Honduras

Farm of the Child combats poverty with its unique approach and mission modeled on the Holy Family to educate, protect, and promote healing and spiritual formation for orphaned and abandoned children and families in the local community. Farm of the Child meets the following needs of up to 50 orphan children by providing:

• Homes for orphaned children:

Each child is placed in a family-style home with a Tia (aunt) and Tio (uncle). Each home is divided by gender and age, and is named after a saint. The children have responsibilities to serve in their home and around the Farm. Everyone in the community knows a Farm child by how well-behaved and disciplined they are.

The Children Need Farm of the Child

Farm of the Child is truly a gift from God for these orphan children who have come from broken homes. They are saved from a life of abuse, drugs, violence, and so much more. Farm of the Child is a place of healing and love, safe from their broken upbringing. The children receive counseling and therapy, and are able to recuperate from their traumatic lives outside of Farm of the Child.

Each child has a story to tell, many came from homes of neglect and abuse. It is a miracle they can find and accept the healing and love at Farm of the Child. Yet the children do, and they are so grateful for the hope they have found through Farm of the Child.

Jose Manuel is another miracle child…

Arriving unexpectedly in the back of a police pick-up truck, Jose Manuel came to the Farm sick, bruised, and scared. That first night, the Franciscan Sisters did not learn much about Jose Manuel, only that he was nine-soon-to-be-ten. Jose Manuel had been taken out of his home because of abuse and neglect. He had never been to school. He had learned to count by selling vegetables on the streets, and spent most of his young life fending for himself.

More than a month in his new home at the Farm went by before the real Jose Manuel began to bubble forth. He brought with him a strong personality, and a desire to play soccer and spend time with all who pass by. Jose Manuel began to excel in school and the community. Constantly smiling and, at times, singing, one cannot help but rejoice in the once trapped child that has been set free here at the Farm. From a life of instability, danger, and violence, a child was reborn into safety, education, play, and above all, limitless love.

This is one story, but the same method has been applied more than 70 times to break down the walls the children have put up to protect themselves. Without these walls, the children are able to be children – to laugh, play without care, and feel loved.

The Property

Nestled on the coast of Honduras, Farm of the Child is home to over 50 orphan children, three Franciscan sisters, missionaries, tias (aunts), and tios (uncles); all live in a lush community surrounded by an eight-foot security fence running to the seashore – where there was once two miles of beach. Today the sea crashes against this wall and it is beginning to erode.

Established to create a home for poor orphans who had nowhere else to go by Vincent and Zulena Pescatore, Farm of the Child offers children spiritual, physical, and educational development opportunities. The property even has a school called St. Peter’s Catholic School that offers classes for children from kindergarten to ninth grade. The primary grades K through six each have a dedicated building for the children to study. Though the buildings have no windows, only rain tarps to protect them during rainy season. Grades seven through nine are in a building with three classrooms in it. The only bathroom shared among more than 150 students is a single stall for a “chica” and “chico” (girl and boy) exposed to the elements with only a rough tin covering.

A water pump was recently installed, and the children are taught how to use water sparingly as not to over use the new pump. Water is pumped into a well, and the children collect it and bring it back to their community homes. The children are split into groups to live in homes with children that are a similar age as them. The little boys live in the Virgin Mary of Suyapa House, and little girls in the House of St. John the Baptist. Middle school age boys live with their tia and tio in the Our Lady of Guadalupe house, and the middle school age girls live in the House of Saint Anthony. The oldest girls and boys live in the House of Saint Francis, and the House of St. Joseph respectively. The goal for each home is to have a Tia and Tio watching over them, and making sure their needs are being met.

St. Peter’s Catholic School

Farm of the Child not only cares for up to 50 orphan children, but the children of 100 families in Trujillo at their school, St. Peter’s Catholic School, which is on the orphanage property.

They give a quality education from Kindergarten up to 9th grade. St. Peter’s Catholic School provides relief to so many in the community, because attending a public school means they would receive a deficient education where recess takes up half of their school day. It is not uncommon to find a fifth or sixth grade student in public school who is unable to read or write.

Instead, by attending the St. Peter’s Catholic School, they receive a premier education that costs their family $25 a month. Unfortunately, this is still too high a price to ask their families to pay; so we turn to you, our Catholic World Mission family, and ask you to sponsor a child’s education in Honduras. The education they receive at St. Peter’s Catholic School far surpasses that of any other school in the area. The curriculum and educational system at St. Peter’s Catholic School are designed specifically to address the challenges children from disadvantaged backgrounds face.

Farm of the Child would love to provide dignified life for all that live in the community, and the surrounding village but there simply are not enough funds to expand the school, and provide daily meals for their community.

Classrooms even lack school supplies, and teachers are forced to give lectures without many options for classroom aids. They would like to have white boards in their classrooms instead of chalkboards because the chalk gives the children and teachers asthma. Due to the humidity of being so close to the ocean and jungle the only option for getting a high quality white board, that will last for years, is to order one all the way from the United States. Overtime, the white boards made of cheap particleboard expand and crack. Getting high quality school supplies locally is next to impossible in Trujillo!

Educational materials are needed every year and often only what is donated is what is used. In 2016, the school only had about 43 reams of lined paper to use between nine grades, and over 150 students! Other educational materials are needed for the classrooms like scissors, construction paper, instructional posters for classrooms, three ring binders, pens, notepads, and folders! Farm of the Child teachers rely on donations for these materials, or pay for them out of pocket.

In addition, the teachers would like to offer their students snacks during the day, but like pens and paper, a little extra bit of food is a luxury they cannot afford. Only with the generosity of our Catholic World Mission family will the children be able to break for a snack during the day.

I am most thankful for the gifts of health, education, and the spiritual things I am learning here. I am learning that in everything I do, God is the center.

– Dorfa, 16, arrived at the Farm at age nine

I’m grateful for a place to live, for the education I am given, for the church that is always here to help me, and for the food that’s always on our table.

– Bryan, 14, arrived at the Farm at eight years old

Providing for the Future

The needs of the children at the Farm of the Child are many. We wish to keep them all in school, while expanding to help even more local children, but we also need to ensure the children’s fund for meals is not depleted. With so many crosses to bear, we know Christ has big plans for the Farm of the Child! Some of the children have already graduated and gone out into the community and are able to provide a sustainable income for their families!

“There is much fulfillment in watching the children gradually transform and realizing that their lives have been radically altered by the Farm.” — Tricia Zackrisson (Social Worker)