Agricultural education at El Hogar gives students hope for the future

El Hogar in Honduras not only feeds the hungry, but also teaches them to feed their families, communities, and nation. They build hope for a nation by filling both bellies and minds.

The full name of the ministry, El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza, means, “The Home of Love and Hope.” It provides shelter, education, and opportunities for the poorest of the nation’s children. Half of funds raised throughout Lent by the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane’s Organizing for Mission project will benefit El Hogar.

Paul Rank is on the board of El Hogar Ministries, Inc. “The task of El Hogar is to make sure these kids know they are somebody, and that God cares about them,” he says.

The ministry began in 1979, when two Episcopalians began providing shelter for homeless Honduran children. It now operates an orphanage, a trade school, and an agricultural school, providing for a total of about 260 students. “The only criteria for admission is that they are the poorest of the poor,” says Rank.

El Hogar runs the Episcopal Agricultural School and Farm located in Talanga, Honduras. The school teaches young boys of high school age everything from animal husbandry, sustainable farming techniques, and agricultural accounting — all in a very hands-on environment.

Students are given time to learn farming, as well as math, reading, and writing

“They will raise chickens,” Rank says. “But they won’t just raise chickens. They talk about the cost of chicks and grain. They take the mature chickens to the market and calculate how much profit they’ve made.” Agricultural duties are done with enough time left in their days to educate the children in math, reading, writing, and other academic studies. “We encourage our graduates to go out and teach others,” he says.

One of the larger problems Honduran farmers face is “subsistence farming” — only growing enough crops to feed themselves and their families. “They don’t have much left to sell,” he says. At El Hogar, they learn to grow cash crops, as well as food for living. Rank says the methods taught by El Hogar are not generally known among Honduran farmers.

He says the school’s reputation is great. “They are treated like heroes when they come back to their communities,” he says. “We have some graduates of our program who went on to get further education, and came back to Honduras as teachers.”

Rank recounts the story of a boy named Daniel, a formerly homeless boy living in the streets, and taken into care by El Hogar. He went through El Hogar’s primary education program, and quickly excelled in the agricultural school. “After he graduated from our school, he went to a premier agricultural university in Central America, and has been on an internship in Houston, Texas,” says Rank. “Now he is college-educated, and his future is bright.”

“It’s one of the ministries the Episcopal Church can be really proud of,” Rank says. “The staff of El Hogar know that it is not them, but God working through them.”