The gift of warmth
How child sponsorship provided
Victor and his family with the
supplies they need to stay
warm and safe in Honduras.
Imagine if this Christmas, a boy went to sleep under a thick, warm blanket for the first time. Seems basic, but imagine if it was the last time he and his brothers had to huddle together, fighting the cool mountain breeze that swept through their home after dark.
Victor is 10 years old and has very clear ideas about the priorities in his life: his racing cars, a football for after school games, learning mathematics so that he can be a builder one day – and a blanket to sleep under at night.
“All people should have a house so they can live happily, a place to eat and where they don't feel cold,” he says.
Victor lives in the mountainous region of Yamaranguila, Honduras. While Honduras is known for its sunny beaches and tropical climate, Yamaranguila is known as the country’s coldest municipality, where temperatures can drop to almost zero degrees Celsius.
However, houses in the mountains of Yamaranguila are still built with wood and mud and straw bricks like the rest of the country. The gaps in the walls which are not a problem in warmer regions, offer little protection against the cold of his mountain home.
“Sometimes it's hot here, other times it rains all day,” he shares. “But when it's cold, it's very cold. I have to wear a coat on those days, or I get sick.”
The problem is that many families, like Victor’s, don’t always have extra layers to stay warm when the weather turns cold. One in every two people in Honduras live in poverty, and with one of the highest levels of inequality in the world coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic aftershocks, the cold is yet another hardship in a chain of barriers.
Things changed for Victor and his brothers when World Vision partnered with his community and he became part of the child sponsorship programme. It’s tackling those barriers one by one so children have what they need to build a brighter future – food, clean water, school supplies, medical care, and protection.
For Victor and 343 other children in Yamaranguila, that includes something as simple as a warm blanket to keep him warm at night and protected when harsh winds blow.
Now that he can sleep warm, his thoughts are for the other children in who still can’t.
“I ask God to take care of them, to protect them. I pray they will live happily at home, that they never get sick and that when they are cold, you help them to keep warm as you sent help for me.”
This Christmas will be the first that Victor sleeps warm under a new blanket. But that is just the beginning – because our community-focused solutions mean that for every child you help, 4 more children benefit too.
Every 60 seconds, World Vision brings another first…
A family gets water.
A hungry child is fed.
A family receives the tools to overcome poverty.
What first can you give to a child like Victor this Christmas?
