Recent research indicates that 66% of
Hondurans, whose country officially documents its murder rate at 182
homicides for every 100,000 citizens, feel safe in their country.
This compares to 51% of Costa Ricans who feel safe in their
communities even though the murder rate in Costa Rica is 10 murders
per 100,000 people. The blog article on Honduras Culture and
Politics titled “Sentiment Isn't A Crime Statistic” attributes
the discrepancy to Hondurans becoming dull to reality. The author
says Hondurans are getting used to feeling unsafe.
Hondurans must not become accustomed to
the status quo and neither should AHMEN. AHMEN's Community
Empowerment Program, the AHMEN-SIFAT Initiative teaches communities
that, like Jesus of Nazreth taught his disciples, they have a right
to demand more from their government. It is past time to work
together as an organization to empower our friends in Colón,
Atlántida, and Yoro!
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| Byron Morales teaches ASI-Yorito |
AHMEN is an organization filled with
various teams and myriad individuals dedicated to projects dear to
their hearts. As an organization we must fully support each
others' goals and projects which have the most long-term beneficial
consequences for the Honduran people. We are a network, and ASI is a
web with the potential to connect our shared missions with greater
tensile strength.
ASI teachers local Hondurans to better inform our missions. No longer can we come in and out of the
San Pedro Sula Airport on high horses without considering the impact
of our missions. Even the most well-intentioned of us can spur
consequences as a result of the most well-planned or poorly managed
teams.
Going into the 2015 AHMEN AnnualMeeting, we must we evaluate our assumptions. We must reconsider what
we thought we knew.
As one of the founding members of AHMEN
says, "I thought I was going to Honduras to teach people about
Jesus. What I found was that Jesus was alive and well in Honduras."
Does this mean that we shouldn't go
support pastors in Honduras? No! But just because we want to work for
churches, does that mean we should not also support long-term
community development in the three main areas where AHMEN volunteers
work? That is also a "No!"
Fifty individuals have graduated from a
three-year training in Cusuna. A hundred others are going through the
same training in Jutiapa and Yorito. After their graduation,
community agents are charged with replicating their training in a
specific area of development. They may choose maternal health,
HIV/AIDS, nutrition, clean water, or abuse and violence prevention. Whatever they choose, they will be chipping away at injustice. I
seem to remember Paul replicating the church in a similar manner??
What are you doing to support AHMEN'SCommunity Empowerment Program, the AHMEN-SIFAT Initiative? It is our
program on the ground. It is US when we are not around. It is
a way to enable our friends to overcome basic health, economic, and
societal issues without us. It is our cast to heal a broken system.
Seventeen years into this work, we can no longer rely on band aids.
This is the project which supports all other projects! It is a way
to finish the job we started almost two decades ago.
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| Before AHMEN, 1998 |
What do you need to do to get started?
- Contribute $10/month to the program.
- Schedule your team to spend 1-3 days teaching supplemental lessons to the community agents in your area during your mission
- Invite community agents to participate in your team.
- Encourage others to do the same.
ASI works but needs your help to work
better. How can you help?
Together, we are the difference.
