Pride

I was just at a Forum for Injustice in Tegucigalpa Honduras. Pastor Jeony and I were invited by one of the directors of the forum. They had also asked if we could bring a couple students from AFE to share their testimony. We chose Antonio and Rene. They were nervous about having to tell their story before a huge crowd. Rene’s hand was ice cold from his nerves. Yet they boldly stood up before 100 leaders in Honduras, and shared what God had done in their lives. They shared about their past in the garbage dump, their present at AFE, and their future dreams. When they were finished, the audience responded with a thunderous applause. I was in tears.

Antonio and Rene did not share any new information with me that night. I was in tears because I was seeing a dream come true. I was experiencing the hand of God. I was witnessing a miracle. Our mission is to see lives and structure transformed. Both of these young men are transformed. I know they are only the beginning. There are another 170 students who are in the process of transformation and will one day be walking testimony of God’s love. There are another couple hundred still in the garbage dump but I know they are still in God’s plan. I was so moved because these two young men were shining God’s light that evening. I could imagine the pride God felt, in hearing his two children say such wonderful things about their heavenly father. I could imagine the pride Jeony felt, in that he was the first to respond the heavenly Father years ago to help his children in the garbage dump. I felt overwhelming pride, in working next to God and this amazing team, being part of this unstoppable movement. I know that by ourselves, there is so little that can be done against injustice, poverty, and evil. But for the last year I have been part of this team working in Honduras, whose members are in Washington Cathedral, Amor y Vida, Orpan Outreach, StreetKidsDirect, Bethel Church, and so many other places, and I have seen firsthand transformation. I have tangible, empirical proof that God wants to and is going to transform this entire community. And at the end of the day, God will be glorified.

Future Computer Technicians

Today I was typing into an Excel file in AFE´s office when I was surrounded by eager learners. “Did you type in all of that information?”
“How do you do it so fast?
“Can you even type with your eyes closed?”
“Yes”, I replied, “And you will learn how to do it too!”

Thanks to generous donors from Washington Cathedral AFE now has eleven computers in its upstairs room. The children are taking typing classes. Soon they will learn how to use the programs in Microsoft office, and then the internet!

For children whose world does not expand much further than their neighborhood, this is a great opportunity for them, and they are excited!

Little Ivan was amazed as he was given the opportunity to type out his name on the keyboard and see it appear on the screen. “Would you like to learn computer skills?” I asked him. He nodded his head fervently. Someday I believe he will work in an office instead of in a garbage dump.

Indulgences

How do you indulgence yourself after a long day? My favorite thing to do is to take a shower. I love to shower. Especially after spending the day at AFE, playing with the kids outside, and the long, sweaty walk up the stairs to our house. I love the smell of my shampoo and the feeling of the clean water through my hair. In the shower I can’t be bothered; I stop serving others needs for a moment, and spend as long in there as I like. It becomes a spiritual experience for me and sometime I break into spontaneous worship. I love to shower.

Showering is something we may take for granted in the states. Unfortunately, not many of the families of AFE experience this luxury. They do not have running water at their house. They bathe with their clothes on in a stream near their house. Perhaps this is refreshing on a hot day, but miserable on a cold one. I suspect that many of our AFE kids and families do not make it to the stream to bathe that often.

Now, thanks to Washington Cathedral – and others – AFE will have 5 showers on their grounds by Christmas. Not only will the AFE kids and families be able to bathe whenever they like and experience the luxury of a shower, but a new, clean appearance will begin to change their identity and how others see them. If they leave their community they can do so with confidence, that strangers will no longer point behind their backs and call them one of the “dirty ones.”

Elise White Diaz

Shelter

I walked into the small, cardboard tent , which was created to be a refugee shelter, and pondered: how could this serve as better housing for anyone? In an hour I would find out.


We drove up to the ¨Buen Samiritano¨ community, ironically named. Rey had heard the people in the community called “invaders” because they divided up land that did not belong to them. Some of the families of AFE live in that community, some garbage workers, and some who are just desperately poor.

A man cradling a baby came up to our car. “Please give me money for a doctor, my baby is sick.” And indeed she was…with bites all over her legs, sucking feverishly on a bottle, and crying angrily into my eyes.


Of course she was sick. She lived in one of the crowded “shelters” that dotted the land. A couple of sticks precariously held up garbage bags flapping in the wind. They were the size of the closet I once had in the states. Usually around six people lived in them and received little shelter from the wind and rain which entered as it wished.


The cardboard refugee house, airtight with a tarp covering it´s solid roof, was definitely a better option for these people. Thank you, Aid Matrix, for providing the shelters for thirty families. The need is overwhelming in Honduras - over 100 people lined up for the thirty shelters - but God is at work, moving in the hearts of people like you and me.

“ "A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I'll pay you on my way back.' (Luke 10:33-25, The Message)

Medical Team in the garbage dump

One of the greatest needs we face in the garbage dump is the lack of medical attention. In the last month we have taken two people facing death to the hospital from the garbage dump. They were surrounded by garbage dump workers for hours before we arrived to serve some food. We just happen to go by. If not they would have probably just died like the many before them. There is no nearby clinic. There is no transportation to the clinic. And there is no knowledge of the benefits available to them.

We dream of opening a full clinic in the community we will build. We also want to have a nurse on staff who serves our kids in the morning and the garbage dump workers in the afternoon. Until then the only medical attention the garbage dump community receives is through the medical brigades we bring in. This past week we spent a couple days with a medical staff of 30 up in the garbage dump and at the school. The services were available to all the workers and their families. We served over 500 people! We offered general medicine covering anything from warts to respiratory infections to migraine headaches. We also offered vision exams along with glasses. Finally we had dental services of cleaning and extraction of molars. People were lined up for hours as the staff worked all day. It was such a blessing.

New Church Building

On Saturday October 25, Amor y Vida inaugurated our new church building. We have officially moved out of the community center and into our own building. We had a huge celebration with many special guests and the whole church. We have so many people to thank including Orphan Outreach, ACEMH, and Washington Cathedral who have been involved in various ways.

The construction team that funded most of the building is from Heritage Family Church located in Fort Worth, Texas. They do not have their own building yet but meet in a school. They were in the middle of a building campaign for their own church when the pastor visited our project in Honduras. On his return to the church, he announced that they would begin construction on a new building. The church began applauding thinking that the building was for them. Yet the pastor told them the new building was going to be about 2500 miles south. He explained our project and vision and the church was in agreement to build our church first. It was a tremendous sacrifice and one we do not take lightly.

Spiritual formation is at the center of the transformation process. We believe that unless God is in the center of the process, it will inevitable fail. Our church is fusing two different communities together. It has not been easy but God has worked miracles which are evident on the first visit to our church. We serve families connected to the garbage dump which most of society has ostracized. But God is doing a work in their lives that is impacting the whole garbage dump community. We have started ‘small´ groups in three different locations but they have all grown to over 50. The new building was a definite need as we were standing room only in our old location.

Please pray for our church, our pastors, leaders, and members.

Update

We have great news to announce on all fronts. After a couple set backs, Daniella’s kidney is beginning to function properly. All the levels that are suppose to be down, are down and vice versa. The doctor said her levels are the best they have been since before she started dialysis. She is still in the hospital but could be home in a couple weeks if she continues to progress.
Jessy feels good enough to leave the house every once in a while now. She is still weakened by the procedure and all her medication but she came to our new church inauguration. The church was so happy to see her up an about.

Ellen had her hip and leg surgery on Thursday. They put a screw in her hip. The procedure was a complete success. Ellen was sent home on Sunday. She is still feeling a lot of pain but with a month of recover she should be fine. Valesqa is back at school. Her back is still bruised but the doctor gave her clearance to get about. We are so happy to see her walking and smiling like usual.

Transplant update and another prayer request

Jessy is home and feeling very good. We visited her on Friday afternoon and she looked great. She is able to walk around but has difficulty sitting up on her. She recounted for us the whole story of the operation. She never felt fear until right before she went under from the anesthesia. The last thing she heard was “Pass me the rib-separator.” Jeony and Jessy were able to see Daniella through a window on Saturday. They said she looks like a completely different person.

Daniella had some troubling news today. I do not have all the details but I do know she needs to have a session of dialysis today. Jeony and Jessy are sadden by the news but realize this is sometimes the case after a transplants. Please keep praying for Daniella’s kidney and the Ordonez family.

We had a horrible accident occur afterschool on Thursday. Two of our first graders were hit by a car on their walk home – Ellen and Valesqa. They both spent a day in the hospital. Valesqa was sent home with a bruised spine and has to be in bed for a month while she heals. Ellen was not so fortunate. She cracked her hip bone and broke her femur. She will need surgery which takes place Tuesday. Please pray for her. The family of Ellen is distraught over the situation. Her family is struggling financially and the school has helped.

Thanks

Revolution

Read a new book and support Project Transformation!

Alex Tamayo Wolf published his first book in 2007. He felt inspired by his grandfather, Georg Wolf, who he shadowed as a little boy and decided to write Revolution in his honor.

As an even more generous act, Alex supports Project Transformation by donating twenty percent of the profit from Revolution. You may purchase his book here from Amazon. Buying the book will provide our organization with a monetary donation; furthermore, you will read a great novel inspired by a man that also helped children escape from the world in which they are living.

Book Summary: In the beautiful countryside outside imperial Vienna, in the years leading up to World War I, a remarkable story took place...Helene Marie Neumann, a vintner’s daughter, spends her youth making wine with her mother and father, soaking up the Riesling sunshine, growing into a lovely young woman. Here she meets Maximilian Rieger, a wealthy boy whose family owns a nearby villa. They become good friends. But dark clouds roll in on this idyllic life. Maximilian is sent away to boarding school. And Maximilian's father, a ruthless businessman, swindles the vineyard from Helene's father, the town drunk. The vineyard lost, Helene is taken to an orphanage in the slums of Vienna, forced into prostitution, and remains there until she is eighteen. On the darkest day of her life, she finds a seed of hope in a childhood memory and begins her long journey home. But she must first confront Maximilian, who has grown into his father.

If you want a good read, check out Revolution by Alex Tamayo Wolf. With each sale, a donation of 20% will go to Project Transformation.

Here is a link to Revolution’s website.
Contact the author, Alex Tamayo Wolf.

Transplant Update

The procedure took all morning but was declared a success. Jessy is awake but laying down in her recovery room. Daniella is still sleeping due to medication. The latest word from the doctors is that Daneilla's body is reacting well to the new kidney.

Thanks for all your prayer and support.

We will post more updates in the near future.

Transplant

Although we have faced many delays and obstacles, Daniella’s transplant is finally here. Both Daniella and Jessy were admitted to the hospital Monday morning. They will undergo the surgical procedure Tuesday morning. Jessy will spend the rest of the week in the Hospital in recovery. She will then be sent home to recover for about 2 months before she can resume her duties. Daniella will stay in the hospital until her immune system recovers from the procedure which should take about one month.

Our church, Amor y Vida, has asked the congregation to take Tuesday as a day of prayer and fasting in gratitude for all the miracles God has done and is yet to do in the Ordonez Family. We invite all of you to join us in this prayer and fasting if you are able to.

We will keep updates on the blog but feel free to email us if you have any questions. Thanks for all your help and support. We are all believing God for a miracle.

Future Leaders of Honduras

The task of turning children’s tasks and attention away from the garbage dump and into educational ambition is easier with some, more difficult with others. There are four young men at AFE who have a particular amount of pressure to continue working in the dump. These are Sergio David Paz Moya, Gerson Vasquez, Jonathon Jeffery Paz, and Ariel Valladares. Although they are only teenagers, as the oldest boys they bear the burden of supporting their entire families from their earnings in the dump. After praying with these students and speaking with their families, we have decided to send these students to El Sembrador.



El Sembrador is a Christian Vocational School in Honduras that excels in producing future Honduran leaders. In fact, about fifty years ago one young man who had spent his life on the street graduated from El Sembrador and later became the pastor of the “Amor y Vida” church, which has birthed several church plants and social action projects, including AFE’s church. The former street boy turned pastor was Jorge Pinto, and AFE owes a lot of what it is to him. We hope for just as amazing results with the AFE children who attend. We have sent two students in the past with great success. Many have heard of Antonio and the work God has done in his life. He is graduating El Sembrador this year.

We have a plan to help the families of these four students while they study at El Sembrador. It is a three year commitment but once they graduate, they will have the equivalence of a high school degree and vocational certificate in a specific field. To send a student to El Sembrador costs about $1,200 per student for the entire year. That price includes room, board, registration, tuition, uniform, school supplies and snack food. There is also a little cushion for extra expenses such as clothing and medicine, etc.

If you are interested in providing a full or partial scholarship for any of these four students, please contact Rey Diaz at reyangeldiaz@gmail.com . Please keep these students in your prayers as we seek God’s will for their lives.

Spiritual Formation

We strongly believe that at the core of all our students is a spiritual being. Unless they are connected intimately with Jesus, discovering His love and purpose for their lives, no other transformation is enough. They will be restless until they find rest in Him.

“None but God can satisfy the longings of an immortal soul; that as the heart was made for Him, so He only can fill it.”
Richard Chenevix Trench

By no means are we minimizing or not making social justice a priority. We are simply stating that social justice without Jesus is not enough. We know it is hard for a starving child to hear “Jesus loves you” so we feed and with both our action and our words we declare, “Jesus loves you.” We apply this principle to all the areas of their lives where there is disintegration and devastation.

In order to develop followers of Jesus among the people in the garbage dump, we are initiating a new strategy the first week of October for all the students 12 and up. In conjunction with Amor y Vida, we are beginning a ‘church plant’ at AFE with this age group. We have a 3 pronged approach

1 – Weekly meetings where we discuss any of the topics the students deem relevant to their lives. We want to teach our kids how to be a Christian in the everyday life including dating, working, family life, friends, pop culture, etc.

2 – We are dividing up are kids into small accountability groups called ISI – Iron Sharpens Iron. These groups will be following the structure of Life Transformation Groups where the group meets weekly and discuss a series of accountability questions whose goal is to develop deep disciples.

3 – Finally, we have assigned a mentor over all the students whose responsibility will be to have bi-monthly one on ones. These meeting will serve to simply listen to the student about their lives, problems, weaknesses, strengths, dreams, and ambitions. Anything is free game. Our jobs will be to help the students see Jesus in their own lives.

We are beyond excited about our strategy for the spiritual formation of our students. We don’t doubt these are the future leaders of Honduras who will start their own projects, churches, and businesses that will shine a light of God’s love in Honduras. We are also painfully aware of our inadequacy to attempt this great endeavor. We are utterly dependant on God. Please pray that God might be glorified through this new step.

Thanks to Washington Cathedral

Thanks to Washington Cathedral for all they have done and continue to do for the community in the garbage dump in Tegucigalpa.

A Transformation of the Heart - By Kelly Glenn

Can you remember the last thing that you worried about? Are you worried about anything right now?

I’ve never been a big worrier in life. When I face stress or struggles, I’ve gotten really good at relying on God to take care of them. So far, that’s worked well for me. But recently, I’ve had a number of experiences and conversations that have shaken up ideas about God that I’d had since I was a child, and made me wonder if maybe reading the Bible from inside a safe, suburban home growing up had caused me to misunderstand a few things. Let me explain.

When I wanted to help the poor, I would go to feed the homeless, but I would make it all about me. I would go to bed feeling good about having volunteered and thinking about how much God would bless me for it. I would not lose sleep worrying about where the homeless people I had met would lay their heads that night.

Why was I so sure that God would take care of my every want, need, or desire, when I didn’t give a thought to how he took care of my homeless neighbors across town?

Somehow, I grew more comfortable with the image of God as one who would bless me for doing good works than one who desperately cared about the poor and wants us to do the same.

When I got into my first choice college, when I could afford to go to physical therapy for my knee because we had health insurance, I assumed it was God’s blessings that had allowed me do those things, as if he was rewarding me for being a faithful follower to Him. There’s just one thing wrong with this view: the unstated assumption. The assumption was that those who hadn’t been blessed like I was must not have deserved it. Most people would never admit this out loud, but it seems that the way we live confirms that we think we are more deserving than other “less fortunate” people.

It is true that God cares for me, but what about the refugees of Darfur, the starving in Haiti, or the struggling inner city student in Detroit? I have to think that God has an even greater hand of protection over them, yet their struggles continue. Does this mean that God is taking better care of me than of them? I beg to differ. Maybe I have been taking too much for granted, writing it off as God blessing me for being such a great person, when really it’s only because I’ve been fortunate enough to be born on the right side of certain political, economic, and social structures. I don’t deserve that, it’s just the way it’s happened. So we must realize that God wants to bless the struggling, oppressed people of the world as much as he wants to bless us, and if something is prohibiting them from drinking safe water or working under decent conditions, it’s probably because of our greed, even unknowingly.

I fear that we have become very complacent as a culture. We justify our comfortable lifestyles unnecessary spending by quoting verses that say that God loves us and wants the best for us. But chances are, those verses were not written to the “salaried and caloried” part of the world, as one writer put it, but to people who were poor, abused, and oppressed. It is true that I work hard and God wants me to take time for myself. But how much harder do the hundreds of scavengers in the dump work every day, looking for food? Why did I always put my needs before theirs?

It makes me sad when I realize that even though I do make a point of giving to the less fortunate, I still live at a level that is above 95% of the world. I am not, as Michael Miller put it, “giving until it hurts.” As the saying goes, there is enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed. And I cannot possibly justify my greedy behavior by saying that God loves me, when there are others out there hurting who God loves just as much. It is only through reading the Bible from their perspective- on the fringes of society- that we will ever begin to wrap our mind around how much God loves and cares for the poor and hurting of the world. Let us strive to understand that, to live it out, and to never forget it.

AFE Website

After about 6 months of working on this website, it is finally up. Please check out www.afehonduras.org . It gives so much information on AFE. It is not complete but should be done within a couple weeks. We will also have a Spanish version of the website available real soon.

In the future, the website will be the primary way of contacting AFE and staying up to date. We apologize for the delay but hope it will serve you well in the future.

Preventative Education

As we seek transformation, we see the importance of prevention in this process. Yet we think there must be more than prevention. In the community the AFE kids run in, a downward spiral exists, luring and enticing all of the students into its clutches. It is like a black hole whose center pulls and pulls until all hope evaporates. Most of the people have been in this situation for several generations. It seems they are destined to stay in this context of oppression and poverty. Despite all of their efforts to escape, most have been unsuccessful.

John 1:5 – The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

Once God starts moving and shining his light, the end of darkness is inevitable. That is the ultimate reality of the garbage dump and the surrounding communities. God is moving and people are taking notice.

Part of the darkness that is being snuffed out is drugs and alcohol. Today we had a special group of police officers come to teach about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. It was a great experience for our children.

However, preventive education is not enough. How many students in your fifth grade class tried drugs and alcohol after graduating from the “DARE” program? That is why Jesus aims at the heart, and we aim at the heart in our work at AFE. Most of the students attend church together faithfully on Sundays, and have great mentors in their teachers who look at their jobs as ministry.

The other day kids ran after Rey, quoting back his message at church: “Jesus is the only drink that can satisfy.” Yes, we work in preventive education here, but deeper than that, we work at heart transplants.

Washington Cathedral Mission Team forms deep relationships

The second week of August brought important visitors to AFE. Some of these visitors had been eagerly awaited by the AFE kids; others would form lasting relationships with their new friends.

The Washington Cathedral Youth Mission Trip was an incredible success. We had some new participants – Lily Haynoski and Tiffanee Hunter, who experienced God in a deeper way than ever before. We had some participants with past mission trip experience, but had yet to visit the Tegucigalpa Dump. Their lives will never be the same. The team spent the morning connecting with the AFE students and the afternoons working construction. They made a special trip to the garbage dump to feed about 250 people. The team worked on AFE’s kithchen and some special skills installed electrical outlets, lights, and fans.

Despite this good work, the highlight of the trip was our day at the beach. It has become a tradition with WAC’s youth teams to take the students out on a day of fun. Most of the children at AFE have missed important parts of childhood as they have been forced to work in the garbage dump as an early age. We do these trips to give them all a chance to be ‘kids’ for a day with no responsibility. This time we planned a whole day trip to the beach. A trip to the beach seems simple enough, but it was actually a daunting task to take 130 kids ranging from kindergarten to 8th grade…most of whom had no experience with the water and did not know how to swim. How would we keep 130 kids from being swept away from the strong ocean currents? Fortunately, everyone stayed in the shallow areas and we came back with the same number of kids we left with! JK

There is a Spanish song that says, “Yo se que el vive! Pues lo veo en la risa de un niño cuando voy pasando, y al oír el bramido del mar que me dice cantando, que hay un Dios verdadero que hizo toda la creación.” Translated to English – I know He lives because I see him in the smiles of the passing children and I hear the ocean sing that there is a true God who made all of creation. Now I know what the author was talking about.

Now that we are receiving teams to AFE, rather than bringing them, we have noticed something new. We would never have guessed the depth and sincerity of the relationships formed between the children and teams. Yet for the past couple of months the kids have asked for some team members by name waiting anxiously for their return. Another thing I noticed from this side of the experience is the sacrifice and work the Hondurans put into receiving teams. It is flat out exhausting mentally, physically, and emotionally to host teams from the states. Without minimizing what our teams bring to AFE, I have no doubt that the Hondurans give as much if not more back to the teams. I feel we have formed a beautiful relationship where both sides mutually benefit.

Update on Jeony’s Daughter Daniella

Many people have heard, followed along with, and prayed for Jeony’s daughter, Daniella, who has had kidney problems since birth. Recently, a turn of events seem to prove that it is God’s time for a miracle in her life and health. An anonymous donor gave a large sum to the Ordonez family to help them pay for hospital expenses. Advances in Honduran medicine have opened a window to having the surgery here. Jessy, Daniella’s mother, is being tested for kidney compatibility. We will know the results in two weeks. Please pray. If the results come back negative, the surgery can be done within a month. And although this surgery is millions of dollars, the doctor has agreed to do it for free! Thank God.

We are still waiting for the results and any prayer would be appreciated.

Imparting the Love of Books

Books have always been a huge part of my life. They helped form my dreams for the future, made me excited to excel in school, and taught me important lessons about history, culture, and people.

Honduras has not had a history of passing on a love for reading to its children. Perhaps this is part of what affects the astronomical levels of illiteracy and lack of education.

One of the best parts of my last week was to see the 8th grade class of AFE devour Charlotte’s Web and develop a love for reading. They finished the book in less than two weeks and are begging for more. Although we have a library, we do not have sets of books for all the kids to read together. Thanks to a gift by Rebecca White, we have been able to purchase two complete sets of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia.

The students began reading The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe today. Since we only have two copies, the teacher uses one to help the students read and one student reads the other copy aloud. Today, as they began The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, the room became eerily quiet. You could hear the kids breathing. Some have their eyes closed, imaging themselves in the world of Narnia. Others were trying to read over the student’s shoulder. It was a beautiful sight. When we stopped reading they pleaded for more and even offered to skip their break to hear more of the story.

One of our goals in transforming this garbage dump is to increase the level of literacy. The school is a perfect means of doing that among the kids. We hope the students’ enthusiasm for reading will spread among their parents and older siblings. We talk about several areas of literacy: reading, writing and computing. Soon we will open up our own computer lab and teach the students computer skills, giving them more job and educational opportunities.

If you have any suggestions as to what our students should read or where to look for sets of books (in Spanish), please let us know.

You will receive Power!

Finally we have great news about electricity. Namely, we got it. We feel like we have just finished a marathon after all the work that went into getting AFE electricity. Thanks to all the groups and individuals that helped in one way or another to make this a reality. One donor, who has chosen to remain anonymous, we thank for his support through this process and financing of this project. Last Friday, we went to the power company for the twentieth time with more documents, payments, and everything else they had requested. It was suppose to be a 5 minute meeting but turned into an all day affair. In fact, 5 minutes before they were closing, we sealed the deal and were given permission to turn the power on. We lifted up our hands and danced a jig in the office.

With electricity the options are now endless. We can now have adequate lighting in the back rooms where children have trouble reading. We can now have a full kitchen for the feeding of the children. We can now have computers available to teach the children about technology and the internet. We can now show instructive videos to the children through a projector. We can now offer night classes to adults who have to work in the garbage dump during the day. I could go on and on.

Electricity is just one step in transforming the garbage dump. But it is a vital step and one we praise God for.

Great things in 'store' for AFE

One of our core values revolves around the idea of self-sustainability. We do not believe in creating dependent organizations which rely completely on us, but rather working with groups so that they become independent. This idea goes way back and has a long background we would be happy to share with those interested. For now, it is suffice to say that we want the work in the Garbage Dump to continue way pass our time.

Our first step towards self-sustainability is our store at AFE. Thanks to a generous donation by Alan and Julie Steif, we were able to purchase Polos, t-shirts, and hats to sell. All the profits would go to re-investing in the store and operational cost. This is a small step and will by no means make AFE independent, yet it is the beginning. Pastor Jeony and Jessy both have the vision to make AFE self-sustained and are working towards making that a reality.

So far the sells are going great thanks to our many visitors and teams. We are brainstorming other ways to generate income. One idea is to hire an alumni, Junior, who has just graduated with a carpentry degree. He would make the wood frames, jewelry boxes, wall decorations, and crosses for AFE which we would sell for profit. We are excited about this idea because it would be a benefit to both AFE and Junior. We dream of one day producing quality items to sell through our vocational school which we could distribute throughout Honduras. Please keep praying for God’s guidance as we seek self-sustainability.

More Appreciation

We want to take this time to thank an anonymous donor who will be helping Pastor Jeony with his medical bills for his daughter Daniella. Daniella is in need of kidney transplant and is currently undergoing dialysis 3 times a week. Many of you have helped the Ordonez family in countless ways regarding this medical crisis and all of your help is truly appreciated. Pastor Jeony and his family have poured their life into the garbage dump community for the last 7 years. Their only motive was compassion. Pastor Jeony founded both the school Amor, Fe, y Esperanza and the church Amor y Vida. The entire family is wonderful. The medical bills keep piling up for them even as they give everything away to help the garbage dump. Thanks because God has used someone to alleviate this stress on their family.

Project Transformation has networked with many organizations bring about change in the garbage dump but the single most important catalyst has been Pastor Jeony and the vision God has given him. The school is a beam of light, a city on a hill for the garbage dump community. We spend most of our time working out of AFE because of the rapport that they have with the community.

Please keep Pastor Jeony and his entire family in your prayers, especially Daniella who is in need of a major miracle. Also pray for an important meeting coming up next week regarding the master plan for transforming the garbage dump.

Special Forces Arrive

On Monday, we picked up our newest recruit to Project Transformation – Kelly Glenn. She just finished the first year of Seattle University where she is studying International Studies. Kelly comes from Washington Cathedral where she has grown up. She is a leader in their Student Ministries and Esperanza Service. She is passionate about missions and will be with us for a couple months. We are incredibly lucky to have Kelly on our team because she is a rising star and will one day rock the world.

Kelly is coming at a critical time. At AFE, we have not had a consistent kindergarten teacher. The same was true last year which has hurt this year’s first graders. Their teacher has told me the entire class is behind where they should be because they basically missed learning the foundations in kindergarten. Kelly will be taking on this pivotal spot in the mornings. Hopefully, the next two months will be formative for the kindergarten class with Kelly’s help. Thanks to all of you who prayed for God to send someone. Kelly will also be helping with other areas of Project Transformation including writing, administration, marketing, and work teams.

If you would like more information on joining our new internship program please contact Elise Diaz at elisewhitediaz@gmail.com . She will email you a preliminary application. There is nothing like working in a different country on behalf of the poor.

Gaining Ground

The first three months in Honduras, we spent many days in the garbage dump building relationships with the children who still worked there. It was a wonderful time and a terrible time. It was a beautiful experience learning their names and stories, yet heart wrenching to say goodbye and watch them continue to pick through garbage.

Our main goal is to see this garbage dump transformed. A major milestone in pursuit of this goal is to get ALL of the children out of that place. We have worked hard to convince these children to leave the oppressive atmosophere of dump work, and many times run across resistance from parents or guardians who force their children to supplement the family income.

The last post explained the miracles of Christian and Sergio David. Today, we want to introduce 6 new students: Maly, Arturo, Fausto, Ariel, Jonathon, and Brenda. Ariel and Brenda are prodigals returning after a couple months but the others are brand new to school. We could not contain our joy when these children showed up on Monday and attended everyday without fail. Please pray that they will keep at school until they graduate and that God may continue the transformation process in their lives.

We are gaining ground in the Tegucigalpa dump.

Suddenly there is an influx of children at AFE, children who would never leave the garbage dump before. God is doing something big here. And he is not just using us. He is using the kids too. This week, when I had ran out of words sharing the good news to a teen stuck in the garbage dump, Jairo (4th grader) jumped in with what God had done and was going to do in his life. Jairo wants to be an engineer. It is a sight to behold God’s good news coming out of mouths so hopeless only months ago. Mysterious Ways are God’s specialty.

Dreaming of Homes...

Tuesday evening we participated in a meeting to brainstorm the development of a new community for those who actually live in the garbage dump[1]. Part of the mission of Project Transformation is to address the whole person with the whole Gospel. This involves helping people to create and own a healthier living environment. We are among a group of dreamers planning how to support the community's creation of new housing structures for these poorest of the poor.

Here is the Dream: Help the community to build 300 homes for people who currently live in the garbage dump. This effort would be similar to the creation of the Linda Miller community - people getting involved in building their own houses and taking ownership of the work.

Visits to their current homes are driving this effort. Jose Ramon and his sister, Ritzy (a student at AFE) invited our team to visit his two children. They were beautiful children even though they were covered in dirt and soot. Their smiles reminded me of my own son, yet saddened me as I saw where they lived. On dirt floors, surrounded by garbage and terrorized by vultures, six people eked out an existence in a six foot by eight foot make shift shack. They had no water, no electricity, and were under constant threat. The health risks apparent from no way to flush waste, no way to clean dishes, and a dirt floor are too numerous to mention.

With tears, Jose Ramon confessed his children suffer from constant sickness from the conditions in which they live. The father felt obvious shame that he could not take better care of his family. Jose is a hard worker. He is not lazy. He is the victim of circumstances and is paying for the sins his parents committed. Caught in a vicious cycle, only God can work a miracle in this family's life.

But God works through people like you and me to work those miracles. That is why we dream.

Imagine moving Jose, his wife and their two children, and his mother and sister who live with them, to a house with clean floors, running water and flushing toilets, light in the evening and a stove to cook healthy meals. His children would not fall ill but grow healthy and strong. No longer would Jose feel ashamed of who he is, but take pride in his family and his God who reaches down to help the least of these.

Pray that our dream will soon become reality.

[1] Determining how many people actually live in the garbage dump is a difficult venture because many people live in squatter settlements just outside of it; they might as well live in the trash. Others have shacks miles away in which they spend the weekends with their families. Monday through Friday they spend the night sleep in the trash.

Miracles

The unbelievable has happened during the month we were gone. Two young boys from the garbage dump have started at AFE. This is a huge deal. One is named Christian and the other Sergio David. Both of them work full time in the garbage dump. We had been working with Christian every day trying to convince him to come. We tried everything short of bribery. But for some reason, we could not get through. This is the case with so many of the kids in the garbage dump (see note below). We left a month ago to the states. When we returned Jeony had great news for us. He told us Christian had just showed up at the school and asked if he could start. They were shocked but of course they let him in, placing him in first grade although he is 13. Within a couple days they moved him up to second grade and then again to third grade because he is so smart. Next week he will be in fourth grade. He has not missed one day. He has done all of his homework. And he is attending the church. I (Rey) was almost in tears when Jeony told me because this story illustrates what I strongly believe. God is at work. We plant the seeds, water the plant, and then wait. That’s all we can do. Nothing else. God brings the growth. God makes the plant grow. And God worked a miracle in Christian’s life. We are going to get right back to planting seeds in the garbage dump because we know God is going to make more plants grow.

Sergio David was with us for a couple years. He does not have parents and lives with his Aunt. His Aunt has forbidden him to come to school. So he has been working full time for the past 3 months. The good news is that Sergio David is coming to the school now because he has moved away from his Aunt and is living with another Uncle who allows him to come. His brother and sister, Ariel and Brenda, want to come to school but the aunt still will not let them come. Please pray that she will change her mind when we meet with her.


One more Note
It’s interesting to be on this side of the situation. From this perspective, it makes no sense why some kids would choose to work in garbage all day when they could come to our school, get an education, get a free meal, play with all their friends, and have a chance to get away from that lifestyle. This is a no brainer. Yet hundreds of kids have chosen to work in garbage. As I, Rey, was in the garbage dump yesterday, I was heart broken because there are still so many kids working in garbage. Why won’t they just come? I can only bring the invitation but I can not force them. That’s when I realize this is the same issue God is dealing with. He is offering us a way out of the garbage of our lives. He is offering us an abundant life, joy, hope, excitement, adventure, love and so much more. But how many times I have chosen to say no to God, and stayed in the garbage. How many people continue to say no?

Back after a Month

God is Bringing a Great Team Together

Sorry we have not been able to post our weekly articles but we spent June in the States. I think we were busier during that month than when we are in Honduras. We were able to share a few messages at Washington Cathedral which you can download on their website or as a podcast on ITunes. I (Rey) spent two weeks at school which were simply amazing and will help form the direction Project Transformation will go. We were also able to share our vision with many friends, family, and churches. We are so happy to announce that God is really moving among his people to bring about his work. So many individuals and churches are hopping on board with Project Transformation.

We want to thank Dr. Paul and Jane Huang, Cristie Hettich, Diane Brown, Fiona Monaghan, Rice Broocks and Bethel World Outreach, Bob Beam, Judi Davis, Claudia and the Esperanza service at Washington Cathedral, and all the blog readers who have stepped up to support Project Transformation in so many different ways. We are committed to the highest level of accountability and will use the support to further God’s kingdom. We are excited to see what God has in store for us on this next trip. Please keep us in prayer.

Retrospect -God is the Main Character

We are visiting the States presently and have looked back at our first 3 months. We are simply stunned at how much God has truly done. The accomplishments are breath taking. We can hardly believe this has all really happened. We have seen substantial transformation in so many different areas. We are in the middle of God’s work and it is exciting. He is bringing together an amazing team of churches, non-profits, and individuals that will work to see this garbage dump completely transformed. We are happy to play a large part.

We are drawn to the idea of us being the heroes. It sounds great to say, “Look at all we have accomplished in 3 short months.” Sure we always begin with a ‘thank God’ but deep down inside, we take credit for the work. Yet as we have looked closer, we have come to an astounding conclusion – we are not the main character in this drama.

A closer inspection will show how wrong we really are to think we were the heroes. You see, we have not been the main characters. Neither has Jeony been the main character. Nor churches, nor non-profits, nor the families living and working in the garbage dump. If we look really close, we can clearly see that God has been the main character of Project Transformation.

Who loved the families living and working in the garbage dump? Who decided to do something about this problem? Who sent Pastor Jeony and his family? Who sent the Diaz family? Who gave us the vision of a transformed community? Who has been providing for us? Who has worked miracle after miracle on our behalf? This whole thing was God’s idea. We are just minor character. Valuable, important, vital, minor characters, but minor characters nonetheless. This perspective changes the way we look at our role. The main character of this story has always been and will always be God. It’s His plan. His goals, and His vision. He is just using us to accomplish His will. And that is just fine by us. For His name and His renown.

God is the main character. That is great news because all the success hinges on Him. He will not let us down because his heart breaks for the poor.

God is the main character, but he is not the only character. God has chosen to work through humans. God works through vessels. God looks and searches for people to work through and most of the time he comes up empty.

Not this time. Not when it comes to transforming this garbage dump with the power of His love. Project Transformation has stepped up to the plate. Here we are, God. Use us.

We are really looking forward to the next chapter. God has some great stuff up his sleeve.

Exposure

I have been sick the last few days from eating at the garbage dump with some of the children. I must have been exposed to bacteria that have invaded my intestines. Although I am feeling horrible now (especially since I have to travel14 hours tomorrow), I understood the cost in working in this type of environment. I am exposing myself to all sorts of germs, viruses, and bacteria which explains my recent bouts of sickness since moving here. All this exposure is eventually going to catch up with me. Although I am not saying one is above the other in the nature vs nurture argument, I strongly believe I am influenced and shaped by what I am exposed to. I am product of what I have been exposed to. This truth works for both good and bad.

I wonder about these hundreds of children who are exposed to all sorts of evil at the garbage dump. How is that evil affecting them? The children and young adults of who live and work in the garbage dump are exposed to things that no one should ever see. The other day I went up and saw a dead body. Without being to graphic, the person had been killed by both a machete and gun. All the kids I knew were surrounding the body. Afterwards they told me about the body as if it was the norm, with no sense of tragedy. This is their world. This is what they see all the time. But this is also the world God loves so much he sent his Son to save. Somehow, we have to get more of the children out of the garbage dump. That exposure is vexing their souls. We need to expose them to God’s love and to so many of the positive this life has to offer.

The good news is that slowly but surely this is happening. So far we have convinced 6 kids who usually work in the garbage dump, to play on a soccer team 3 afternoons a week. Those are two days they will not be exposed to evil but be surrounded by a team that encourages and challenged them. This is great news but we have so many more left.

The Need for Nursery

This week, I saw some things that I have had trouble getting out of my head. Since I spent so much time in the garbage dump, I have noticed things I had not notice when I would come up twice a year. One of the issues that stands out is the surprising number of small children who just hang out up in the garbage dump. These are newborn babies to about 4 years old. They are not old enough to work but they don’t really have any place to go. The parents just take them up to the garbage dump with them.

Last week I met David, a 3 year old boy who was with his mom and dad. Little David was sitting in a old sombrero and covered in dirt. He had young parents who were collecting paper products. They would come and check in with David every 10 to 15 minutes. Next to David was another family babysitting a 6 month old baby. It was a baby girl named Juliet. Her mother is 16 year old Carla, a girl who used to come to AFE but is no longer attending. Carla’s Grandmother is in her 30’s and was watching the 6 month old baby full time. Juliet was covered in black soot from all the smoke in the air. I asked her why she doesn’t bring her to our nursery but the baby is still breast feeding. The same is true of two other babies I met. Then I asked if once the baby had been weaned, if she would bring her to the nursery but she did not give me an answer.

Although Washington Cathedral has provided for a nursery, we still do not have the staff to run the nursery. We need the funds to pay a salary and the right worker. Then we need to persuade some of the mothers of the value of keeping their children in a safe and sanitary location. Many of the mothers do not understand why they would need to take their babies to a nursery if they could just stay with them. Please keep these issues in your prayers as we seek the right solution.

Mother's Day in the Garbage Dump

Thanks to Washington Cathedral, Orphan Outreach, and Project Transformation we were able to have a Mother’s Day celebration where we honored over 200 mothers who work in the garbage dump. It was nothing short of a miracle.

All week long, I went up to the garbage dump to invite the mother’s and let them know all the details of the celebration. Although I invited mother’s everyday, it was hard to guess how many would show up. Friday morning, we rented a bus that I took into the garbage dump to bring the woman to the school. My jaw dropped when I saw over 200 women ready to get on the bus. We squished in all the women with their small children, and then headed down to the soccer field in front of the school. We had beautiful set up for the mothers where they could sit in the shade during the children’s presentation and then eat peacefully. The mother’s ate among friends while Jeony encouraged them to keep their heads up. They were also given vouchers to pick up some clothes.

Our main agenda was to share God’s love with these mothers so that they felt honored. But we did have another agenda. Most of these mother’s do not have their children in a school but have them work alongside them. Our prayer was to use this event to showcase the children’s progress so that the mother’s would be inspired to allow their children to come to school. So far I have spoken with several mothers who plan on registering their children this week. We are so excited. I have come to realize the importance of reaching the future generation of garbage workers before their identity becomes engrained with the garbage dump culture.

A typical Honduras tradition for Mother’s Day is to present mothers with a basket that has the essentials for the home such as a rice, beans, eggs, soap, etc. These baskets cost about $15 and are nothing but a dream to the mother’s who work in the garbage dump. It would take them about 15 days to save up to buy one but that would mean not eating anything for the family during those 15 days. Clearly impossible. Yet, thanks to all you readers, we were able to sponsor 48 baskets! During the celebration 48 families received the gift of a lifetime. I wish you could have seen the faces of the mothers who would cry with joy over their baskets. It was beautiful.

Please pray for these mothers who each represent a family working and living in the garbage dump. Also pray that we could use the momentum of this amazing event to continue towards transformation.

Teaming Tegus

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning
as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” - Romans 8:22

Tegucigalpa’s groans are louder and less subtle than those I have heard in the states. They rise to a crescendo in the streets – the blast of cars, horns, and murmuring crowds in a city teaming with an ever-growing population.

A recent conference on “Child Advocacy[1]” gave numbers to the facts that Rey and I witness every day. Over half of the 7,500,000 people in Honduras are under 20 years old. The average family has five kids and many of them spend their days working to supplement the combined family income of $77 a month.

Poverty, here, is described as not having sufficient resources for the basics: clothes, a balanced diet, school, and safe place to live. Extreme poverty occurs when people do not have enough even to eat and are starving and malnourished. In Honduras, the most recent data (2004) shows that 64.2% live in poverty while 44.6% suffer from extreme poverty. 38.4% of families in Honduras live on less than a $1 a day!

What this means for us is that as we are stopped in traffic young boys come up to our car to ask for handouts. Young girls begin wiping our windshields. Getting kids to leave the dump to come to school is getting harder and harder. And we are down on our knees in prayer every night.
[1] The conference was put on by “Alcanzar – IESH” (the social arm of the Santidad denomination here in Honduras) and Compassion International. It took place on April 25th, 2008.

Family Reunion

I have some great news. There is a child that could be the poster child of our project. His story captures the tragic nature of this garbage dump and of the children forced to work there. His name is Ariel. He has an older brother named Sergio who no longer at our school. He has a sister named Brenda as well. In February, all three were attending the school and were making such great advances. The change was very clear and visible. Yet once the oldest brother left, the other two seemed less happy at the school. This makes sense because they probably both looked up to their brother, and once he left, they thought maybe that was the cool thing to do. Last month both Brenda and Ariel left as well. This was really hard on me because I had invested so much into Ariel.

On my visits to the garbage dump, I always look for our students. I found Brenda. We talked for a long time and with Jesse’s help, we were able to convince her to come back. She has been back at our school for two weeks. But Ariel was still nowhere to be found. Yet this week, to my surprise, Ariel showed up for school with a big smile on his face. I don’t know why he came back or who talked to him, but I am so glad he is back.

We have worked hard to make sure the students finish their education and escape from the garbage dump. Of the 170 students at AFE, about half still work in the garbage dump in the afternoons and on weekends. The others have been convinced to focus on school or to find other jobs. Ariel and Brenda are third generation garbage workers meaning their grandparents and parents both worked in the garbage dump. It is all they know. But what I know is that God has incredible and amazing plans for their lives and our goal is to help them reach those plans.

Updates – I saw Antonio at the vocational school he is at. Wow, God has really changed this young man’s life. He is a role model and leader at his school. He has dreams of returning and helping with street kids once he returns. He wants to help out the kids who never got a chance like him. Incredible.