Bringing HOPE to at-risk youth in San Jose

As promised, here is a closer look at FUNDAVIDA, one of the three organizations/causes I will be working with in the future here in Costa Rica.  The majority of my time/focus will be with FundaVida, I believe, and I am excited about the work they are doing with at-risk youth in three very high risk, poor communities around San Jose.

Here is a short video about their work.  It is a little older, but the newer ones are not in English just yet.  So sit, back and enjoy this introduction to FundaVida:

Click HERE

There are a couple areas in which I will be helping with FundaVida:  teen outreach clubs, English tutoring, and mentoring/discipleship.  While I am still just getting to know FundaVida, I've been volunteering now for about a month, I am still figuring out exactly what my role will look like.  I do know, though, that I will be helping once a week in two different communities with their teen outreach clubs.  I am also doing English tutoring in the third community they work in once a week.  And I will be helping with the discipleship group of student leaders for the teen clubs, and hopefully starting my own individual mentoring/discipleship with teen girls that grows out of relationships formed in the teen clubs, and as I help get some dance outreach going as well.

Through volunteering the last several weeks there are a couple things I have discovered about FundaVida, its leaders, and the youth:

• All of the leaders come from VERY rough backgrounds.  They have dealt with abuse, addiction, family dysfunction, and pain in intimate ways over the course of their lives and they can speak from personal experience into the lives of these kids.
• All of the leaders are wise and have unique gifts for working with youth.  I am excited to be joining an established group with great leadership!  They have really taken me under their wings.  The director, Eladio, said he has been praying for a female to come alongside and feel the need for a female leader in the two communities I will be focusing in, and when I called him to inquire about working with them, he felt very clearly that I was the answer to that prayer!
• These kids are not only dealing with REALLY serious issues in their lives (abuse, drugs, violence, family dysfunction), but they are so open and ready to be loved and looking for change--a different way of living life than their families and friends.  The harvest is RIPE!  

I can't wait to share more with you in person, hopefully, next month when I am in Indiana, but in the meantime, please check out the pictures below and visit the FundaVida website (particularly the pages on the NEEDS of these communities.) (For English, choose the "EN" button at the top right hand side of the screen.)

Below:  Me with some of the other youth leaders of the teen clubs at a retreat in the mountains.  They are starting a new study on healthy dating relationships this month that I will be helping with.  Given that 40% of the youth grow up in single parent households, many to teen moms, and almost all kids are sexually active at a young age, this is a really important topic!  I got the opportunity to talk with one of the girls during lunch about the unhealthy relationship she is in right now.  I am hoping to win the right to speak into her life and remind her that she is a daughter of God and He wants the very best for her!

Below:  The teens playing "ninja" at club.  It was fun teaching them this game!  These kids have a TON of energy and are not accustomed to having to listen and follow instructions as well as kids I have worked with in the past--it is a challenge, but one I am learning to meet!

Below:  All the kids hanging out at club--this is in 25 de Julio in Hatillos, one of the highest crime areas of San Jose.  Check out these statistics on the drop out rate in this community:  http://www.fundavida.org/need/drop-out/?lang=en

Below:  Me and Kelly.  This is a super sweet girl that I felt an instant connection with!

Below:  Me and some of the kids at club!  I feel so blessed to already be starting to form friendships with them and so quickly.  

Below:  Watching the little ones (0-4 years old) at FundaVida's Saturday program while their moms, most of them teen moms, where in a class designed to teach them parenting skills and help shape their faith.

Below:  I just couldn't resist including this video from club.  This is a really funny game where a guy has to come out and give the girls his best "pick up line" and if the girls approve they invite him to sit with them.  Little does he know what he is in for!  My years of Young Life experience are coming in REALLY handy as a lot of these kids have never seen such high quality programming and games.  It is a great way to attract kids and humor is an amazing way to build friendships with kids and break down walls so they are ready to open up their hearts!