Each day these college students, not all Christians, interacted not only with their poor students but also with the Christians running the program.  They listened as the children were provided Bible study as part of the program.  My prayer is that the Holy Spirit worked in the hearts of many of them during this time.

Our goal for early next year is to have an early reading and writing program in twenty churches.  Once we have a presence in these churches our next step is to transition them into fully operational and funded Help and Hope Centers.

An influential gentleman has been working with us as we consider the possibility of operating a Christian school in Rubio.  He has grown to love the work of Andean Aid and our civil association Una Sonrisa Para Todos (A Smile For All).  In fact he wants a Help and Hope Center established in his village church.  It’s good to have friends in high places but I doubted that a this tiny village could meet our standard of serving thirty children each day.  I was astonished when 35 to 40 children came to our program each day.  This gentleman has suggested that Una Sonrisa Para Todos is the best association in meeting the needs of poor children in all of Venezuela!  We are the only association to have such an arrangement with the university.  This is a big kudos for our work.

So, this is much more than a win-win story.  The students win by meeting an obligation for their education, the university wins by having an option for their students, the churches win by being able to offer an immediate and tangible benefit to their communities, Andean Aid / Una Sonrisa Para Todos wins by getting teachers at no cost and being able to witness to them, and most importantly the poor children win.  They get to go to school fully prepared to succeed knowing that someone cares about them and their future.

Please pray as we expand our reach in Venezuela and Colombia – and someday beyond.  May other important people cross our path and become friends.  We feel blessed that we can have such an impact in what can be a difficult country for a non-profit to gain a foothold.  Only God could have worked this out and we are very thankful.

During my career I’ve been involved in emergency management in several areas.  In the Navy I was responsible for helping to manage damage control aboard a submarine and in the nuclear power industry I held several positions to help alleviate emergencies and taught emergency planning.  A basic tenet in each case was that those with a specified role handled the emergency and those without a role were either evacuated from the area or contained.  We did not open the doors to the nuclear plant during an emergency and allowed unqualified people to “do what they thought best”.

So, my question is, what was the Idaho group even doing in Haiti?  Why do unqualified people and groups flock to the scenes of disasters and more importantly why are they allowed to flock to these areas?  My guess is that the answer lies in the lack of a centralized point of control.  There is no one person or entity in control.

Did the Idaho group have good intentions?  Probably.  But, in the end, they did more harm than good.  The legal system in Haiti was tied up deciding what to do with them.  Police had to arrest, guard and feed them rather than participate in the search and recovery effort.  They are lucky that all they endured was a few days in a jail cell floor.  There are areas of the world where the punishment would be harsh and swift for taking children across international borders without documentation.

I want to assure our supporters and contributors that Andean Aid takes great pains to ensure that we operate within the law in the countries where we serve.   We have formed a civil association in Venezuela and we are fully documented to provide our services to children and families.  Our president Ana Carillo and director Gaby Andrade (see their bios on the Directors and Staff Page) are diligent in keeping abreast with changes in the law and we work with very good child welfare attorneys in Venezuela.  We work hard to earn and keep your trust.