Reaching the children and families in the dump is a difficult venture. Many have worked in the dump for generations and their problems are deeply embedded in their lives and hearts. To facilitate transformation, we practice four steps in outreach to children of the dump.
1. Establish contact and trust. This involves going into the dump, meeting workers' felt needs, and building a 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 may come to school. Other times we will spend years reaching out to a child and he or she will still make the choice to stay in the dump....for now, at least.
2. The second step is enrollment in AFE. This, too, is a process, as some students will come to enroll, spend one day in class, and then go back to the dump. Our goal is to encourage kids to come faithfully to school and to get their families behind the vision as well, supporting them. At enrollment, students take a test to determine what is the appropriate grade level to enter.
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Once children are coming consistently, the staff at AFE aids in their holistic development:
- Physical development – providing a nutritious meal, treating common ailments, and with physical education (how to maintain their personal health and hygiene).
- Intellectual development – tutoring each student with a government-approved home-school curriculum at the appropriate pace. Doing our best to see every student graduate from high school and learn a trade other than garbage sorting.
- Family development – since the stability of the child’s family has the greatest impact on their success, helping the families of AFE to become stable and healthy influences on their children. This is done on a case by case basis, involves finding work for parents, and intervening in cases of abuse or conflict, as needed.
- Spiritual development – every student at AFE is encouraged to become involved in church life at “Amor y Vida” and most of them do. In the mornings they participate in a devotional at school and receive the positive influence from teachers and visiting mission teams. As they grow into adolescents the students at AFE receive practical teaching on what it means to follow Christ.
4. The fourth and final step in the development of children of the dump is reentry into normal society. All over the world dump workers suffer from a lasting 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 with their spiritual foundation to become servant-leaders who glorify God.