You Are Not Alone

I sensed them before I saw them. The garbage dump had descended the hill and was now standing in our doorway….the flies buzzing in near proximity, the smell overwhelming. Of course they smelled like the garbage dump. They had been living there the last couple of months.

Their father, in a fit of anger, had set their house to blaze and their family to flee. They found sanctuary in the garbage dump…but not much. Their sanctuary was pieces of plastic mounted waist-high. On rainy nights the young mother, her 15-year-old daughter, and other children of twelve, eight, and six years, huddled together in the mud and trash and tried their best to sleep. They found discarded, rotting food to eat and bottles that still had some soda left in them, and they survived. The mother did everything she could to protect her children, but it would not be enough for long. Men in the garbage dump had noticed her fifteen year-old daughter. They each promised her a place to live and food to eat, if she would come and “be his wife.” It seemed an attractive proposition in light of their situation.

Angie, the six-year old, was the first member of the Castro family we met, in an outreach event to feed the workers of the garbage dump. Angie told us of her situation then hauled her whole family down to AFE to see what we could do. AFE’s leadership met with the mother, listened with empathy to her tale, and knew that we would do the same if the lives of our children were threatened.

“You are not alone. God knows about the trials your family has been through and He has cried with you. He brought you here, to a community that takes care of one other. And He is, right now, in the process of rallying people to help. Let’s go find out who he has called to help you.”

Five minutes later, a visitor who had come to Honduras for other purposes but stopped by AFE for the day went up to AFE’s computer lab. He took out his credit card and charged $5,000 to AFE’s online donation website to pay for a house for the Castro family, to whom no credit is available.

We began work immediately on the house. The children entered AFE’s after school program and begin coming to the church, where the Honduran community takes food offerings for those in need. We put them up in a house, rent-free while their homehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif is being constructed. And Jesi Ordonez, AFE’s principal sat the oldest daughter down, in front of mirror.

“Katarin,” she told her lovingly, “I want you to take a look at yourself. Look at how beautiful you are. Not just on the outside, but the beauty deep within your soul that shines out of your eyes. You are too beautiful, too wonderful to give yourself away to a tyrant in the garbage dump who will use and abuse you. Wait…and pursue the plans that God has for you. Because he certainly does, he would not have brought you to us otherwise.”

*** Katarin, Alexandra, Brian and Angie are all available for sponsorship. Contact elisewhitediaz@gmail.com for more information or give online at: AFE's Cart

Reaching Out to the Carias Family

Two years ago they came from the country to the city looking for work. When every hoped for opportunity did not pan out, like many before them, Ana and Norlan Carias found themselves in the garbage dump. On the weekends they would return to their family’s home in the country but then on Monday it was back to Tegucigalpa to sort through trash. On weeknights they would find shelter in the garbage because they had nowhere else to go. The young couple would huddle together amidst the trash and hope that the dangers lurking in that place at nightfall would stay far away.

Soon Alexandro was born and as a baby he joined his mother in the trash dump. This is when AFE met the Carias family. An AFE mother introduced us to Ana and Alexandro because like us, she did not want any baby to grow up in the garbage. We took Alexandro into the nursery where he receives proper nutrition, health care, and thrives in a clean facility and loving care. With the added economic benefit of not having to pay for milk and diapers for Alexandro, Ana and Norlan were able to rent a small shack outside of the garbage dump. Their situation was looking better and better.

Ana and Norlan joined AFE’s church and then AFE’s adult education program in the afternoons. Ana is at the 6th grade level and Norlan the third. It is a courageous move, especially for the father in this culture, to admit that he needs help and wants to learn and grow.

This last week Ridge Point Church in Lakeland, Florida (and Trash Mountain Project) built a new house for the Carias family. The property and the house are in AFE’s name, until Alexandro turns 18. The Carias family finally has stability, and a home of their own. Tears of gratitude cannot even begin to express how thankful Ana especially felt for how God had blessed her family.

In her house there is only one adornment. It is a picture of the Last Supper and it says, “Where there is faith, there is love. Where there is love, there is peace. Where there is peace, there is God. And where there is God, you will never lack for anything.”

In faith Ana put this reminder in her home, and this week she has seen it come to pass.

*Ana and Norlan are still available for sponsorship in AFE’s afterschool program. $36 a month pays for their education at AFE. If you would like to sponsor either of them, please contact elisewhitediaz@gmail.com

Housing the Homeless

Last August strong rains tore apart the city. They caused tremendous damage…craters twenty-feet deep, businesses destroyed by avalanches, houses flooded. Some people were rendered homeless. Yet, when you lose your
home and you are a garbage-dump worker, you are in a particularly precarious situation. Not only do you lose everything you have, but you have to pay high rent prices (at the expense of food) or live in the garbage dump.

This was the case of one our hard-working families at AFE. Even when they lost their home to a landslide, the hard-working mother and father kept their children out of the dump. The two girls continued in school and sold candy door-to-door in the afternoons to support the family income. But life was hard with high rent prices…and the loss of everything they owned.

In Steps Community

One church in the United States with a long-term relationship with AFE got wind of the situation. It just so happened that the woman sponsoring one of these girls was planning a mission trip with the church in March.…and she had a friend coming on the trip who wanted to support a larger project. A month later a new home was completed for the Navas-Paz family. The father and four-year old boy joyfully helped the North Americans build it. The team etched “Christo Te Ama,” above the doorway to the home and I can guarantee that the Navas-Paz knows this to be true.

***** There are many more families in equally desperate situations. If you would like to help AFE house the homeless of the garbage dump, contact reyangeldiaz@gmail.com