"The children are not seen as children, but as rats to be got rid of!" Jenni says, remembering that February night in 1991 when she first became aware of the street urchins of Guatemala. The sight of the small, unwanted human beings was particularly poignant because, after years of praying for their own child, Jenni had just discovered that she was pregnant! But for Duncan the pain went deeper.
Duncan's story
Growing up in the south of England, Duncan had
also been a neglected, abused child. He and his sisters were often locked
out of home and made to fend for themselves, whipped or left naked and
hungry. Written off at school, stealing came naturally and by his
mid-teens, Duncan had moved from petty thieving to burglary. He was
appearing in the local courts and gaining a criminal record. Eventually he
was thrown out of home.
By summer 1981, aged just 22, hounded by the police and terribly
lonely, suicide seemed the only option. It was then that Duncan cried out
instinctively to a God he hardly knew existed. Following what he now
describes as `a firm, gentle, audible voice' he made his way to Tunbridge
Wells in Kent. Why Tunbridge? He didn't know. But there, incredibly,
Duncan found work and friends. And at a local church, Christchurch, he
also discovered a group of people who were excited about God. He yearned
for the joy and peace they seemed to possess, and he reached out for God's
love and forgiveness.
Duncan hardly even knew
where Guatemala was, but when he watched "They Shoot Children, Don't
They?" he felt connected to its neglected street children. He knew their
fear of abuse and authority, and their feelings of rejection and
worthlessness.
By 1991, Duncan's life was radically altered. The rough-and-ready youth
had transformed into a Bible College graduate married to Jenni, a young
Australian who also knew the power of Christian faith and prayer.
For four years Duncan and Jenni had been youth leaders at St. Leonard's
Anglican Church in Amersham in Buckinghamshire, the affluent commuter
greenbelt on the London outskirts, and in August 1991 when their daughter
Katelyn was born, their joy seemed complete!
The first showing of "They Shoot Children, Don't They?" had prompted
them into fundraising and praying for the street children but when it was
re-run on television just after Katelyn's birth, the effect on Duncan and
Jenni was entirely different:
"At the end of the programme, Jen and I
just looked at each other. We admitted that God had spoken to our hearts
through the programme. We knew that He was calling us to go to Guatemala
and help the street children."
Incredible though it seemed, prayer and prophecies reinforced the
conviction. They would have to learn a new language - Duncan and Jenni
began Spanish classes! A charity promised them a job managing a children's
home but they would need to raise £15,000 for their work and training -
they set about raising the cash!
Faith and prayer has always been central to the Dyasons' lives and
marriage, so they prayed for the funds and in faith established a charity
to administer that money: the Toybox Charity was born and the money poured
in. Many thought they were completely mad, but some Christian friends who
shared their vision were more than happy to help, and to offer prayer
support.
In September 1991, Duncan, Jenni and baby Katelyn were on their way to
a new life for which, they soon discovered, they were totally unprepared.
Suffering wretched ill health in the heat and stench of Guatemala City,
living in cramped conditions with a lively toddler, they endured guerrilla
warfare, a cholera epidemic, atrocities against the street children and
the attempted kidnapping of their daughter. When they were rejected by
their co-workers at their first assignment, Duncan and Jenni's sceptics
seemed justified!
But God had promised that they would become `father to the fatherless'
and `mother to the motherless' so they persevered. Duncan joined a street
outreach team offering basic first aid and friendship to the children
living rough.
Street work was, and is, extremely dangerous. Duncan's life was
threatened by the very youngsters he was trying to help, but he and Jenni
were learning the realities of life on the street. And they were becoming
acquainted with "El Hoyo" ("The Hole"), a dusty alley behind a bus
terminal where abandoned children dwell in gangs and squalor.
Violence is ever-present, within the gangs and from the police. Even
tiny girls and boys are the victims of rape and prostitution. Many
children take drugs and sniff glue to deaden the pain of hunger and
emptiness.
Christ's work
As their love for the children grew, so did their
frustration. Duncan and Jenni's non-Christian employers allowed no talk of
Jesus, God or salvation.
"I just felt that we wanted to set something up, a Christian project
that had its roots in God," Duncan says. "Part of the vision that God gave
us when we went to Guatemala was that the country was going to be used as
an example, to the world, of what God can do when people turn to Him. We
believe that God is going to use Guatemala to bless the nations and to
pour out His spirit".
They were also convinced that the work should be locally run: "We
started to talk to people at our church, Centro de Amistad (the Assembly
of God) about what we were doing, and when we left the other charity, we
told the church that we wanted to set up a Christian outreach among the
street children." Many local Christians were apprehensive. The street
children are generally dirty, foul-mouthed and troublesome. They are
reviled, feared and often ignored.
"We get used to seeing the street children. The more you see them, the
more you lose your sensibility towards the problem," says Herbert Paiz,
who was inspired by the Dyasons' vision and who was among their first
local volunteers. Herbert, who trained in the United States of America,
was already working with at-risk children. Today he's the local director
of Toybox Guatemala.
"The Castle"
Once Duncan and Jenni had shared their dream,
things moved quickly. In September 1993, "El Castillo" ("The Castle") was
inaugurated with a street outreach team and a children's club.
Next came a Training Centre ("La Torre" or "The Tower") which provides
practical training to equip the street children for independent living.
Today, there is also a residential hostel and two boys' and two girls'
centres where more than forty street children now enjoy a permanent,
loving, Christian home.
But prevention is key and in addition to street teams, "Ninos Alto
Riesgo" ("NAR", the High Risk Team) works with parents, schools and
churches in communities at risk of losing their children to the streets.
But an estimated 1,500 youngsters still live sleep rough in Guatemala,
taking drugs, suffering torture and murder. Toybox aims to provide for at
least 25 per cent of these children and that means another eight
children's homes and associated programmes.
The charity is also committed to educating their children in a nation
where good schooling doesn't come free. "I think that we are preparing the
leaders of the future. That's why their education is so important," Duncan
says.
"We have many expectations for them," says Herbert Paiz. "We also want
to be a voice for change in Guatemala - for social and economic change.
And we want to be a voice in the building of the church in Guatemala."
Faith in action
Jenni and Duncan Dyason returned to the UK in
1994 and now work to raise the Toybox profile and the £400,000 annual
budget. Prayer for the work is also vital.
"Prayer has always been more important than the money," Duncan says.
"If people are praying, then God doesn't remain silent and He will respond
in miraculous ways."
And in the years since the Dyasons first watched the TV documentary
which so touched their hearts, they have proved the power of faith and
prayer to change a seemingly hopeless situation: "To see children happy
and content, with dreams in their heart and hope for the future, hope
restored, a zest and excitement for life, and a faith that will take them
into the next life. That's all the reward we want."
For more information contact:
The Toybox Charity,
PO Box 660,
Amersham,
Bucks HP6 6EA
Registered Charity No. 1015945
