June 30, 2022
"There is a word in Spanish—acompañar—which means to walk alongside or to be present with—a value of ASJ that shows up in how we do our work."
-A letter from Jill Stoltzfus, ASJ-US's Executive Director
Dear Friend,
I recently returned from visiting Honduras where I spent time with our team in our Tegucigalpa headquarters—a space surrounded by mountains and full of Hondurans dedicated to creating a more just society. Right now, our world is brimming with examples of how violence and corruption result in loss of life. Grief is a heavy companion and despair lurks around the corners. And yet, it is trips like this one where I leave knowing that although this work is hard, we won’t give up hope that things can change because amidst the grief and challenges, systems and lives are being impacted.
As I reflect on that week, it is striking to me how I am reminded of the way ASJ lives out the call to seek justice in big systemic ways, and also in daily interactions. Let me share a story from my time there with you.
I met with Maria*, an ASJ psychologist, who told me about her work with our Rescue program. Maria works with children who have been sexually abused and their families, and seeks to find healing and justice in their lives.
It is estimated that one out of every 13 children in Honduras will be assaulted or abused, but less than 1% of cases will earn a conviction.
While sharing with me about some of her hopes for this program in the coming year, her phone rang.
“Excuse me”, she said, “I’m sorry to interrupt but I need to take this call.”
When she stepped back into the room after taking the call, she told me the story.
"The past couple of days have been hard. One of the girls I've been working with, Sandra*, tried to commit suicide three months ago. Since then, I’ve helped to get her set up seeing a psychologist and doctor which ended up helping her mental health a lot. However, I really think she needs more care and have recommended that she be admitted into a residential program, but her parents don't want her to go. There is a lot of stigma around these programs, and I think they're just afraid to not be with her. The call I just took was from them as they were taking the night to decide what to do, and in the end they said "Maria, if you think she should be admitted then we will do that."
This story made me pause and consider how it represented such a vivid example of how doing justice requires relationships built in trust. Sandra’s family is just one of 75 individuals that ASJ works with to find healing. There is a word in Spanish—acompañar—which means to walk alongside or to be present with—a value of ASJ that shows up in how we do our work. Maria exemplifies in such a beautiful and clear way what it looks like to live out the definition of that word—what an inspiration.
In addition to walking alongside Sandra and other individuals, ASJ also works to prevent the occurrence of sexual abuse on a systemic level. Through a partnership with the Secretary of Education, we provided prevention training to over 700 teachers, reaching 18,000 students – teaching them how to recognize signs of sexual abuse and how to get help if they are in a vulnerable situation. Recently, we also worked with the Honduran courts to implement new case management techniques which reduced the case backlog from 1,294 to 50 cases in six months for the Common Crimes Unit.
Systemic reforms like these complement our work with individuals like Sandra to prevent abuse from happening and to ensure that more Hondurans can find justice.
Seeing my coworkers like Maria at work reminded me that seeking justice means reforming institutions and walking alongside individuals like Sandra—two endeavors that require trust. It requires dreaming up creative solutions, putting them into proposals, and speaking truth at press conferences. It also requires taking late night phone calls from parents like Sandra’s and showing up when people living in vulnerable conditions need us most. This is the work of justice. This is the work we are called to do.
We have set an ambitious goal to raise $45,000 in response to this letter by the end of July to support initiatives like the work Maria is doing to reform institutions and also to be present with people like Sandra. Will you join us in this work of walking alongside to create a more just society by giving a financial gift?
Thank you,
Jill Stoltzfus
Executive Director ASJ-US
P.S. Right now, ASJ is working on an important project with significant economic impact—reforming the national electric company in Honduras, which loses almost $1 billion annually to corruption. To put that into perspective, this is money that could fund 137,364 homes, 31,219 classrooms, or generate 242,094 fair jobs—huge potential! Stay tuned over the next year for updates on how we are working to root out this corruption with
the goal of having access to quality, affordable electricity for life, work, school, and play.
*A pseudonym to protect the privacy and security of community members and staff
