The Impact of Your Support
Special Message from Los Pinos Director, Joel Carpio
For several years, our school provided support to some kids whose parents worked on farms in the mountains surrounding the Hogar. It wasn’t easy because these families moved from place to place for work, and the kids wouldn’t finish their school year, but we did what we could for them.
Little by little, families began settling on nearby land, forming small communities—one called La Paz and the other Villa Hermosa. These families fought to get the authorities to provide them with teachers. In the community of La Paz, the government built a school and assigned two teachers, but they soon left because of the difficult access to the community. The other community, Villa Hermosa, has not achieved any of that.
Four or five years ago, some of our staff members began visiting those communities as part of a missionary effort and realized how many school-age kids there were who had no opportunity to attend school.
We offered free schooling, but very few families accepted the offer for fear of losing their children (fear of human trafficking); however, little by little, more kids began to join.
It wasn’t easy to get started with these children because many of them were already too old for their grade levels and weren’t used to studying.
But we’ve also seen a change among the families of these children since we began this program, in which we involve families in spiritual and social activities. These families are now more open to having conversations with us and participating in school activities such as Children’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and so on. Before, they used to take the kids away during planting and harvest seasons, which caused them to lose a year of schooling, but now, little by little, they’re letting the children finish the school year.
We have already seen spiritual results, with some kids and family members being baptized.
For 47 years, Hogar Los Pinos has been working on behalf of those who have nothing and cannot repay us. We continue this work of changing lives—the lives of children and their families.
Many times the families are very suspicious of why we would do this, and they can’t believe it is out of pure Christian love. But, as we have experienced, when they do finally understand that God loves them and their children and is providing them with opportunities for this life and for a better life to come, they are grateful beyond words.
We thank the ministry of ICC for the support it has provided over the years to make this project a reality and to help ensure that the children have a bright future.
