Mentoring Program

Service Description

In partnership with Dulce Semillita and one of its programs (Jahapa - Youth Mentoring), this program was created to develop support tools for teenagers and young adults with difficult pasts, recognizing that statistically, more than 50% of the population in Paraguayan foster homes are over 12 years old. This means that they will soon be entering adulthood without an adult to guide them. We recruit and train families and single adults to mentor these young people. We visit them at least once a month in the foster home where they live, thus building a relationship of trust for the future. Every year in Paraguay, dozens of teenagers and young adults leave foster homes (“orphanages”) to face the world alone. Unfortunately, many of them fall back into the cycle of mistakes made by their parents, but with the support of a mentor, someone who is there for them through their struggles and successes, it can make all the difference. “We learned that it’s easier to ignore orphans before you know their names. It’s easier to ignore them before you see their faces. It’s easier to pretend they aren’t real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.” — David Platt —