This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
Far from Eden


Danger continues for children who return to Honduras By Stephen Deal


I


ts offi cial name is the Center for Children, Adolescents & Special Needs Children, but locals call it


the Eden Shelter (El Albergue Edén in Spanish), as in the Garden of Eden. But it’s no paradise for the busloads of children and adolescents brought to the shelter each week. El Albergue Edén is a reception


center in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, for thousands of accompanied and unaccompanied minors who were apprehended while en route to the U.S. and sent back to their country. Of the 68,541 unaccompanied


minors detained by the U.S. Bor- der Patrol from September 2013 to September 2014, 27 percent were from Honduras—more than any other country. Yet these children and adolescents sent back by U.S. authorities account for less than 13 percent of the Honduran minors offi cially repatriated during the fi rst nine months of 2014. More than fi ve times as many (nearly 75 percent) have been repatriated from Mexico. T ey are held in temporary


detention centers along Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala until the fi nal leg of their journey: a 14- to 18-hour bus ride to El Albergue Edén. Various government agen-


On the outskirts of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, people who pick through rubbish at the garbage dump look down at a tragic fi nd: the body of woman who was kidnapped and tortured to death. Extreme violence and instability in the area have led waves of people to migrate illegally to the U.S.


cies participate in the repatriation process. T e National Direction for Children, Adolescents & Families (DINAF) coordinates the eff ort with help from private organizations like the Mennonite Social Action Com- mission (CASM), a member of ACT Honduras Forum (the ELCA is a member of ACT Alliance). “We provide each child’s family with a food kit, enough to feed a


family of four for a week,” said Erika Murillo, coordinator of CASM’s proj- ect for migrant children. “We also have a psychologist on the team that conducts a psychological interview with each child during the process.” CASM helped repatriate more


than 2,000 children and adolescents between August and November 2014. Sheer numbers aside, the process has other problems. From the outset, DINAF has had insuffi cient staff and funding to fulfi ll its legal mandate to care for migrant children. “DINAF was established in the


midst of the current crisis,” Murillo said. “Its predecessor agency had to be closed [due to] rampant fi nancial corruption and abuse in the treat- ment of children under its care.”


Dangerous journey T e trip through Guatemala and Mexico is fraught with dangers, especially for child migrants. Yet the psychological interviews conducted at El Albergue Edén are perfunctory at best—only 10 to 15 minutes with no time for treatment. Rita (name changed for her


safety), 15, passed through the shel- ter in November 2014 aſt er a 17-day odyssey with her aunt. “In Guate- mala, a truck driver gave us a ride and money to pay for a hotel room. He seemed nice,” Rita said. “T en he off ered me 500 quetzales ($65) to have sex. When I refused, he tried to rape me, but I fought him off . “In Mexico some women gave us


a place to stay. In the middle of the night I heard them talking about me: ‘T e girl is really pretty. We can sell her.’ ... We leſt immediately.” Rita and her aunt decided that


ACT ALLIANCE/SEAN HAWKEY


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52