Aliro Ruiz, a good friend of our Director Gaby Andrade and a professor in the Liberator Pedagogical Experimental University, approached us with the idea that university students needing to meet a public service requirement could work for the Help and Hope Center to meet the requirement. This summer we conducted an Early Reading and Writing program at our Center and in six local churches. Each day 18 college students taught 150 poor children to read and write at the seven locations giving them a tremendous head start for the upcoming school year. It gets better. The university liked the program so much that they want to continue the program all year. So, this October 24 college students will be involved in the program. We are soliciting more churches now.
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.
The summer reading and writing program was a huge success. Eighteen student teachers taught one hundred and fifty children to read and write each day in seven locations. All involved are very pleased with the outcome. The college students were able to meet their community service obligation ans Andean Aid / Una Sonrisa Para Todos gained valuable help in serving poor children. The university wants this to be a year round program and will provide us with twenty four students in October. Our goal is to provide the program in twenty community church locations by early next year reaching over five hundred children. Our goal is to convert these twenty churches where we will have a presence into fully funded Help and Hope Centers offering the children a full range of developmental services.
While conducting the reading and writing program at the church in Santa Rita it came to our attention that a family with three children was living in a gallinero (chicken coop). This family had a small patch of land and was attempting to construct a basic block home there. The father had done some work on the land but needed materials. Andean Aid provided the materials to complete the house and our staff along with the congregation of the church at Santa Rita will help in completing construction. This is an example of how Andean Aid must balance providing opportunity with relieving misery. Can you imagine these children thriving in school and doing homework in a chicken coop?
