Rescue Project Celebrate's Children's Day

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Rescue Project Celebrates Children's Day

27 September 2010 - Most days, the lawyers, investigators, and psychologists of the Rescue project, which addresses the needs of child and adolescent survivors of sexual abuse, meet their clients in sad and challenging circumstances. Ada, one of the project's psychologists may be in a girl's home in Tegucigalpa, helping her work through the pain of repeated sexual abuse by a step-father. Ludim, one of the project’s lawyers, may be in court with two young brothers preparing them to testify against their grandfather who abused them.

On a recent Friday, though, Rescue staff got to spend time with their clients under much happier circumstances. In Honduras, September 10 is celebrated as El día del niño or Children's Day. In celebration of the holiday, the Rescue team at ASJ decided to plan an outing for their clients to Valle de Angeles, an idyllic town about 45 minutes outside of Tegucigalpa.

On the day of the outing, 30 children and 22 adults boarded an old school bus at 8:30 in the morning for the ride to Valle de Angeles. The Rescue staff were especially excited to see the young woman who was Rescue's first client board the bus with her son. She was joined by more recent clients from all over Tegucigalpa who have been supported with legal and psychological help from the Rescue team. For many children, this was their first time out of the city of Tegucigalpa, and their excitement was visible as they stared out the windows, with the wind blowing in their faces. The children spent the day playing games, breaking four piñatas and simply enjoying the clear country air.

The smiles on the faces of the Rescue team were almost as big as the smiles of the children as they relished seeing clients who had been through so much trauma enjoy a day of celebration. As Alexis, the project coordinator noted, being able to “take the children out of the place where their trauma happened” was a joy. The day had special significance for the Rescue team because although while AJS provided some funds for the outing, Rescue team members and other employees also donated their own resources to purchase piñatas and other essentials for the day.

Of course one day of fun does not erase the trauma that many of the children benefitted by the Rescue project have faced. As the Rescue team and clients played and laughed together, what did become clear, though, is that the children and young adults of supported through this project are surrounded by a support network that walks with them through some of the most painful times in their lives and celebrates healing with them.

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