Crescimento Limpo, Supportive Housing for Homeless

During the last year we have been planning, and building, and praying, and working, and dreaming, and preparing... for this day! We have finally inaugurated the CL Learning Center! On location at the Caféla (CL's café) we have opened a space for life skills classes, which have finally begun! 
To help our friends make effective changes towards independence, these classes will explore the root causes of homelessness and work to build skills and habits that assist our friends to create lasting stability. Yesterday our friends dove deep into a conversation about the "mental model" that exists within poverty, and they also mapped out the resources they have, both shared and individual, to strengthen their new way of life. The interaction was beautiful, and a strong confirmation that these classes will be well received by our friends in recovery! As we finished our students asked, 'Can we keep having these classes here?!'
We are only at the beginning of the development process of the Learning Center's curriculum, and we are thrilled with the opportunities that are at hand; both for further interactions with CL residents and increased involvement with community volunteers who have made themselves available to teach. We still lack some of the final elements (a printer, a screen for group presenting, a fridge and stove for culinary classes) but the space has already proved to be a wonderful resource towards supporting our friends in recovery! We are so so thankful to all of you who have helped to make this possible!

Links:

• Crescimento Limpo

Early on in our work supporting recovery from drug and alcohol addictions I recognized a problem; an individuals sobriety does not automatically reset his or her reputation. The lives that we lived up until we hit our breaking point carry real and lasting consequences for those around us, indefinitely. Our residents have done the work to establish lives of sobriety, but sobriety does not automatically produce a "Go Home Free" card. Families have the right to be skeptical and to hold back to see what this "new chapter" will bring. And, our residents have the right to feel the pain of that resistance! It's complicated, and this is one of the many reasons why our psychologist is such a valuable member of the CL team! 

We have seen many family relationships restored, which is a wonderful outcome! And while we work with our residents in the hopes of seeing restoration, we also recognize that sometimes the chasm is just too great. That is how it seemed for our resident Felipe (not his real name), up until yesterday. 

Felipe was living on the streets when he first came to CL. He carried deep deep hurts and the feeling of rejection seemed to be a cornerstone of his own self understanding. Reconciliation to family was, in his eyes, a hopeless case.

Recently Felipe's job-hunting was interrupted when after much suffering he submitted himself to a medical evaluation. Unfortunately, Felipe's discomfort was because of a mass in his stomach. Since his evaluation Felipe has been through exam after exam after exam, and now he has been hospitalized to receive the benefit of more intensive care.  

In one of his last conversations with our team before leaving CL for the hospital Felipe decided that he did want to reach out to his family again.

Yesterday after leaving Felipe at the hospital, I took on two missions;

(1.) To acquire and activate a cell phone for Felipe for the sake of facilitating his communication, 

(2.) To find his family and inform them of his situation. 

Neither of these tasks were easy! We had information about where one of Felipe's sons had worked, but when I arrived at that location I found that His son was no longer working there. We had an incorrect address on file for Felipe's mom, so I went in search of her. I found her corrected adress and she was home and she received me well. She was sad to know of Felipe's condition and she shared with me the very traumatic story that they had been through as a family. She told me that she would visit, so I promised her that I would find and send her the hours for visitation, and I left, to finish setting up Felipe's phone before taking it to him. 

Roughly an hour and a half later I arrived back at the hospital. When I arrived to Felipe's room I was amazed to see that his mom was already there! They both had tears in their eyes, and Felipe was overwhelmed with relief and gratitude! He had finally received the forgiveness that he had been unable to seek out, and he had been restored to his mom. It was an amazing scene!

Felipe would have never chosen to go through this scenario, nor would his family have desired it for him. However, the suffering was not wasted! And ironically, I had never seen Felipe more overwhelmed with joy than he was on that hospital bed! Praise God who is able to use ALL things, for the good!

Links:

• CL Website