A NEW SPIRIT

Antonio was in the garbage dump since his birth, when he was 13 he started going to school. He wore a ski mask to hide his face because he was a gang member at the time.

His aggressive behavior didn’t allowed teachers to give their classes. Nobody wanted to help him at school. But we decided to start a math competition and choose him as the leader of the group. The prize was an afternoon in the movies and eating hamburgers. His school performance exceled everybody and his team won. We took him to the movies for the very first time. His impression was such that the entire group noticed his excitement.

After that experience he was the best student for the following two years. We payed for a vocational scholarship were he graduated as an industrial mechanic, two years later he finished high school and studied in university to become a teacher.

While he was in his senior year in high school, we were invited to a TV show to talk about his life experience. The reporter asked him: “Antonio, what was your dream before coming to the trash dump school?”, he responded: “I wanted to be a hitman and kill pastors”. After hearing the overwhelming answer the reporter nervously asked: “Why pastors?”, he replied: “Because a lot of pastors and christians had come to the garbage dump, making promises, taking photographs and I knew they were fundraising money for us and never came back”.

That day the TV program made a special coverage for him. He graduated high school and was one of the biggest joys in my life, to know that God has change the story in someone’s life.

- Jeony Ordóñez