What We Do
Our Approach
Reaching the children and families in the dump is a difficult venture. Many have worked in the dump for generations and the problems from which they suffer are deeply embedded in their lives and hearts.
- Establish contact and trust. This involves going into the dump, meeting workers felt needs, and building relationship with them. Sometimes we meet with children working in the dump for weeks and weeks before they will consider asking their parents if they can come to school. Other times we will spend years reaching out to a child and he or she will make the choice to stay in the dump.
- The second step is enrollment in AFE. This, too, is a process, as some students will come to the school to enroll, spend one day in class, and then go back to the dump. Our hope is that the children and their families would catch the vision for education and come faithfully to take full advantage of the holistic programs we offer. At enrollment, students take a test to determine which grade level they will enter and a health test to see if any illnesses need to be treated upon entering.
- Once children are coming consistently, AFE serves them with a variety of programs designed to develop them holistically in six areas and eventually break the cycle of poverty in their life:
- Physical development: providing nutritious meals and treating any illness that may arise. AFE’s nurse provides clinic hours and teaches about health and hygiene to its students. Additionally, AFE receives several medical brigades throughout the year that meet the health needs of the surrounding communities.
- Family development: A child’s nuclear family has an enormous impact on his or her success. Thus we reach out to their parents through an adult education program in the afternoons, small-group discipleship led by AFE’s church (Amor y Vida), and alternative employment options in our microbusiness program.
- Emotional development: Children from the garbage dump come to AFE with many emotional scars. To facilitate healing, we offer a safe environment with unconditional friendship and positive mentors in our Christian teachers. Furthermore, our partnership with the Association for a Just Society provides access to a psychologist who counsels our students as-needed. To prevent abuse, AFE’s social worker visits homes regularly and reports any suspect situations to the proper authorities.
- Spiritual development: Every student at AFE is encouraged to become involved in church life at “Amor y Vida” and most of them do. They participate in the church’s youth and Sunday school programs. At AFE, there is a weekly devotional and in the afternoons our “Ebenezer” program teaches practical Christianity along with fun extra-curricular activities.
- Intellectual development: AFE uses a government-approved home-school curriculum to facilitate learning at an appropriate pace for each student. To prepare our students for whatever career they may choose after AFE, we supplement this curriculum with extra classes such as computer training, public speaking, and English education. In a community that barely knows how to read and write, we are proud that our first students will graduate from high school and go on to college this year.
- Vocational development: Our goal is to prepare our students for college or a career that can offer them more dignity than garbage-sorting and a stable income with which to raise their families. We partner with organizations (“Micah Tech” and “El Sembrador”) that train them in skills such welding or mechanics. In the afternoons, our older children feel the most pressure to drop out of school to work, participate in a micro-business (shirt design or jewelry making) to gain extra income and learn about business.
- Physical development: providing nutritious meals and treating any illness that may arise. AFE’s nurse provides clinic hours and teaches about health and hygiene to its students. Additionally, AFE receives several medical brigades throughout the year that meet the health needs of the surrounding communities.
4. The fourth and final step in the development of children from the dump is reentry into normal society. All over the world dump workers suffer from a deep stigma that blocks them from interacting with normal society. Our final goal in the development of children is that they would have the economic, social, emotional, and intellectual skills to succeed in normal society and become servant-leaders who glorify God.
