Greetings Friends of El Hogar -

There has been a fair amount in the media lately about issues of violence in Honduras, along with the withdrawal of the Peace Corps volunteers this past December. Just last week we learned that the sister of the Episcopal Bishop of Honduras, the Rt. Rev. Lloyd Allen, has fallen victim to this violence. This is of course very concerning news, and we want to communicate with you about it.

It raises the question of whether the children and staff of El Hogar are safe. It also raises the question of whether it is safe for El Hogar service teams and volunteers to go to El Hogar.

Regarding the safety of the El Hogar community: Life at all three centers at El Hogar continues unaffected by the events described in the news, which is mostly focused in the northern part of the country and is where the Bishop's sister lived. El Hogar is in the south-central part of Honduras. The new school year has just started up at El Hogar and the staff is focused on their work and mission to provide a safe home, food, education and love to our children. El Hogar is, in fact, as safe haven for them.

Regarding the safety of volunteers and teams to El Hogar: In the second poorest country in the western hemisphere there is always some risk and no one can guarantee safety. However the El Hogar service team situation is very different from that of Peace Corps volunteers. Peace Corps volunteers live in rural areas, often alone or with one or two other people, and travel on public transit; the environment for El Hogar volunteers is quite different. We work very hard to make sure our service teams are as safe as possible. For example, El Hogar service teams are met at the airport, stay on secure El Hogar campuses, and are not permitted to travel on their own. Typically the teams are driven in larger groups in the school van. We always strongly encourage service teams to follow the procedures laid down in the Service Team Hand Book and the instructions of El Hogar staff.  El Hogar has not had a service team member injured due to a security incident in our 33 year history and we put a high priority on keeping our security teams safe. Our doors remain open to service teams.

Nevertheless, it is the decision of each service team volunteer whether they travel to Honduras. We cannot guarantee safety; only that we take every precaution we can to keep teams safe. Please feel free to contact Matt Engleby, our Executive Director in Honduras at matthew@engleby.org or Liz Kinchen, our Executive Director in the US at lkinchen@elhogar.org, or Margo Mingay, our Service Team Coordinator at mmingay@elhogar.org if you have questions or concerns.

In the meantime, we pray for peace and an end to the despair in Honduras. Our prayers are with the Allen family and all who suffer at the hand of senseless violence. At El Hogar, we continue our work to help the poorest of the poor break the cycle of desperate poverty into which they were born. We are, as always, ever grateful for your love and support of the work being done at El Hogar.

WIth our thanks,

Matt and Liz