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I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your tremendous support. Whether you are a volunteer, a donor, a club, association, church or other kind of organization, we value your contribution and dedication. Your heartwarming support, donations, promotional activities and loyalty are encouraging to us all. You help us realize that we’re moving in the right direction.

We hope you will continue to support us.

In this letter I will comment on the projects we collaborated with in 2007. A new educational project for women’s sexuality, rights and birth planning was launched. This project links up smoothly with the other two, since the education is aimed at reducing the number of orphans and street children in the long run.

You have grown accustomed to receiving our plans for the years to follow. I am pleased to announce that our board will soon present a policy report up until 2012. You will receive those papers separately. Therefore, the plans for 2008 won’t be discussed at length.

Proniño

In 2007 we supported Proniño in developing and expanding their organization. As many as 80 children and youths are taken care of, 8 others have since left the program and returned to their homes or now lead an independent life as an adult.

• Homeless Child sends a fixed amount of 3.100$ (2.200 €) per month for operational costs, which is approximately 35% of Proniño’s total budget. We also make donations for certain projects and occasional support.

• In September as many as 7 children were chosen as best or most motivated pupils of their respective classes.

• An agriculture program was started to decrease the costs and offer education in a new trade.

• With help of Homeless Child a program was launched to make jewelry. The earrings, bracelets and necklaces are sold in the Netherlands, Honduras and the US. The proceeds are put in a savings account, and youngsters who aspire to further education, or would like to start their own business, can claim from this, when they leave the program.

• In October a building that was paid for by Homeless Child was opened to serve as an intermediate phase between rehabilitation and the permanent center with an open door policy, enabling a smoother transition

• The collaboration with Proniño has been further improved. The new assistant director and project manager are doing a terrific job.

• Unfortunately, Proniño hasn’t been able to find a new psychologist, but they and we continue to look for one.

• With a donation from www.moments-of-joy.org Proniño built a survival track which the children use for fun and to have competitions

Hogar Suyapa

After having given occasional support to this project for some years, we started a long term working alliance in 2006.

With a donation from Homeless Child we fixed the roof of the nutrition center, where an average 25 children are looked after at any given time.

• Thanks to donations from, among others, Rotary Winterswijk and student union Ichthus from Zwolle, along with a subsidy from the ‘Wilde Ganzen’ and from the Dutch government, we have been able to fund our biggest project yet: a second floor on the orphanage Hogar Suyapa. The housing capacity has thus grown from 24 to 60 children

• Homeless Child also financially supports this project by doubling each new local donation to a maximum of 6000 $ (4.500 €)

Asociacion Hondurena de a Mujer y Familia (AHMF)

To prevent single mothers giving birth to more children than they are able to care for, we’ve started a program on sex education and birth control. This program is offered in conjunction with a local organization and together we offer birth control remedies at a very affordable price. We hope to eventually lessen the local orphan and street children problem. Our first gift of 5.000 (3.600 €) was received in September and is meant to last for an initial six months.

By way of these 3 projects we try to work not only on prevention, but also to offer long term, durable support to children of all ages. All this work is concentrated on the city of El Progreso, and in this way we try to have a lasting positive impact on the local community, and to help to promote the local community’s own efforts and ideas.

The Netherlands

In May the third annual volunteer day was held. This time the manager of Hogar Suyapa was present, to seek funds and raise awareness for poverty.

Our director Bas Wiersma worked in Honduras for three months for the sixth consecutive year. He is involved in helping the existing projects to develop further and sees to it that all donations are used appropriately.

In the last year the number of structural donations has slightly increased, but not enough for Homeless Child to be able to cover all our monthly obligations. People who wish to become donors can now use a notary deed for full tax deduction of their gifts, if eligible under Dutch law.

Since August we’ve had a blog on our website where we share news on a regular basis. Readers are encouraged to comment or share their views.

Special thanks go out to a couple of people who have helped enormously. For instance, Cesar Gomez-Mora, who has been managing the website behind the scenes for the last four years. Christi Norde, who has been a volunteer for several years now, both in Honduras and the Netherlands. And we’d like to mention Greet and Gerrit Klein Kranenbarg, who will soon be working in Honduras for several weeks for the 4th year in a row.

A glance on the future

We are collaborating with www.lokaalmondiaal.net , preparing for a new educational documentary in Honduras to be made in 2008.

We would love to build a new home for abused girls, a group that is often forgotten. In order to realize this goal, however, we need funding guarantees, as well as sufficient expertise and support in Honduras.

On the 14th of January 2008, Homeless Child celebrates its fifth anniversary. We will not celebrate this event, but will take a moment to reflect on everything we have been trying to accomplish in the last five years with your help.

Thanks to everyone who supports us, an increasingly large group of children have more promising futures. We hope we can also depend on your help in the years to come.

The children from Honduras and all of the team members of Homeless Child sincerely wish you a merry Christmas and a happy, prosperous and healthy new year,

All the best for 2008.