Each project has its own birthing story – unlikely, remarkable and serendipitous; mysterious, even mystical. Some call it “God’s Choreography” – just the right people converging at just the right moment at just the right place.

 

Someone in a mission delegation asked about a chock of rope tied to a bedpost in a squatters’ community home, used to secure safely a four-year old when the mother got some work – his heart broken open, our work in La Estación began. Invited by a facilitator, Erik and Lalo “just happened” to pair up, finding they had similar visions – three years later (a lengthy gestation) ALEM was born. Ramón, who like Harry Potter lived under the steps in his grandmother’s home, shared his dream of having his own business – and the first worker/owner cooperative and SAPECO was born. If you tracked the unfolding narrative of each project, you’d find a continuing unfolding. The Quakers call it “proceeding as the way opens,” and a book chronicling a project not unlike ours said, “we build the road as we travel.” We are committed to, “working with the people rather than working for them.”

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