In December, we introduced you to Julio and his wife, Edy!

Julio's son and daughter were placed in an orphanage while living with their mom. Julio began the process of requesting custody of his two kids when two back-to-back hurricanes caused a mudslide that destroyed his home.

He has spent the last year and a half recovering and rebuilding, and was able to build a small home for himself and his wife, and had a temporary room made of old roofing metals for his kids.

With your support, we empowered them with the materials to build two additional rooms for his two kids to have a space to return to. Julio worked really hard on the construction of their rooms and was able to show the welfare office that his kids had a home to return to!

The welfare office approved the return of his son, and he is home with his family, which we are so happy about!

The orphanage where they were living has both a public and a private schools that the nearly 100 kids who live there attend based on their academic performance. Julio's son was in the public school, and his daughter is enrolled in the private school.

In Honduras, the private school academic calendar does not match up with the public school calendar, making a transition from private to public school a challenge, coupled with the fact that Julio cannot enroll his daughter in a private school because there is only one private school in their small town, with the admission being very selective, and the monthly costs of the school are more than an average monthly salary.

Because of this, the orphanage was able to convince the welfare office that it would be best for his daughter to finish at least the rest of the academic year in their private school and try the reintegration at a later date instead of going home and beginning a school year in a public school alongside of her brother. Her room is ready for her when she will hopefully one day get to return home.

Education is often a separator of families in Honduras because orphanages often have private schools on their property that, in theory, offer a higher level of education than public schools. We believe in the power of the quality of education, but we don't think that an improved level of education is worth the cost of not being able to be with family.

But today, we are celebrating the fact that Julio's son is home, and we will keep doing all that we can to help this family's reunification be complete.

THANK YOU for investing in families and for making together possible!

*This family has given permission to share their picture and parts of their story.