As in the United States, Honduras also has a public educational system. While both systems are supported by their governments and are intended to be free for all children, the differences are often incomprehensible to privileged Westernized thought.

Free is not free! While the US provides multiple social programs in support of the various needs of those without means to support themselves or their children, Honduras does not offer such programs. Specifically, free public education supplies buildings and desks, but requires certain parental expenses: school specific clothing for uniforms, books, materials/supplies (including toilet paper) and some extra expenses of the teacher’s choosing such as “donations” to fix the broken/missing desks or chairs, “donations” for the payment of a security guard, and maybe a “donation” to purchase little plastic bags of water (8 oz/each) for the elementary children on the days when the temperature reaches 100*F.

Compulsory education! Primary education (grades 1-6) is compulsory, though not enforced. Middle school through grade nine has recently become compulsory, though not enforced. The secondary level, or high school, is not compulsory but the books and materials are at least tripled in costs. Less than 32% of students pass through the primary grades without repeating grades, some take up to 10 years to complete a primary education and only 51% of children who register actually complete primary school.

Number of school days! Illinois - 180 student attendance days (approximately 7 hours/day) versus Honduras - 200 student attendance days (approximately 3-4 hours/day), either mornings or afternoons, never a full day.

Days off from school! Illinois - Weekends, Holidays and Teacher Professional Days are not included in the 180 count versus Honduras - weekends are not included in the count, but National Holidays, Local Holidays, Teacher Professional Days, and Teacher Strike Days, as well as the cancellation of classes when a teacher is ill or chooses not to attend quickly deplete the 200 partial days required for student attendance.

Year Starts/Ends! Illinois - typically in the Midwest, mid-August versus Honduras which usually starts toward the beginning of February and ends…….still not sure since many days are often missed due to random protests/strikes and may have to be made up at the end of the school year, around the beginning or middle of November, or maybe not made up at all. Parents angrily recall one year when the ENTIRE year had to be repeated due to multiple teacher strikes and political unrest! This year, end dates, exams and graduation dates have not yet been determined in any of the schools in which our children are enrolled.

It’s hard to believe, but we have young women who very much enjoy your donated pop tabs! They look forward to washing those tabs, deburring them, and then crocheting them into beautiful purses to sell! At times they even compete to see who can be the most creative in terms of adding unique features to their purses or even imagining how to include a clasp made from some of the donated jewelry pieces or beads they have received. We are so pleased with these young women and their drive and dedication to make their lives, and those of their children, better by making purses to sell.

We certainly can’t make purses! So, here is how it began. We invited Tatiana, one of the young women from Comayagua who had grown up in the Hogar de Ninos as a child, to be the instructor in a workshop held at Gran Comisión church. We invited some young women we thought might benefit by attending, as did the church. Not only was Tatiana a natural at teaching, but the church was so pleased with the results that they invited her back the following month to instruct a second workshop!

The results? All the young women who attended are now making purses to sell. Our young women are now selling them in several stores and Bed and Breakfast type locales. Our top seller has made almost $500 in sales since July of this year and has 20 more purses in stores waiting to be purchased. That money made through sales can change the quality of lives. Please look for purse purchasing opportunities on the Helping Hands, Helping Hearts website. We hope to have an order form to customize orders in terms of size, color and add-ons!

Jenny was one of the first students we enrolled in a public school when we first started actively pursuing what we believed was God’s calling to help children and young people achieve an education to escape the struggles of poverty. Her enrollment dates back to 2016 when she entered the doors of a school building for the first time in almost 10 years. She was 22 years old and starting 7th grade. Her drive and determination to better her future and the lives of her family are admirable, especially in a country where poverty limits one’s dreams to only the pursuit of the next meal.

The top purse seller mentioned in “Your Trash, Our Purses” is Jenny. This is an unbelievable feat for this 26 year old woman with a husband, two sons, who studies in her tenth grade classes AND makes and sells purses! She’s been doing beautifully in the various areas of her life and is excited to hopefully sell even more purses through the Helping Hands, Helping Hearts’ website soon.

Jenny is a Christian who is a hard-working, helpful, humble and compassionate example to her family as well as to her many siblings. We are more blessed because of knowing her. Please keep her in your prayers as she happily continues with her day to day activities in a Third World country. Oh, and please also pray that Jenny will achieve her dream of becoming a nurse!

Where do we begin? Let’s start with the fact that if it wasn’t for Isis, specifically her boldness and directness, we may have overlooked that whole community of squatters with whom we now work! She is another reminder of how God directs our path here in Honduras, and in Glen Ellyn, through various means and people.

It was a beautiful day, summer of 2011, Tim and I had finally finished our work for the day (not easy when it’s in the melting 90s and sauna humidity) and decided to sit by the pool with a cold drink and watch the magnificent beauty of the Caribbean ocean and all the nature surrounding us. Ahhh….. Suddenly, some teenage girl marched right up off the beach, onto our pool deck, blocked my view and rattled off something in Spanish.

Oy vey! I mean, really?! I sat up, asked her to repeat what she said, and that’s when I saw a teenage boy watching us from the beach. She repeated her question, “Do you have work for him?” I wondered why he didn’t ask us as long as they had imposed themselves onto private property anyway. I told her I was sorry but we didn’t really have any work left because my husband had already finished yardwork. She said “Ok” and I said good afternoon and settled back down to relax when I heard another rapid-fire question. This time she asked if she could clean my house or wash our laundry. I explained that I do all that and she looked all the way up to the 3rd story, then back to me with that “yeah right” look on her face. A bit insulted, I said good afternoon again and settled down to relax.

They didn’t leave, just stared at the ocean. I looked at them, then at Tim who looked at them and then to me with the husband look of “what do you want me to do”. I looked at the unkempt lot next door, overgrown with grass and weeds, dead branches that could fall on our house, and garbage blowing everywhere….an idea was forming, and it involved a machete.

A day later, the lot next door was clean, in fact the whole family came to join in on the project. We had to supply the machete and bought baleadas for lunch for the whole family, which was more business than the local vendor had seen in a long time. The teenage boy knew how to swing a machete, climb trees and direct his family in terms of yard clean-up…..he earned his $15, lunch and all the cut wood our truck could hold to bring back to his family.

And Isis? I taught her to clean a house Dutch-style! She’s cleaning out my refrigerator as I type this. Not interested in adding to her 3rd grade education several years back when her sister Jenny returned to school, Isis surprised us this past January with an interest in going to Academia Municipal which has different trades specialties and for Isis it was the beauty school program. She has worked hard all year, while taking care of her 2 year old daughter and making purses to sell, in order to be able to graduate this December when her one year program ends. She has dreams for a better future for herself and her daughter. Many of our students are the result of that chance meeting on the beach and Isis’ boldness. Pray that she continues to move forward with boldness to ensure that dream becomes a reality.