There is this gate I know. The gate stands watch at the entrance of Instituto Vida Abundante (School of Abundant Life, located on the edge of a beautiful Honduran lagoon touching the Caribbean.
Hundreds of people pass through this extraordinary gate each day. The gate squeaks a bit when she opens, and squeaks even more when opened wide.
The gate welcomes the masses: students, parents, teachers, cooks, mayors, international visitors and more through her wrought-iron opening. It is mind-boggling to consider the diverse crowd that has entered.
Inside this gate, parents seek educational hope for their children. They come asking for a place for their children to learn; a place free from violence, from surcharges, from corruption. Some parents come from remote villages where sheer survival outweighs educational opportunity.
Inside this gate, students are fed. Vulnerable teens receive two tangible meals each school day. They are also fed spiritual truths, just as important for a thriving, abundant life. These same teens discover what it means to dream about tomorrow in the midst of today’s challenges.
Inside this gate, Love’s lessons are taught. Local teachers use their talents to teach math, history, Spanish, English, Bible and the larger lessons of peace, hope and love toward friends and enemies. These teachers seek to impart a better future to their students, a more equitable opportunity not based on economic standing.
Inside this gate, cooks light fires under traditional stoves to make beans, rice, donuts, fried chicken, and more to sustain the bodies of the precious humans in their care. These cooks arrive while darkness still hovers. They sing traditional hymns and choruses. They pray in their indigenous language for the school, the teachers, the school’s sponsors in the United States, and what tomorrow will bring.
The gate itself is a literal opening in a fenced-in property. Simultaneously, she is a figurative opening to a future and a hope for thousands of past, current and future students.
What makes this gate open? She opens through the generosity of donors located across borders, far away. Donors in the United States sponsor individual students. Donors partner with parents and teachers to welcome students in, share knowledge and send the students back out into their world to be the change we all dream to see.
Who holds the gate open for more? You do. I do. We all do. Collectively, every person who shares generously with Reach Out Honduras helps keep the school gate open. There are many more generations of students who need a gate.
Let’s hold this gate open wide in 2024; and wider, still, in years to come!
