Que Dios le bendiga (God bless),
Jo Ann Van Engen
ASJ Co-Founder
Will You Choose Stubborn Hope With Us?
May 31, 2023
Dear friend,
My husband, Kurt, and I live in Nueva Suyapa, a neighborhood on the edge of Tegucigalpa, Honduras’ capital. A few times a year, a group of us from the neighborhood gets up really early and hikes up the mountain behind our community. About halfway up the steep climb, we reach a spot where Nueva Suyapa spreads out below us—hundreds of tin roofs and brightly painted walls lit up by the sun.
It is a picture-perfect view that always makes us smile. Up close, our neighborhood is not so picture-perfect. While Nueva Suyapa is a big, busy, bustling place where a walk down the street involves multiple stops to chat, it is also a place where jobs are hard to find, schools are overcrowded, and gangs sow fear and violence.
But, it is my neighbors’ response to the hard reality of Nueva Suyapa that fuels my hope for justice. Every day I see them face challenges, pain, and heartache. And every day, I see their courage, tenacity, and hope: my friend, Nidia walking her son to school to make sure he stays safe; Miguel and his neighbors working together to build stairs where a path is impossible to climb; and our many friends who, despite the risk of extortion from gangs, continue to operate barbershops, vegetable stands, and used-clothes stores so they can feed their families (pictured below). That kind of courage and hope led a small group of Honduran friends and us to found ASJ 25 years ago.
Erasmo and Paula with their vegetable stand
Julisa and children walking home from school
ASJ’s vision has always been to do justice by improving education, health, transparency, and security for people like our neighbors. And we have seen God do amazing things—like a police purge that significantly lowered violence in Honduras, and an education campaign that doubled the number of days that Honduran children went to school.
This past year has been especially hard for our staff as we learn to work with a new government that at times has seemed uninterested or unable to do its job. There were many times over the past months when our hope for change felt foolish and unreasonable. But we have kept going, fueled by our awareness that God has been faithful over and over again. And in the last months, our stubborn hope has borne fruit in unexpected ways:
- Our education team’s stubborn hope led to the Honduran government tripling the budget for daily school lunches that will keep kids in school.
- ASJ staff's stubborn hope resulted in a more transparent process for electing Honduras' new Supreme Court.
- Our stubborn hope helped ASJ recruit 20,000 volunteers to help monitor Honduran schools this year so that children get the education they deserve.
We are so grateful for the stubborn hope that has led many of you to support our efforts to do justice through times of exciting progress and times of uncertainty and doubt.
This spring, would you consider a donation to support the initiatives ASJ is leading in Honduras this year? Your generosity truly fuels our ability to have an impact in Honduras and beyond. Thank you for your support.
May your lives be filled with the kind of hope that makes you plant your feet, find your people, and work to make your own communities and Honduras places where hope and justice flourish.
Three generations of our friends and Nueva Suyapa residents, including Julisa, impact club graduates Marilyn and Maria José, and their mother, Rosa.
Thank You for Moving Forward With Us this Summer!
When Policies Shift, Families Pay the Price * by Jo Ann Van Engen
Inspiring civil society in the US with a vision of a more just society
Dear Friend, On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of Hondurans flooded their streets with prayer and peaceful demonstration. Reports from our team members who attended said it was like an inspirational sea of people all wanting the same thing for their country: peace. One of our ASJ-US colleagues said he walked past Pentecostals dancing and playing music, a woman praying the rosary, nuns walking, and priests and altar boys in full robes–all walking in the same space together for peace.
Love, Labor, and the Price of Leaving By Jo Ann Van Engen
Prayer Update (JUL 16- Election Process Turmoil)
Meet the Artist Behind Our New Sticker Illustrations
How U.S. Policy Shapes Honduran Families’ Futures by Jo Ann Van Engen
Honduran civil society works together for fair elections in 2025
J ustice seekers from Canada, the US, and Honduras commit to working together
