Its difficult for any of us to comprehend a child living alone on the streets at the age of 10, but its reality for many young boys in Honduras. Being screamed at, sexually abused and beaten are only a few of the horrible tragedies suffered by a child living on the streets. These children are viewed as worthless; they are not allowed into stores or restaurants, don't have families to care for them and are left to fend for themselves to find food each day and a covered place to sleep at night.

I've been working with ProNino and these wonderful boys since 2005. I lived and volunteered with them for over 2 years. This organization is doing amazing work but sadly continues to struggle to raise sufficient funding to care for the increasing number of children being brought in. Please give... every donation goes a long way.

The following are several of the boys stories... their lives in their own words...

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On the streets:

"My father left us and later my mother abandoned us to go the United States"

"I was in the streets begging for money and robbing for things I needed. I slept in the street and ate in the street and I was afraid to go to school. I was kicked out of the house because my dad wanted to kill me and my mom didn’t want me and I was in the streets for 7 months. “

"my parents made me work, I walked the streets collecting plastic bottles to sell and to be able to eat."

“I spent time walking the streets, robbing, begging for money, breaking into houses to steal. I ate in the street. I slept in the street. I huffed glue. Everyday I huffed glue, a whole bottle. I used marijuana sometimes two times a day. At 6 at night I used glue, marijuana or crack. I would get food from the garbage. People didn’t like me because I stole. I was raped. One day I went to the market to throw away trash. I was going to sleep in the street when I lied to them and they hit me with sticks"

"When I was 2 years old my mother died. I didn’t know her and my father left when I was 8. I saw him and called him papa but he told me that he wasn’t my father."

"I would steal money for drugs"... "to buy resistol" (glue that the children inhale to get high) ... "I slept in the streets every night"

Now, in ProNino:

"But now I give thanks to God and to ProNino because they have taken away my bad habits"... "They teach me to read and write and I know so much."

"I study in school, we have arts and crafts and other nice things. I feel like my life has changed."

“I thank God for giving me this opportunity that many people don’t have.”… “I was a person who begged for money and now I am here learning to weld and when I leave ProNino I want to be a good man and put into practice all that I am learning. If God allows I would like to learn English. I want to find a good job welding. I like to play soccer and I would like to be a person that knows how to weld and do electrical work and some day return to ProNino and be able to thank all of the teachers and people of the foundation who deserve it for all they have taught me. “

“I thank God that he gave me a new opportunity to not be lost to the street and here I am learning a trade to be an auto mechanic with other students. I thank God for bringing me to the foundation to learn a trade and have a future as an auto mechanic and have my own house and one day have a proper family.”

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