Honduras Children

About us

Honduras Children, a volunteer program meeting the needs of underprivileged pre-school children through education, food and clothing, was founded by Charlie and Amalia Kirkhum to inspire the children of El Porvenir (Honduras) to do their best. Honduras Children is small charity organisation, but with the energy of devoted volunteers together we are enriching lives and providing opportunities for children who would otherwise have none.

Our goals
• Help children prepare for and stay in school by providing a positive kindergarten experience.
• Improve living quarters, and provide clothing, school supplies, and uniforms for the students.
• Encourage nutrition and hygiene by supplementing the children's diet with vitamins, and by teaching hand washing and tooth brushing habits in school.
• Support families and help them to stay intact, avoiding the heartbreak of sending children to institutions.

We are working to create opportunities for the children of Honduras by co-operating with other organizations having similar goals, and most importantly, by welcoming sponsors and volunteers.

Our work with children
• To help them learn the difference between opinions, judgments, and accurate information to learn to make positive choices.
• We encourage our children to be imaginative, to find creative and peaceful solutions to problems.
• To help them become productive citizens who accept responsibility for the results of their actions.
• To encourage them to ask questions, to analyze and even challenge the answers.

Projects:
• Kinder Sí Se Puede - Sí se puede that's Spanish for 'Yes you can': The idea to build a kinder began back in 2005 when Charlie and Amalia Kirkhum opened their home in El Porvenir to about 20 local children to teach them basic skills. Because many children had never attended school, some of these kindergarten students were in their teens. Amalia and Charlie initiated the construction of the Kinder to be able to provide these kids with a daily nutritious meal, educational enrichment and a safe place to play and "hang out". With funding and support from Amigos of Honduras and the mayor of the town of El Porvenir, land was donated to build a Kindergarten and construction began in 2007. The Kindergarten was completed in 2008 and the first official school year began with 20 children on January 16, 2009. Since 2005, this program has grown to include educational services, meals and material support
• At Honduras Children, we are regularly involved and value collaboration with like-minded organizations and individuals working to create a better quality of life in the El Porvenir / La Ceiba north coast area. With this in mind, we support (but do not operate) several other projects in the area by providing screened volunteers, training and material supplies. Along with international volunteers from all over the world, we currently host university groups from Duke University (Project HEAL), VA Tech and Drew University as well as youth groups from religious and teen organizations
• Sponsorship: Our sponsorship program allows us to provide material and nutritional assistance for the children in our programs. We are careful about how we provide assistance and seek to always find opportunities for folks to help themselves. However, by helping children to stay in school, by helping to improve living quarters, by providing clothing, school supplies and uniforms, and by supplementing the children's diet with nutritious foods from the local markets, it is hoped that family units will stay intact, thus avoiding the heartbreak of sending children to institutions.

Amalia Martinez Kirkhum is the President and Founder and Charles Kirkhum is the Treasure of Honduras Children.

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.