After Easter I finally joined the team of Students International and started working with the women ministry. Students International is a non-denominational, Christian ministry organisation. Its vision is to see students and the poor transformed into the likeness of Christ and discover their true calling. The main ministry areas here in Costa Rica are education, social work, sports & recreation, women's social work & microfinance and construction (woodshop). I have been involved in the women ministry - social work & microfinance. We work in three different poor communities of San Jose (the capital of Costa Rica) - Los Guido, La Capri and Los Fuentes. If you would like to know more, please visit SI website - https://www.stint.com/si-ministry/countries/costa-rica or watch this short video - http://vimeo.com/album/2670368/video/82464022.
At the woodshop
My SI colleagues (with families)
How does my week look like? Well...on Mondays we have a staff meeting where we spend time praying, worshipping and learning more about God...and of course we talk about the coming weeks and the individual ministries. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays our microfinance team meets up with the women of Los Guido, La Capri and Las Fuentes - we try to encourage them spiritually as well as help them with their small businesses. Each woman has her own life story that is mostly sad and involves economic and personal struggles. But each of them is gifted in one way or another and can make beautiful things. I am amazed how these women are creative and inspirational! Due to the lack of education, experience or their personal circumstances, they are not able to find proper and well-paid jobs. So they sell what they make. Some of them are motivated to come and learn English at the office of Students International.
Women's group in Los Guido
English Class at the office
Some of the products that the ladies make:
On Fridays we meet with the teenage moms (16 and 17 year old girls) in the morning and teenage girls in the afternoon in Los Guido. In the mornings we pray and hope that we can encourage these young girls with their journeys of being moms despite their difficult situations (mainly being moms at the young age, having to stop going to school, no money, difficult family situations and other problems) but also help them to see who they are in Christ. In the afternoon, we spend some time with teenage girls (no babies) and try to teach them the value of purity and also we would like them to understand how much they are loved and valued by God. So they could see their value too and live their lives reflecting that.
