Honduras Visitor's Guide
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® Country Overview 2 The NPH Home 4 Visitor’s Guide: Travel Tips 7 Suggested Packing List 10 NPH Honduras Contact Information 12 Country Overview Google Guide Sources: The CIA World Factbook, Lonely Planet.com, UNICEF Honduras is one of the poorest and most violent A Brief History countries in Latin America The oldest known evidence of human ventured in and out of Honduras, and suffers from presence in present-day Honduras are feuding over claims for much of the widespread inequality in stone tools thought to be around 1500s. The discovery of gold and distribution of income 6,000 to 8,000 years old. The Maya silver in the 1530s drew even more and underemployment. arrived later – around 300 BCE – and Spanish settlers and also increased settled in the fertile Sula, Copán and the demand for indigenous slave labor. Area: 43,278 square Comayagua valleys. Over centuries, miles – slightly larger than they came to dominate the area, as Native Hondurans had long resisted Tennessee they did much of Mesoamerica. Copán Spanish invasion and enslavement, was a heavily settled, agriculturally and in 1537, a young Lenca chief Population: 9,038,741 rich trading zone and eventually named Lempira led an uprising against (July 2017 estimate, which takes into account the effects of excess became one of the great Maya city- the Spanish. Inspired by Lempira’s mortality due to AIDS) states of the Classic Period (300–900 example, revolt swept the western BCE). The Classic Period ends with region, and the Spanish were very Languages: Spanish, the rapid and mysterious collapse of nearly expelled. However, Lempira was Amerindian dialects most Maya centers, including Copán, assassinated in 1538 at peace talks where the last dated hieroglyph is with the Spanish, and the native from 800 BCE. resistance was soon quelled. A cycle of Over one-third of infants smaller revolts and brutal repression in Honduras are On his fourth and final voyage in followed, decimating the native malnourished. 1502, Admiral Christopher Columbus population. For the next few centuries, made landfall near present-day mining was an important industry in Trujillo. Columbus named the area Honduras for the Spanish, but when Climate/Environment “Honduras,” meaning “depths” for the silver prices collapsed and upheaval in Climate: subtropical in deep waters there. Many explorers the Spanish throne in the 1800s lowland; temperate in mountains Natural hazards: Below: Ruinas de Copán (Copan Ruins), NPH International; Flowers in bloom, Dennis Garcia/ earthquakes (frequent, WikiCommons; Church in Ojojona, Chamo Estudio/WikiCommons but generally mild); extremely susceptible to hurricanes and flooding along the Caribbean coast Issues: deforestation, land degradation and soil erosion; mining polluting Lago de Yojoa — the country’s largest source of fresh water Visitor’s Guide: NPH Honduras • nphusa.org 2 Aerial view of Tegucigalpa San Lorenzo Dock, Dennis Garcia/WikiCommons A Brief History (continued) began, colonial rule was severely damaged. Although Honduras experienced some unrest, the On September 15, 1821 Honduras, along with country never broke into out-and-out civil war. This Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua in turn opened political space for genuine agrarian declared independence from Spain, and shortly reform. Honduras has long had one of Central thereafter joined the newly formed Mexican America’s most effective and organized labor Empire. The relationship did not last long, and in movements. Despite the overwhelming power of 1823, the same countries declared independence banana interests, Honduran workers have from Mexico and formed the Federal Republic of consistently managed to achieve concessions and Central America. Though Honduras was the poorest accept compromises without resorting to violence. and least-populated of the countries, it produced some of the federation’s most important leaders. In the past two decades, Honduras has dealt with a Chief among them was the liberal hero General wide array of issues including unstable currency. The Francisco Morazán, who led the federation from value of the lempira jumped from around 2 lempiras 1830 to 1838. On to 8 to 13 to 20 (where November 15, 1838, it is today) against the Honduras became an The Banana Years U.S. dollar. Prices rose independent nation as The banana entangled Honduras in a web of dramatically to keep the federation foreign interests and had spectacular economic pace with the US dollar, disintegrated. success in the 19th and 20th centuries. It but salaries lagged accounted for 11% of all the country’s exports behind. Hondurans In the 19th and 20th in 1892 and skyrocketed to 80% in 1929. grew poorer and poorer, centuries, conservatives a trend that still who favored a pro- continues today. church, aristocratic-style government wrestled with liberals who supported free market development of In October 1998, Hurricane Mitch – at that time the the kind taking place in the U.S. and parts of strongest Atlantic hurricane on record – devastated Western Europe at the time. Power alternated the country, killing over 5,600 people and causing between the two factions, and Honduras was ruled $2 billion U.S.D. in damage. Combined with by a succession of civilian governments and military increased crime and terrorist attacks in the 21st regimes. The country’s constitution would be century, tourism in Honduras suffered drastically. rewritten 17 times between 1821 and 1982. Gang violence continues to be a prevailing issue. Government has officially been by popular election, With new legislation, the recent administrations but Honduras has experienced hundreds of coups, have tried to combat this growing concern. rebellions, power seizures, foreign invasions and Economically, Honduras, along with several other meddling since achieving independence. Central American countries, recently joined the Central American and Dominican Republic Free During the 1980s, Honduras found itself Trade Agreement, which aims to open markets in surrounded on all sides by political upheaval and these nations for U.S. businesses. popular uprisings throughout Central America. Visitor’s Guide: NPH Honduras • nphusa.org 3 HONDURAS The NPH Home Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH, Spanish for “Our Little Brothers and Sisters”) opened a home in Honduras in 1986. Rancho Santa Fe – also called “The Ranch” – is less than an hour from the capital, Tegucigalpa. Over 400 boys and girls make their home in this vast wooded oasis in the hills, while an additional 60 children from the community attend the NPH school. Youths attending high school or university live in Tegucigalpa. The Ranch features preschool/kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, vocational workshops, a chapel, a farm, greenhouse and vegetable gardens, and clinics. 14 Rancho Santa Fe 15 16 1. Entrance 13 12 9 2. External clinic 11 3. School 4. Boys’ homes 10 5. Workshops 8 6. Farm: animals 7 7. Dining hall 4 8. Farm land 9. Chapel 10. Employee homes 11. Volunteer homes 6 5 12. Grandparent homes 13. Girls’ homes 14. Guest homes 15. Offices 16. Internal clinic 3 2 1 200 ft. 100 m Google Visitor’s Guide: NPH Honduras • nphusa.org 4 Daily Life Typical Day at the Ranch Highlights • All children learn a trade in the vocational workshops, choosing metalwork, electricity, shoemaking, sewing, 5:30 a.m. Wake up and get dressed tailoring, or carpentry. 6:00 a.m. Breakfast • About half of the furniture, school uniforms and shoes 6:30 a.m. Chores used by the children are made by pequeños in the 7:00 a.m. Walk to school vocational workshops. 7:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Classes • Approximately 57% of all the food eaten in the home is 1:30 p.m. Lunch in hogares grown or produced on the ranch, including 25% of 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Vocational training for meat, 56% of fruit and vegetables, and 99% of the milk older youths and dairy products. 2:30 p.m. Chores • 13 new living spaces were opened in 2017 to transition 3:00 p.m. Study hour children from peer-grouped housing into same-gender, 4:00 p.m. Chores mixed-aged housing. 5:00 p.m. Free time • The NPH OneFamily program was launched in 2017 to 6:00 p.m. Dinner and homework reintegrate and support youth from the NPH home who 8:00 p.m. Bedtime are now able to live with their biological families. The program currently supports 44 children. Godchildren • In 2017, the Honduran National Directorate for If you sponsor a child at NPH Children, Youth, and Family awarded NPH Honduras Honduras, arrangements will be made their highest rating for NGOs operating homes for for him/her to spend time with you children in the country. during your visit. Please contact your regional office if you are interested in Responsibility becoming a Godparent. Responsibility is one of the most important values that NPH tries to instill in their children. This is why each child is expected to not only be responsible for him or herself, but to contribute to the family. This includes traditional chores such as washing clothes, making beds and serving food. Each child also has additional responsibilities after school and during the weekends. Some work in the gardens, while others care for the grounds and clean common areas. Everyone knows how much effort goes into caring for their home and all the people who live there. Before attending high school and university, pequeños are asked to give a year of service to the home. Visitor’s Guide: NPH Honduras • nphusa.org 5 Special Programs Pasos Pequeñitos Casa Pasionista, a hospice for adults living with AIDS, was founded by a group of American Passionist priests in 1991. It is the only facility of its kind in Honduras. It is especially unique because ailing parents can be with their children as their health deteriorates, comforted by the knowledge that after their death, their children will have a secure home with NPH.