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.
A Spotlight On Our Dedicated Volunteers
How Hondurans Live Out The Joy of Democratic Participation
A Reflection from ASJ-Canada Board President, Matt Van Geest
Words from the Executive Director
Thirsty For Justice
Hondurans cast their ballots during the November 30, 2025, general election, which saw historic voter turnout and a peaceful process supported by more than 12,000 national and international election observers working to safeguard transparency.
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
