Success Stories
Jony & Cinthia This is the story of Jony Fernando Hernandez (5) and his sister Cinthia (3), two of our children cared for at Osman Hope shelter in San Pedro Sula. Their mother Carmen gave birth two months ago to her fourth child. Jony`s father is in jail for a crime committed two years ago. This situation has produced a broken family who's head is a mother without an education. Everything has been tragic for this family. With a big belly and living in an neighborhood that has an irregular terrain, this mother has had to walk long distances looking for temporary jobs mostly related to the washing of clothes for others; meanwhile her children stayed home alone. The world of extreme poverty is violence. Everybody looks out for themselves and they fight inch by inch for the right to survive. This violence reaches mostly the most vulnerable: the children.
Jony and his sisters had been mistreated by other neighbors during the long absences of their mother in her continued search for money to feed them. I met Jony on the street, when he was hiding behind a tree, because a man was looking for him (belt in hand) to hurt him. I asked Jony if the man was his father, and he answered that he didn`t know him. The man was new to the neighborhood and what he wanted was to take a bucket of water from Jony`s house. At this point Jony was ``man of the house``, mommy was working and his sisters were just ``women``, he had to defend what was his. I decided to take Jony to the Shelter. The man was insulted but he didn`t dare attack us. Later that day I went to talk to the mother. She agreed to allow Jony and little Cinthia to attend the Shelter.
Life`s been better for them since that day. Jony is learning to read and write and Cinthia is developing her fine and gross motor skills. Jony is still the man of the house, but as he says: "NOW I`M PREPARED TO FIGHT FOR MOM AND MY SISTERS, `CAUSE I AM STRONGER AND OF COURSE I`M SMARTER THAN THE OTHER GUYS BECAUSE I AM LEARNING TO WRITE AND READ. BESIDES I ALWAYS HAVE AN ACE UP MY SLEEVE: I HAVE THE SHELTER TO BE PROTECTED"
Brenda This is the story of Brenda Karina Gonzalez, age 9. When Brenda entered the shelter in November 2004, she was seven, but looked more like a five-year-old due to malnutrition. Her home environment was one of alcoholism, drug addiction, and family violence with her parents, uncles, and brothers. When Brenda entered the shelter she was passive and timid, in her face you could see the insecurity that she felt; but as she started to relate to the other children, participate in bible classes, arts and crafts, and eat well her appearance began to better just as much as her grades in school, her face radiated happiness and a growing confidence in herself. She enjoyed the appreciation of her playmates as much as the shelter and school.
In this picture to the right Brenda is participating in an activity called “…. A story” In these classes, the children learn to write and draw their dreams. She is very creative and careful with her drawings. She also has excellent writing skills, especially for a second grader. In our country the majority of our children have difficulty with grammar.
The photograph to the left will help you appreciate Brenda´s living conditions. Here, water is scarce, there is no alcantarillado for contaminated water, and her house does not have a cement floor, only dirt. The entire house is two rooms and shelters six people. This makes it hard to live together. Brenda says that she doesn´t want the weekend to come. It seems that every day she becomes more conscious of the reality that is her home life. Her mother commented to me that when Brenda gets sick and can´t go to the shelter for the day, that she becomes sad. It´s not because she´s sick, it´s because she wants to go to the shelter.
As shown on the picture to the right, brenda has two great friends: Abigail and Tania, with whom she has a good relationship. They eat together and do their homework together. And although they get annoyed with eachother sometimes for small, very small reasons, it´s somthing normal that happens between all little girls from around the world. But withlunch time comes the moment of forgiveness. They hug, play together, and laugh aloud, at life, always fogetting the bad moments. "May life continue, friends of Osman Hope!”.
