Martha: A fighter to the end

Originally posted November 20, 2013

Martha with her children Hengi and Tobasqui at last year’s Beach Christmas

Martha with her children Hengi and Tobasqui at last year’s Beach Christmas

By Michael Carson

-MARTHA IS SPONSORED FOR BEACH CHRISTMAS 2013-

We have always had trouble with single mothers successfully entering and leaving our ministry. We find it is exceptionally difficult for them to find independence instead of becoming dependent on us. Being a single mother in Honduras is more than difficult; it can be debilitating. Martha is a widowed mom of two who fights those single-mother struggles every day.

What would you do to feed your kids? What lengths would you go to just to give them what they need? What if you didn’t have any help – no one? I think you would probably feel sheer desperation as so many parents here do. Many mothers in Honduras go to bed every night wondering how they will feed their kids the next day. Most single mothers lay awake wondering if they can even keep a roof over their kids’ heads. That is the life of women like Martha.

Martha has struggled not to become dependent on us. She hasn’t had an easy road, and it hasn’t always been easy for us to help her. But she has kept fighting. We told her when she moved in we wanted her to enter into some type of educational program to better herself and have a better, more reliable chance at a job.

Martha graduated from the beauty program with fellow ministry Mi Esperanza in October. She began her first job at a nearby salon this month, and her plan is to move out of our ministry house by the end of the year.

We still want her, her sweet daughter Henyi and ornery son Tobasqui to come with us to Amapala this year. We plan to continue to help her kids have a better education to break the chains of poverty in their family, and we hope we can maintain the relationship with Martha and her kids.