LOS FRESNOS –Central American educators are in the Rio Grande Valley learning new ways to engage students and prevent them from leaving their home countries.

Educators said the subject of immigration and the risk of making a dangerous journey to the U.S. is a subject they address with their classes every day.

Bessy Morales is a teacher in Honduras. She is currently visiting Los Fresnos CISD.

“We are deprived in education. Many of our school don’t have chairs. There’s no tables, there’s no books, there’s no meals served like they have here,” she said.

Morales along with a group of Honduran educators said one of their biggest and most constant hurdles is poverty.

They also try to educate younger generations of students who look forward to leaving Honduras as many of their family members have done.

“The children say, ‘When I grow up, I will go to the United States because we are poor people. I would like to help my father and help my older brother and sister and my family,’” Honduran teacher Dania Torres Florentino said.

The teacher said they had to start advising students in their classrooms.

“You have to look for the way to live in our country, and look for the other opportunities and please don’t go to another country,” she said.

Morales said funds will continue to be limited for public education back home. She hopes these interactions with students and teachers in the U.S. will spark creative approaches in education and opportunities.