New Youth Center "In Fertile Ground"

Emerson, Junior and Eric, are describing their favorite part of the Youth Impact Club in Nueva Suyapa: playing soccer. 12-year-old Eric says, “When we play soccer in club, we learn that we have to work as a team. We learn that we have to share the ball.” “But” pipes up 13-year-old Junior, “If one of us misbehaves, our mentors sometimes don’t let us play. For one we all pay!” These lessons about trust and teamwork taught in the Impact Club are invaluable for at-risk youth who often feel that there is no one in their lives that they can trust.

The Nueva Suyapa Impact Club is one of 15 around Tegucigalpa run by the AJS-supported Gideon Project. Using a methodology developed in Romania, the club mentors meet with the at-risk youth every week. They tell a story that highlights a value, like respect or honesty, play teambuilding games, do a craft or other skill building activity, and do service projects in the community. More than 250 youths are involved in the clubs, and the number is growing.

Junior is proud to be one of the founding members of the club in Nueva Suyapa, and says that he has made many new friends. “We used to fight, but now we hardly do. We trust each other.” 12-year-old Emerson nods his head emphatically when asked if drugs and robbery are problems in the neighborhood, but all three agree that the friendships and activities in the Impact Club keep them from getting involved in these activities. Junior adds, “Sometimes after doing our homework, we just go out to the street. But the club gives us something good to do.” Sandra, the club’s mentor, works hard to build trusting relationships with the youth, and it’s working. Junior says, “she helps us with everything we need….that’s why we love her.”

From left: Eric, Junior and Emerson

Doing service projects helps Impact club members build trust among each other and with their neighbors. Junior says, “When we do service projects we break up into teams. We feel good about ourselves, and about our neighborhood.” With an in-unison “Yeah, man!” all three boys say they want to live in Nueva Suyapa when they grow up. Eric adds, “We know people here, this is where our friends are.” Sandra hopes that more youth can learn values of trust and teamwork in the Impact Clubs and bring changes to Nueva Suyapa.

Junior, Emerson, Eric and Sandra are particularly excited about the new community center that ASJ has opened, with the support of Alianza Joven Regional (AJR) in Nueva Suyapa.

The Impact group helped to paint and clean the community center, and on Friday June 10, to the excitement of the Youth Impact members, the community center was finally opened. It is one of 17 centers sponsored by AJR in Central America as a means of preventing gang activity and drug use. Young people “can come to the center and play sports, do artwork and be entertained, which allows them to avoid the temptation of joining gangs and falling into drugs” says Kurt Ver Beek, cofounder and board member of AJS-US and ASJ-Honduras.

Richard Palma, in representation of his fellow Impact Club members, spoke at the inauguration of the center saying “Thanks to God, and to AJR and ASJ, this center will allow us to avoid things that we shouldn’t do. Here in Nueva Suyapa there are youth that want to overcome their challenges. You have planted in fertile ground. Thank you for your support.”

Nueva Suyapa youth on the day of the community center opening

Emerson, Junior and Eric represent some of this “fertile ground”, and with the help of the Impact Club and the new community center they, and more than 60 other youth will have the opportunity to grow together.

More Stories from Impact Clubs:
Soccer Tournament Brings Youth from Different Neighborhoods Together

Donate to help AJS do justice in Honduras!