When he was a young boy, Fernando remembers his mother telling him, “The Lord is with you always, through the good and the bad.” He now looks back and realizes the truth in those words.
“I was 10 years old when I first started running on the streets making terrible decisions. By the age of 14, I wanted nothing to do with God or church anymore. I was deep into drugs, alcohol, and robberies. That’s why I ended up in the [detention center] where I spent the next four years,” Fernando recalls.
At first, incarceration did not change his outlook on life. He still had no interest in God. Through your support of Orphan Helpers teachers in the detention center, his attitude eventually changed.
“The brothers from Orphan Helpers showed me love and invited me to be part of the Success Academy. With their leadership and guidance, I came back to the Lord and was baptized,” Fernando says.
Not content to keep his faith to himself, Fernando began sharing the Word of God to others. He even shared the Good News to the entire detention center population (about 250 young men) as a DJ for a Christian radio program on the detention center’s radio station.
At the same time, he participated in the Orphan Helpers Success Academy. He grew in his knowledge of God’s Word and gained valuable life skills.
Fernando graduated from the Success Academy in September 2017. A few months later, in March 2018, he was released from the detention center for good behavior.
With the assistance of his Orphan Helpers teachers, Fernando has started a successful transition back into the community. He is going to school. He teaches children in Sunday school at church. He is working part time for a group that builds homes for the poor. He goes back to the detention center and volunteers with Orphan Helpers.
