Celebrating Children (Week Eleven)

Greg Burch (Ph.D.), who teaches cross-cultural studies and children at risk issues at the ESEPA Seminary in San José, mainly shared on two of the three principals in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, protection and participation, including writing a child protection policy and protocols. Greg also talked about the need for a cyclical (or spiral is probably a more appropriate word) approach in ministry, where reflection is followed by action, action in its turn by reflection, and so on.

Interestingly, Greg alternated between theory and real-life stories throughout his teaching. I was very moved by a story he told us about a street boy named Douglas. Greg has worked with street children in Caracas, Venezuela, for six years, and during that time, when Douglas was about twelve, Greg was able to take him to a rescue house for street boys. Douglas wanted to be a Chrstian (which was in no way a perquisite for staying at the rescue house!), but during the years that followed went back and forth between his decision and the pull of the street lifestyle he knew. One minute he would be ministering to his friends and the next he'd take part in assaulting people to rob their money. In his late teens he got arrested and sentenced to prison. Greg explained that in Venezuelan prisons there are no cells, nor guards on the inside of the prison area. Instead, there’s one big space where the inmates live. The area is divided into different sections among the inmates, depending on who you identify with. For instance, the most violent inmates have their own section, as do the born again Christians. Greg also clarified that in prison there is no gray area in following Christ, you either do or you don’t.

When Douglas first arrived in prison, he was confronted by an inmate from the violent section, who hit him right in the face with his fist. What do you think happened? How do you picture Douglas reacting? He turned the other cheek. Literally. And the prisoner, along with all his witnessing fellow prisoners, knew immediately what it meant. Douglas had made his choice. From then on, he has followed Christ whole-heartedly. He now has a family and together with his wife is the director of a home for street children. A rare story, but a story definitely worth telling.