Born: April 23, 1999
First grade
Father: Armando Acosta • Mother: Dolores García
Aspiration: Doesn’t know yet
Date of enrollment: Nov. 23, 2003

Johana is a child who lives a few scarce meters from the oxidation gaps where all the sewage water is poured from the city of Santa Cruz. It’s place that has become disagreeable, but she does not have a choice not to have an appropriate dwelling. Also, her father left three years ago to look for a better life in the United States and has to this date has not in communication with his family. Johana lives with her three brothers and her mother, who suffers from chronic arthritis. They survive off the earnings of her oldest brothers.
At the beginning of her time in the shelter, she was afraid of all the children. She would not associate with anyone, was shy, and had health problems. For example, her ears always hurt her, discharged puss and blood, and had an advanced infection. After she began staying at the shelter, she began receiving a healthy diet on a daily basis and was able to attend a health clinic where they treated her infection. Thanks to the shelter her infection was treated and all is well now. Throughout her years in the shelter, her personality has changed in a radically positive way.
Today Johana enjoys an energy that is physical as well as mental; physical in that she is strong, and always wants to be doing something to gain our attention; mentally as we discovered that she has a strong character, wanting to accompany her friends and always wanting to be the leader of activities. We are happy that each day she demonstrates an independent attitude while making her own decisions.
These are the successes of the shelter, specifically that we have the opportunity to enable the children’s physical, mental, and spiritual development. All this is possible thanks to our benevolent friends whose donations are invested daily in the development of these children.

To help children like Johana, 

Born: May 17, 1997
6th grade
Aspiration: To learn computers and to teach other children to speak English
Date of enrollment: May 2004

During a recent visit to Honduras, we were able to get an update on Brenda's life. Brenda's progress through the shelter was highlighted in a past edition of Los Techos. At that time, we described Brenda's transformation from a shy and quiet 6 year old when she first entered the shelter to one who was a more outgoing, and intellectually inquisitive child. However, her life at home, at that time, was difficult at best. Her father drank and was abusive. Her home life was not very supportive. In fact, Brenda was saddened on those days when she couldn't go to the shelter. During a visit in September 2009, Baldemar Turcios George recounted the following story about Brenda's home life. The family still lives in the same ramshackle shacks with her parents and 3 siblings. However, her family life has improved dramatically. It started when Brenda came home one day and told her father that she didn't like the fact that he drank. At first, the father reacted angrily, not at Brenda, but at the folks in the Santa Cruz shelter. He felt that she was being disrespectful to her parents, and that she had learned this behavior at the shelter.

In fact, he went to the shelter to talk to Baldemar and threatened to take her out of the shelter. When Baldemar asked why, the father mentioned Brenda's 'disrespectful behavior'. Baldemar asked in what way was this disrespectful. With patience and understanding, Baldemar and the father were able to have a discussion on the influences that parents' actions at home have on their children's future, and that she was at risk of following the same path that he (and his wife, who apparently also drank, as Baldemar consequently discovered). Guess what? The message stuck! Since the meeting, both parents have stopped drinking. The family started going to church. Home life started to improve.
We now host Brenda, age 12, and her sister Nelly, age 9, in the Santa Cruz shelter. We have not only affected these 2 lives, we have also affected the lives of their parents and their 2 older brothers. Although they still live in relative squalor, life at home has improved significantly, all due to the courage and confidence that this 12 year old girl was able to show. Brenda is now in her 5th year in the shelter, is in 5th grade. With your support, perhaps in 2 years she can have the opportunity to go onto secondary schooling, Honduras' equivalent of middle school and high school, through the Osman Hope Scholarship Program.

To donate to Brenda’s Scholarship,