Agua Caliente
It was very interesting for me this week going to Agua Caliente. Agua Caliente is a border town of Guatemala and Honduras where all of the immigrants that are being brought back to Honduras are taken and literally walked across the border into Honduras.
Many of these people, up to 1,500 a day are children between 50 and 100 of these children are between the ages of 2 and 15. There are many stories that go with the immigration and deportation of young children. Many mothers that have young children thirteen years old or so try to make their way to the states in hopes of a better dream and in the process some of them are caught by the coyotes, the men who traffic illegal aliens to the United States and are subject to abuse. One of the stories that I heard while I was there was of a young mother with a thirteen year old daughter who was on her way to the states. She was about 60 miles to the states’ border when some men captured her and her little girl and took them to a place where her thirteen year old would be sold to men for sexual favors 15 times a day for four months. The mother was also sold as a sexual slave and as you can imagine the toll on this mother and daughter was immense. After the 13 year old became pregnant, they were thrown back into the streets where the Mexican authorities found them and returned them to Honduras. Upon their return, there was really no hope for them. They had no place to go, no family here and had left every thing to try and find a better life in the states but instead they found disaster. Their lives were more in ruin than ever before and there was no help. The first lady of Honduras heard about this case and decided to open up a shelter at the border to help mothers and children who are returning to Honduras. This shelter will be built by IRC and will house about 120 children and mothers. They will be given medical treatment, psychological treatment, emotional help and will be returned to their home towns to their families. Save the Children, Unicef, the Consulate of Central American countries are involved along with the First Lady’s office. These are just a few organizations that are helping in this effort. Also INHFA will be helping as well, which is the organization of child protective services here in Honduras. This program is one of the first of its kind. There is not another South or Central American country that has a facility like this and so IRC is going to be able to help 100 children a day, some 36, 000 a year by building this facility at Agua Caliente. It is a very beautiful place. My role in this deal was to go and make a deal for the land for the First Lady’s office and to see what it would take to complete construction of this facility there. I don’t know what to say but that my heart is totally moved to help these children who have been abandoned. And even though they are trying to reach our country illegally in their desperation they are caught and returned to a place where there is no hope or help. This facility will afford them a little help and a little emotional stability. It is amazing that Honduras is taking this first step to make this happen. This will be a pilot program and hopefully will be repeated for children across Central and South America. Agua Caliente is about a 7 hour drive from Tegucigalpa. We went through El Salvador to get there and it took 11 hours and on my return I came back through Honduras by way of San Pedro Sula and it only took about 7 hours that way. It was an amazing trip. I traveled with lawyers, one was head of immigration, another was with the first lady’s office. We were able to talk about spiritual issues the entire 11 hour trip. God allowed us to reflect on spiritual matters and how God was working in all of our lives. Sometimes we take things for granted and we feel like we are the only ones in the fight when in reality there are many, many people that I have come across here, Americans, Europeans, Hondurans alike who are doing their best to reach out and to help those who are not only in poverty and in need, but helping those who are lost find a better walk. Many of the people who I come in contact with here, are very godly people and are trying their best to follow God’s word. I only hope I can do the same.
Tim
Many of these people, up to 1,500 a day are children between 50 and 100 of these children are between the ages of 2 and 15. There are many stories that go with the immigration and deportation of young children. Many mothers that have young children thirteen years old or so try to make their way to the states in hopes of a better dream and in the process some of them are caught by the coyotes, the men who traffic illegal aliens to the United States and are subject to abuse. One of the stories that I heard while I was there was of a young mother with a thirteen year old daughter who was on her way to the states. She was about 60 miles to the states’ border when some men captured her and her little girl and took them to a place where her thirteen year old would be sold to men for sexual favors 15 times a day for four months. The mother was also sold as a sexual slave and as you can imagine the toll on this mother and daughter was immense. After the 13 year old became pregnant, they were thrown back into the streets where the Mexican authorities found them and returned them to Honduras. Upon their return, there was really no hope for them. They had no place to go, no family here and had left every thing to try and find a better life in the states but instead they found disaster. Their lives were more in ruin than ever before and there was no help. The first lady of Honduras heard about this case and decided to open up a shelter at the border to help mothers and children who are returning to Honduras. This shelter will be built by IRC and will house about 120 children and mothers. They will be given medical treatment, psychological treatment, emotional help and will be returned to their home towns to their families. Save the Children, Unicef, the Consulate of Central American countries are involved along with the First Lady’s office. These are just a few organizations that are helping in this effort. Also INHFA will be helping as well, which is the organization of child protective services here in Honduras. This program is one of the first of its kind. There is not another South or Central American country that has a facility like this and so IRC is going to be able to help 100 children a day, some 36, 000 a year by building this facility at Agua Caliente. It is a very beautiful place. My role in this deal was to go and make a deal for the land for the First Lady’s office and to see what it would take to complete construction of this facility there. I don’t know what to say but that my heart is totally moved to help these children who have been abandoned. And even though they are trying to reach our country illegally in their desperation they are caught and returned to a place where there is no hope or help. This facility will afford them a little help and a little emotional stability. It is amazing that Honduras is taking this first step to make this happen. This will be a pilot program and hopefully will be repeated for children across Central and South America. Agua Caliente is about a 7 hour drive from Tegucigalpa. We went through El Salvador to get there and it took 11 hours and on my return I came back through Honduras by way of San Pedro Sula and it only took about 7 hours that way. It was an amazing trip. I traveled with lawyers, one was head of immigration, another was with the first lady’s office. We were able to talk about spiritual issues the entire 11 hour trip. God allowed us to reflect on spiritual matters and how God was working in all of our lives. Sometimes we take things for granted and we feel like we are the only ones in the fight when in reality there are many, many people that I have come across here, Americans, Europeans, Hondurans alike who are doing their best to reach out and to help those who are not only in poverty and in need, but helping those who are lost find a better walk. Many of the people who I come in contact with here, are very godly people and are trying their best to follow God’s word. I only hope I can do the same.
Tim
posted by Hines Family at 8:34 PM
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