The conference featured a variety of speakers and panels/topics. The panels ranged from education, to child abuse, to AIDS, to community development, and many others. For you folks reading in the good ol' US of A, the conference also included appearances from USAID (the US government's humanitarian arm), as well as the new US Ambassador to Honduras; we have no desire for her job. We made several great connections and are looking forward to collaborating with several folks that we met in the Santa Cruz area.
Below are some interesting "Honduras" facts we gathered throughout the week.
- Honduras has 103 endemic plants. In addition, there are 600 orchid species, 117 different kinds of snakes and is the most mountainous country in Central America.
- There are 7 active languages groups in the country.
- 3/4 of Honduran homes lack a father figure, and only 20% of birth certificates name a father.
- ~40,000/8 million Hondurans are infected with HIV, and the north coast is experiencing a recent explosion of transmissions. 60,000 children are either orphaned from AIDS or are dealing with an immediate family members illness.
- 51% of Hondurans are under the age of 26.
- 1/3 of Honduran children have been sexually abused by the age of 12.
- There are more gang members in San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa (primary cities) than in the rest of Central America combined.
- Crisis - Hondurans recognize that their country has been in a state of decline for some time and is in desperate need of a turn around.
- Development - It seemed that nearly every Honduran that spoke mentioned that their country's need was in "desarollo (development)." They mean that there is the need to create a long-lasting, relationship-based, self-sustaining lifestyle of the people in their country. (We'll talk more about this soon.)
S&K - Appreciate the update from the conference - was praying that it would be a fruitful time. Why wouldn't you want to US Ambassador's job?!?!
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