For some reason, until now I have not been comfortable sharing this here. But today, after talking with my friend Ana I feel like I should. So I will.
Los Pinos has been in tremendous turmoil lately. To be honest, I don't even know the half of it.
I know that we had to stop home visits.
I know that my friend's son was killed as he was innocently walking to work.
I know that young people, male and female, who live in Los Pinos have had to go into hiding because the gangs are aggressively recruiting the males.
I know that I was not only hearing this from friends, but teachers of elementary school as well. Elementary children are risking their lives and the lives of their families if they don't join the gangs. If they don't join they are beaten every day.
The gangs have moved in and taken over private residences. They pick a house and move in! Then they start looking for girlfriends. Women have become gang involved as a way feed their children. Those who don't become involved are threatened with death. Their families are threatened as well. Their options are to join or go into hiding from every person they know.
Los Pinos has never, ever been this bad.
Although we have three clubs for a total of 75 kids in Los Pinos, we suspended home visits. It simply was not safe to walk in the community and visit the homes of our kids. I am thankful that our boss always thinks of our safety first. But I worry for the kids.
When we did the pregnancy campaign in Los Pinos the cars pulled up to the gates, loaded us in, and zoomed away. We were told we were not allowed to leave the school premises alone, which was a new rule for us.
I was not able to speak of this then, but the police did a "saturation" in attempt to round up the gang members. We expected that to stir up trouble and that was the moment we suspended home visits. I am grateful that we get information which is not available to others. It keeps my coworkers safe. But how do we serve our kids in the midst of this?
According to Ana the gang members in her area were finally arrested today. I am dubious because usually when gang members are arrested, the most dangerous guys sacrifice others. The less important guys end up in jail. But Ana feels hopeful.
Ana said that she has been living in immense fear for weeks. She said the children are literally traumatized. She said nobody dares leave their house. They sleep tight under their beds and praise God that they are one of the few houses with cement walls. But bullets can come in from the windows. She said she and her family have been living in a barrage of bullets right outside their house, which has never happened before.
I don't want to sound dramatic. I don't want this post to get triple readership because it carries bad news which, sadly, seems to happen. (I'll never understand why people love to share bad news, but not the good!)
I hope Ana is right. I hope they have arrested the people who have been holding her neighborhood hostage. She is faithful. This has been her prayer. She prayed that the right people are arrested and brought to justice.
That's another thing I find amazing. People never used to pray for justice for the gangs. In the past there was no hope for justice. But that is changing! I love that the people can see it. Ana's prayer is proof that people, even those living under the worst circumstances they have ever known, have faith that better things are in store for this country.
