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UK Registered Charity No: 1102894
The AFE Project was founded in 2004 by Jeony Ordoñez who had been working with street children in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa.Jeony visited the city rubbish dump one day with his five-
One day, Jeony felt a personal challenge to help the children after realising that God had been speaking to him through his young daughter. He began to visit the dump and make friendships with the children and their families.Shortly after his initial visits Jeony and his wife, Nimia Jesabel, invited the children to meet with them in a field opposite the dump and began to teach them, since most of them had no opportunity of going to school.
From those early beginnings AFE now has grown into an amazingly effective project, helping nearly 200 children every week through its school, which is still in the process of construction, and its outreach to the children and their families on the dump.Watch the video »
THE MIRACLE OF ‘POLLITO’
If anyone were a poster child for AFE’s work with the children of the rubbish dump it would be eight-year-old ‘Pollito’ (little chicken), named by the workers on the dump since his arrival on the dump at the age of one. His real name is Oscar but he prefers the nickname Pollito because the workers use it affectionately and it describes his skill at picking through the rubbish for recycled materials.
Pollito grew up on the dump after his mother, a local drug addict, began working there in 2002. He looks small and always gives visitors a grimy smile before picking through other people’s rubbish in order to earn a few pence from collecting plastic or glass bottles.
AFE have spent seven years trying to convince Pollito’s mum of the benefits of an education. Sadly she and Pollito have both been opposed to the help until recently. The AFE team were totally surprised when Pollito, together with his little sister, turned up at the AFE school one morning in May 2009, clean and ready to learn. Their mother, sober for the first time in seven years, brought them along and asked that they be enrolled in the specialist school programme. Ever since then they have both attended school every day.
Pollito is facing a huge challenge as he has had no education whatsoever and has had to receive special help for his fine motor skills since he has never held a pen in his hands before.
AFE are so excited that more children are taking the decision to join the school, even if some still work at the dump in the afternoons.
If anyone were a poster child for AFE’s work with the children of the rubbish dump it would be eight-Pollito grew up on the dump after his mother, a local drug addict, began working there in 2002. He looks small and always gives visitors a grimy smile before picking through other people’s rubbish in order to earn a few pence from collecting plastic or glass bottles.
AFE have spent seven years trying to convince Pollito’s mum of the benefits of an education. Sadly she and Pollito have both been opposed to the help until recently. The AFE team were totally surprised when Pollito, together with his little sister, turned up at the AFE school one morning in May 2009, clean and ready to learn. Their mother, sober for the first time in seven years, brought them along and asked that they be enrolled in the specialist school programme. Ever since then they have both attended school every day.
Pollito is facing a huge challenge as he has had no education whatsoever and has had to receive special help for his fine motor skills since he has never held a pen in his hands before.
AFE are so excited that more children are taking the decision to join the school, even if some still work at the dump in the afternoons.