New Home from Gary de León on Vimeo.
Several months ago, our
street team, Hector and Emma Perez, came into contact with a distraught mother,
living in extreme poverty, with whom they had been working in the past. She
began to share that one her children had been terribly abused and she needed
help. Hector and Emma contacted several of us in order to come up with an
appropriate intervention plan.
We arrived and found their
little shack fairly quickly and our team, consisting of Hector and Emma (our
street team) as well as Karla (our social worker) and Lucrecia (our
psychologist) began to dialogue with the mother. She had five children
with two different fathers and lived in a shack the size of a shed (10' x12')
behind a Guatemalan city market in a very dangerous slum area called “la
terminal.” Her current boyfriend is a 20-year-old drug addict that spends
most of the time in the streets on solvents and drugs. He is the father
of her two youngest (ages 3 and 5). It is through working with this young
man that Hector and Emma came to know this family.
The mother was ready for
help this time. Her older two daughters (12 and 14) had been raped in the
last several years and she wouldn’t cooperate to take action against these
perpetrators, but this incident occurred with her 10-year-old son. He had
already told his mother about being abused by a neighbor, but this time, she
was ready to act and report the “unthinkable” that happened to her son the day
before our team arrived.
An awesome ‘God-story’
piece to this is that our newly hired psychologist, Lucrecia, had been working
with the Paz family for the past several years and already had a history with
this mother, further helping our chances of convincing her to get help for her
son and report this case to the authorities.
We brought the mother and
her son to the 'Ministerio Publico' where charges are formally filed in
Guatemala City. After 7 hours of lines, forms, exams, interviews, etc.
our team walked out successful with proof of the assault as well as a warrant
for his arrest! It was just one day later that the police made the
capture! Both the warrant for his arrest as well as the capture are HUGE
answers to prayers as the government typically doesn't find the proof very
easily, not to mention acting on a warrant. Both happened within 24
hours! Only by God’s grace!
Another act of God –
International Justice Mission – one of our network partners – agreed to take
the case and will be prosecuting the rapist to make sure the family receives
justice and this man never acts again.
Gary and Rachel, ARNM team
members, helped to relocate the family to an apartment near our main
school, also where the counseling offices are located (and still not far from
their original home). It is small but bigger and safer than their
previous place and costs $53 a month. It also has electricity and
plumbing which the other did not.
Being located near our
school will allow us to enroll all five of them through our child sponsorship
program. The two youngest will be easy but the 10, 12, and 14 year old
are all in first grade level. This is difficult as AMG is not equipped to
have them in our mainstream classrooms. This is also where God’s
sovereign grace has been shown because it has caused us to see some of our
weaknesses and look for solutions.
We are excited to report
that during the last week of March, we received permission/certification from
the Department of Education to formally begin teaching children with special
needs and learning problems. This will allow us to not only educate these
children but also many more children in the days and months to come! All
5 children are in our main school and we are in the interviewing process to
hire the special education teacher. Please pray for the right person.
We were also humbled by
His provision through a local church near our school that has committed to
pursue the family to get them involved in their church and minister to them
through the local body of believers. This is the most
sustainable/long-term solution and one of our biggest answers to prayers - open
hearts within the local church to go beyond their walls and meet the needs of
those within the communities around them.
Lucrecia, our
psychologist, has been assigned this case and has begun the long process of
restoration for this family. She has the commitment of our entire team as
well as the church in assisting her in this long road of recovery for the
entire family.
There is so much more to do, but God is allowing us to re-write these
children’s stories by giving them hope and a vision for the future by working
as a team to bring restoration! Praise God with us in seeing His church
in action and please pray for the wisdom, strength and the patience needed to
continue bringing eternal hope and healing to this family!!!
By Chad Smith, Director of At Risk No More ~ AMG Guatemala
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