Kids Club
For many people, Costa Rica calls to mind beautiful beaches and gorgeous canopy tours through the rainforest. While Costa Rica is one of the most beautiful and popular tourist destinations in Latin America, it is also home to many families living in extreme poverty. Christ For the City missionaries intentionally seek out those living in the worst kind of poverty and hopelessness. To this end, many CFCI ministries in San Jose, Costa Rica are focused in the city’s largest slums, areas that are rife with crime, drugs, and prostitution.
In the midst of the drugs and prostitution are the children of these slums. They often have little food, don’t receive much attention from their families, and have little chance of receiving a real education. Kids’ Clubs are one way in which CFCI is reaching out to these children. CFCI ministries target these children with the hope of bringing them food, friends, activities, and most importantly, a chance to hear God’s Word and learn of His love for them.
Through participation in our Kids’ Clubs, you can have a life changing impact on children living without hope. Using crafts, games, sports, and Bible times as a vehicle to build relationships with these children you will have the chance to share Jesus with them, an experience which will impact your life as much as the lives of the children you are serving.
Street Ministry
Guarari, a large slum area of San Jose, Costa Rica, is populated by squatters and unrecognized by city government. The slum is filled with tiny homes constructed from cardboard and old scraps of metal. Drugs, alcohol, and prostitution are everywhere. In this squalid environment live the children of Guarari.
Christ For the City (CFCI) missionary and native Costa Rican, Ronald Villalobos, grew up in a slum just like this one. Ronald remembers beginning to use drugs at age 7, living on the streets, and eating from piles of trash on the side of the road- but Ronald’s story has a happy ending. He met Jesus at a local church and later went on to found the CFCI ministry Transformations to reach out to kids just like himself.
Today, Transformations is a light in the darkness of Guarari. The program offers Bible lessons, games, and crafts for kids and focuses on building relationships with them before they fall into life on the street. For adults, the ministry offers vocational classes, literacy classes, and English lessons. A feeding program managed by CFCI staff serves hot meals to children and their families twice a week.
As an intern in Transformations you will have the opportunity to use your gifts and abilities to serve these children and help them and their families find hope in God. Participate in the feeding program by preparing and serving food to hundreds of people. Play sports and teach Bible lessons to the kids of Guarari. Teach their parents to speak English or develop a vocational skill that will help them find employment. Come to Costa Rica and see how your life can profoundly impact others for God.
