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Hello friends:
I am 15 years old and I am called Carlos. I would like to tell you something of my life, and that of my mother, my step-sister and step-brothers.
We live in the suburb Las Cruces, which is well known in Bogotá, as one of the old and dangerous areas of the city, where thieves, prostitutes, and muggers live, and where they have been selling all sorts of drugs and arms etc, for over 20 years. We all live in a rental room.
I do not know who my father is. I am the oldest of my step brothers and sister.
My mother goes out to work in the street, standing on the corner, waiting for a client, to bring us something with which to buy some food and to pay for the room.
My stepfather works as a embolador and that which he earns he spends on drink.He does not live with us.
I had to help so that my brothers and sister could have even some sugar water to drink, selling sweets in the buses. And when I wasn’t studying, I spent a lot of time playing video machines. |
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My mother has some bad attacks sometimes, but I said to her that as I am the man of the house, she shouldn’t worry, because I was capable of protecting her.
I knew what to do; If she had an attack the first is to close the door to the room because the people come to look and talk but do not help at all. I should put a cloth in her mouth so that she doesn’t bite her tongue; and when it is over, I should not let her get up. I love my mother very much.
About 4 years ago, some people from the Rise and Shine program appeared, and everything began to change.
They visited us for a time and later they suggested to my mother that she should let me go to the program. They began to socialize me, I began to be fed well, they helped level me in my studies. I made good progress and after a year I was enrolled in a school in the community. Today I study in the morning at the school, I eat lunch at the program and in the afternoon they help me with my homework, academic reinforcement and continued education. About 2 years ago my sister and brothers also came into the program. Today they are studying in a school. My mother goes to the workshops for parents and is improving in the way she treats us.
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Visiter.
I know the work of the Rise and Shine ministry and I have visited them on a number of occasions.
While the ministry can only help a certain small number of children and families who really need it , I have noticed that they they are capable of changing the lives of the children and families who go to the program. Really it is not a superficial contact nor a short term “meal and a devotional”, it is a deep long term commitment that transforms the lives of children, their families and with time, the community where they live.
They taught me about the Love and character of God through their example of life and commitment to these children, families and the community. They are ordinary people doing tremendous things in the name of the Lord Jesus. They love what they are doing, and love the most rejected and unprotected of a society which does not understand these people, who have a great desire to be loved. The miracle of the Love of God is projected through the love they have for these children, families and the community where they work.
They need us to pray for them, and ask God for His grace and His kindness to satisfy their daily needs. |
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