A very dangerous road…
Possibly one of the most dangerous streets in the entire world, definitely the most dangerous street in Honduras & its capital city of Tegucigalpa (2nd highest murder rate in the world)
Los Pinos… is the name of this colony… terrible poverty, gangs, drugs, murders, extortion and unfortunately more. It’s not a place for anyone to enter….period.
Our host Tony has built relationships within this community over the last 4 years; if we are with him we are relatively safe.
We entered Los Pinos around 2pm in the afternoon, a single dirt road in… at first glance, it’s relatively quiet… That’s because most of the trouble is sleeping off the night before. Every night is the same with the weekends being a notch above rest. Nights are filled with alcohol, drugs, guns, knives and glue. It’s a nightly routine… things get going when the sun goes down and by 9 or 10pm, things are in full effect.
We visited the school that once was a place of learning…. abandoned by the government, stripped of everything useful, walls remain, no roof and not a single other thing in it. Now this is where people use their drugs and hang out, old classrooms… no longer a stepping stone to a better future.
Los Pinos has no running water, no sewage system, nothing.
“Doing thinner” as it’s called… rags up to one’s face or a old plastic juice bottle held up to the nose… the kids hands are burned from the chemicals in the thinner… the scars are visible…
Unfortnately, when I say kids I mean kids… very young… sitting on street corners… eyes glazed over….high all day…
German (pronounced her-man) is a teenager that decided to make some serious changes in his life about 7 months ago, he used to be a leader amongst this troubled setting. Now, he lives with Tony and is attending night classes… (German’s testimony is not just a blog in itself, more worthy of a book)
Stephen is a young boy with an incredible smile… Tony has found sponsors for his education, along with Michaels, Ariel’s and German’s… 21 in all. Most have spent years walking in the description of life in Los Pinos above.
Stephen took a small group of us to his house to meet his mom, Marvel and his sister, Karen. We walked 200 feet up this huge hill, just dirt and rocks, no stairs or steps, tires and sewage though.
When we arrived Marvel was sitting in a chair, looking frail and weak. She has lost 40 pounds in a matter of months. She just returned from the hospital the other day, she has a tumor in her stomach, she is waiting to find out if its cancerous but it hurts for her to walk and move. Karen recently graduated from high school and for kids in Honduras that is a wonderful accomplishment. Now she is faced with the 60% unemployment rate in Honduras, an immense challenge. She applies and applies and can’t find work. Her mom isn’t working, she isn’t working, Stephan is a boy… What about the father? He was murdered by the gangs in Los Pinos 4 years ago!
She prays and prays and knows God will provide.
She walks in such faith.
They have no food.
We surrounded her and prayed upon her our entire hearts, she was sobbing in tears and our hugs goodbye; hugs of the sincerest love.
Stephan’s brother Carlos hasn’t been able to go to school because he doesn’t have white shoes and school supplies (uniforms are mandatory and often this cost is big problem for families). Some of our girls took Carlos to the store and had him pick out his shoes… we got him the supplies he needed.
We went to see Ariel’s mother, she came by the property over the weekend to do some laundry, visit and help Nedia (Tony’s wife) in the kitchen. She lives a single room with her kids. That’s it. No kitchen, no bathroom, nothing. Just two beds and about 4 feet by 4 feet to stand.
GOOD NEWS!!!
The good news is there is HOPE in Los Pinos for the first time in a long time. Tony held a meeting with members of the community, talked about his vision and shared a conversation he had with the president of the congress here in Honduras about Los Pinos. This man wanted to meet to Tony and hear more about the work his ministry is doing. Tony is adamant that the government step along side him and help improve these colonies. We are all looking forward to seeing that relationship grow. 21 kids are now sponsored and in school. German’s mom’s house has been painted and support beams repaired. (That house would not have made it through the next big storm with the rotting beams.)
(Carlos has shoes for school)
And this is truly only the beginning…
If Los Pinos can change… any community can change…
If Los Pinos can change… Honduras can change…
