This month in Ecuador we are working with at risk children. Being at risk can mean that the kids come from poor families, have nobody to take care of them during the day (putting them out on the streets, or most commonly come from dysfunctional homes. Many of the children are verbally and physically abused on a weekly basis. Just about every day there is a new kid with either bruises or cuts. The leaders of the organization claim that if the children do something that their parents don’t like, the parents are often quick to hit or verbally abuse their children. The youngest boy, who is 4 years old, has been beaten so badly that one of his eyes is permanently damaged and the other one is often black.
The ministry we are working with is called COVi. It stands for Central Operation Vida, or the Central Operation of Life. It is an organization that primarily works with children between the ages of 6-16. Their goal is to take in these at risk children, teach them; respect, obedience, patience, honor, and how to live a good life. They teach them that school is important and they should try hard if they would like to have a bright future. They also teach about the bible and what it looks like to have faith.
Our day to day ministry has started to fall into a routine. School is only a half day in Ecuador, so the kids are with COVi either the morning or the afternoon. The younger kids are with us in the morning. They don’t have much homework for us to help them out with, so we end up playing an assortment of different games with them. We play some card games such as UNO (the children cheat terribly), play soccer, run obstacle courses, and just hang out. We then have a daily devotional and serve them a fresh organic lunch and send them off to school. When the second group of children come, we have lunch ready for them. After lunch we have a bunch of different chores. We wash the dishes, clean the tables, sweep and mop the floors, clean the bathrooms, water the approximately 1 acre garden, help the children with their homework, and play games. There are a lot of different tasks to do, but as a team we are great at splitting up the responsibilities so we can hang out with the kids.
In this ministry we are not doing a whole lot of preaching or teaching, but are learning to serve in a very different way. We are learning how to spread joy to children that have very unfortunate home lives. We are learning to help kids prepare for their future by helping them excel in their homework and studies. But most importantly, we are able to show them that they are loved and that there are people out there that care about them. We are able to show them that they don’t have to have a future of living on the streets and getting involved in gangs and drugs. We are able to show them that if they work hard and have faith that they can overcome their most likely futures of being on the streets and in gangs. I know that this ministry has worked, because the founder has shared a bunch of success stories. Yes, some of the kids revert to the streets and end up in jail, or even kill to be in gangs, but there are also plenty that go on to live great lives. It is a blessing being able to help these children get headed down the right path.
