As CAMINO, we aim to provide hope and a future for impoverished communities across Honduras. Families should not have to flee to the U.S. to find a future for their children. Families need housing, work, and a strong education for their children, but most of all they need to know Jesus’s love. Our ministry is called to walk alongside communities struggling from the most extreme poverty; to plant the seeds of love, hope, and a bright future in the hearts of the families we work with.
Our Beginning
Central American Ministry Outreach (CAMINO) started out as a family project of missionaries Walker and Seiny Somerville. In 2017, Walker and Seiny set out to create a housing model that could address the needs of families living in makeshift homes along the side of the road that the traveled weekly. These families did not own the land they were living on, they would never be able to get a home loan, and their homes were falling down around them. In the fall of 2017, they built the first CAMINO home together (with Seiny 7 months pregnant with their daughter Alena). From then, CAMINO has grown to include numerous churches and ministries that have come alongside the Somerville family to expand their community outreach ministry. In 2019, CAMINO officially became a 501c(3), allowing for a structure to take shape that has allowed the ministry to develop into an organization that is changing lives in more than a dozen impoverished communities in Northern Honduras.
CAMINO’s housing first development model focuses on addressing the immediate needs of families living in the most extreme levels of poverty. Through this process, we are able to get to know the families that make up a community, while we address the larger physical and spiritual needs within the community. Each community is different, with their own advantages and struggles, however community development begins the same way in each CAMINO community, with a home… and then another home, and then another. These homes have opened the doors for CAMINO to work in more than a dozen of the most impoverished communities in the region. We have built more than 100 CAMINO homes, a well, a bridge, a playground, a multi purpose building for a church, an indoor activities center, a trade school, while numerous community development projects are currently in progress across different communities.
“Building a new home is a new beginning for a family. It is a time of reflection for them and for those of us involved. I enjoy speaking with the families, to listen to their stories, their struggles, their dreams. I often share stories of my own family’s struggles, which are not to different from their own. I tell each of them that this is a chain of change, that starts with God, the brothers and sisters in Christ that donate towards each project, CAMINO, and now them. I need them to understand that they have never been alone. That Christ has always been with them, and this new home will be a daily reminder of everyone that is with them in their struggle for a brighter future. ”
— Seiny Somerville, COFOUNDER
Who We Serve
Honduras is a country with numerous resources and fertile land (with a year round growing season). However, 73.6% of the Honduran population falls under the poverty line, while 53.7% of the population is considered to be living in extreme poverty. One thing we have noticed though is that there is a third category of families, which is not internationally measured, of families living in squatter communities (or similar low infrastructure communities), where families face a vast number of issues, from poor housing, to lack of water, to high drop out rates, to malnourishment, etc. It is hard to estimate the exact numbers in this category, but based on Honduran government surveys, the percentage of families living in “super extreme poverty” would be around 18%. Communities with high levels of super extreme poverty are the main focus of CAMINO’s work in Honduras.
73.6%
Honduran families in poverty
53.7%
Honduran families in extreme poverty
18%*
Honduran families in super extreme poverty
Get Involved
One of the most important ways to get involved is to actually come down on a CAMINO mission trip. It is difficult to understand CAMINO’s work from a website, it is much easier to learn about it from someone who has been there. As a ministry, we try to spend as much of our funds on carrying out projects, which is why our CAMINO servant team does not spend much time stateside. WE need ambassadors who are able to share what they have seen here in Honduras with people in the U.S. This is true especially as we seek churches, ministries, and even families to adopt different communities to build lasting and life changing relationships for the families that we work with. We also think that these relationships with our communities will change your life as well. We hope you can come down. We still have some dates open for 2023, and are now taking reservations for trip dates in 2024. You can do a trip with as few as 4 people, or as many as 25.