Sr. Carol is a staff member at AMANECER, an orphanage network in Cochabamba, Bolivia. She is involved in the Saint Louis sponsored program, Pan y Amor.
In this blog I would like to tell the story of the past four year’s of Samuel’s life. In reality, I’ve known Samuel since he was twelve and he’s now eighteen and in his second year of high school, which he attends at night. Four years ago he began not going home at night, he had stopped going to school and became very irregular in his attendance here in our Day Center.
He came one afternoon wanting to talk and admitted that he was on the verge of giving up on himself as he was tired of constantly having to look after his father, who is actively alcoholic. We talked about the probable consequences of turning to drugs and street life and I offered him the opportunity of entering AMANECER’s school and our on-going support. He went away without making any commitment and in the meantime, we were able to talk with his older brother.
With the brother’s support, Samuel decided to accept his father’s illness for what it is - an illness. We talked with the rest of family and Samuel decided to spend his last two years of grade school studying in the afternoon and he finished without failing once again. Upon entering high school, he became an apprentice in a carpentry shop that works with aluminum where he worked for nearly two years.
It hasn’t been easy for him to juggle school and a full time job but he’s doing it - school grades are not the best but he is not failing. Two weeks ago I met him on the street and he invited me to visit the new shop he and his brother just opened. The brother made the initial investment in the machinery and inventory for start up as he’s been working and saving for nearly five years. Unfortunately, he did not choose to continue his studies as Samuel is doing but is very supportive of Samuel. They have contracts to complete and Samuel now does most of the work as his brother follows up on possible new contracts. It’s a real story of what young people here in Bolivia are capable of achieving with support and encouragement of caring adults, that include family members.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
