It is always exciting to see how God provides and how He faithfully opens each door in His timing. If I had had my way we have set up a location for the vocational school from day one. But honestly if we had done that we would have missed out on what we have learned this past year. I, all too often forget, it is not only achieving my goals that matters, but it is what we learn from the process of achieving those goals that is often even more important. What is learned along the way, both from the succeses and even more so, from our failures, can so impact our overall direction and focus.
Take for instance, originally we were looking to focus the vocational school on adults only. But we have found that we have better results if we focus our attention on youth and children. Through this process of discovery we are finding that in this life style, the cycle of poverty is so ingrained in the daily function of the people that it is difficult for them to conceive of another life style. Many of the people in the villas work so hard but for so little; 16 hours a days, 7 days a week. Time is money for them! If they are not on the streets looking for recyclable materials (cardboard, plastic, metal) someone else will get what they missed that day, or take their territory, or more importantly, they do not eat. So for the adult and older youth, where would they find time to "invest" in themselves? This is a luxury they do not have. They have no options because no one will invest in them. Nor will they trust anyone because they have been burnt by so many lies/promises in the past when they once had hope. All that is left of their hope is scars.
So the question remains...how do you gain access to build trust so that you can invest in this community? I believe we have the answer...by providing the opportunities to their children/youth that they never had while there is time, and through that build relationships with the entire family. One way to break this cycle of poverty is to reach out to the children before their hope is too scarred to impact. So our focus of the school will be expanded to also include as much as is possible children and youth.
With that said, the ground work to start the school laid, with classes and workshops in the neighborhoods as well as at La Misión, we are ready for the next step- to rent a location. Over the past few months we have been raising the necessary funds to secure a "permenant" location for the vocational school. And God through many of you has begun to provide for this. In order to move forward, this permanent location is key and, not to mention, much safer. Once the location is rented we will still maintain our basic carpentry classes in the villas, but all the other classes will be taught in the new location.
