By Gina Kawas
Honduras can be both: full of wonder and full of misery. On the one hand, it is a breathtakingly beautiful country – a land of lush forests, green rolling hills and mountains, tropical Caribbean beaches and wonderful archaeological ruins. Most of its cities and villages display a picturesque setting – houses painted in bright colors, vendors selling exotic fruits in every corner, and the warmest and most welcoming people.
On the other hand, the homicide rate in Honduras is among the highest in the world and corruption levels, while falling, remain alarmingly high. This helps explain why two-thirds of the country lives in extreme poverty, measured as people having less than one dollar per day. These negative features are among the main causes for migration, which has become a necessity for survival. In other parts of the world, these migrants would be called refugees, because rather than choosing to embark on a journey attracted by potential opportunities ahead, they flee Honduras pushed by the debilitating conditions behind.
The situation is so overwhelming, complex, and terrifying that it becomes easy to give up hope. How do you end poverty, violence, and corruption in a broken country, especially when it is so pervasive? Where would such efforts even begin?
Despite being born in Honduras and having lived there for most of my life, I have not personally experienced much of the devastation. Fortunately, I was born into a middle-class family that was always able to provide for me. From having private education to traveling the world, I have never experienced hunger, walked barefoot, and of course, have never lived in a barrio where gangs control the territory.
I don’t take for granted the privileges I have been given in life. It is my mission to provide those privileges, or at a minimum hope that those privileges may be on the horizon, to future generations of Hondurans.
While the challenges facing Honduras are vast and complex, they are not insurmountable. The Foundation for Education in Honduras (FEIH) started as an idea to improve education for children living in extreme poverty in rural areas of Honduras. Through the renovation of school buildings, the provision of school supplies and uniforms, and the engagement of students in cross-cultural activities, FEIH sought to foster positive educational outcomes in the community. For instance, FEIH currently administers a Pen Pal Program, where students from schools in the United States write letters to students in Honduras, telling them about US culture, to which Honduran students respond in Spanish, also sharing stories about their culture and life in Honduran villages.
What began as an idea in 2014 has turned into a Foundation that to date has built six schools for children living in vulnerable conditions. More than 500 children, along with their families, have benefited from FEIH’s grass-roots campaign to expand education. FEIH has improved education by providing children with safe and clean schools, and its most recent school is its first school accessible to children with disabilities. Today, FEIH’s schools are located in three of the eighteen states of Honduras.
Infrastructure alone, however, will not have a holistic impact, which is why on October 21st, 2017, FEIH brought communities together for its first soccer tournament, co-sponsored by Banco Atlántida, a Honduran bank. The tournament – the Banco Atlántida Cup – allowed the boys and girls of FEIH's first six schools to compete and get to know one another. But it was not just a soccer tournament; it was a dream come true for the students, parents, and teachers.
The FEIH family of volunteers met in the town of El Progreso, marched in a parade with the players and a marching band towards the soccer stadium, and cheered for the teams participating in the tournament. Girls and boys ran in unison, with their uniforms, socks, kneepads, and cleats through the muddy grass, sweat beading against their foreheads and never-ending smiles on their faces. The prevailing sense of camaraderie was palpable. Most, if not all, of the students had never owned a soccer ball, much less a pair of soccer cleats. They used to play with rubber balls, barefoot on dusty streets with no goals. FEIH, through its generous donors, was delighted to provide them with the gear, but more than that, FEIH gave them an opportunity to play the game they love.
The FEIH team savored the magical day, enjoying the enthusiasm and pride in the small sun-kissed children, parents, and teachers, who had never left their small towns – particularly the Lempira school, which travelled for more than seven hours to get to El Progreso (and ended up winning the boys tournament!). The children laughed; boys and girls equally put on a show for their audience through flips, goals, and penalty kicks. But what stood out the most were the wide grins and laughter. Girls were cheering for boys and vice versa, all feeling empowered and showing incredible sportsmanship. In the end, all teams were champions.
It has been proven that the most effective strategies to reduce violence are investing resources in interventions that keep children in school, provide vocational training, generate meaningful jobs, and teach life skills to at-risk youth, mainly through sports.
The powerful impact of the soccer tournament exemplifies why FEIH is striving to do the impossible in Honduras. FEIH’s actions are making a difference and changing lives for the better. By building one school at a time and hosting one soccer tournament at a time, FEIH is working towards creating a country where children don’t need to cross borders to flee violence, but where families can walk without fear in the streets, and where poverty will one day be eradicated.
While Honduras can be hell, paradise lurks on the horizon. With opportunity and clean, safe conditions to learn and play, Honduran communities can live the decent, dignified lives they deserve. The Banco Atlántida Cup was a stepping stone towards achieving this goal, but more importantly, a day that the children, parents, and members of their communities will never forget.
Gina Kawas is based in Honduras and currently serves as FEIH’s Director of Corporate Relations. She completed an M.A. in Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University on a Fulbright scholarship. Previous bylines include the PanAmPost, El Heraldo, La Tribuna and MedioLleno.
Gina is one more millennial trying to make a difference by supporting initiatives that improve the state of education in developing countries and her ambition is to help as many girls as possible finish their education so that they can choose their future for themselves.