February 9, 2011

The mother of five children did not know where to go to get help after her husband left, married another women, and refused to pay to support the children he had left behind.

A resident of Nueva Suyapa, a poor neighborhood in Honduras, the mother decided to turn for help to a Gideon Center, a legal/psychological clinic sponsored by the Association for a More Just Society, which runs this program out of a classroom in the building that houses the local congregation of the Christian Reformed Church of Honduras. Others help to support the Gideon project as well. For instance, Christian Reformed World Missions helps to support the at-risk youth portion of this ministry.

At first, the abandoned wife was reluctant to go to the clinic, not wanting to stir up trouble between herself and her husband who now was living a new and entirely different life. She was reluctant to have him arrested for not paying to support the children.

But she needed help and so mustered the courage to walk down the street to the clinic in the church. Once she entered, she met and sat down with Augustina Gomez, a paralegal who listened to her story and then started to talk to the mother about possible legal remedies available to her.

With the help of Gomez, she filed a complaint with the proper authorities and may ultimately have to take the father of her children to court.

"They are really helpful here. Whatever problems we have, we can bring here and they will help us to resolve it," she said. "I don't want to go to court, but I will if I have to."

Responding to the needs that people in the neighborhoods themselves expressed, the Gideon Center has set up similar centers in other needy areas. On staff are paralegals, counselors, psychologists, youth workers, and volunteers.

Since the Gideon Centers first opened their doors in July 2004, the project has dealt with over 5,000 legal and psychological aid cases, directly benefiting over 10,000 individuals.

They have won or come to out-of-court agreements in 900 child-support cases, trained 4,000 children, youth, and adults in preventing child sexual abuse, and formed eight "Youth Impact" groups that provide leadership training and mentoring for at-risk youths.

"We have had 23 new cases this month alone," said Augustina Gomez in January. "We've dealt with cases of child support in which mothers want the name of the father on the birth certificate. If necessary, we will do DNA tests for this. We've dealt with conflict between neighbors, domestic violence, for which we will take pictures as evidence, and sexual abuse."

Hundreds of people have been helped in the clinic, she said. With some of the children, Gideon Center workers will go to school with a child "and work with the teacher and the family to help the child succeed," said Gomez.

Workers at the Gideon Centers undergo training on how to handle the difficult situations that they frequently face. They will often use Bible passages as part of the work, such as pointing out verses that deal with how to handle conflict to those who are having disputes with their neighbors or others.

A grandfather, sitting in one of the chairs at the center in the CRC in Honduras building, spoke about coming here to seek help for himself and for two of his grandchildren who had been sexually abused. "I'm so grateful to the staff here who have helped us," he said. "We don't have the resources to pay them back for all they do for us. I hope God will do that. We have a lot of needs in Honduras."

When necessary, staff at the Gideon Centers will refer clients to nearby health clinics to address certain problems. They also connect and work with nearby churches.

One woman spoke of using the clinic for psychological services. She had been experiencing problems with an older man who wouldn't leave her alone.

"This clinic is good because it teaches people how important they are and helps people who are depressed. There are a lot of people who are very sad sometimes," she said.

In Nueva Suyapa, as in other communities where the Gideon Centers work, the neighborhood is made up of many people living in small tin-roofed shacks on less than one dollar a day.

"The stresses of severe poverty are compounded by broken families, domestic violence, high levels of street crime, and inadequate public services – causing psychological, emotional, and physical trauma. Children and youths are especially affected by problems like sexual abuse, overcrowded and underequipped schools, and lack of opportunities for work and study," says the AJS website.

One of the Gideon Center programs is an outreach to at-risk youth. To be in this program, a young person must not be enrolled in school at the time, live in poverty, and be in danger of joining or have already gotten interested in one of the local gangs.

Based on a similar and successful program in Romania, the at-risk youth program involves talking with the youth about healthy ways to resolve problems. They learn various methods to develop good values and morals and about respecting one another. They also get involved in projects, such as learning how to cook pizza or make t-shirts. In addition, they may undertake a work project such as cleaning garbage from a messy ravine.

"I like going there," said one of the members of the at-risk youth project. "We learn about values and the Bible. We do games and play soccer. When we leave, they give us a snack."

Because of the program, the youth – a sixth grader – says he's returned and is now doing better in school and attends church on Sunday.

Late on a cloudy Friday afternoon, dozens of young people from this program were playing soccer on the large flat roof of a church building.

Anyone inside the church might have thought a herd of elephants was romping and stomping across the roof. The youth, all boys, kicked and passed the ball, blocked it, ran back and forth with abandon, yelling out to one another, and yet no one was disruptive. One youth, though, stood to the side. He had a grimy face and downcast eyes and kept sullenly kicking a soccer ball against a wall.

"There are not a lot of opportunities for these kids," says Abe Huyser Honig. "There are no parks, few soccer fields, and those are usually taken up with leagues. So coming here to play games is a big deal for them."

During a break in a soccer game, one of the young people was asked if the neighborhood experienced a problem with gangs. He didn't want to answer that question, but he did say: "I've been coming to this group for two years and it has helped me stay away from drugs and bad company."

Christian Reformed Church in North America