Why Honduras?

Poverty and injustice contaminate countries across the globe. So you might be wondering, Why should I support an organization that focuses mainly on Honduras?

We think there are several good reasons.

Faith
The Association for a More Just Society (AJS)’s work is rooted in our Christian faith—especially in our desire to follow God’s call to “act justly and love mercy.”

Honduras is a country deeply rooted in faith—the gospel has been preached here for 500 years, the majority of Hondurans are at least nominally Catholic, and Evangelical Christianity is growing rapidly.

Hondurans’ religious values make them “fertile soil” in which to sow God’s message of justice.

Proximity
Christians often interpret Christ’s command to “love our neighbor as ourselves” globally—our neighbor is every other human being on this earth! We at AJS support this view 100%.

But we’d like to point out that Honduras is quite literally the United States’ neighbor. A flight from Miami to Tegucigalpa takes half the time of a flight from Miami to L.A. Hondurans watch The Simpsons and eat Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. Americans wear Polo T-shirts sewn in Choloma and eat Chiquita bananas grown in the Sula Valley.

We share so much with Honduras already—it only makes sense to share the values of equal representation and rule of law as well.

Possibility for Change
Honduras has been continuously ruled by democratically elected governments since 1980. Some government officials have opposed AJS-supported attempts to make the system work, but many others have been invaluable partners. Honduras struggles with corruption and abuse of power, but clearly has a will to improve.

In fact, AJS-supported programs have already contributed to improvements—ones proposed by Honduran individuals and institutions and made possible by their cooperation:

• Families whose only claim to their homes was a worthless scrap of paper now have indisputable, government-issued titles.
• Workers ignorant of Honduran labor law now know their legal rights, and their responsibilities.
• Victims of violent crime who used to believe that suffering in silence or taking the law into their own hands were the only options are now successfully collaborating with police and prosecutors to see justice done, legally.

While the returns may be a long time coming, there’s every reason to believe our investments in Honduras will bear fruit.

The Association for a More Just Society (AJS) oversees and funds initiatives carried out by Honduran partner organization la Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ). AJS is a US-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so all donations to AJS are tax-deductible for US taxpayers.