Thanks to Saint Thomas Church for help with education

The school year in Honduras starts in February with classes lasting until November.

For more than ten years St. Thomas has provided assistance to students in the parish of Dulce Nombre de María through funding partial scholarships for students enrolled in the programs of IHER – Honduran Institute of Education by Radio, commonly known as Maestro en Casa – Teachers at Home.

There are various levels of public education. Most rural villages have kindergartens and primary schools (to the sixth grade.) A few larger towns have Básico, seventh to ninth grade (similar to middle school). The major municipal centers and some other large towns often have the Honduran equivalent of high school, colegios. These have different programs based on different career track. Most all high school have a few career track options. 

The IHER program offers other opportunities for middle school and high school The student have work books and are expected to listen to programs on the radio and then fill out the workbooks. Saturdays and Sundays teachers give are classes in the four centers.

There are four centers of IHER within the parish: Dulce Nombre de María, El Prado de La Curz, and Bañaderos offer both high school and junior high. El Zapote Santa Rosa only offers junior high classes. 

This past year the IHER program in El Prado de la Cruz, worked to provide a career track in computation, but they needed to provide a computer lab. The faculty and students did several fundraising projects but also asked for assistance from St. Thomas Aquinas, The Honduras Committee designated $1100 for purchase of computers. Here are some photos the director of the center sent me.

This year there were more applicants for scholarships than last year. 211 – 125 high school; 86 middle school. As a result, your gift of 234,840 lempiras – about $9483.75 – was a great help for many poor families.

The scholarships cover part of the cost of the books. The students and their families will be paying for the other costs, including transportation. 

 Thank you for your generosity. 

An investment in the youth here is so important.

Here are a few photos of the graduation from 9th grade (junior high) in Dulce Nombre. 

Lastly, here's a letter of thanks from IHER El Prado:

Education project follow up

UPDATED:

Today I spent about six hours (including driving about 40 miles) to try to tie up some loose ends in regard to the educational scholarships.

I still don’t have the final details but I just heard got phone calls from the last two centers I was waiting to hear from. I am pretty close being able to determine how many scholarships will be granted and how much money will be distributed. I will go out to Dulce Nombre tomorrow morning to give the parish secretary the details.

It’s been difficult but I’m glad St. Thomas agreed to help in this, partly because of stories like this:

Sor Nola who runs the program in Dulce Nombre had told me of an 18 year old young man who wants to study in high school. His father has been disabled for a number of years and so income is very limited. The mother too has recently had some health problems.

There are five children in the family, four boys and one girl who is developmentally disabled. The home is without electricity, water, and latrine.

But the family borrowed 400 lempiras (about $20) to pay for part of the tuition and fees.

I had told Sor Nola that this is a case where we could give more than the half-scholarships we are normally giving. They would only have to pay 165 lempira more (about $8.50).

But they had come to bring another 465 lempiras ($23.50) which the son had earned working in the fields.

Sor explained the decision and returned 300 lempiras (about $15). They were grateful and shared that their son was wondering how he would be able to work to pay for uniform, tennis shoes, and some other things – including the bus fare each week.

Talking to the teacher in one community he told me that some other parents had also borrowed money to pay for the school fees. I asked him about the interest rate. Up to 18% - per  month!

And so the funds will help about 88 students this year.

The process has been difficult and time-consuming, but I’m hoping to work with the teachers, the priest, and a few others to have a better process next year.