El Salvador can be a tough place to grow up. With the highest homicide rate in the world, gang violence makes neighborhoods in the country’s capital of San Salvador lethal. Young people are targets of that violence – and targets for gangs who want them to inflict it.
But there’s another truth. That hope is hiding in plain sight, within and throughout those same communities that face oppressive fear and brutality.
That hope is brought to life in Javier.
For Javier, it’s all about attitude. “I believe that attitude and the way you face the world is the way to open doors,” he says. “You open doors to different places and people. A positive attitude…it’s the most important thing.”
Javier is a coordinator at the Youth Center in Apopa run by Catholic Sisters. They’ve seen his growth over the past few years, as he went from a participant to a leader in the group. “He has struggled and overcome,” said Sister Conchi. “He works hard and never asks for anything.”
He sells fruit in the mornings and works at the Youth Center in the afternoons. He recently graduated from high school, and he hopes to one day open a center of his own. But he also dreams of going to college.
“I want to expand what we do here, to learn more and hopefully in the future I can have a center like this. I want to help others, that is my dream,” he says.
For Day 155, we put our heads together to figure out how we could help.
Some friends of Javier’s, who were inspired by his story, decided to craft a fundraising campaign to get him to school. We wanted to help them get things off the ground – so that’s just what we did, contributing the seed money to get it started.
“If one person is educated, it’s a new generation,” said Sister Conchi. We couldn’t agree more. Check out Javier’s campaign to read more of his story!
