God is Already Moving

In less than a week, Project Transformation has made two incredible contacts that will help with the transformation of the garbage dump. First, we were able to go to a local university in Tegucigalpa and present the conditions of the dump to two classes. In response, these classes took a trip to the garbage dump to see for themselves the conditions in which these people live and work. This visit opened the ideas of the leaders of the university and now AFE is in the process of working out a partnership that will allow children from the dump to attend that university with scholarships!

We believe education is one of the key areas of impoverishment in the dump community. The lack of education means a lack of options in their lives. Most of the children at AFE could not imagine a life outside of the garbage dump until just recently. Now with the Metro University as a possibility, the options are radically different.

The next major contact is a non-profit called StreetKidsDirect, run by Duncan Dyason. Dyason travels to Guatemala and Honduras looking for projects making a difference in the lives of street kids or kids in extremely poor conditions. Then he returns to the UK to raise funds for these projects. He works hard so that 100% of the funds donated reach the specific project for which they were intended. Over dinner, we were able to explain some of our future dreams for the dump community and to hear his dream.

One of the projects Dyason works with is a potato farm in Guatemala where 10% of the profits go directly to support the operational cost of local projects. This is a way to make projects in poor areas self-sustainable. We will be working out the details with him so that AFE can apply to be one of the projects receiving the funds for operation. The possibility of this connection is awesome. Using a similar model, we could invest in some local farms that could eventually help fund this project.

Please keep both of these connections is prayer as we still have a long way to go.

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up – Gal 6:9

The Diaz Family Moves to Honduras

On February 19, 2008 the Diaz family boarded a flight to Honduras following the call of God on their lives. After spending four years working full-time at Washington Cathedral, the church sent Rey and Elise to serve the families living and working in the city garbage dump of Tegucigalpa. When God called Washington Cathedral to focus its international outreach to Tegucigalpa, we dreamed of seeing the garbage dump transformed into a healthy, happy community that exemplified facets of the Kingdom of God. The Diaz family goes to Honduras with the same goal: to work alongside all that God is already doing down in Tegus.
Elise will help with the structure and organization of Amor, Fe, y Esperanza, creating a culture of accountability that will open up the floodgates for future donors. She will also manage the Charity Alliance Organization from Honduras. Rey will focus on the families still stuck in the vicious cycle of life in a garbage dump, building bridges to resources outside the dump so that the abundant life available through the Gospel can have its way.
Please keep the Diaz family in your prayers. They are still part of the staff at Washington Cathedral and will visit twice a year in June and December. More importantly, they are still part of the Washington Cathedral family and it is the giving of its members that allow the Diaz family to go on this journey.

Faces of Amor, Fe y Esperanza

These are the faces of the students of a school servicing children whose families work or live in a garbage dump. Project Transformation is working to change this reality so that the lives and sturctures are transformed.

Project Transformation

Project Transformation is an extension of Washington Cathedral’s mission… to build the greatest caring network the world has ever seen. We are going to the poorest of the poor to fulfill our mission.
Project Transformation is much more than the name for our work in Honduras. It is a goal. It is an ideal. It is a dream. It is a dream of a better world. It is a dream where there are no children working and living in a garbage dump. It is a dream about babies safe and cared for in a clean nursery, and not in cardboard boxes on top of garbage. It is a dream of children receiving an education and not digging through trash. It is a dream of health care and treatment for families instead of malnutrition and disease. It is a dream of happiness and hope instead of destitution and misery. Finally, it is a dream of God’s presence and justice prevailing instead of evil.
The first goal of Project Transformation is to see God’s hand working in the garbage dump of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. We believe God will radically transform the lives of the people living and working in the garbage dump. We also believe God will radically transform the structure of the garbage dump so that it is a safe, secure, and hygienic location for adults to work.