Food for thought

11-12-08

Today we had class in Managua because Monday had been declared a holiday by the president. I really enjoyed class today. The second part of it we had Carl and I can’t remember his name, come and talk to us about gangs and the work they have been doing with them. It blew my mind what these guys do….the situations they put their lives in everyday. They showed us at movie that was made by a student from Trinity while he was here for a semester. This student wanted to know the truth…he wanted to know why these people did what they do…..it was a very touching movie……and then Carl followed it up with some slideshows and stories of his own….I couldn’t believe what I was hearing….A lot of guys in this one gang really didn’t want to be trouble…they didn’t want to be looked at as robbers and theives and trouble makers…..but that was the stereotype they had to live with…..because they were in a gang that is how people looked at them….these guys wanted to change, wanted people to look at them as they would any other “normal” human being…..but they couldn’t escape their lable….but Carl and this other guy….they reach out to these gang members….they believe in them…they support them….they befriend them and treat them like normal beings….and it works! Several of the guys have already given their lives to Christ….and the community where these two work has really begun to change….just because these misplaced youth were given a chance….someone believe in them……I can’t image what it would be like to be able to touch someones life like these guys do everyday…..Carl was tearing up as he told us about it and I was tearing up too……just the hope….the light that is visible in these guys….these “trouble youth” in a gang…out to shoot and kill people while high on drugs. Yes the gang admitted doing stupid things like that….and they admitted being high on drugs while they did it and hardly remembering anything…..but so many of them wanted to change…..so many of them wanted to be seen differently….but it was and is so hard to change a stereotype…..if people are going to expect it from them…then why not just do it anyway?…..

Carl had this one picture that really hit me….like he mentioned it hit him too…..all these guys were around him wanting to see the pics he had on his camera of the group…when all of a sudden Carl looked out and saw all these eyes looking at him….eager faces…faces of hope……he turned the camera around and took the photo of all these eyes and faces…..it’s quite some photo…..to look into the eyes of these young men…to see hope…to see a future….to see everything they have been through….it’s written on their faces….you can see it in their eyes…..they have such a story…….when people think about gangs they think of trouble…of drugs….of killers….etc……yes there is this stereotype for a reason…..but when these guys look at a gang they see acceptance…they see family…they see people who got their back…people who won’t let them down…people who will help support them in times of trouble…people who will lend a hand without thinking twice…..these guys find what they can’t find in their own families…in their own homes….in their own communities….and though there are many bad gangs out there…what about the ones like this one…with guys who want to change but can’t get out of their stereotype? Guys who want to change but no one will believe in them or support them? Don’t they all deserve a chance?

I like what Carl said….in telling us about his mission he told us how they don’t go to the people already in churches…they don’t go to kids in stable homes…..they go to the rejected….the ignored…the forgotten….the ones that are too dirty and too broken for anyone else to help them…..the people that society looks at and says “ew stay away from them”…these guys go to them with arms wide open…full of love and acceptance….and give them a chance…Carl’s story really touched my heart…my soul….I was silent most of the day lost in thought…taking everything he said in….what it would be like to touch a life like that….to finally see the product of your labor….to see how you have changed a life for the better…..yes these guys put themselves into the middle of gangs…not really knowing what is going to happen day to day…..but they have God…they have faith…they have love…and they believe in giving everyone a chance….WOW….this world has so much to learn.