HTC graduates start a school for gang leaders children

​A few decades ago Bolosse was a place for Haiti's wealthy families; however, due to political unrest, failing governments, and fatherless families, this beautiful hill on the sea became a place of despair, misery, and one of the poorest places in Port-au-Prince.  The youth turned to violence, sex, and drugs in search of finding a sense of purpose and gangsters ran the place. 
 
2013 HTC graduate Jackson was one of those gangsters.
I began life as a quiet and respectful boy, but growing up my mom and dad practiced Voodoo and when our mother left us things began to go very bad for me.  I became the leader of a gang.  It brought me pleasure to start fights with the police and other gangs, and I felt powerful when it was one of my gang members who shot or killed someone.   My community forced me to leave because I became so dangerous.
 
I shouldn't be alive, but God led me to Haiti Teen Challenge and my life is no longer the same.   Jesus commands that, "Whoever wants to be my disciples must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." This is the path I now choose.

Since I graduated I have been working with my brothers, Benedict, Peterson, and Youbens, from HTC, to bring calm to Bolosse, to restore our environment, and to teach the kids a better way to live.  This year we began a partnership with a local pastor to start and run a school for children of gang leaders.  Just like us, they have been despised and rejected because of who they are, but now look at the smiles on their faces. They are learning to read and write and now know they are valuable and loved.