Nuevos Horizontes

My primary responsibility in Alto Cayma is working with a community youth group called Nuevos Horizontes. The youth are between the ages of 12 and 18. Usually, we gather together on Saturdays.

This group is founded in memory of a very brave teenager in Alto Cayma. A couple of years ago, like some teenagers do, this teenager in Alto Cayma got involved with a bad crowd. Gloria, Jim, and Victor worked very hard to help this kid, but nothing really seemed to be working. Finally, they decided to kick him out of the Acercandonos program because of his behavior. For this teenager, this was his wakeup. He came a couple of days later requesting a meeting with Gloria, Jim and Victor. In the meeting, he apologized and vowed to change. Because he seemed sincere, this teenager was offerred the grace of a second change. Sadly later that week, this boy was nowhere to be found. The entire neighborhood searched for him. After a few days, his body was found at the bottom of a ravine. It seems he was pushed. Everyone thinks that the teen was tyring to disassociate himself from the gang he had been apart of and that the gang did not appreciate this. Jim told me that they buried this young man on Easter Sunday.

From the life and death of this teen, the community learned something very important: It is important for responsible, caring adults to be involved in the lives of teenagers so that they can help protect and guide them as they navigate their paths to adulthood. Gloria, Jim and Victor founded this group as way to do just this for the youth in Alto Cayma.

This group is led by Victor, Tulita and Lurdes. Normally there are about 30 youth who participate, and the group is hoping to grow more. They have gone on outings such as the circus and have hiked the mountains in the area. They have helped to clean up the streets of Alto Cayma, and they have had psychologists come in to talk aobut drugs and alcohol, and self esteem. The group already does a lot of formative things, and I am happy to help in continuing to add shape to Nuevos Horizontes.