Giving poor kids a chance –
and the Gospel

Jaime Ayala, Principal of Filadelfia School, enjoys a few moments in the play area with some of his school’s 235 students aged from 5 to 12 years. Bogotá, Colombia. Photo: UBS/Larry Jerden (COL01DJ-90)

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Perhaps more than most school principals, Jaime Ayala loves to see changes taking place in his students’ lives. That is because the youngsters who attend Bogotá’s Filadelfia School are from very poor families, and because the changes he observes are spiritual as well as social and intellectual.

The principal credits Scriptures from the Colombian Bible Society with playing an important part in effecting the changes. As an example, he tells a story of a little girl.

“In her family there was fighting and abuse all the time. This affected her badly. We tried to help her and her mother but whenever we went to visit her, we came back crying.

“Then we gave her a Bible Comic. Her mother read it and later she came to see the chaplain. As a result, both she and her daughter gave their hearts to Jesus. Now, their home is slowly changing. It is a slow process – step-by-step – but the little girl is beginning to change, too. We can see the change in her face: it’s the power of God.”

Sponsorship

The school started 15 years ago when the Filadelfia Christian Church agreed to provide sponsorship as its commitment to reaching the children of Bogotá’s slums.

“We started with 30 students from slum neighbourhoods,” Mr Ayala says. Today the school has 235 children aged from five to 12.

Because many come to school hungry, it runs a food program, for which it is trying to enlist government aid. “For many pupils, what they get here is their only good meal,” says Mr Ayala.

Many also come from broken families or suffer abuse, and for them in particular the school also provides crucial spiritual nourishment.

“Most of them are not Christians and without Filadelfia they wouldn’t be at school at all,” says Mr Ayala. “Our mission is to give them a high-quality education based on solid Christian principles. We are trying to put the Word of God in their hearts.”

The main spiritual need he sees is for them to know the love of God. The school provides a chaplain who works with them and conducts weekly chapel services.

“They learn the Word of God every day,” Mr Ayala stresses. “We have a daily devotional session and we have a Christian education class where the principal textbook is the Bible. During the year we have special spiritual emphases in which we point the children towards accepting Christ.

“The Bible Society materials, such as the books which accompany David [the successful UBS video], are very important,” he adds. “It is with those that they’re learning the stories of the Bible. Coming from non-Christian homes, all they know about the Bible is what they learn here.

“They are especially excited about the Scripture Comics. They read about a character and want to know what happened to him.”

Difficult

Working with the parents, on the other hand, is very difficult.

“Many work long hours in the homes of rich people,” the principal explains. “Others try to live by selling things on the street, so it is very difficult for them to come to meetings here and learn things that would help their children.

“It is even difficult for them to spend time with their children at home. So much of the support the children get is whatever we can give them here.”

The smiling faces on these two young ladies say ‘thank you’ to all who support the Colombian Bible Society and make possible the Scriptures they use to learn about God at Bogotá’s Filadelfia School. Bogotá, Colombia. (COL01DJ-96)

One thing that does encourage parents to be supportive, however, is when they see the changes in the lives of their children.

“Although the parents are not Christian, when they see the changes they want to know what has happened,” says Mr Ayala. “And because many of them have problems, they come here for help, which gives us the opportunity to share Christ with them.”

The Bible Society has not only been working with Filadelfia School since it began, it also provides many of the Scripture materials used by the sponsoring church. The ‘mother church’ of all of Colombia’s Filadelfia congregations, it has active discipleship and evangelism programs that use Bible Society Scriptures.

Today, both church and school are facing the challenges of success: space is tight and, having no textbooks nor the money to buy any, teachers have to use worksheets.

“So we do have needs,” says Mr Ayala, “but we’re praying that God will supply them.”

Parents pay US$10 per month to send a child to the school. The rest of its finance comes from the church – it now has 2,000 members and several neighbourhood congregations with about 300 members each – and from other Christians, including a women’s group in Sweden which supports 35 students.

“The marvellous thing about how these lives are changing,” Mr Ayala declares, “is that it does not depend on us. It is the Spirit of God.” (WR 372/4 - 11.02)