Living in the “Real World”

Everyone in our family has had people tell them that living in the United States is preferable to living here in Honduras because we are not living “in the real world”, and that we won’t have a “normal” life here. Aside from the obvious, that it is most important to follow where God leads regardless of where that is, these comments brought about a lot of interesting discussions in our home. We decided to research a little bit about what the “real world” is and what “normal” really looks like.

According to the US Census Bureau, the United States only makes up 4.5% of the World’s population. In the United States, 85% of the population over the age of 25 has a High School degree, the median income is $51,914, and only 13.8% of the population lives below the poverty level ($22,350/yr for a family of 4). However, over 80% of the people in the world live on less than $10 a day ($3600/yr) and over 50% of humanity live on less than $2.50 a day ($900/yr). The poverty level in the United States is based on relative poverty, which is solely based on how income relates to the median income and may not actually equate to any lack. With all of the social systems in place in the United States, few people there really know what it is like to know true poverty… not having adequate shelter, adequate food, clean water, access to health services,  or access to an education.

Out of the 2.2 billion children in the world, 1 billion of them live in poverty.  640 million children are living without adequate shelter (1 in 3), 500 million are estimated to be underweight or have stunted growth (1 in 4), 400 million have no access to safe water (1 in 5), 270 million have no access to health services (1 in 7), and 121 million school aged children are not receiving any education (1 in 17). According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they quietly die in the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life only makes these dying children even more invisible in death.

Living in Honduras these past 9 months has opened our eyes to a lot of things. For the first time in any of our lives, we are actually living in the “real world”, and we wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. It is easy to live in America and think that that lifestyle is “normal”, but it is far from that. Having the opportunity to live as most of the world lives has taught us to be extremely thankful for the blessing of being born in America, and we are appreciative of the seemingly small things that we previously took completely for granted. It feels great knowing that, for now, we are exactly where we are supposed to be, doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing.

As we mentioned in our previous update, our ministry focus has slightly shifted as we have realized where the greatest need lies. Our main focus right now is working with school aged children and their families in our community of Los Naranjos and helping support them in education. In addition to finding sponsors to help keep students in school, we offer daily tutoring, internet access, hygiene education, and a safe place for students to spend time. We are also doing Bible studies for younger children and teens, and are getting ready to start a study for women with a possible craft time. We are excited to see God working here, and have seen a lot of positive changes in our community.

Life in our home has been busy and exciting, and we are enjoying having Kaileen here helping out. Douglas is growing as a Christian and his English gets better every week. Our neighbors had to move suddenly and left their Deer Chihuahua behind, so we have made her a part of our family. Princess and Conan get along well, and it has been fun having a “lap dog” around.

 Princess (before we started feeding her; she is a lot less bony now)

Updates:

*Our homework time is going strong! We regularly have about 12 students come for tutoring and homework, and we are seeing some great improvement with the kids.  

*We have been doing a Bible study for kids under the age of 12 and a separate one for kids over the age of twelve. We have had some great discussions, and we have about 20 kids coming to our studies. Douglas helps with the translation for the studies, and it has helped him grow as well.

*We are hoping to send 5 additional students (Kevin, Daniel, Franklin, Jennifer, and Josie) to colegio for the next term, and are really excited to be able to offer this opportunity to them. We are praying about moving most of the students to a private Christian school that would offer a stronger education and also provide Biblical instruction.

*Alyssa is teaching Fourth Grade at the local bilingual school for the remainder of the school year (8 weeks). Please pray for strength as this is her first time teaching, and she is the only 4^th grade teacher. She is praying about continuing to teach next year.

If you would like to come visit us and see firsthand what we are doing here, we would love to have you or your group! Please let us know dates, and we will let you know what dates work for us.

 Kids working on a craft project during our kids' night

Ways that you can support us:

·         General support – This money is used for our living expenses and to fund our after school program, in which we offer tutoring, internet access, and a small meal or snack to each child who attends.

·         Sponsor a Child – If you would like to help a child attend school, you can donate money for a specific child to attend school. We will have them write to you regularly and we will send you a picture of them so that you can pray for them.

o   Private School – The cost of this program is $75/month and includes: Biblical education,

school tuition, school uniforms, books, school supplies, transportation, and one healthy meal per day

o   Public School – The cost of this program is $20/month and includes: school tuition, school uniforms, books, school supplies, transportation, and one healthy meal per day

o   Elementary school – The cost to keep an elementary school child in school is only $10/month, and includes: school tuition, school uniform, books, school supplies, and one healthy meal per day.

We provide tutoring and assistance with homework for each child, English language lessons, and also provide age appropriate Bible studies and lots of love for each child. We have relationships with each family, and keep track of grades to make sure that the students are serious about their education and are each working to their full potential.

It is very difficult for most of the people in our area to attend school because families are very poor and often want to send the children to work picking coffee and vegetables. The families who want to send their children to school are usually unable to come up with the money needed to send their kids even to public school, since there is a cost for uniforms, books, and school supplies, and many of them make minimal wages. We are educating families about how beneficial it is for them to continue in their education so that they can have a better future for themselves and future generations.

If you would like to help support us financially or send a specific child to school, you can donate online at: http://www.shepsstaff.org/eytzen.aspx or by mail:

Shepherd's Staff Mission Facilitators
PO Box 53640
Albuquerque, NM 87153-3640     Be sure to note EYTZEN # 4182 on your check.

Please email us and specify what age of child you would like to sponsor.

You can also make personal donations via paypal through our paypal address: jesushelovesme@hotmail.com