Laying the Foundation

I’ve been so happy to watch the construction underway on the new Family Life Center in the El Buen Samaritano (The Good Samaritan) neighborhood! When it’s finished, the scholars and children in this neighborhood, which backs up to the city garbage dump, will have beautiful spaces for learning, a library, and for playing soccer. There is another benefit to the construction: it has generated employment for 15 people who live in this community.

As Hondurans, we do not have many employment opportunities. The majority of residents in El Buen Samaritano have only finished grade school. But even with a high school diploma, many private companies won’t hire you if you live in a vulnerable neighborhood where violence is high.

Thanks to your donations, we are supporting people who live here through holistic scholarships—helping both children and their families. That is why so many of the workers are also the parents, siblings, cousins, or neighbors of our IntSam scholars. Not only do these 15 workers have employment during this time of construction, but they are also gaining more work experience, which will help them find employment more easily in the future. 

One of our workers, Alfredo, is 17 years old and is the brother of our scholar, Junior. With the money Alfredo earns, he is able to support his family and cover other household expenses.

The mother of Alfredo and Junior told me, “Thank you very much for giving my son a job! With this job, he doesn’t have to go to the garbage dump. Thank you for generating employment with these works, and thank you for giving us a dream place for our children!”
While the workers and families are thankful for the employment, there has been a challenge to overcome: their shoes!

The engineer in charge of the work told the workers they couldn’t work in sandals for safety reasons, but most of them told him that they only have one pair of shoes, and they did not want to ruin their only pair.

I’ve been looking for options so that we can support them with what is necessary to carry out their jobs safely. But isn’t this a good reminder not to take simple things for granted?

I’m thanking God today for my shoes.

Run for Scholarships

While U.S. students recently went back to school, not all students have that option. At the end of August, Ronia met the two boys in this photo, who would prefer to be in school studying instead of foraging through a dump looking for items to sell.

This year, the funds raised through the IntSam Global 5K will be used to provide 50 new scholars with a holistic scholarship. You can support that mission by signing up to run or by donating today.

Ronia Romero, Honduras Program Director

Ronia serves as International Samaritan’s Program Director in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She has a degree in Foreign Languages from the Universidad Autonoma of Honduras. For many years, she has dedicated herself to expanding opportunities for children, adolescents, and adults who work in the Tegucigalpa municipal dump.