Our Mission

El Hogar provides a quality education and a safe and nurturing home to children living in vulnerable conditions in Honduras. Our goal is to break the cycle of poverty so that our students can fulfill their potential as productive and independent Honduran citizens.

Our Origins

It started in 1979 with five young boys living on the streets of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Five members of the local Episcopal Church wanted to do something about child homelessness in the capital city. They rented a house, took in those five boys and nurtured and cared for them. With that, El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza was born.

In the years since, over 1,000 students have graduated from El Hogar, which has grown to include three campuses: an elementary school, a Technical Institute,
and an Agricultural School.

The Board of Directors of El Hogar Ministries, Inc. honors and celebrates an historic and continuing shared mission for the benefit of children with El Hogar and the Episcopal Diocese of Honduras, along with the many supporting congregations and individuals in the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church.

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About Honduras

Honduras is in the heart of Central America. It is a mountainous country with both an Atlantic and Pacific coast. With a population of approximately 10 million people, and the geographical area of equivalent of Virginia or Newfoundland, Honduras is rich in natural resources and diverse global exports. Honduras is a beautiful country but not without its challenges.

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Our Programs

Since 1979, El Hogar has been supporting children and youth from vulnerable situations in Honduras.  We help these students and their families break the cycle of poverty and unemployment by providing a home, a nurturing environment, an education and a marketable trade.  We support over 200 students each year in several programs which include:

Honduras: Vibrant and Challenging

Denise Vargas, Executive Director in Honduras reflects on the culture and context of our home.

Whenever I say I´m from Honduras, I tend to lean forward as if to speak its name with my whole body:  so much to cradle in a single word.  If only I could say, I´m from a land that soars and plunges in every shade of blue, like our mountains into shores.  Blue like the endless morning skies that glide gently over jagged rooftops.  Indigo like the small-town bridges that bow over dried-up rivers.  Teal like our untold stories.  Every part of us and every corner of this country, from the bold pink bougainvilleas to the deep green of our pine trees, every single thing of beauty here carries a hint of violet from a mother´s tears or an old man´s struggle.  It´s what makes our country real and magical, fierce and generous, impossible to define, but infinite to experience. 

Honduras is a remarkably diverse land of raw beauty and ageless mystery.  Within a few kilometers one can travel centuries: climb the wooden steps of Comayagua´s cathedral and sync your heart to the oldest working clock in the world, or dive into one of the Mayan tunnels to feel your pulse race as you near the Sepulturas.  From the height of rainforests to the depths of coral reefs, Honduras is a box within a box of contrasts.  A country bursting with vibrant, colorful traditions, kept alive in legends, poems and songs.  A place to experience simple pleasures: stopping by the side of the road to taste freshly made tortillas and cuajada is a hammock for the soul.  A land where adventures lure everywhere, in unexplored caves, ruffled waters, or simply in a casual stroll along the city markets where there´s no limit to what one can encounter. 

The same contrasts reside in our people.  Anyone visiting our country will be drawn to our campechano personalities: in general, Hondurans are welcoming, opinionated, ingenious and kind.  We boast hundreds of unique expressions and peculiar gestures that make any Honduran recognizable to another without speaking a word.  But we are also formidably complicated: we house corruption, hopelessness, indifference, intolerance and severe injustice.  Over 60% of Hondurans live and die in poverty, without adequate access to basic services such as education or healthcare.  Our institutions are weak, our political views grow increasingly polarized with the majority of our citizens lacking opportunities, and hope.

El Hogar embraces the beauty of our country´s reality, while remaining deeply aware of its challenges.  Our goal is to provide quality residential and educational services for impoverished youth so that they can lead their lives with the hope of a better future.  We believe that human potential is unlimited, and our mission is to empower local children and staff and provide the necessary ground for their best selves to blossom.   Deep inside, Honduras is simply a unique combination of beautiful extremes, concentrated in a noble country with a heavy name that we honor as our collective identity.