I was talking to some friends about my time in Guatemala and some of the amazing kids that I got to know, and I came back to Antonio's story.
Antonio came to Fundacion Salvacion about a year and a half ago after being picked up off the streets by the police. Antonio was born to abusive, alcoholic parents who lived in a small town in the mountains. His first language was a local Mayan tongue, and he learned Spanish at his job, which was selling snacks on buses. By 8 years old, he was the breadwinner for his family-- earning money to buy food to feed his younger siblings, while his 9 year old sister cooked and tended to the littler ones. Eventually he was thrown out of his house after trying to defend his mother, which is where the police found him, and brought him to us.
He arrived a few months before I did, towards the end of a school year. Alycia gave him a sort of placement test to decide where he would best fit in to learn for the rest of the year, as he had no transcripts to speak of and he would have to enrolled in a grade for the whole year for the government considered it passed. He knew long division, so they put him in third grade for the last couple months of school.
But it turns out that Antonio had never been to a day of school in his life.
He'd never had the opportunity to go to class and learn. He didn't know how to read or write, and he'd never been taught basic math. Then how was he able to correctly solve long division problems? He just "figured it out". That's the sort of incredible mind that this boy has. He soaked in his first months in a classroom with respect and enthusiasm, picking up a remarkable amount of english in such a short time, and started second grade at Colegio Bilingue Esperanza this year. He started not knowing how to read or write, and having never been introduced to the basics of math or science or art. That was less than a year ago. Now, thanks to his excellent teacher, Teacher Judy, Antonio has come distances that you wouldn't believe. He reads and writes in two languages-- he can spell better than I can! I brought him into my third grade class a few of times to help my students with math. And perhaps most amazing are his English skills-- we have some truly impressive english speakers at our school, but I still often double-take when having conversations with Antonio. Normally you'd expect even the most gifted language learners to have trouble with things like tenses and pronouns, but he speaks with such an ease and a natural command of the language that I still find my jaw on the ground. After two years living abroad in Spanish-speaking countries and considering myself pretty proficient, it's easier for us to have complex conversations in English. He's become a translator for the staff of the Fundacion! And that's just his mind. Antonio is one of the sweetest, biggest-hearted, emotionally and spiritually aware people that I've ever met. He's so full of love.
And I was telling some of this to my friends, they commented on how amazing it was that this clearly gifted child might never even had the chance to begin to unlock his potential. How there are probably children all of the world who could be scientists and doctors and writers and teachers and counselors and parents who could change the world, but they are never even given the access to basic opportunities... and it just made me that much more thankful for More Than Compassion, and for the chance to work with them. Thanks to MTC, an abused, illiterate, and essentially hopeless child living on the street is on track to graduate with excellent grades from a bilingual school, go on to college, and have a beautiful future. And that's just one kid, one story of over 130. 130 stories that could break your heart, of the worst kinds of abuse you can think of, of abandonment, of seeming hopelessness... But then comes an organization, a group of people who is determined to give them protection and meet their basic needs, to give them love and an education, to give them assurance that they are adored by a God who loves them enough to die for them, a chance for a future that's brighter than the pasts that they've come from... to bring them hope.
There's a reason that's what our school is called: "The School of Hope". At it's core, MTC was brought about by the idea that maybe Jesus meant what he said about taking care of orphans and widows and "the least of these", and that in moving from compassion to actions, real differences can be made in the lives of precious ones. God's love for us is called "redeeming", and I can't help but believe that God takes a particular delight in taking darkness, in taking what was meant for harm, and turning it into goodness and light. God truly can make beauty from ashes, can grow something wondrous where it seemed the ground was too hard and dry and infertile for anything to take root, and hope is often what causes that seed of goodness to be awakened. Our God is a God of hope, and I could not be more grateful for that.
This is Antonio.
Antonio came to Fundacion Salvacion about a year and a half ago after being picked up off the streets by the police. Antonio was born to abusive, alcoholic parents who lived in a small town in the mountains. His first language was a local Mayan tongue, and he learned Spanish at his job, which was selling snacks on buses. By 8 years old, he was the breadwinner for his family-- earning money to buy food to feed his younger siblings, while his 9 year old sister cooked and tended to the littler ones. Eventually he was thrown out of his house after trying to defend his mother, which is where the police found him, and brought him to us.
He arrived a few months before I did, towards the end of a school year. Alycia gave him a sort of placement test to decide where he would best fit in to learn for the rest of the year, as he had no transcripts to speak of and he would have to enrolled in a grade for the whole year for the government considered it passed. He knew long division, so they put him in third grade for the last couple months of school.
But it turns out that Antonio had never been to a day of school in his life.
He'd never had the opportunity to go to class and learn. He didn't know how to read or write, and he'd never been taught basic math. Then how was he able to correctly solve long division problems? He just "figured it out". That's the sort of incredible mind that this boy has. He soaked in his first months in a classroom with respect and enthusiasm, picking up a remarkable amount of english in such a short time, and started second grade at Colegio Bilingue Esperanza this year. He started not knowing how to read or write, and having never been introduced to the basics of math or science or art. That was less than a year ago. Now, thanks to his excellent teacher, Teacher Judy, Antonio has come distances that you wouldn't believe. He reads and writes in two languages-- he can spell better than I can! I brought him into my third grade class a few of times to help my students with math. And perhaps most amazing are his English skills-- we have some truly impressive english speakers at our school, but I still often double-take when having conversations with Antonio. Normally you'd expect even the most gifted language learners to have trouble with things like tenses and pronouns, but he speaks with such an ease and a natural command of the language that I still find my jaw on the ground. After two years living abroad in Spanish-speaking countries and considering myself pretty proficient, it's easier for us to have complex conversations in English. He's become a translator for the staff of the Fundacion! And that's just his mind. Antonio is one of the sweetest, biggest-hearted, emotionally and spiritually aware people that I've ever met. He's so full of love.
And I was telling some of this to my friends, they commented on how amazing it was that this clearly gifted child might never even had the chance to begin to unlock his potential. How there are probably children all of the world who could be scientists and doctors and writers and teachers and counselors and parents who could change the world, but they are never even given the access to basic opportunities... and it just made me that much more thankful for More Than Compassion, and for the chance to work with them. Thanks to MTC, an abused, illiterate, and essentially hopeless child living on the street is on track to graduate with excellent grades from a bilingual school, go on to college, and have a beautiful future. And that's just one kid, one story of over 130. 130 stories that could break your heart, of the worst kinds of abuse you can think of, of abandonment, of seeming hopelessness... But then comes an organization, a group of people who is determined to give them protection and meet their basic needs, to give them love and an education, to give them assurance that they are adored by a God who loves them enough to die for them, a chance for a future that's brighter than the pasts that they've come from... to bring them hope.
There's a reason that's what our school is called: "The School of Hope". At it's core, MTC was brought about by the idea that maybe Jesus meant what he said about taking care of orphans and widows and "the least of these", and that in moving from compassion to actions, real differences can be made in the lives of precious ones. God's love for us is called "redeeming", and I can't help but believe that God takes a particular delight in taking darkness, in taking what was meant for harm, and turning it into goodness and light. God truly can make beauty from ashes, can grow something wondrous where it seemed the ground was too hard and dry and infertile for anything to take root, and hope is often what causes that seed of goodness to be awakened. Our God is a God of hope, and I could not be more grateful for that.
///
Special note: More Than Compassion could NOT do what it does without their volunteers, donors, and sponsors. Please, considering giving a one time-donation or signing up to sponsor a child. We're particularly in need of school sponsorships at this point--click HERE).
Also, you can help support my amazing co-teachers, Megan, Elise, Jess, and Marcos by financially enabling them to stay another year, tangibly loving on and teaching the amazing kids of Fundacion Salvacion. Contribute HERE
Make a one-time donation of any amount by clicking HERE
Thank you so, so much for helping to change the lives of these precious ones. You truly are giving the gift of hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment