What if you don’t make it? But I will.

And if you don’t? All my efforts and expectations are focused on LDP. I know I will make it.

“She was not the only one of my children to have the opportunity to attend high school, but she was the only one to have the will and opportunity to attend college. I thank God for her life,” says Mrs. Maria, a 54-year-old widow who raised her five children, including Ana Cláudia, by herself.

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” – Hebrews 11:1-3 (NIV)

Ana Cláudia’s father was murdered during a holdup at the company where he used to work as a sentinel. She was only 15 days old.

Compassion became part of Ana Cláudia’s life when she was 9 and was enrolled at the child development center near her home.

“The child center was and still is a reference in my neighborhood. Here where we live, children have so many options of wrong things they can choose to do. They have no orientation or hope, and many times no respect or love.

“For this reason I see my former child center as a shelter offering to the children a healthy life in many ways. Just like it happened to me.”

Most of Ana Cláudia’s childhood friends are pregnant or have already had babies.

Ana Cláudia used to be a very present child. Every day after school she was there, anxious about lunch – sometimes the best meal of her day – and play. Ballet, arts and guitar were her favorite classes.

“Sometimes I had to ask her to come back home. Otherwise she would live there forever!” laughs Mrs. Maria.

It was also there where Ana Cláudia had a meeting with Jesus, accepting Him as her Lord and Savior during a youth camp. She was 14 when it happened.

Talkative, kind and funny, this young woman leaves home every morning at 6 and goes to the university by bus. On her lap are books about education and leadership. On her heart are many plans and dreams about the future – she makes checklists about her next conquests.

After classes, Ana Cláudia goes to work at an informatics school where she started by giving advertising pamphlets to people on the streets. Now, 1 1/2 years later, she is the pedagogical coordinator there.

“My child center used to have a partnership with an informatics school. So, when I turned the right age to attend a course, I started it. After three months when I finally finished it, they invited me to work there. It was one of my goals for that year – get a new job. And I knew would get it.

“I think people see leadership qualities in me because I am responsible, involved in whatever I am doing, besides being a very determined person.”

Ana Cláudia earns about $300 a month, and with her wage she joined her 23-year-old sister, the last single sibling besides her, and bought brand-new furniture for their kitchen and living room. But her day-to-day life is not easy, and to give herself and her mother a better life, every night after work at about 9 p.m., Ana Cláudia returns home taking three buses. She could take only one, but the way from her job to the bus stop is very dangerous.

“It takes more time, but doing this way is safer for me. The first bus takes me in front of the informatics school, and the last one leaves me five minutes by foot from my home.”

It’s almost 12 a.m. and only some boys smoking marijuana are on the street when the leader of the future arrives at home. And to ensure she is really safe, Mrs. Maria is there at the bus stop, waiting for her child.

“It is worse when I am on my tests period at college and have to study until 3 in the morning. Sometimes I just sleep over my books.”

With so many tasks, attending church is only possible on weekends, when Ana Cláudia takes part in the child ministry.

Ana Cláudia may have lost her father, but according to her she has now a great family that she can count on. Her classmates from the LDP are seven other  students taking the same course. She loves the books on leadership that they read and discuss together.

“Everything I know about leadership and teamwork I have been learning through LDP meetings, books and the relationships I have there. It is so amazing!

“I am becoming a better person each day – learning more with my mentor and classmates. I just admire each one of them.”

Her next goal is to achieve a higher position at her company and share Jesus’ love with children. She already has the determination and appropriate tools to achieve it.

Right now, we have more than 150 LDP students waiting for sponsors. These students have been handpicked as future Christian leaders. They have excelled in high school, proven their leadership abilities, and demonstrated strong Christian character.

Will you sponsor a leadership student?

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As the kitchen door opens, a young man neatly dressed in a chef outfit emerges carrying a bowl of warm spaghetti and wearing a wide smile of self-confidence. Although he began cooking only six months before, he carries himself like an experienced cook.

“After finishing high school, I was not sure what career to choose, so I decided to write down all the things I like best and found out that the best option for me is tourism and hotel administration,” says Waldo, a 21-year old Leadership Development Program (LDP) student who is breaking the cycle of poverty by studying at a university in Lima City.

Waldo comes from a poor family of seven children whose father abandoned them. Waldo is the youngest and lives with his mother and one older brother who is still single. The other siblings are already married and live nearby.

Waldo remembers that in grade school he was a shy boy, and his grades were not the best. But his high school years were different. The turnaround  began with a teacher who gave him some responsibilities, which led to Waldo becoming the brigadier of his school — a special honor because of the responsibility to watch for good behavior and order among the students and to represent his school in special occasions.

During his early school years, Waldo was able to listen to the gospel and receive help with his studies at the summer camps organized by the Compassion program he attended. There also was a library at the child development center where he could do his homework.

And at the beginning of each school year, he and all the sponsored children always received a jogging suit, a school uniform, school supplies, etc. that his schoolmates and neighborhood peers did not have.

Some of the subjects Waldo now studies at university are French and English language, which are quite important for his career; cooking techniques, logistics, marketing, costs and budgets, as well as how to provide quality service to customers.

Six months ago, Waldo began practicing what he learns at school at Pizza Hut, where he applied for a job through the Internet and got hired after 10 months of waiting.

When Waldo was hired, he was eager to begin cooking. He could already imagine preparing pizzas, and even could smell the fresh-baked dish.

“To begin with, the first day I was given a pile of advertising papers to give away on the streets. After two months of doing this simple task, I became totally discouraged and began questioning God why I was out in the streets instead of cooking.

Then one day I changed my attitude and began doing the task while singing and smiling.

Shortly afterward, the administrator decided that I should begin working at the restaurant. But first I had to read the restaurant’s manuals, which took some days.”

Waldo passed the restaurant manual test of proficiency in order to qualify to cook. He continued waiting with eagerness. But instead, he was assigned  to washing pots and pans!

So he began to be more courteous and kind to all his co-workers, and to perform his job with an even better attitude. A month later he was named as “Best Employee of the Month,” and his photo was placed where everybody could see it.

“In LDP I have attended workshops to learn how to handle different situations in life, and I am making use of it at my job by being courteous and showing a wise behavior.

On one occasion one of the managers said to me, ‘I have noticed that you don’t speak bad words’, which was rewarding.”

After being named Best Employee of the Month, Waldo was assigned to the kitchen, and two months later he was recognized for the second time as the Best Employee of the Month.

Now that he is celebrating his sixth month at the restaurant, Waldo has been prized as the Best Employee of the Month for the third time, something very few people achieve in such a short time.

When asked about this success, he says, “I have not done anything special, just performed my job in the way it should be done.”

Waldo is aware that the Leadership Development Program, besides providing economic support to attend university, also helps shape students into leaders and teaches them values to live a quality life.

“Many of my fellow students and co-workers ask me why I do not drink liquor or go to parties where drugs are consumed. That is the right time for me to talk them about Jesus and the gospel.”

Waldo would like to finish his studies with good grades and continue gaining more experience at Pizza Hut. Then he would like to become the manager’s assistant, and finally manager of the restaurant he has been assigned to.

“My dream is to apply at a four- or five-star hotel in order to continue gaining more experience, but my real dream is to work on a cruise ship. Then I will be able to visit many countries, to meet many new people, and to learn more about this career with which I am becoming more engaged in.”

Send a message of encouragement to Waldo.

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