Our first transformation project is in centered in the Tegucigalpa City Garbage Dump in Honduras. Honduras is a small but beautiful country in Central America, bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. With a net per capita gross national income of $1635 , it is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. Traditionally, a large part of the population has existed on subsistence farming although a middle class is slowly emerging. In 1989 the country was devastated by Hurricane Mitch, which not only tore apart the city of Tegucigalpa, leaving more than 100,000 people homeless, but also destroyed the majority of the city’s infrastructure. The situation was complicated in 2009 when a political crisis threw the country into even further economic instability. For these reasons and many more, those who cannot locate work often find their way to the city’s garbage dump, where scavenging through refuse may yield a $1’s worth of goods, enough to feed their family for the day.

In this particular landfill more than 1000 people sort through common trash bags from homes in the city, medical waste, human refuse, dirty needles, an occasional happy meal, left untouched, and fight the valuable materials among dogs, cattle, and vultures. 250 of these workers are children, who look like little adults in the feverishness of their efforts and the hard grimaces on their sunburned faces. The whole family must work together to find something of value so they can live that day. There is no clean water to drink in the dump. The sun weighs done, sometimes creating fires that burn out of control. Gangs patrol the area looking for a war tax. Drug dealers and young prostitutes hawk their services. It seems like anarchy in the landfill at times, although the workers are well organized to find their specialized goods. But if someone is killed in the dump, no one talks about it. The body is simply left there, adding to the stench of the rest of the garbage. Every category of children at risk exists here, every horror known to man. And yet it continues, at this dump and dumps all around the world, out of necessity. If your children had nothing to eat, would you not do the same?

In this horrible environment it is not uncommon to see Americans. They often drive up the hill to the landfill in their air-conditioned vans, with cameras in hand, eager to take part in well-intentioned, but very ineffective tourism. They step out of their vans, wrinkle their noses at the smell, and proceed to share their testimonies about how God changed their lives, and he can also change yours. Then they leave, most never to return. But what about the people of the garbage dump? What about those who do not have the option of leaving? What does the message of Jesus look like for those trapped in a landfill community?

Together for Transformation seeks out the most effective presentation of the message of Jesus in garbage dump communities, one that is making a lasting change in the vicinity. We have found it in the Honduras-led development project “Amor, Fe, y Esperanza.” Amor, Fe, y Esperanza is a school and church partnership that provides holistic education and mentorship to bring children out of the garbage into greater opportunities. It is led by Pastor Jeony Ordonez, a Honduran missionary from the city who moved his whole family close to the dump to rescue children from the garbage and watch them grow into handsome young adults.

This organization is effectively serving 150 of the 300 kids in the garbage dump. But there is still more to do. What would happen if effective partnerships were created to fill in the gaps and bring about the complete transformation of the Tegucigalpa City Dump Community?