Today's Students, Tomorrow's Leaders
Child sponsorship
helps Nahomy on
the path to
achieving her dream
Imagine having a dream to be the first person to open a medical clinic in a remote community in Honduras.
That’s what 13-year-old Nahomy
hopes to do when she grows up.
"I want to be a doctor and start the first clinic in my community, La Puerta," she says.
Achieving this dream, however, won’t be easy.
Nahomy and her family are part of the Lenca people; the largest indigenous group in Honduras. As a minority in Honduras and El Salvador, the Lenca have long experienced discrimination which has led to entrenched poverty, lack of education and broken families-as parents have often needed to migrate to find work.
Nahomy is no exception. She has lived with her grandparents on their farm in Yamaranguila since she was just an infant, when her father was forced to migrate to find work.
While he was gone, she learned how to grow strawberries, cilantro, and squash.
She watched as her grandfather knocked ripe lemons down from trees and learned how to harvest coffee.
After six years away, her father returned.
At 13, Nahomy is already a child rights advocate and community organizer. She encourages her peers to build up their community through service and recently she was elected as Youth Mayor of Yamaranguila where she faces difficult subjects head on.
As a youth leader, she often speaks out against early marriage, teen pregnancy and the importance of education.
"There are a lot of child protection problems [in my community], one is lack of access to education," explains Nahomy. "Some kids stay out of school and work the land with their parents.”
When Nahomy hears about a child who is not in school, she goes to see their parents with the municipal child protection officer and sometimes an attorney.
"We would help them find solutions. If parents didn’t have enough money and kids were involved in child labor, we’d help them find a way for kids to go back to school,” she says.
Her own experience gives her empathy for the social and spiritual needs of children around her. Nahomy cherishes the Bible she received from World Vision and she loves reading passages to her grandfather.
She says she draws on all the strength of her family’s love and the support of teachers and mentors to be a beacon of hope for others.
"To me, being educated means that I can take care of my family and my community, especially my grandparents and father who have sacrificed so much to give me opportunities," says Nahomy.
A girl’s first day at school could be her first step to transforming the world.
Imagine the world of firsts you could create in a child’s life today.
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