That's where most people live in Honduras. Even the ones that have moved into the small percentage that is the middle class...they're always teetering on the edge. One mistake, and they're back to adobe walls and unclean water and stolen electricity.
One family I know and love is living this story. Neither parent has a college education. They have 2 daughters. They moved to San Pedro Sula from their Guatemalan bordertown village to give their daughters opportunities. They knew the girls needed good teachers and the chance to learn English. But as parents without college degrees or much of a skill-base, it's pretty hard for them to secure permanent work that pays the bills of city living.
Dad's been out of work for almost a year. Mom is a childcare worker. She takes care of everyone else but is barely able to afford to take care of her own.
They have sacrificed to keep their daughters in school - at a private, bilingual school, that is. Now the school year is ending and now they are considering pulling their kids from the school and moving back to their village. They can't pay their rent and afford the educational commitments. They are resigned to believe they will never be able to fulfill the dream of owning their home. A home they've paid rent on for 11 years.
Concrete block homes in San Pedro Sula run from $20,000 to $50,000. But even this low cost of real estate is an impossibility for a middle class family with so many financial obligations - food and utilities and transportation and clothing and education. That is, even for a family living on a salary of just above $400 a month.
If I could raise the money for a down payment for the house they currently live in, their entire life course would change. The prospect for them to stay in S.P.S. would be a possibility. Their daughters would get the education they deserve. They would break that cycle of poverty we always talk of...
Raising $5,000 sounds like a scary proposition to me. But it's such a small amount of money to make such a large impact on one family. It would impact not only the nuclear family but also the 2 grandmothers, 2 aunts, 4 uncles, 4 brothers and sisters and 2 cousins that all come and go from this concrete block house on Calle 19 of Northeast San Pedro Sula.
And more importantly, it would allow Mom to stay in her childcare worker job. A job where kids depend on her. They've known her for 10 years, they see her as a surrogate mother. Her departure is a departure of someone they trust.
I would be providing her support that childcare workers hardly receive from employers in Honduras. She is a great employee - making a low wage with very few complaints; working hard to raise kids that are not her own.
10 years of working hard and she's thinking of giving it up to lower her expenses and move home. I can't stand to let that happen. Too many lives will be affected. And low-skill, low-wage workers deserve a break every now and again.
I'm considering seeking donations for this cause and offering the money to them as a loan. They would pay it back to me in increments and I would re-invest it to allow other childcare workers to have the opportunity to buy a home in San Pedro.
um, so where can we donate?
Posted by: margo | May 11, 2009 at 11:20 PM