The Ministry of Light and Truth is a Guatemalan Christian organization that works with 30-40 children in a slum area of Guatemala City. They provide clothing and food donations and work with the families of the children to ensure the children are nourished, clean, well-groomed, and attending school. They partner with schools the children attend to ensure they are performing well. Because many of the parents of the children served by the ministry are somewhat uninvolved in their childrens' lives, the ministry works as a liaison between the school and families to ensure the children’s needs are met. They also work with the parents each Friday, encouraging them to begin taking a more active role in their childrens' lives. The ministry provides free tutoring to the children 2 times per week. In 2009 they began a weekly Saturday group for adolescents. For the children who attend the ministry, exposure to drugs, alcohol, and violent drug dealers; domestic violence; statutory rape; and murder is a normal part of their lives. Some of their relatives make a living involving kidnapping, murder, violent crime, and theft. In Guatemala, there are no real “social services” and the police can’t be trusted. Because of this, ministry volunteers have to maintain a delicate balance between being over-involved to the point of “turning off parents” while still maintaining a guiding and positive influence in childrens' lives.
Because of all of these activities, the ministry is open 6 days per week. The frequency of this involvement provides the children with an opportunity to advance in school, find an alternative to the streets, and ensures they have at least one nutritious meal per day. Finally, the kids who attend the ministry participate in quarterly field trips to places like the zoo, the movies, or the children’s museum. These trips are important because they show the kids that a bigger world exists outside of their neighborhood. They also engage them to continue working with the ministry.
The impact of this is striking. The kids wait at the door for people to arrive and open the ministry. The kids also appear healthier, better-groomed, and able to articulate their aspirations in life, as well as the kind of choices they need to make on a daily basis in order to reach those goals. That is, they see the possibility of a future for them that does not involve continuing the cycle of poverty.