With Gratitude,
Kurt Ver Beek and Jo Ann Van Engen
ASJ Co-Founders
ASJ In New York Times – Support Honduras Now
July 26, 2019
A letter from ASJ Co-Founders Kurt Ver Beek and Jo Ann Van Engen
Today the New York Times published an opinion piece by Sonia Nazario, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and our good friend. For those of us who love Honduras, it is not an easy read. The article paints a bracing picture of gang control and corruption within the Honduran health, education, and security sectors and how it affects individual lives in Honduras. Sonia highlights the work of ASJ (formerly known as AJS) and cites Honduran staff along with ASJ-US board member and former ambassador, James Nealon.
Sonia’s opinion piece comes in response to the recent decision by the US government to cut all aid to Honduras (as well as Guatemala and El Salvador) as an attempt to stem the flow of Hondurans to the US border. She argues that the problems Honduras faces are a result of rampant corruption and if the US wants Honduras to improve, it should support initiatives that combat that corruption – and we agree.
The stories of corruption in the article focus on Nueva Suyapa, the community where we have lived the past 20 years. We know the people Sonia mentions and the struggles they face every day. This is a difficult reality to read, but it is accurate.
Thankfully, it is not the whole story. There is so much good that goes unmentioned – in our neighborhood of Nueva Suyapa and in Honduras as a whole. So many Hondurans are committed to stopping the corruption that is bringing down their country and we see that every day as well.
Kurt and I have a deep and abiding hope that Honduras will one day be a place where all its people flourish. This hope does not come from a place of gullibility or an unwillingness to face facts, but from our experience over the last 20 years working for justice with our Honduran colleagues.
We have hope because God is in control and He is a God who blesses efforts to bring justice where injustice reigns.
We have hope because so many of our Honduran friends and colleagues have not lost hope. People like the bus owner in Sonia’s article who keeps calling the police to catch the gangs who are extorting him, and the overworked mother who keeps showing up at her son’s school to make sure the teachers show up. People like our best friend, Carlos Hernández, who speak truth even to the highest powers of Honduras including President Juan Orlando Hernández.
And, we have hope because we have seen that when people stand up, change happens.
- Omar Rivera and the police purge commission removed over 5,000 corrupt police from a 13,000 member force
- A coordinated and creative effort brought homicide rates down by over 50% in five years and led to the Honduran police adopting ASJ’ innovative community-based model for violence reduction
- An ASJ outcry over a shady bidding process halted the awarding of a 10-year, $9 million a year medicine contract due to lack of transparency
We have learned a few things in our work in Honduras that help us to hold on to hope even when the news is hard to hear: Lesson one is that when we push forward for justice, those who are abusing power will push back. That pushback comes through in Sonia’s reporting and perhaps signals that we have started to make some positive change.
Second, change is fragile and we must stand vigilant to protect and build on the progress we make.
Now is the time to sustain change, to continue to stand with brave Hondurans who are fighting daily to make Honduras a better place. Sonia’s piece mentioned the threats to ASJ funding, due to the cuts of US government aid, and the need to continue ASJ’s work. Will you consider a gift to support us and to stand with Hondurans in this crucial time?
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
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)
