In every society there are children with special needs like Down syndrome, blindness, deafness, and autism. Children in Honduras are no different. However, in most towns in Honduras, the public school system has no funds for a special needs school. And the Honduran government can only provide limited assistance. So without private assistance, the special needs children receive no education.
Accordingly, 15 or 20 years ago, a charitable organization decided to get a special needs school started in Siguatepeque, and they have since partnered with the Society of the Good Shepherd for assistance. Our primary involvement with the school has been to provide the $30 monthly tuition for those children whose parents are so impoverished that they cannot afford the tuition. We also help with physical projects like building outdoor fixtures and painting the school on a regular basis.
Iris Mendoza, the school director, is a committed Christian and is truly an angel in disguise. As she shared with me about the children, she got tears in her eyes. Her heart is so sensitive to their circumstances, and she truly knows each one of the children. We told her that the Society would provide the $30 monthly tuition ($270 for the school year) for thirty children. The tuition includes books and class materials. Iris has chosen the thirty neediest ones for scholarships. But she told me with great honesty that she could easily give us fifty names. We have committed to thirty children, but we told her if our readers contribute beyond that, we will help all fifty.
The special needs school continues to thrive and provide for the myriad of children with their different levels of education. It is truly a miracle to walk through the doors and see the smiling faces, protected and cared for in their school environment. Their dignity is respected to the highest degree, and Iris is constantly seeking the Lord as she cares for the teachers, the parents, the students, the materials, and the government requirements.
As for the parents, Iris advocates for them whenever she can so that they don’t burn out with the load of extra medication, extra school transportation, and extra monthly payments, not to mention the emotional and mental load they carry for their beloved children.
Each teacher works overtime on their lesson plans and activities in order to reach the different levels in the multi-level classrooms with multi-faceted learning needs. There are also many volunteers who come to help with art, therapy, sign language, school holiday activities, and a myriad of other details. When I visited the school for this article, I discovered Iris’s own husband up on a ladder doing repairs on the building. The dedication of so many people on behalf of the helpless is so heartwarming.
Earlier this year, the Society sent a team to Honduras to build a dialysis clinic. Some of the sisters who were part of this team gave the school a fresh coat of paint while “perfuming the air with grace” through their singing and prayers. The teachers were preparing their classrooms and listening to the team sing hymns. They commented on how this small act of service and kindness impacted them. They know all these sacrifices for the children are really an offering to the Lord.
Like last year, one of our readers has volunteered to fully match any donations made for these tuition scholarships. In other words, for each reader who donates $30 to sponsor a child for one month, or $270 to sponsor a child for a year, this donor will sponsor an additional student for the same period. In short, if we can raise the $270 tuition for fifteen students, we will have all thirty students covered for a year—because of the matching grant.
Every day, this scholl is absolutely serving as the hands and feet of Christ. You can see this reflected in the smiling face of each child. Please join in praying for Iris and the staff and their perseverance in this work.
The work of educating these children is not for the faint of heart, but Iris told me that the secret has been relying on the Lord to help carry the burden for them. She knows God has and will provide for each child from the extravagance of His grace. Thank you for being part of that provision.
ulie Nyhoff de Valladares
The Society of the Good Shepherd, P. O. Box 122, Amberson, PA 17210 • (717) 349-7033
Click on the following link if you would care to make a donation to the work in Honduras: Honduras Donations