PVCC Puma Press: April 2006

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	Photos by Rachel A. Heath
	At age 9, Christopher Gonzalez tried to rob a woman on the streets of Guatemala City as an gang initiation rite. Overtime, his crime victim became his guardian angel.
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As 12-year-old Christopher Gonzalez smiles from across the courtyard in his worn clothing, you can tell by his heavy, brown eyes that he’s seen more than the average child. His story is one that includes gang relations, being at the right place at the right time and the touch of human beings who have a passion for helping others. Christopher is an example of a child who has changed his life for the better; all it took was someone to assist him along the way.

Among those reaching to Christopher and other children like him is a group from Scottsdale Bible Church, with campuses on Shea Boulevard and the Greenway-Hayden Loop.

Christopher is just one of the thousands of children in Guatemala City, Guatemala, who suffers from parental neglect. His mother doesn’t know, nor is she concerned with, where he is most of the week. He can be gone for days at a time without her even noticing. This leaves plenty of time for a child to be wandering the unforgiving city streets, at risk of being pulled into gang activity, including theft, vandalism, violence and drug use. This is what happened to Christopher.

Overtime, he started to skip school and spent more of his time each day out on the broken concrete boulevard. There he met some new friends, none of which would be a good influence on his already hectic lifestyle. These boys were in a street gang. They stole and threatened citizens as well as businesses throughout Guatemala City. This is what the gang considered to be its 9 to 5 profession.

Christopher wanted badly to join the gang’s tightly knit inner circle. “Then I would make money to help support my mother and siblings,” he explains.

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	'There is something better for you, and there is a better life for you'
	—Marta Lopez
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“All you have to do is steal from someone and you’ll be one of us,” is what the gang told Christopher before his initiation. He decided to go after a woman named Marta Lopez. But while he was robbing her, she whispered to him, “There is something better for you, and there is a better life for you. You don’t have to do this.”

Christopher was intrigued by this woman’s statement and wanted to know what she meant by it. So he listened carefully to her words.

Lopez is a Guatemalan woman who runs and funds a children’s home, called Momentos Preciosos, which serves as an orphanage, school and daycare. She tries hard to help children who live on the streets to improve their lives, even selling her living room furniture to pay rent on the home.

“Marta saw a need to start this when she saw children in her neighborhood not attending school and not having anything to do but spend their time on the streets,” says Stephanie Myers, a Scottsdale Bible member who has led local groups on missions to Momentos Preciosos.

Lopez invited Christopher to come and live at her children’s home. So he did.

Everything was fine at first, but after awhile, Chris and a couple other children started feeling like a financial burden. They told Lopez they were going to return to the streets. Reassuring them they weren’t a trouble, Lopez asked them to stay and live with her until they could support themselves as adults.

They did as she said and Christopher started to help with Marta’s personal business as well as with tasks around the orphanage. He, to this day, still spends a majority of the time with Marta; but on occasion will visit home and stay the night.

Marta has been preventing children from living on the streets for two years now, but also has been struggling to make rent. When the mission team from Scottsdale Bible Church, 7601 East Shea Boulevard, went to paint and spend time with the children at Momentos Preciosos, the team wasn’t able to coat the building’s rough, chipping walls.

Lopez didn’t want us to waste our paint because she was on the verge of losing her lease. This was hard to hear because she was doing such incredible work, but lack of money was bringing her down and adding extra stresses to her life.

Led by Myers, the Scottsdale Bible team raised enough money to pay off Marta’s debts, but that wasn’t a permanent solution. “We have committed to sending $300 a month to pay for rent so the orphanage can stay open,” says Myers.

Other than rent, there are many other expenses, such as teacher salaries and grocery bills that Lopez must meet. She still needs help to support her estimated 150 children monthly. She is giving the children a second chance at life, a cliché that is the truth.

For ways to help Momentos Preciosos or if you have any questions, contact Stephanie Myers at dbackphan@gmail.com.