For the past three years, Kids Matter has partnered with Buckner International to provide critical services for at-risk children on the island of Roatan, Honduras.

These girls have suffered the most horrific forms of abuse in a country where there is little to no prosecution of offenders or protection for victims. Kids Matter and Buckner together have built, staffed, and maintained short-term transitional homes for 19 girls to date. Also, providing foster and kinship care, medical care, counseling, and job training for dozens of women in the community.

Life in Roatan

Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, and is quickly slipping further and further below the poverty line.

• Population living below National Poverty Line: 53%
• Population living on below $1 a day: 20.7%
• Rural population using adequate sanitation facilities: 52%

Underneath the turquoise waters and pristine beaches of Roatan, there lies a culture of extreme poverty and need. There is no governmental social service or funds for Honduran children who become victims of violence, poverty, or neglect. Children are often forced into the streets to fend for themselves when their families will not, or are unable to care for them. 75% of “street children” have some family links, but spend most of their lives on the streets begging, selling, and stealing in order to supplement their family’s income. The remaining 25% live on the streets permanently, sleeping in abandoned buildings, or anywhere they can find shelter. Often they resort to petty theft and prostitution to survive.

Trafficking in Roatan

During the last decade, Central America has become a new destination for the “sex tourism” industry, where child predators travel to sexually abuse children in those countries. Most of the victims are young girls who are either forced into the trade by family members, or are living on the streets with no other source of income or protection.

• 70% of girls have their first sexual experience in the form of sexual abuse from a family member
• Population living on below $1 a day: 20.7%
• The leading cause of death in girls under 15 is pregnancy, second to malnourishment.

Kids Matter is exceptionally proud of the girls in our homes and those who have transitioned out who overcome the statistics and provide themselves a life of self-sufficiency, safety, education, and health. We look forward to serving the girls of Roatan for years to come.

To learn more about our work in Roatan, or to become involved with serving overseas, please contact Joe King at josephrking@verizon.net.