How Can You Help?
God’s mercy is limitless, and we ask kindly for your help to make our goal of offering women with disabilities in Honduras a place where they can experience this beautiful and powerful message a reality.
As of now, 17 women live in Casa Misericordia. With your support we can expand that number to serve up to 28 women in this home.
Every single contribution matters. Step by step, we can grow together in this beautiful mission of serving those who need us most.
Reunification?
Casa Misericordia´s purpose is to offer a home to girls and women with special needs for as long as they need one.
Unlike the Girls and Boys homes, there are no limits on how long a woman can stay with us.
If Reunification is possible with a family member, the case will be extensively analyzed. If approved, the family can care for their loved one at their own home with the continued follow through and attention of Hogar Nazareth. We always seek the best interest of the child or adult entrusted to our care.
House of Mercy
Casa Misericordia is a home for women with disabilities of all ages located in Comayagua, Honduras. Misericordia is the spanish word for Mercy, which is the founding principle of this home. “God, please have mercy on these women” was our founder´s constant thought as she saw women with special needs suffering, being misunderstood, and mistreated by those around them.
Casa Misericordia´s purpose is to offer a safe, loving, peaceful home where girls and women with disabilities can live in dignity and thrive. We strive to be a home where all women who come can heal physically and spiritually so they can live joyfully and feel loved and safe at all times!
In the early 2000s the family of Maira, born with Microcephaly and now at about the age of 12, was struggling to take care of her. She would leave the house and wander the streets alone, picking up trash, and living very defensively. In Honduras, as in many other parts of the world, people with disabilities are still stigmatized which causes many undesired behaviors and treatment towards them. Mami Carmen knew this, she kept seeing Maira wandering the streets and she worried about her. She was unsafe and in danger. Her parents could not take care of her well, since they were very old and frail. Mami Carmen knew this was the moment to act on her dream, it was time to provide a loving home for all the women like Maira, women with disabilities in need of a place to be cared for and be safe. Starting a new home is not easy, but with Love and God's Divine Providence leading the way, Maira would become the first woman in the home for special needs.
Today, 17 girls and women with disabilities reside at Casa Misericordia.
Maira´s story - the founding of Casa Misericordia
Families in Honduras are often not equipped emotionally or financially to deal with the unique challenges of taking care of a loved one with disabilities. Because of this, the hope of building a home with dignity and love for them was born in Mami Carmen's heart (the founder of AHN) as she met Maira, the inspiration for Casa Misericordia.
How do girls and women with disabilities come to this home?
Casa Misericordia differs from our other Homes due to its unique mission of caring for girls and women with disabilities of all ages. As mentioned in their own sections, the Babies Area, Boys and Girls homes are strictly regulated by DINAF, the government agency in charge of rehoming and placing children and teens under the age of 18 in a safe environment where all their rights are protected and their needs covered. Girls with disabilities under 18 years old will come to Casa Misericordia through the referral of DINAF. Most women who are above this age, will come through unique paths. In some cases, a concerned citizen will come to ask for help in relocating a woman if the woman is being mistreated and abused at their house by their family. In others, a case in court will draw the attention of Casa Misericordia staff and Hogar Nazareth will offer Casa Misericordia as an alternative for a safe home for a woman with disabilities in an endangered situation. Sometimes, a family will make the hard decision of rehoming their loved one with special needs if they acknowledge they do not have the ability or resources to care for them. No matter where they come from, Casa Misericordia will offer them a home where they can feel safe and loved. A home where their lives can transform and they can heal from their pasts.