Every student in the Poverty and Development class has to enroll in an internship with a non-profit organization somewhere in or near Santiago. The idea is to observe in real life the theories and problems of poverty that we are studying in the classroom. I am going to be working for an organization called Corporacion de Beneficiencia Padre Patricio Espinosa Saez in a small town about an hour and a half outside of Santiago called El Monte. The corporation handles everything from giving fincancial assistance, to offering classes, tutoring children, making home visits, and building small houses.
Another girl in my class is working at the same place and on Wednesday we met with the volunteer coordinator of the program, Gonzalo. We met for a drink in the evening to talk about the goals of the program and our personal goals of the class. It was a fun and relaxing meeting because unlike most of the volunteer coordinators, Gonzalo is young – twenty four years old, and is able to relate to us just like any other friend. We each shared a bit about our lives and our past experiences and I became especially intruiged in Gonzalo’s story.
Gonzalo originally grew up in an aristocratic family with significant wealth. His father owned a successful vineyard and his mother for some years was the minister of education in Chile. When Gonzalo was about 18 his father asked him, the only son in the family, to take over the family business. When he refused and chose instead to study history at the University of Chile, his very traditional and regimented family turned their backs on him. Gonzalo moved out, graduated from college on his own, and then worked for a program called “Un Techo Para Chile” (A Roof for Chile) for two years as the youth volunteer coordinator. Un Techo Para Chile is basically the same program as Habitat for Humanity in the United States. As his two year term for the program was finished, Gonzalo started on his masters in history at the University of Chile and started working in the community of El Monte. His ultimate goal is to be the minister of education of Chile like his mother and to shorten the distance in the quality of education in Chile between the rich and the poor.
A few days later, as his university is only a few blocks from my house, we met at a café to talk about the field trip on Saturday to visit some rural communities of El Monte in extreme poverty. After commenting on his life story and apologizing for my forward question, I asked him if he believed in Jesus and he replied that no, he didn’t believe in any sort of God. Then why, I asked him, did he dedicate his life to working for the poor. He explained to me that he has found that the only times in his life that he was happy were when he was helping somebody else. After telling my family about my volunteer director I asked if I could have him over for dinner, not realizing that in the different culture of Chile this is a very big deal.
What made it even a bigger deal is that Gonzalo is well-known in the city; he has a lot of influence in academic, political, and social justice circles. For example, my younger sister, Kote, wants to volunteer in Un Techo Para Chile when she turns 18. Needless to say my family was excited not only because hosting someone in this country is an honor, but because they, as new Christians, supported the work that he was doing and wanted to bless him. I arrived home the night of the dinner sweaty and tired after mountaineering practice thinking that we would all meet, have a quick bite to eat, and then I could head off to bed. When I stepped into the kitchen and saw the enormous amounts of gourmet food my mom had spent all day preparing, I wished I could have undone the invitation. I started to panic and become really nervous as the cultural weight of the dinner began to sink in. I couldn’t wait until the night was over. What was I thinking inviting someone I barely knew to have dinner with a family that was not really my own in a country that was foreign to me?
Gonalo arrived at 10pm with the traditional bottle of Chilean wine and we started la cena (dinner). Gonzalo told them about his work experiences in the rural areas of Chile with Un Techo Para Chile as well as the work that I was going to be able to do in el Monte. One thing you should know about my family is that they are very close and intimate with each other. Emotions are expressed freely and honestly and their love for each other is strong and evident. Gonzalo shared with us that his family was not like mine; his was a bit more cold, proper, and formal. Thus said, things were going fine until my mom started talking about Jesus.
Once they realized that Gonzalo didn’t believe in God my family began to share openly anything they could think of to help Gonzalo believe. Testimonies were shared, tears were shed and prayers were lifted up. My appetite long gone, I sat tensely watching as the intense and emotional scene unfolded and tried to guess the thoughts of Gonzalo who was sitting a bit stiffly at the head of the table. But my guest played it cool; he asked questions, looked interested, and was polite in the akward situation.
Finally, at one in the morning, several church invitations later and satisfied that Gonzalo was well on the way to conversion, my family said goodbye and I walked our guest out. I love my family so much and I have so much respect for them and the way that they share the love of Christ with everyone that the night had really moved me. I had not been prepared, however for a meal like that nor had I thought to warn Gonzalo of my family’s zeal for the Lord. Feeling slightly embarrassed and yet somewhat hopeful I asked Gonzalo how he thought it went.
And that’s when I received the people living on the moon question.
Gonzalo thought that my family was warm and welcoming but he said it was really hard to participate in a conversation for three hours in something he didn’t believe in. I wanted to grab his shoulders and shake him; didn’t any one of the tears, stories, or testimonies affect him in the least? But I didn’t. I apologized for him feeling uncomfortable and thanked him for coming.
I say all this because my vounteer coordinator has been on my heart a lot this week. I see in him all of the traits that I see in Jesus like humility, kindness, generosity and a servant’s heart and yet I see an emptiness as well. I feel like this man has a lot of influence in Santiago and will continue to be a strong leader here in the future. If you happen to be thinking about this story from Chile, just pray that his heart would be open to the love of Christ because I feel like God wants to use him.
One of the things he said to me as he was closing the gate was, “Your world is religion, and mine is politics, you’re not going to be able to change that.” I know that me by myself am not going to be able to change that, nor will my family be able to, but maybe someone bigger can.
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