigrants that previously grew at a rate of 20% annually, and that in 2008 totaled $300 billion, have decreased by between five and eight percent, or in other words by $15 billion to $24 billion.
Furthermore, foreign aid by developed countries to the 71 poorest countries in the world decreased by about 25%. Combining all of these indices paints a bleak picture for the poor and puts at great risk the chance of reaching the goal of reducing by half the number of hungry people by 2015. Even if that ambitious goal is met, there would still be 420 million hungry human beings daily, without taking into account the fact that in the year 2050 the world population will reach nine billion – more than 2.5 billion more than today.

The attention given to the development of sustainable agriculture with an emphasis on medium- and small-scale farmers is a vital necessity – not only because of the basic need to feed human beings, of whom the poor are the primary victims, but also for the sake of global security itself.

Translated to English by Sophia Anderson.

While a major earthquake and a political crisis have brought Honduras, home to The Adelante Foundation, into the international spotlight in recent months, a much more insidious tragedy has been threatening the livelihoods of over one million Hondurans, especially in rural areas where over half of the population lives.  The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has had its attention on Honduras and neighboring countries such as Guatemala where a state of emergency has been declared.

Here in Honduras between 200,000 and 300,000 families (well over 1 million people) are suffering from food insecurity and the number continues to rise.  In addition to the increase in food costs as a result of last year’s drastic rise in the price of fuel, the main culprit is the “El Niño” climatic phenomenon which has caused a drought that has scorched corn, bean and vegetable crops in south-central parts of the country – especially in the departments of Yoro, Lempira, Francisco Morazán, Valle and Choluteca.

“Food insecurity” is defined by the FAO as “insufficient ingestion of food, which can be transitory, seasonal, or chronic.”  Angel Murillo, of the FAO, explained that in many parts of Honduras people consume only one of the three typical daily meals, and furthermore their diet consists almost exclusively of five products: coffee, sugar, corn, shortening, and beans.

Most families who have lost one crop already this year are dreading the upcoming planting season because if the bad weather persists they will not be able to plant and will have to eat the seeds instead, leaving themselves with nothing for next year.  This brings to light their lack of access to agricultural technology such as irrigation systems that would keep them from being so dependent on the weather.

The current drought and resulting famine emphasize the importance of Adelante’s work in the rural areas of Honduras.  One of the most common results of their increased income reported by our clients is an improvement in their families’ diets.  Furthermore, by diversifying their income sources their food supply becomes less vulnerable to natural climatic fluctuations.  Many of our clients previously lived exclusively off of a small parcel of land; now they have their own income-generating businesses that give them the flexibility to buy some of the food they prepare for themselves and their families.

By Sophia Anderson (Statistics taken from “Carencia de alimentos golpea a 300 mil hogares.” Diario La Prensa 10/22/09)

Finally, a breakthrough!

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091030/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_honduras_coup

Honduras qualifies for the World Cup for the first time since 1982 and only the second time in history.

After a disappointing 2-3 loss at home against the United States last Saturday that left them in fourth place, Honduras had only one direct chance left to qualify for the World Cup, and it didn’t just depend on them. In order to move up to third place and qualify, they had to win tonight’s game in El Salvador AND Costa Rica had to either lose to or tie with the United States in Washington in games being played simultaneously.

It didn’t begin well. Honduras started out sluggish and Costa Rica quickly scored against the United States. By the end of the first halves, Costa Rica had a 2-0 lead and Honduras was still tied 0-0 with El Salvador. Hopes were fading fast, but in the 63rd minute Carlos Pavon headed in a goal to give them a 1-0 lead. Then, more than halfway through the second half, the U.S. finally scored their first goal. Despite their team’s lead, the Honduran crowd, knowing that their visa to South Africa depended on the United States equalizing against Costa Rica, watched nervously, hoping for a miracle. The game came to an end and fans and players alike were mourning the evening’s outcome, despite their win, when they heard the news. U.S. defender, Jonathan Bornstein, had delivered their miracle by scoring a header in the last few seconds of the game.

Reportedly a former shoe-shine boy from Puerto Cortes, Honduran soccer star Julio Cesar “Rambo” de Leon, was hunched over on the ground crying after the game when a reporter went over to inform him that Honduras had qualified. He lifted his head briefly and then burst into tears again, this time of happiness.

After months of suffering through a political crisis that has yet to be resolved, Honduras finally had something to be happy about. Fans in the stadium went wild as the news that the U.S. had tied the game filtered through the crowd. People immediately poured into the streets to celebrate the victory and the entire country turned into a giant carnival while interim president, Roberto Micheletti, declared Thursday a national holiday.

Soccer is life in Honduras. Under the best of circumstances this would be the happiest day in the life of most Hondurans. But after the anxiety that has dominated life for the last three months, La Seleccion has truly “soothe(d) the soul of a country” (Michael Lewis, http://www.concacaf.com/view_article.aspx?id=4978).

Rumors are circulating that the representatives of deposed president Manuel Zelaya and interim president Roberto Micheletti are finding common ground. With a little luck the “Guaymuras Accord” will soon bring the crisis to an end. Tonight, at least, Honduras feels like the luckiest country on earth.

By Sophia Anderson

Adelante Selección! (Go Team!)

Honduras is depressed. The country has suffered trauma after trauma over the last few months: first a major earthquake, then a political crisis that has dragged the economy into the mud. Most people are worried sick over the crisis and its consequences. Public school children will pass to the next grade having had classes only sporadically for the second half of the school year. Hotels, restaurants, gift shops, the transportation industry, and anyone else who relies on tourism, a major source of income in the country, are wondering how much longer they can survive the economic doldrums that the crisis has provoked. And more than anything the average Honduran, having neither contributed to nor benefited from the ouster of President Mel Zelaya, is heartbroken to see his beloved country treated as the black sheep of the world.
But tonight nobody will care about any of that. Tonight Honduras’ national soccer team (La Selección) has the chance to make Honduras the happiest country in the world. There is really no comparison in the United States to the importance of the Selección in Honduras. Not even Monday Night Football or the president winning the Nobel Peace Prize could possibly unify the population the way tonight’s game will. From San Pedro Sula’s Olympic stadium, to bars and homes with televisions tuned, even in the farthest reaches of the countryside where only radio waves reach poor peasants who walk hours over mountains to get to their homes, everyone will be glued to this game. Honduras has only qualified once for the World Cup, 27 years ago in 1982. A win tonight will guarantee their participation in the 2010 games in South Africa. The odds are in their favor – their record at home in World Cup qualifying games this time is 8-0. But the United States’ team, equally set on the goal of qualifying, will be playing to win.
The outcome of the game remains to be seen. It is hard to see how a loss could throw the country into a deeper depression that it already finds itself in, but the euphoria produced if they win might just be enough to jolt us into recovery.
By Sophia Anderson

Working to Make Ends Meet: Adelante Women Speak Up about the Current Crisis

By Sophia Anderson & Desirae Wrathall

When asked about her political perspective, Azucena Garcia states, “If Mel brings peace, let him come, if Micheletti brings peace, let him stay.” Azucena does not care who stays in office, she just wants the crisis to end and life to go back to normal. Julia Ramirez, sells cosmetics, but says that right now nobody is buying. People want to keep their money rather than spend it because they do not know what is going to happen next.

On Monday, September 21st, deposed president, Manual Zelaya, shocked the country when he snuck back in and took up residence in the Brazilian embassy. Almost immediately, chaos ensued as the acting government issued a nationwide curfew less than an hour before it was set to go into effect. Shopping cart jams formed in the supermarkets and traffic jams in the streets. The initial curfew lasted forty hours and shut down the country for almost two full work days. Interim president, Roberto Micheletti, lifted the curfew at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday after widespread concern was expressed, but nationwide evening curfews have continued since, interfering with commerce and transportation. Protests, primarily in the capital of Tegucigalpa, have resulted in violence and vandalism. Conflicting media information and varying rumors have caused fear and confusion. For a better sense of the reality of the situation, we spoke directly with clients to hear their personal perspective.

At the Miramar assembly meeting in La Ceiba, six women gather together on a shaded front porch. Irma Garcia, the Adelante credit officer starts out the meeting by saying “Welcome compañeras, thank you for being here today. Things have been tough, there are troubling events happening around us, but we are alive and well, and will keep moving forward.” All nod in agreement. After initial business is taken care of and an educational lesson given on “Domestic Violence”, the subject of the group discussion changes to the current crisis, and the participants give their personal accounts:

Devlin Posadas sells baleadas (a typical Honduran food, consisting of a flour tortilla filled with beans and cheese). She sells them in the street, at the billiard halls, and to some established clients. Last week, she made a hundred baleadas, a reasonable amount based on what she usually sells. But nobody wanted to buy even one baleada because they did not have any money nor would they buy on credit because they didn’t know when they would have any money. Devlin also works occasionally as a mariscera (a person who cleans seafood for export). There has not been any work lately because no boats have been coming in to port. Her husband works as a waiter at a hotel restaurant. Due to the curfew, he is not making his usual salary, but being paid hourly when the restaurant is open. His employer has even insisted that he come to work despite the curfew because the hotel had clients. Consequently, as there was no public transportation available, he had to walk all the way there – an hour journey – while avoiding the police and the fear of being caught and thrown in jail.

The assembly members discussed solutions to the crisis, primarily to hold the upcoming November elections and democratically elect a new individual to office. While Devlin nods in agreement, she says, “No voy a votar. I’m not going to vote. Even though I have always voted in the past, I am disillusioned by the whole situation. Mel was elected by the people and they took him out, so what’s to stop them from doing it all over again? The police would have to make me vote. Otherwise, I’m not going to bother.”

Besy Barahona sells food items and Avon products. Right now her business is doing poorly. She often sells her Avon products on credit, but right now people just do not want to take the chance. If they have a little extra money, they prefer to hold on to it because they never know when they might need it. They are also trying to keep their cash on hand since they don’t know when a curfew might go into effect and they would not be able to get to the bank. Besy says, “People have cut the luxuries; they don’t have any extra money to spend.”

Julissa Posadas makes packaged lunches and sells them to the workers at restaurants like Pizza Hut and KFC, but right now nobody is buying. Usually the workers like some variety as they get bored of eating pizza or chicken all the time, but right now they do not care – they just want to save money so they are just eating whatever the restaurants give them.

Azucena Garcia has a small caseta (snack food shop) in her house. She sells foods like baleadas, pastelitos (meat pies), and sodas. The majority of her clients are students on their way to and from school. With all the curfews and cancelled classes her businesses has dropped dramatically. Lately she has been making about L.24 ($1.27) per day. She says that right now people are saving money by eating at home. They are not spending on luxuries. “Hay que tener paciencia porque las cosas van a mejorar. You have to have patience because things will get better”, Azucena says. She has a lot of faith in God and she feels optimistic that this crisis is temporary and things are going to improve.

The group speaks in general about their desire for the situation to end, and for their kids to be back in school – classes have been sporadic – as public school children have basically missed three months of classes. Some feel that local crime has increased as the police focus on the political situation. They also humorously predict that due to the curfew, there will be a baby boom nine months from now.

Regardless of the politics, it is with your help that the Adelante Foundation continues to serve these women in a very difficult time in Honduran history. Thank you for your continued support.