No longer a street child
Living from meal to meal, not knowing where he will find the next. To now having a bright future ahead of him, we have seen Juan Jose grow up in the Casa Monte Plata Home in the Dominican Republic.
Juan Jose lost both of his parents before his 12th birthday. With no one to care for them, Juan Jose and his older siblings continued living in a tiny shack made of wood in an impoverished neighbourhood ruled by drugs and violence. The shack they lived in didn’t even have a door that locked and Juan Jose’s older sister slept with a machete under her pillow for protection during the night. They struggled to find food and every meal they ate felt like it could be their last.
When Juan Jose moved into the Case Monte Plata he was used to living life just to survive. At each meal he would eat ravenously as he still didn’t trust that he would receive food at the next meal time. But surrounded by a loving family and receiving quality care, he began to realise that he wasn’t a street child anymore and his life began to change.
In December, Juan Jose turned 18 years old. He still has a fighting spirit but now he focuses it on completing high school, not on finding meals in the slums of Monte Plata. He can’t wait to complete high school and works particularly hard at his studies. He lives with his sister in an apartment in the town, a far cry from a shack without a locked door. Most of all he has learnt so much through living at the Case Monte Plata and is now sure in the knowledge that he is loved, cared for and is valued. Find out more about sponsoring a child like Juan Jose by visiting our child sponsorship page.