What is EL REFUGIO?

EL REFUGIO Children´s Home is a shelter for children who for different reasons cannot grow up with their families. They are orphans, abandoned boys and girls and children coming from very difficult family situations or extreme poverty. Many of our children have been victims of violence and have gone through lots of bad experiences in their life.

Currently, our population is 70 children and teenagers, 35 boys und 35 girls between the ages of two and nineteen. children are referred to EL REFUGIO through the local youth court and the government agency IHNFA. The children live at EL REFUGIO on a permanent basis.

EL REFUGIO is located in Ticamaya, a little village with a population of 600 people approximately 12 miles from downtown San Pedro Sula. Considered the industrial capital of Honduras, San Pedro Sula is located on the north shore of Honduras and has over 500,000 inhabitants.

Our infrastructure consists of four children´s houses with a capacity of 18 persons each, an elementary school, a library, two workshop buildings, a play house and a covered basketball court. The home has almost four acres of land, giving the children plenty of green space for playing.

Our main objective is to provide our children a warm, loving environment for their personal development. We put special emphasis on a solid academic and vocational education as well as life skills orientation and advice in all critical areas of their lives. We believe in living positive values so children get prepared integrally for their future.

In order to reach our goals, EL REFUGIO´s education area includes a kindergarten, a three classroom elementary school, a computer school with internet access a large library and a play house. Our vocational area consists of a welding workshop, a bakery and a sewing workshop where our children and students from the village can learn the basics of each trade and produce goods for EL REFUGIO while learning skills that can help them find employment after they leave us.

Upon reaching the age of 18, the children should be able to live independently, However, no student is asked to leave the home before graduating from High School or from one of our vocational options. EL REFUGIO also provides scholarships for university students who no longer live at the home.

Our staff includes six caregivers, four schoolteachers, a professional educator, a psychologist, a social worker, a nurse, two cooks, two guards, two workshop instructors, a computer teacher and a director. In addition to the Honduran staff, there are usually two or three international volunteers working at the home.