1. They have inadequate school and too few children attend them.  Their schools are said to be 35 to 50 years behind their Central American neighbors.
2. There are too few jobs. There is approximately 65% unemployment.
3. There are too few homes. About 35% of the population have no home.
4. Their diet is limited. Malnutrition is common. The limited diet of many pregnant women and their children results in diminished mental development for many children.

These are the four systemic reasons for the pervasive disabling poverty of Honduras create a sad cycle of poverty. In addition, there is absolutely no social safety net to assist those in need. For families caught in the jaws of poverty, there are no public resources available. Assistance is non-existent. Unlike here in the U.S., in Honduras, people born into poverty seldom escape a life of poverty.  To be born into poverty is to live and die in poverty.

That is where Art For Humanity steps in. Art For Humanity is concerned with addressing the systemic causes of poverty in practical and helpful ways. For each of the four systemic causes of poverty, Art For Humanity is doing something helpful.

1. With your help, we are keeping children in school…..elementary, high school and a few in college. Children in Honduras are not allowed to attend school barefooted. For this reason, many poor children are excluded from an education. We provide thousands of pairs of shoes to children who could not otherwise afford them. In addition, we provide assistance in a variety of forms so that students from poor families can continue in school.

In addition, as a way of upgrading the quality of education in Honduras we are building our first school in Honduras. With your assistance, we want to build many schools. With a better educated work force, Honduras will eventually begin to move towards a better future.

2. We are creating new jobs by creating new businesses in Honduras. One of our core activities is to assist the very poor begin a small business. Most of the businesses are home based. With a small business, an impoverished family can provide for their needs thus becoming more self-sufficiency. A sample of businesses we have helped foster include, art and craft production, bicycle repair shop, tire repair shop, making shoes, alteration of clothing (seamstress), fabrication of clothing, secretarial services, musical bands, body and fender shop, mechanic shop, restaurant, fruit stands, etc.

3. We are helping people to build homes. The building of a home typically gives opportunity to a homeless family to also begin a home based business. Each family actually builds their own home….often with the help of neighbors. We have transplanted the old idea from here of “the barn raising’ which is popular among the Amish and Mennonite people.

4. Art For Humanity provides vitamins to pregnant women and nursing mothers. Our effort is to reduce the amount of arrested mental development in children which results from a diet consistently lacking important nutrients. To each pregnant or nursing mother we meet, we provide a one year supply of vitamins. In addition, we are preparing to build a clinic in a community of approximately 20,000 people within walking distance who have little or no access to medical attention. A Honduran doctor has agreed to volunteer there one day each week. We hope to attract a cadre of U.S. physicians, nurses, dentist, dieticians, etc. who collectively would provide medical services for at least a week each month. This will be our first clinic. With your generosity, we will build many.