The Travel Diary: Confronting the shocking violence of Honduras
- Text by Sean Hawkey
- Photography by Sean Hawkey
I was born in Honduras, Tegucigalpa in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch in 1999. A year later, my family moved to Brighton in the UK, where I have since spent most of my life.
From a young age, I’d heard a lot about the problems in Central America – especially in Honduras, which is often called the “most violent country in the world.” Growing up, I couldn’t understand what was driving people to behave this way or where this violence was coming from.
This year, after turning 18, I returned to Honduras for two weeks to find out more about my country of birth. Even though my Spanish is a bit broken and I wear very British clothes, it was only my shock that made me feel out of place. My reactions were very British, but the Hondurans took almost no notice of the extreme violence that was on display. They’ve been exposed to it all their lives – it’s everywhere.
The first crime scene I saw was a 6-month-old baby girl, who had been crushed between rocks near a river. I also spent some time outside the forensics morgue, where the family of a 16-year-old girl was told she had been raped and killed by a gang. Although seeing their bodies was disturbing, it was the mourning families hit me a lot harder. It made me realise that I fear loss more than I fear death.
Most news stories have a lifespan. Honduras has been a violent country for a very long time, and when there is no major change, news networks don’t want to know. The people at the forefront of trying to create change are students, who are being blocked from education by the government because of a biased teaching system. With a new government, a new generation of students can be taught to help create change within the country.
For me, taking photos is a way of providing insight into a hidden world – of giving a voice to those who cannot speak, and report on the unreported. Honduras is a broken country. It needs radical change. If this next election [happening on November 26] doesn’t go well and another government who does next to nothing to try and fix these problems gets into power, a lot more innocent people will die.
Text has been edited for length and clarity.
See more of Sean Hawkey’s work on his official website.
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