Our Boystown in Amarateca, Honduras opened in January of 2017 with 242 boys. Over the past two years our programs have grown and we began 2019 with 635 boys attending classes and living together at the Boystown. Later this year, we’ll be beginning an expansion project that will allow us to accept 380 additional boys each year.
Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America. It is plagued by high levels of unemployment, crime, and violence. About 20 percent of the population makes less than $1.90 a day. And with the prices of their main exports falling and the increasing frequency of natural disasters in the region, poverty rates are at risk of increasing.
We believe education is the key to improving conditions in Honduras. Our expansion project will allow us to offer hundreds more children each year the opportunity to break free from the extreme poverty into which they were born. It will enable them to find jobs in their country where they will earn a livable, stable wage, empowering them to help their families and others in their communities.
The boys in our programs receive intensive vocational training alongside their education. They study computing, welding, electrical engineering, and automotive mechanics. The expansion will include a building for a new welding and automotive shop, allowing us to expand our technical workshops. It will also include a new five-story, 18,000 square-foot building with 13 new classrooms, a multipurpose room, 12 dormitories, a kitchen, laundry facilities, an infirmary, and a dental clinic. Finally, we’ll be adding in a swimming pool so we can offer the boys swimming classes.
To support this new project, visit: https://www.worldvillages.org/donation/.
From right to left: Mockup of new multi-purpose building, mockup of new welding and automotive shop
Scenes from life at the Boystown in Amarateca.