Volunteer

AFE’s staff is made up mostly of Hondurans from the local community who will play a long-term role in the children’s lives. However, AFE’s international volunteers are also indispensable to its work.  They bring a global perspective to AFE´s students and help them to think bigger than just their garbage dump community.

The purpose of the short-term volunteer program at AFE is to give its participants a deeper experience working first hand with the children and families of th

e garbage dump, with the hope that our volunteers become life-long advocates for children trapped in poverty. As Shane Clairbourne notes in his book, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as An Ordinary Radical, the problem is not that “rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor.”

At AFE, we enjoy hosting international volunteers so that they may come to know the poor. They typically live with a Honduran host family in a poorer community near the garbage dump, and spend their time developing deep relationships with the children at AFE.

"My time at AFE was one o

f the most difficult things I ever loved. By eating, playing, praying, and worshipping with the people of the dump community, I came to understand the way that my privilege and social location had affected the way I saw and related to God. Being exposed to another reality opened me up to experiencing God through the eyes of people who knew what it was like to depend on him daily and who had really, truly, fallen in love with Him in a way that I hadn't."  - Kelly Glenn, working toward a BA in International Studies at Seattle University.

Short-term volunteers serve at AFE for anywhere from one month to a year. Long-term volunteers typically make a three to five year commitment. Volunteers are accepted on a case by case basis through a phone interview and application process. Spanish proficiency and a commitment to AFE’s mission are required. To find out more or to begin the application process, please download our volunteer application and email it to elisewhitediaz@gmail.com

Application to Volunteer at AFE

Further information (including FAQ) for those considering volunteering at AFE