1970's Central America

1970- A Need in Central America

At the same time that Marcelino was being cared for in Quito, to the north of Ecuador similar children in Central America were suffering due to the political instability and natural disasters that left them without homes or families.

Honduras has seven SOS Children’s Villages today, including one caring for children with special needs. Throughout the 1970s, SOS spread into neighbouring countries—Mexico (1971), El Salvador (1972), Nicaragua (1973), Costa Rica (1975), and Guatemala (1976). A Guatemalan Village was built for orphans after the 1976 earthquake; a Honduran Village was set up after SOS had provided food, temporary accommodation, and financial help to victims of Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Abandoned children like Javier Francisco have been able to secure a future because of their good fortune in being delivered to an SOS Village. When he was one-month old, the infant was given to the SOS Children’s Village at Tegucigalpa to be raised. Called moto, the loner, by his SOS siblings, he was sent to a special Village for boys due to his rebelliousness. There he met children worse off than he was, and his life turned around.

He became class president and a tutor for kids with learning problems. Javier developed a passion for computers, obtained a technical degree, and started his own computer company — and that’s only the beginning of what he wants to achieve. “I would like to form a family and see my children grow up, and of course I want to create an NGO to help Honduran children in need. ”Javier’s story is emblematic of SOS’s success in Central America.