Transcript

Regional Vice President of Latin America and the Caribbean, Edouard Lassegue

“There are many things that break my heart as I visit countries and communities in Latin America and the Caribbean. As I can think of two groups of people that we are targeting right now, one is the indigenous populations.

The indigenous populations in Latin America are the populations that are more marginalized, more neglected. They usually live in secluded areas and many times basic services do not reach them. But the church is there. And we want to come alongside of the church in ministering to that group.

The other group that we are targeting are actually the group of families and children in urban settings. Now, poverty in urban settings can be so deceiving because you come and you think, well, they have access to electricity and phones. But in reality, urban poverty is so dehumanizing because those children are exposed to gangs, prostitution, exploitation, and they are the targets of people who want to use them. And that’s why we want to be there. And we heard that over and over again in churches in Colombia, for instance, where they are saying, ‘Well, those children know poverty, they experience poverty.’ It may not be economic poverty in some other areas, but because they are vulnerable, that makes them even easier to target for those ills of prostitution and gangs and exploitation.”