The Need

Health
Parasitic diseases, diarrhea in infants and children, dehydration, respiratory conditions, and severe dental caries are common health problems in rural Honduras. Daily consumption of contaminated water is the main cause of these endemic parasitic diseases. As of 1995, only fifty-three percent of rural people have access to pure drinking water.

AIDS is becoming a critical problem. Honduras has the highest rate of HIV infection and AIDS cases in Central America; 60 percent of Central America’s HIV positive population lives in this country. Health education is greatly needed in rural Honduras.

LACA has completed and continues to promote many different health projects in the rural communities.

Education
In Honduras most children do not attend school past the sixth grade. This is the level mandated by the government, though it is not enforced as many parents cannot afford to buy the notebooks, pencils, uniforms, and other supplies required by every student to attend school.

Less than 20% of the students who attend school through the sixth grade, continue their education. Not all villages and towns have a “middle” school, so students who wish to continue their education have to move, leave their families behind, and pay rent and board costs which can add up to $500-$600 a year, which is equal to the annual income of most families in Honduras.

Not even 1% of those students go on to University.

Poverty makes getting an education prohibitive for the majority of children living in rural Honduras.

Economy
The minimum wage in Honduras is $71 a month and does not even apply to the campesinos (farm laborers), which reflects Honduras’ economic plight.

Young people leave their rural communities and flock to large urban areas looking for work. Young women leave their families for work in Maquilas (factories) where the hours are long and the conditions questionable. They are often disillusioned and end up living in much greater poverty than they left in their own community.

These rural communities need the means to develop employment in the village structure itself, and with LACA’s assistance and self-help cooperative project guidance, they are getting it.

Environment
Deforestation is an overwhelming problem in third world countries. The forests are being depleted at an alarming rate.

Not only is wood one of Honduras’ chief exports, but it is also still used for cooking. Early every morning, women or children go out to gather wood to cook the family’s meals. At one time the capital city of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, was surrounded by a lush forest. Now it is barren.

Since 1993, LACA has been encouraging a change from traditional cooking with wood to the use of solar cookers for these communities.