Honduras is a country located in Central America, between Guatemala to the west, El Salvador to the south-west and Nicaragua to the south. The country is bordered by the Caribbean Sea on the north coast and the Pacific Ocean on the south coast. It also includes the “Islands of the Bay”, Guanaja, Útila e Roatàn, which are located in the Caribbean Sea.
Honduras has a tropical climate, but in the mountains the temperatures are lower because of the height. On the Pacific coast as well as in central Honduras, the year is divided into a dry season, where temperatures are quite high, and a wet and rainy season with abundant and frequent rainfall. On the Carribean coast, it is wet and rainy all year long.
Honduras is one of the countries most affected by climate change: Over the years, the ecosystem has been hit hard and the sea level has risen. The water swallowed up a part of the lush vegetation, dangerously approaching the houses.
The Spanish name “Honduras” means “depths of waters”. The country covers an area of 112,492 km2 and has 9 million inhabitants. The population is made up of 90 % “Mestizos” (descendants of European colonists and immigrants and indigenous Hondurans), 7 % Amerindians, 2 % Afro-Hondurans and 1 % Whites. Spanish is the official national language. In some small communities, indigenous languages are spoken. Most inhabitants are Christians, approximately half of which are Catholics.
Honduras is a globally extremely poor country with social and political instability. Around 60% of the Hondurians live in poverty, 19% of them even in extreme poverty, meaning that they have less than 1,90$ per day. As the economy is centered on agriculture, it is very sensitive to climate conditions and climate changes. The land is full of rich natural resources like minerals, coffee, tropical fruit, sugar cane etc. and has an amazing biodiversity, but there also are big environmental issues.
Children in Honduras
As Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, the life of Honduran children is quite hard. The country’s situation is also not helping: insecurity, poverty, children trafficking, poor health system, family violence, sexual abuse, police violence, discrimination between boys and girls...
The notion of children’s rights is recognized but not applied. For example, 14 % of the children are working (mostly in agriculture). Some others are spending their days on the street, asking for money and food, without any form of access to education. In total, 28 % of the children are not going to school.
The children who have access to education (mostly boys) go to class in the early morning, and do homework and sports, mostly football, in the afternoon. In the schools they wear school uniforms. The richest students receive a diverse education that includes classes that are not considered as important in other schools, for example arts.
Between 12 years old and 18 years old, 3 in 4 children leave school to go to work or are married by their families.
A lot of humanitarian associations are working daily to help transform the daily life of children. They create a safe space for dialogue and work with the government to reform the legislation which concerns Honduran children. That creates a form of global consciousness to change mentalities and encourages more and more families to put their children at school, and urges the government to invest more money in education.
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