Why supporting a shelter for women is now 'kind of radioactive'

Global Health Why supporting a shelter for women is now 'kind of radioactive' March 4, 2026 7:51 AM ET By Gabrielle Emanuel Faven Mulugeta/NPR There's one voice Lisseth can't get out of her head — the pleas of a 22-year-old woman. In June 2025, the woman had left a physically abusive partner to come to a shelter that Lisseth helped found in Honduras. By that time the shelter was facing a dire budget shortfall because of foreign aid cuts by the U.S. There simply wasn't enough money to provide sanctuary — or even food — to all the women who needed it. "She would say 'put me to sleep sitting up or give me food once a day,' " Lisseth recalls. " 'I can't go back.' For the past 30 years, Lisseth has fought to improve the lives of women in her country who experienced violence simply because they were women. She teamed up with others in her community and opened some of the first shelters in Honduras for those fleeing abuse. She pushed for policy changes. But this past year, as international assistance was slashed, she's seen the disintegration of much of what she's built. The 22-year-old's voice echoing in her head — for her, it's the human cost of losing her funding. Lisseth remembers how the young woman loved painting the intricate, colorful geometric patterns of traditional mandalas. "She said that's how she wanted her life — with everything colorful," recalls Lisseth. NPR agreed to use only Lisseth's middle name because she fears speaking out might undermine future financial support for her women's shelters. The 22-year-old had come to one of those shelters after being "assaulted not only psychologically but also physically and sexually," says Lisseth, speaking in Spanish through an interpreter. "He possessed weapons. It was very easy for him to kill her and he told her that." This situation is strikingly common. One in three women — more than 700 million women — have experienced, at some point in their lifetime, physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or sex...