Family Reunion

I have some great news. There is a child that could be the poster child of our project. His story captures the tragic nature of this garbage dump and of the children forced to work there. His name is Ariel. He has an older brother named Sergio who no longer at our school. He has a sister named Brenda as well. In February, all three were attending the school and were making such great advances. The change was very clear and visible. Yet once the oldest brother left, the other two seemed less happy at the school. This makes sense because they probably both looked up to their brother, and once he left, they thought maybe that was the cool thing to do. Last month both Brenda and Ariel left as well. This was really hard on me because I had invested so much into Ariel.

On my visits to the garbage dump, I always look for our students. I found Brenda. We talked for a long time and with Jesse’s help, we were able to convince her to come back. She has been back at our school for two weeks. But Ariel was still nowhere to be found. Yet this week, to my surprise, Ariel showed up for school with a big smile on his face. I don’t know why he came back or who talked to him, but I am so glad he is back.

We have worked hard to make sure the students finish their education and escape from the garbage dump. Of the 170 students at AFE, about half still work in the garbage dump in the afternoons and on weekends. The others have been convinced to focus on school or to find other jobs. Ariel and Brenda are third generation garbage workers meaning their grandparents and parents both worked in the garbage dump. It is all they know. But what I know is that God has incredible and amazing plans for their lives and our goal is to help them reach those plans.

Updates – I saw Antonio at the vocational school he is at. Wow, God has really changed this young man’s life. He is a role model and leader at his school. He has dreams of returning and helping with street kids once he returns. He wants to help out the kids who never got a chance like him. Incredible.

The Gospel

Warning: The following is very sad story

Two Sunday’s ago I had the privilege of speaking at Amor y Vida, where many people who work and live in the garbage dump attend. I gave a simple message about the plot of all the stories in the Bible from Ephesians – “I was dead, but God gave me life.” I explained how God wants to bring that story into being in our lives, our families, and our futures. With all modest, it was a great message with a great response afterwards where many wanted to start following Jesus. In the crowd was a certain family going through tremendous difficulty in their lives. They heard my presentation of the gospel through words and shook my hands afterwards. I had so many people wanting to talk to me I just quickly went by them, not realizing they wanted to talk to me. I went home happy after sharing the gospel with a bunch of people. That family also went home but sad because the mother was out of options.

Let me explain. He husband had left 3 months ago to the states with another woman. She was alone with a year and half old daughter and Samir, an 8 year old boy who is in the 3rd grade at AFE. The mother has tried so hard to provide for her family. It is hard to find a job when there is no one to watch your little baby. She wakes up early and makes tortillas and other food to sell on the street with her son. She allows him to go to school in the morning and then afterwards he helps her sell. She does not want to go the garbage dump to work. That Sunday night was especially hard because her family had not eaten since their last meal at AFE (Friday at noon) and would not eat until the next day because they had no more food. That was what she would have told me if I had not simply shook her had, said ‘God Bless You’ and gone on to the next person.

I do not know what it feels like to have to respond to a son who tells me, “Daddy, I’m hungry” when I do not have any way to feed him. I don’t know what it feels like to be out of options. I don’t know what ‘desperate’ means. This mother does. And on Sunday night she reacted in a horrible way when her son asked for some food. She beat him. The boy you see on the right hand side had a black eye and dark contusions covering his back. The mother wept and wept afterwards. She apologized to him and us. I am not condoning her actions, simply saying that poverty creates such tragedies.

After hearing about these events, we decided to present the Gospel again the following Sunday, but with actions. Project Transformation bought some grocery supplies for the family to help them during this time. We found a donation of clothes for her which she can sell along with her food to make an income. We are also looking into finding her a job as a nanny. She has committed to never strike her children again and to contact us if she is in that situation again.

Almost all my studies have taught me the importance of sharing the good news with deeds and not just words, but this last week that truth became so much more clear in my life. It is very hard to hear the good news when your children are hungry and you don’t have any way to feed them. We want to commit ourselves to always present the whole Gospel with both word and deed. That is the gospel that produces transformation. Please keep this family in prayer.

1 John 3:17-18 If anyone has material possessions and sees someone in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Met Our Match

Elise and I are pretty confident individuals. There are not many things we feel we can not do. Well, we met our match with the pre-school students at AFE. There has not been a consistent pre-school teacher for over a year now which makes it difficult for the kids to learn. This year’s first graders (last years preschoolers) are still behind in learning to read because of the lack of consistency in their teachers. One of our priorities is finding a teacher who can make a long term commitment.

Until then, I thought maybe Elise and I could help the children. I was by myself the first day and that was the first mistake. I thought maybe we could learn the alphabet that our church had painted on the walls. I asked them to point out the letter their name started in. Another mistake because I could not get them to seat down the rest of school! They just went wild pointing at every letter, ripping down their previous work to show me, and just running a muck. After an hour of trying to get control, I finally was able to with the help of a God send – Tic Tacs. They wanted some of my tic tacs so I used it as collateral. I made them do the letter M and I in their notebooks. I gave up quickly and gave them extra recess. I came home totally exhausted from my endeavor. I was happy to bring Elise because I knew she would help. She laughed at my inexperience as I told her about my day. She said she would whip them in shape in no time.

The next day we came together and walked right into pre-school. The kids were unexpectedly quiet and calm. It was the calm before the storm. Elise made introduction and asked what their favorite animal was. Not only did they tell us their favorite animal, but the acted out the animal the rest of the day. Then they got in fights over their animals. Somehow we got control back. I had to step away to attend to some guest. Ten minutes later I saw all the kids running out of the classroom to the playground about 45 minutes early. I went to check on Elise. I couldn’t help but laugh because she was having just as much trouble as me. I asked why they had gone to recess so early and Elise told me they just left. After recess we tried again to teach them something but couldn’t keep their attention. Finally we used Doritos to bribe them to do work and miraculously it worked.

Elise and I have decided are gifting is not with pre-schoolers. The kids love us now and run to hug us when we arrive but we are hoping they get a full-time teacher really soon. The best part is that they can’t prounce the ‘r’ in Rey so they all call me “Ley.’ Please keep Milton, Josue, Carlos, Paola, and Joselin in your prayers. And also pray we find a good pre-school teacher.