a brief description of what I am learning

1. Honduras A perspective as I learn….

3. You will read a lot of numbers….

4. ….behind each number is a person.

6. You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; You encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more. Ps. 10:17-18

8. families

9. 53% of all households are single mothers. (5) Many couples are in “union libre” instead of married.

11. Teen mothers

12. The average age for a “woman’s” first pregnancy is 15.3. Honduras has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in Central America (4). 80% of registered births do not have father’s names. (12)

14. machisimo

15. It is an attitude of rights… privilege…. superiority… Women tend to be seen as property.

17. AIDS

18. Honduras has the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the region. It is estimated that within 10 years, 60-80,000 children will be orphaned by AIDS. It is estimated that 520,000 people (in a nation of 6 million) are living with HIV. In San Pedro Sula, the numbers soar up to 240,000, nearly half the residents. (6) The Garifuna may be the first people group to be wiped out by AIDS. (8)

20. Poverty

21. 65% of population below poverty level of $2 USD per day. (3) “One of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere with extraordinarily unequal distribution of wealth and massive unemployment.” (3) Unemployment rate is 27.8% 1 out of 3 persons (about 2 million people) suffer from critical hunger.

23. orphans

24. 180,000 children in Honduras are orphaned or abandoned (2). Many are glue sniffers, child laborers, beggars, easy prey for traffickers…

26. Youth violence

27. Current level of youth violence is the highest in Central America. (3) Honduras also has the highest gang membership in Central America and one of the highest criminal incidences in the world. (3) 1,293 children were murdered in 4 1/2 years (Jan. 1998—July 2002); most under 17 years old. (7) San Pedro Sula is the second most dangerous city in the world that is not in a country at war. (11)

28. Central America, according to a U.N. report, has become the region with the world's highest murder rate, an average of about 1,300 a month. 5,265 people were murdered in Honduras in 2009. … …With only 7% of the population of Mexico, they have 62% of the same number of murders. (14)

30. corruption

31. Poor families Teen mothers Expected/accepted promiscuity Machisimo Poverty Orphans Violence Political climate corruption Other nations/undeveloped Child exploitation/trafficking

32. Child exploitation

33. “Authorities estimated that 20 to 30 children (96 percent of them girls) crossed the border daily (approximately 15,000 a year) for purposes related to sexual exploitation.” (9) 10,000 children are prostituted and sexually exploited in Honduras each year. (1) According to one study, 70% of the Honduran population believes that the child is the one responsible for the sexual exploitation; 5% blame the clients and offenders.

34. Children in exploitation by age: 5-9 years old: 7% 10-14 years old: 47% 15-18 years old: 46% (13) 72% are girls; 26% are boys (13). 62% were initiated into their sexual life by rape or abuse; 38% began by consent (13).

35. What do they receive in return? 32% receive FOOD 32% receive MONEY – $5 to $15 19% receive PROTECTION 17% receive DRUGS (13) …in exchange for their LIFE, DIGNITY, and HEALTH

37. trafficking

38. 7 out of 10 women who go with coyotes fall prey to sex trafficking. Many are young girls or single mothers, desperate to support their families. They hope for a better life. They find horror.

40. “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter… and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

41. …Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard” Is. 58:5-8

42. For [Honduras’s] I will not keep silent, for [Honduras’s] sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch… [she] will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hands, a royal diadem in the hand of your God” Is. 58:5-8

43. (1) Casa Alianza (2)UNICEF (3) Michel, Uting, Moquin. “Honduras: A Risk Assessment Brief” 2007. (4) PCI Media Impact (5) Kinnear 1999 (6) Miami Herald (7) Casa Alianza (8) Tim Nelson, personal interview (9) U.S. State Department, 2007 (10) Tamy Emma Pepin, “Part 1 of a series on the commercial sexual exploitation of children” Honduras This Week Online, http://www.marrder.com/htw/2006Nov/national.html (11) Gracie Murphee, personal interview (12) Kim Beck, Youth For Christ, Tegucigalpa, personal interview (13) UNICEF (14) Debusman, B. “Afghanistan and America’s Troubled Backyard” The Citizen, Aug. 2, 2010 http://thecitizen.co.tz/editorial-analysis/20-analysis-opinions/3363-afghanistan-and-americas-troubled-backyard.html