Youth Centre for 100+ Young Leaders in Honduras

Dear friends of educate.,

We are very pleased to share another update on our progress with the educate. Youth Centre! With our ten high school scholars, our local project coordinator Walter and the support of the municipality and its mayor Allan Paredes, things are moving full speed ahead in preparation for the inauguration in November.

Each Saturday, our high school scholars have been gathering at the Youth Centre with Walter, working on projects such as cleaning out the rooms and inventorying the existing books. These activities are a core part of their scholarship, bringing the scholars together for community-engagement activities that foster global citizenship. The scholars have also reimagined some of the furniture designs and have worked alongside the local carpenter Francisco and artist Jose Luis Lopez (better known as Choche) to design creative bookshelves that incorporate seating. Outside of the Youth Centre, they have also been involved in silent and group reading, and an activity organized by the local Secretary of Environment where students attended to a reforested plot of land.

Meanwhile, the renovations of the Youth Centre are almost complete and the building is looking mural-ready!

The Centre’s inauguration is planned for late November, just prior to the local celebration of the Chimineas Gigantes (the Giant Chimenys), where great artistic sculptures are built, painted, and then set on fire in the streets. Founded by a local theatre group over 20 years ago, the Chimineas festivities celebrate the Conception of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. During these festivities, we will be hosting a local fundraiser in the form of an art exhibition in the Youth Centre, which will then travel around the country with 100% of sales going towards our scholarship programme.

We would love to introduce you to some of our high school scholars who are involved in leading this project to fruition:

• Robin: Robin, pictured above, is 20 years old and is a very positive young man who is excited about the opportunity to continue his high school education. His family, he says, are very united. He lives with his grandparents, mother, stepfather and two older sisters and younger brother. They are a family of jewellery makes, producing artisanal bracelets and necklaces.
• Rosa: Rosa lives with her mother and father and her two brothers. Her family make and sell hammocks. Rosa works as an assistant in a Kindergarten in the village of Ilama in the mornings, and in the afternoons she attends her classes in Trinidad at the Santiago Perez Technical and Vocational Institute. In her free time, she likes to focus on her studies. Her dream is to graduate from high school and become a qualified Preschool teacher.
• Gerson: Gerson is 23 and lives with his family, who dedicate themselves to making hammocks. He is an energetic young man and a lover of football, which he tried to pursue professionally before becoming injured. He now sees furthering his education as an important step for his future. Nevertheless, he continues to train as part of a local team alongside his studies and helping his mother around the house.

In a country deeply affected by political and social crises, we continue to believes in the power of young people to drive long-lasting change in their communities. We hope that this Youth Centre will become a basis for strong future growth in the region, both with our expanding scholarship programme as well as for our school-based community library initiatives. Your support makes this vision possible, and we are so grateful.

With appreciation,

Antonia