There are two organizations that are referred to as El Hogar. The first is El Hogar Projects. This is the school and orphanage located in Tegucigalpa, Honduras which was founded in 1979. The second is El Hogar Ministries, Inc. This non-profit organization is located in Massachusetts and provides support and assistance to El Hogar Projects in numerous ways. Together, these two organizations work to serve the poor of Honduras.

The mission of El Hogar Projects is to provide a loving home and education in a Christian environment for abandoned, orphaned and hopelessly poor children, enabling them to fulfill their ultimate potential as productive human beings in Honduras. El Hogar Projects is a mission project of the Episcopal Diocese of Honduras under the leadership of The Right Rev. Lloyd Allen.

The mission of El Hogar Ministries, Inc. is to assist in the improvement of social and educational conditions in Honduras, principally by supporting El Hogar Projects. El Hogar Ministries, Inc. raises funds and maintains an office for coordination and communication with North American sponsors, contributors and church outreach groups which form a sacred community of service and are the backbone of financial support for the 230 children at the three schools and homes of El Hogar Projects.

Honduras is the poorest country in the Americas. With an illiteracy rate of 25 %, an unemployment rate hovering at 30%, and more than half the population living below the poverty line, it is difficult for Hondurans to even imagine a better life, much less create one.

Many children literally live “on the streets.” In the face of desperate poverty … where the average annual income is under $1,000, children who should be in school are on the streets. The families they come from can no longer feed, clothe, or educate them. Their homes, little more than cardboard and tin pieced together, offer no space, no running water, and little hope of a future. Sniffing glue relieves their hunger pangs, while simultaneously destroying brain cells. Begging and stealing become the means to survive. Teenage gangs offer a sense of belonging. This is childhood for many in Honduras. This is the face of poverty.

El Hogar was founded to break this cycle and offer a ray of hope for the future of Honduras. We began by providing five boys with housing and food. Since then we have grown to providing for children boys at our three boarding schools. We have close to 70 dedicated staff members at our three locations in Honduras who work closely with our students to give them not only a rich education, but also a sense of pride in themselves and caring for others.

The mission of El Hogar Projects is to provide a loving home and education in a Christian environment for abandoned, orphaned and hopelessly poor children, enabling them to fulfill their ultimate potential as productive human beings in Honduras. El Hogar continues to serve the most destitute children in and around the city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. To qualify for the El Hogar program, a child must have no other resources available to them.

Los Proyectos El Hogar (El Hogar Projects) began in 1979 as “El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza” (the Home of Love and Hope). It stemmed from the vision of Victor Lognes, the Rev. Hugo Pina, Val and Connie de Beausset, and the Rev. Bob and Margi Miller to break the cycle of poverty and crime by providing street boys a home and education to help them be useful, productive and responsible citizens of Honduras. With initial funds from The Methodist Fund for Human Need and support from the Episcopal Church, five boys from different parts of the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, came to live at El Hogar. There they received love and support; including clothing, good nutrition, and health care, while receiving up to a sixth grade education in a Christian environment.

With funding from Churches in the United States and Canada, and the support of many individuals, El Hogar has expanded. Its mission, however, remains the same.

El Hogar has grown from solely a home, to three homes and schools with four programs: Elementary School, Middle School, Agricultural School, and Technical Institute serving about 230 children ages five to 20 from both urban and rural parts of Honduras. Some children are truly abandoned or orphaned, others cannot be provided for by their impoverished families in a country where $2,700 is the annual per capita average income and 53 percent of the population live below the poverty level. The average educational level is only second grade, yet children at El Hogar receive a sixth grade education at the Elementary School and a chance for a future. They then move into a Middle School program of life-skills, allowing them to grow physically, mentally and spiritually to prepare for a technical education at either the Episcopal Agricultural School or at Saint Mary ’s Technical Institute.

The children of El Hogar have had an opportunity to transform their lives. They are the fortunate ones, and they are contributing to a new Honduras.

We offer an alternative to gang life –
El Hogar has been providing a loving home and an education to children in desperate poverty since 1979, and continues to do so. But during those years the stakes have grown higher. One of the sad developments in Central America during the past decade is the growth of gangs, originally imported from L.A. In neighborhoods where there is glaring need, few prospects for economic opportunity and a subsequent fracturing of the family, gangs provide an alluring alternative. They promise a sense of belonging, increased economic prosperity, adventure, purpose, empowerment, and community. The gangs actively recruit for members, and are fond of enlisting children at a young age. These children are sent out to run drugs or to steal, or forced into prostitution or other crimes to prove their loyalty. By the time they are teenagers they find themselves so deeply involved that it is almost impossible to find a way out. The lives of gang members tend to be sordid, brutal, and short.

El Hogar provides an alternative to that destructive course. We provide a true sense of belonging, a chance to be more prosperous, experience joy, purpose, and community. But above that, we are inviting children into a community of God’s love. The result of association with El Hogar is not fear and violence, but healthy growth and hope for better lives. And we provide the children with the tools to achieve their dreams.

El Hogar, which educates and provides a loving home for deeply impoverished and abandoned children of Honduras, is an oasis in a country locked in a cycle of desperate poverty and hopelessness. Our boys receive a high quality education, and a technical trade which makes them employable in their country. They learn love, respect, and a sense of their own ability to break this cycle of poverty and despair, not just for themselves, but for their families, communities and country. Through our program of sponsorship that encourages personal relationships with our children, they learn the powerful effect of compassion and the spirit of caring and generosity. They are transformed, not only by the food and shelter they receive, but by being witness to this kind of love and human kindness. Coming from backgrounds that do not always offer hope and kindness, these children are deeply moved by the true compassion and respect they experience through being part of El Hogar. Knowing that someone cares builds self-respect, love and hope in our boys. To see them and interact with them is to be in the presence of this hope and love; they are not the only ones transformed!

At El Hogar evidence of the impact we are having is the students who graduate from our schools. These young adults graduate not only with an education and a marketable skill, but also with a sense of pride, respect and responsibility to give back to others. This sense of reaching out to others is apparent even at a young age. The directors of our schools share stories of times when the boys at our elementary school have literally given the shirts off their backs and shoes from their feet to other children they see who have less than they do. Our children understand all opportunities they have been given are the result of the generosity of others. They take this example to heart as they reach out to others. The directors and teachers of our schools believe that raising the children to be caring, respectful young adults is just as important as training them to be skilled carpenters, electricians or welders. To witness the transformation of the young hopelessly poor children who enter El Hogar and are given the opportunity to reach their full potential as young adults is truly remarkable. These students leave our program as roles models for their families and their community and the hope for the future of Honduras.

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