With a shy smile, 20-year-old Sayra Martinez (pictured far right) says, “I love working with young people, I learn as much from them as I give.” Sayra is talking about her work with at-risk youth in the community of Nueva Suyapa, Honduras. What you don’t know about Sayra is that just three years ago, she was an at-risk youth. Devastated by the murder of her older brother Danny (ASJ, formerly known as AJS, lawyers and investigators are working on this case) she dropped out of school. She lived in a small home with her four siblings and her parents, who were both out of work and saw little hope for the future.
From Dropout To Dreamer
October 28, 2015
Sayra’s story isn’t unique in Honduras, a country that suffers from high levels of violence and poverty. Young people like Sayra fear that their future won’t be any better than their parents’, but the staff of ASJ won’t accept that scenario.
A few months after her brother’s murder, a friend invited Sayra to an ASJ at-risk youth club. As she describes it, “At the club, we would always pray, hear and talk about a story with a lesson on values, and plan service projects in our community.” Every group is led by a mentor who lives in the community. Sayra’s mentor is Augustina, a middle-aged woman with a 3rd-grade education, and a lot of love and experience with youth. As Sayra puts it, “Augustina is great. She shows us how to respect others, and value ourselves.”
Last year, ASJ graduated 200 young people, including Sayra, from the clubs. Many have returned to school or vocational training, thanks to the support of ASJ mentors, and many more have found value and hope where before they saw only a dark future. As Sayra says, “We thought nobody cared about us—Augustina showed that wasn’t true.”
This year, ASJ will be working with 350 new young people. As the project coordinator Miriam Mondragon puts it, these kids are the “Highest at risk, in the riskiest parts of the riskiest neighborhoods.” An exciting addition this time around is that trained paralegals and counselors will provide psychological and legal advice to the teens and their families at home because just like Sayra many families are dealing with deep psychological and legal needs.
Now, Sayra, who is back in night school as a freshman in high school, is ready to give back. She and other volunteers who have received training from experienced mentors will soon work in teams with their own group. She acknowledges that it will be a challenge. “Sometimes I ask God, ‘Why me?’, but I know that through him, I can do all things.”
Sayra’s life was transformed, and now she will do her best to help transform the lives of other young people.
ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US Congratulate the Honduran People, Call for Full and Transparent Results As sister organizations committed to justice, peace and hope in Honduras, ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US extend our deepest congratulations to the people of Honduras on the peaceful conduct of their national elections on November 30, 2025. With the initial tally showing an extraordinarily close vote, we call on election authorities to do what is necessary to ensure a transparent count of the remaining ballots in order to guarantee public trust in the final outcome. We commend the Honduran voters for their dedication to democratic participation and their commitment to shaping the future of their country through civic engagement. We also recognize the efforts of electoral authorities, civil society organizations, the international community and the thousands of volunteer observers who worked to ensure a transparent, orderly, and secure process. We are especially proud of our sister organization, ASJ-Honduras, for their unwavering commitment to democracy demonstrated through their electoral observation efforts, their analysis activities, and their consistent call for a fair and orderly process. Now that such a process has been achieved, the work turns to counting the votes with accuracy and transparency. The results remain close, increasing the possibility of a contested result. We support the work of the election officials at the National Electoral Council to give Hondurans confidence in the final results by conducting their count with rigor and transparency. We remain hopeful that the spirit of peaceful participation in the democratic process embraced by the electorate will carry forward into the post-election period to come. We look forward to continued collaboration with ASJ-Honduras as we all work together toward a just and hopeful future for all Hondurans. Matthew Van Geest President, Board of Directors ASJ-Canada Russ Jacobs President, Board of Directors ASJ-US
A call to action for Honduras
The Association for a More Justice Society-US Supports the Network to Defend Democracy; Calls for Free and Fair Elections in Honduras November 25, 2025
Honduras’s Institutional Crisis Deepens Ahead of the 2025 Elections
Dear friend, I couldn’t stop looking at the picture. Of course, there had been plenty of inspiring photos from this summer’s Prayer Walk for Peace and Democracy. The sea of blue and white rising and falling as hundreds of thousands walked the Honduran hills through Tegucigalpa, flowing like a never-ending stream. Catholic nuns praying their rosaries alongside Pentecostals dancing in the streets. But the picture that still knocks me flat is the closeup. The one of the two men standing side by side (picture enclosed). They are exhausted, and the shorter collapses into the taller. The tears mostly hold joy and relief, but they are mingled with something darker. After all, there had been threats—promises of harm done to themselves and their loved ones if they led their followers through the streets of Honduras in prayer. Despite the fear and intimidation, Pastor Gerardo Irías and Monsignor José Vicente Nácher forged ahead. They knew Honduras needed unity and, above all, prayer before the looming November 2025 presidential elections. As an ASJ supporter, you know that these kinds of threats aren’t out of the ordinary, and your support has helped slow and reverse violence in Honduras. Today, I am writing to share a way you can continue standing with brave Hondurans like Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José in hope. The Evangelical pastor and the Catholic archbishop put the word out as widely as they could to their churches, hoping to mobilize 20,000 to walk and pray. Instead, an estimated 230,000 walked in the capital of Tegucigalpa alone. It was a historic moment. And without your past support for ASJ, it may have never happened. After all, two years prior, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José didn’t even know each other’s names. They first met in 2023 at ASJ’s offices. They were two of many civil society leaders convened by ASJ to discuss safeguarding democracy– especially before the election in 2025. It was at that meeting that they shook each other’s hand and learned each other’s name. It was at that meeting–and many subsequent meetings–where old religious prejudices began to be replaced by trust and mutual affection. So, when the moment came this summer to act, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José knew what they had to do. And they knew that they had to do it together.
Calvin alums turn faith into action through nonprofit
MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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
