I’m sitting in a room full of children born into poverty. This room is the living room area of a restoration center called Camp Joy. It’s a center for men and women who want to exit lives of addiction and violence. I’m sitting in a room of children born into poverty, now adults, who are facing the all too common outcome of being raised in such surroundings.
One man says “I didn’t have a choice.” He talks about growing up in an atmosphere of gangs and drugs and how that became the natural progression of his life. A few weeks ago he was deep in heroin addiction, murdering someone in an opposing gang. Today he helps lead devotion time and shares a testimony of meeting Jesus, and letting go of his old life in exchange for a new one. He shares about his encounter with real and redeeming grace.
Another woman I’ve been spending time with tells me about her childhood spent in poverty, where any money that did show up was spent on alcohol. She tells me about how she followed in those footsteps at 14, became pregnant at 19 and was in jail by the age of 20. Between the ages of 25 and 35 she was in prison multiple times for stealing and drugs like meth and heroin. She has three children who have bought into this same cycle. Her 11 year old son was murdered last year as a result. Her greatest hope is that the change she finds here will in some way spill over into her family.
Unfortunately some of them relapse and fall back into these lifestyles. After one woman we’ve made friends with leaves, some people from the team go into her community to look for her and see if she’ll come back. It turns out she isn’t at the drug house where she would usually be; they say she’s gone out on to the street to “work” for drug money. We’re not surprised, yet shocked, all at the same time. What a heart breaking reality.
The rest of the stories are similar to these, deep with unimaginable trauma and heartbreak; childhood stories of abuse and devastation. Despite what their past has been, many of these men and women come out of the center with stories of restoration and freedom. They go on to become good parents and people who give back to their communities. Their lives are redeemed.
I’ve met people here in Cape Town who are taking incredible steps to reach people in all ages and walks of life, but looking at the men and women here brings me to the realization of how profoundly important it is to reach the children in communities of poverty and the significance of the continual investment and building of relationships within these communities. It is vital that we communicate the love of the Father’s heart for them and lay a foundation of hope for their future before they have to make the choice of which direction they’ll take with their lives. If you don’t already, I would challenge you to take the step of helping one child in poverty, locally or globally. Your investment could change the trajectory of a life forever.
