Streetchildren

When I was a teenager I read a book that made a great impact on me and that I read many times after. The title is “Ik zal nooit meer huilen” (English version: Run baby run by Nicky Cruz). It is about a guy who as a child decides he will never cry again. He joins a streetgang and his heart becomes very hardened but when God reveals his love to him his life is changed forever.

Something in this story got a hold on me. I think it was the idea that no matter how far away somebody can be from God, no matter how hardened somebody’s heart has become and how hopeless the situation, God can reach anybody. His love is always bigger.

This book and many other things have grown in me a longing to be involved with streetchildren. My dream would be being part of setting up something to help these children/teenagers. I wouldn’t know how, where, when and with whom, and I don’t know if I would be at all suitable to do something like that, but I can’t let go of the thought.

Sometimes I think this is just a crazy idealistic idea, but I want to be open for God to guide me if this is his will for me. To explore this further I want to go to Bolivia in January next year for at least 4 months to work with a project for streetchildren from YWAM. I wrote about the project in my post on José, who is one of the streetchildren.

A friend of mine lives in Bolivia right now and is involved with the with the work they are doing. In the video from “Nederland Helpt” you can see more about the project and the work she’s doing:

Link to: video streetchildren Bolivia




I hope that doing this project will help me see how my ideals will hold in the harsh reality of working with streetchildren. I am a bit nervous about it, because I’m not really such an adventerous person. I like comfort and safety…so we will see how this adventure will affect me….

To be continued…