Tierra Santa Home Background
Tierra Santa Home is located in Honduras, one of the poorest nations in Latin America. In the early 1990s the annual gross national product was less than $600 per capita. This has improved to an estimated (1997) GDP per capita of $2,200. Economic growth has barely kept pace with population growth. Despite government efforts at development and diversification, agriculture remains the mainstay of the economy. Devastation from Hurricane Mitch in 1998 ravaged the nation's key crops. Education is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 12. Literacy rate is currently 73%.
We paint the story of Tierra Santa Home through the eyes of a visitor: Some images are engraved in your heart forever. From a short visit to Honduras, the images of 120 kids who embraced us once we walked into the dusty grounds of the Home for Abandoned Children are my cherished memories. At first hesitant, and then the little ones came over. Someone introduced us, and then they never left, and clung to every piece of us: our hands, our legs, our clothing. We held tight whomever, and sat around with them on the colorful benches around the grounds in the heat of midday sun, and wondered how can we leave. A little girl read my mind.
"Why are you leaving," she asked. I cried. "I have to," I said, "but you will always be in my heart." She said, "I don't want your heart. I want you." Then I wept. Everyone needs love; our children in Honduras starve for love. There is a difference.
My memories also include the images of their songs around the campfire, and their prayers, and the roses they made for us, and their dutiful discharge of their daily chores. They get merit points, you know, for doing their jobs well, and with the merit points they buy their shoes, clothes, or perhaps a pair of jeans, from the Home's clothing store, all donated by different people.
Or the images of their little bodies next to the open oven; making bread for dinner, or their huge smiles when I asked whether I could take some pictures. And, the images of their rooms, packed and small, yet immaculately clean and full of their touches.
The stories also live in my memory. Norma, the three day infant who was brought to the Home with no hope for life - she is now 14 months old. Or Claudia and her brother, left to the care of the Home by the wish of a dying and lone woman eight years ago. Or Alba, left on the street to God's care, and now in charge of infant feeding center, a community outreach program of the Home for hungrier children! Or, all the little ones, 14 in total between 2 months and 3 years; all huddled together as if to keep each others' company or perhaps hold to private secrets.
I want to also share with you the sounds of Honduras at midnight. The barking of the dogs, the occasional and untimely cockle doodle do of the roosters, the quieting, rhythmic hum of the crickets, and the song of a lonely bird hidden in the dark branches of a dry tree nearby; all in the silent dark of a warm night lit only by a single bulb hanging from the neighbor's front door. Not too far away, a few paces on the other side of the dirt road lies Tierra Santa Home; a brightly painted, loving and embracing refuge for the unwanted and abandoned children of Honduras.
In one unit 101 girls, ages 2 months to 18 years, now lie quiet, having done all their homework, and all the chores, from making their beds and cleaning their rooms to helping in the kitchen, in the hallway, in the bathrooms, or whatever else needed to keep a family of 101 together ready for the next day. Meeting the individual responsibilities also means merit points: Do your assigned tasks and you will earn enough points to buy a pair of shoes, or perhaps a pair of jeans. Nothing is handed out as a charity. "You are capable, you are smart, you are responsible," the "ladies" are told, "and you can earn your shoes - and your self-respect."
In a much smaller unit, 19 boys are also nestled in their beds. This unit is only two years old. Boys are more precious in Honduras - easier to let go of girls. I asked, why so many abandoned children? (There are three other Homes in San Antonio alone, twenty others in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, and many others elsewhere.) I was told "poverty, no education, no value for life, responsibility, equality. Men want women for cooking and sex. They make babies and leave."
There are thirteen adults who care for the Home in different capacities. But everyone helps to take care of everyone else. The Home, founded 17 years ago by "Uncle Santiago," himself a child of poverty and raised by a family who still supports him to allow him to devote all his time to the Home free of charge, is an extended family who take care of their own. Except for the babies, everyone goes to school. Close by to the Home there is an elementary school, also built by Uncle Santiago. The government provides the teachers; the Home provides for everything else from uniforms to books and stationary. The older ones go to a neighboring high school. One girl, Juana, is now in the third year of university and is studying International Commerce. She plans to return to the Home once she is finished and help the others find their way there.
We were welcomed by the "welcoming committee," a group of girls who are assigned the task of seeing to the needs of their many visitors. We were set up in the guesthouse nearby, built also by Uncle Santiago, to accommodate the many volunteers who come to help - proud, immaculately clean and organized, and no running water. Iris, a beautiful and gracious girl was assigned to give us a tour of the facility. We saw the immaculately kept dorms, the food and clothing storage rooms, and the open and cheerfully decorated space used as an eating and assembly area.
The children had prepared two programs for us, songs, prayers, and a dance, beautifully choreographed to the social issues they face, and a rap group, rapping the youthful rhythm against alcoholism and hopelessness. Every year a group of 16 youth from Minnesota visit the school and volunteer their time in service. Tierra Santa Dance Workshop is the contribution of this volunteer youth group.
Poverty rules San Antonio, a farming community in which the Home is located. Even with all the responsibilities of the Home, Uncle Santiago could not see all the little kids in the neighborhood sitting idly on the dirt road, eating nothing. He has rented another house for an "infant feeding center," has put Alba (meaning "dawn") a returning graduate of the Home, in charge, and has begun serving food and recreation to 25-35 children ages 2-5 every day. Five percent of all the food donated to the Home goes to this feeding center.
Other girls from the Home help at this community outreach program of Tierra Santa Home. Imagine! A Home for Abandoned Children at the heart of Honduras sets up a feeding center for the very young and hungry, and shares its meager resources! Twenty-five mothers bring and drop off their children every day at 11 a.m. The children eat a nutritious meal, play a bit with the toys and games, and return refreshed back to their grateful mothers.
The US base in the neighborhood has been kind to the Home. The base volunteers truck in fresh water to the Home every week because the available water is unsafe. Michael, one of the soldiers at the base, visits the Home almost every afternoon once he is done with his work. Others come also to spend some time and give some hugs.
There is a theatre group formed by the children of the Home. The Group does dance presentation performances of Theater Fears: I Mistreat I Tame, works about drug addiction and others. The 16 participants in 2005 ranged in age from 12 to 17 years. They hope to go on to regional, national and international performances to enable people to know the name of the Home and all it does for the children.
New projects for the 2005 year also included a dental clinic for the children and the community. The school hired three new teachers for the primary school. A national study book was implemented. Teacher training was implemented.
A bakery has been started at the Home. This bakery sells baked goods to the community. The net income from the bakery is distributed in part to a trust fund which may be used to start micro businesses for each of the children.
The agricultural project is in its initial stages. The gutters for the irrigation system have been cleaned and the earth is being plowed. Breeding Tilapia takes much care. Bananas and corn will be the agricultural crops.
To provide a general idea of the scope of the needs for this home, some typical annual expenses are listed here. Specific needs for this year are also listed below:
- Building maintenance and upkeep: $9,000
- Educational uniforms: $1,700
- Medical costs: $7,000
- Food for the children: $49,000
- Paper and writing implements: $10,000
- Building rent and electricity: $15,000
- Salaries: $78,000
- Vehicle gas and maintenance: $20,000
- Total approximately $200,000
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