While the circumstances continue to unfold in Venezuela without any certainty at this point, I want to tell some more stories about the beauty and goodness found in Venezuela. One of my first times in Venezuela was the Summer of my Junior year in college at Multnomah. My good friends and mentors, Jon and Shannon (founders of Niños de la Luz), invited me to spend 3 weeks with them as they began to develop the ministry to support children and youth living on the street in the capital city of Caracas. We travelled the country, visiting new cities and towns, looking for information on how best to support kids living on the street. We met with priests, street vendors, police officers and pastors to talk about the best way to support them. Generally, we found concern, support and compassion.
As the months and years progressed, and I eventually moved back to Caracas, I was deeply moved by the compassion we witnessed as pastors invited us to openly share in their churches to gather up support and additional staff to support the growing organization. Jon would often share about the need for more volunteers and staff. In some cases, in the middle of church services, couples would raise their hands to indicate that they were willing to join the project (with no promise of any form of compensation). On one occasion, a couple, Oscar and Juanita, raised their hands and went on to dedicate their lives to support children by becoming foster parents, staff members and deeply committed servants. Their adult son, Mauricio joined NDLL as well and went on to serve the children of Venezuela with compassion and dedication. Mauricio became one of my greatest friends in the country. Saints do exist today. I saw them. We all saw them. And they were Venezuelan.
If you are looking for a way to support children in Venezuela, consider the work that Niños de la Luz continues to provide today.
Development and Justice 