Pathway to a Life Paved with Hope and Promise

At Covenant House, relationships are the not-so-secret sauce of our work with youth. Christina Newport, senior vice president, programs, shared that wisdom from across the federation with a group of 25 staff at Covenant House Guatemala when she met with them last week.

And indeed, Covenant House Guatemala embodies the power of relationships to the fullest. From the driver to the security guard to the cook to the psychologist and frontline staff, there is strength and joy in the genuine connection and love shared by staff with the girls and boys in our care. Relationships imbued with unconditional love, absolute respect, and relentless support.

That is at the core of how Covenant House establishes a foundation of trust and commitment to counteract the violence and abuse that so many of our residents have faced in their young lives. At our Latin America houses, they are just 12 to 18 years old. And rather than question what is wrong with them, we ask, “What happened to you? How can we help you heal from the trauma you’ve endured.?”

It's how we give them back the childhood that was often so violently taken from them, like that of 15-year-old Marta (a pseudonym I’ll use to protect her identity) with her 12-day-old baby. Not long ago, her mother was ruthlessly murdered on the front steps of their home after she reported a man for raping her daughter months before. The baby, named for her slain grandmother, lay swaddled on Marta's bed as her teenage mother looked at her with far more sorrow and pain than joy.

That same day, Miguel, the residential coordinator for Covenant House Guatemala’s shelter for boy survivors of sexual violence and trafficking, spoke of breaking this cycle of violence. “We were raised with violence and fear, and now we have to find a new pathway that lets us hear our feelings and emotions.” He speaks of the work he himself has done to create that pathway in his own life and the importance of using creativity through art, music, and movement to open that pathway.

A group of teenage boys at the shelter demonstrated that creativity as they rocked out on guitars, drums, and saxophone, shouting out in Spanish the lyrics to the popular song “Resistiré!” “I will hold on, I will overcome,” the lyrics say. And the boys are overcoming pain, fear, and violence with the love, respect, and joy they receive every day at Covenant House Guatemala, which is giving their childhood back to them.

Covenant House remains steadfast and resolute in our commitment to youth like these children in Guatemala. We must continue to be the light and joy in what is otherwise so much darkness in their lives.

Building healthy, solid, trusting relationships is our rallying cry. Our lifeboat in the storm. Our pathway to a life paved with hope and promise.