There are exceptional street kids who show great potential for success. All they need is a hand-up. They are chosen as STREET LIGHTS to design and implement their own projects that can help children at risk. They facilitate the work done in shelters and guide victimized children through the difficult process of rehabilitation.
STREET LIGHTS are natural leaders who demonstrate resourcefulness and self-reliance. They also help vulnerable adolescents to develop the self-esteem they often lack. Through peer-mentoring they make the best use of limited funds and resources. Their street smarts make them experts in the problems of poverty and abuse. Sponsoring a STREET LIGHT is a cost-effective way of helping many children in need.
Our poster child for the STREET LIGHTS Program is Miguel Angel Carrillo, a dynamic young man who ran away from home at age 6 due to extreme emotional and physical abuse. For ten years he survived on the streets of Mexico City by doing chores and housework in exchange for a meal. He drifted in and out of shelters, but they could not provide him with the means of rehabilitation and education. At the Rebirth Foundation he was finally able to overcome his addiction, provided a public education, and invited to attend several workshops provided by the shelter.
Hungry for learning and self-improvement, Angel quickly caught up in school and demonstrated incredible leadership aptitude. When given a chance to learn fencing and to enter a national fencing competition, Angel won first place, along with a one-year scholarship to study in Germany. Subsequently, Miguel has lived in Europe for over ten years. He speaks five languages and is married to a French woman. Miguel Angel is moving on in life at full-speed. But he has not forgotten his younger brothers and sisters at the Ecuador House. To them he is a folk-hero.