MAY 12, 2024
Got to visit a piece of Spain in Africa. Looking forward to supporting the partners who bring hope to women and minors who have very little of their own left. Even in the midst of a beautiful place, poverty can trap people in the cross section of drugs, crime, lack of resources, lack of connections, prostitution, hunger and desperation. Will share more in the future.
Along the coast in Melilla, many minors make their temporary homes in the caves in the rocks. These minors are fleeing violence and poverty from around North Africa trying to make their way to Europe where they believe once they get into Europe they will be able to find jobs and a better life. Having arrived in this port city, they discover an unpleasant reality. It’s not legal for kids to sleep on the streets and if they are caught at night they will be rounded up and taken to the refugee center. However, the refugee center is a already a hub for a criminal cartel involved in drugs and human trafficking. The safe place then becomes these caves where the kids sleep at night. During the day they wander around the city trying to find menial labor jobs like washing cars or unloading trucks. These youth, predominantly teenage males, will often wait for cargo ships to get ready to leave the port. They will attempt to jump from the top of a building in the port to the decks of ships in order to stowaway to Europe. If they are successful, this is just the beginning of a long journey. For the other youth, once they turn 18, they are allowed to not stay in the refugee center and they work on trying to make a life of living in this city. The lives they live are difficult bearing the usual characteristics of poverty and lack of opportunity.
May 19th
Melilla – I spent the day with one of our partners handing out food and getting to meet some of the volunteers from the church. This partner has been pouring into his community for 20 years. What started with resistance and violence directed towards him has changed into community and appreciation. Intentional kindness for 20 years has changed the hearts of many. He said when he first arrived that kids would throw rocks at him and would just hang out on the streets getting involved in drugs. Now there were only smiling faces waiting to say hello to him as he opened the door to his church.
May 20th, 2024
Today we drove around Melilla looking for some of the young men (14-18) who have recently arrived in Melilla and sleep in the caves along the coast. The pastor buys clothes, deodorant and toothbrushes to hand out to them. We found around 6 guys at the main circle in town who were all smiles to receive some new items. A few of them were new and a few were familiar with Cesar. Most of these young guys were from various places in North Africa hoping to someday make it to Europe
