A bed, bread and mother: how Esperanza López overcame disaster to help street children

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — “I came to faith under the wheels of a bus,” says Esperanza López with a smile. “I was in a coma for seven days and almost died. That’s when I asked God to save my life so I could do something for him. My right leg had to be amputated. God told me that with two legs I could not do anything for Colombia, but with one leg I would be able to do plenty.”

Esperanza López overcame many hardships to begin her Niños Triumfadores en Cristo home for street children. But her joy was complete when the state awarded her Sarah, a child rescued from a baby-selling scheme. Bogotá, Colombia. Photo: UBS/Larry Jerden (COL01T-74)

Her explanation of how she came to start Niños Triumfadores en Cristo, the home for street children of which she is the director, is cool and matter-of-fact.

Before the accident, Ms López was a secretary in a government office. After it, when she was well enough again, in acknowledgement of her debt to God, in her own words, she “just went out into the street and started picking up children”. When the work began she had 30 children, all from the poor sections of Bogotá.

Handicrafts

“I had no one supporting me, so with a friend I made handicraft items to sell,” she recalls.

Today, three years later, the home cares for 62 children, from babies – either picked up from the street or brought in by mothers who don’t want them – up to children of 13 years old.

The majority live there, the rest return to their own homes at night. Volunteers are still making and selling items like sewing kits and bracelets to raise money for the children but, in addition, Ms López has set up a foundation to raise funds and has started a second in the United States. A friend pays the rent for the house, and professional schoolteachers offer their services free “for love,” as she puts it.

Glue

“We work with street children, orphans and children who have run away from home,” she says. “Many of them inhaled glue as a stimulant. Now they are healed and healthy. They all study and are good students.”

With three sessions of intercessory prayer each day, worship services on Sundays and Wednesdays, and a fast on Saturdays, the program designed to turn these young lives around is unapologetically spiritual.

“We know that God is the only one who can heal,” Ms López declares. “The purpose of the foundation is to bring the children to God.” It also focuses on the Scriptures, and a new relationship with the Colombian Bible Society – with the support of the UBS global expansion program Opportunity 21 (O-21) – promises to make it even more effective.

But she and her foundation are not resting on their accomplishments. There is, she says, “just too much to do”.

Gang

Offering street children an appealing alternative lifestyle is not easy. A gang she is currently trying to reach out to, partly by offering them clothing and food, are reluctant to give up street life to start attending the home because of the attendant loss of income.

“Some can make US$50 per day by begging! I want to start a campaign persuading people not to give money to the children because it affects our ability to work with them. They prefer staying in the streets for the money... but here they can find new life.”

Even when the children do agree to join the community, they still present challenges to staff at Niños Triumfadores en Cristo. Some, for example, run away, drawn back to their old way of life.

“We picked up two children just yesterday but we didn’t have room for them,” she says. “We can’t mix new arrivals with others who have already been rehabilitated. We need a place where newcomers can go. So I am working on that.”

‘Working on that’ means trying to increase the support for the ministry from local churches and others. And as part of her unending quest for funds, Ms López has come up with a simple but canny formula.

Bed, bread and mother

“I tell donors that each child who sleeps in the street needs a metre of bedding, a small pillow, a bit of bread and a little bit of mother,” she explains. “So when we talk about the ministry, we say that we want to provide ‘a bed, bread, and mother’.” So far her vision, dedication and fundraising nous are succeeding.

“We started three years ago and have worked 24 hours a day for the children of Colombia,” she declares, “because we want a better country and we know that spreading the Word daily will make Colombia better.”

Scripture materials

Laughing and making clown faces with paint is a wonderful change from the harsh world of Bogotá`s streets from which these children have been rescued by the Niños Triumfadores en Cristo home. Bogotá, Colombia. Photo: UBS/Larry Jerden (COL01DJ-110.JPG)

Although the relationship of Niños Triumfadores en Cristo with the Colombian Bible Society is a new one, Ms López is enthusiastic about it and about the Scripture materials the children are receiving with the support of O-21.

“The children are all enjoying the Bible Society materials,” she reports. “They expect to hear God’s Word anyway and they enjoy it. But we want to teach them about God in an interesting way – we don’t want Bible study to become boring.