We have been in conversations for a couple of months with Remar International. They are a rehab ministry founded in Spain with facilities here in Leon. The director liked the concept of our vocational education to young men. After several talks back and forth with the headquarters, they have agreed to allow some of their residents to attend our classes.
We began an afternoon session with 7 young men. They come from very abusive backgrounds and had been on a path of self-destruction before entering the rehab facility. These guys are hungry to learn.
The youngest of the group, Pablo, is 12 years old which is way outside of our criteria. He was brought to us with the group under false pretenses. We agreed that we would observe him for a couple of days and make a determination by week's end as to whether he would continue on in class. Pablo is a very determined young man and we feel that he deserves to go as far as he can with the class. He works extremely hard and is well looked after by the other guys. If he is already in rehab at the tender age of 12, without hope being instilled in his life, who can say what his future would be.
Unfortunately, we lost 1 of the boys. After only one day, Abel had been made fun of by other guys in the rehab facility and ran away that evening. He did not know how to read or write and had very tender feelings about this. He was much larger in size than the guys and used his size to intimidate others. He told us in the interview process that he loved to BOX. We are concerned for Abel, but need to trust God for his keep.
"The Lord Looks at the Heart" (1Samuel 16:7b) by Jay Stocker, copyright 2007 Group Publishing, Inc.
All rights reserved. No unauthorized duplication permitted.
Remar came to us again and asked if we would take 2 new boys into the school. At the beginning of the 2nd week, they came to class, reluctantly! One of the boys, Lenin, lasted only 4 days in class before running away from the rehab facility. He did not easily conform to the rules of the facility and did not like living in the "city". The other boy, Kevin, has a lot of issues with self-discipline and is disruptive in class. We've come to determine that much of his behavior is based on getting attention. We will continue to monitor his actions so that it does not influence or interfere with the unity of the original members of this class.
The morning and afternoon sessions are as different as night and day. The afternoon class presents many challenges, but each day we look to it with anticipation for how it will unfold. The Remar group is a good representation of the heart of Restoration of the Nations. Most of the young men in our local area are "at-risk" youth, some more so than others. These young men would be lost members of society without programs such as ours to stand in the gap for them.
As the weeks go by, we will post pictures and information about each of the students from both of the sessions. Continue to monitor our blog for these stories and other updates.