“Every revolution was first a thought in one man’s mind.”  – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Revolutions do not begin as epic battles that shake up the world. They begin as single thoughts and convictions, brought to life through courage. Something New’s rEVOLution started with two simple thoughts: everyone has a unique gift to give their fellow humans. And everyone can use their gift to love.

Our Venezuelan friends in Lima, Peru are experiencing this revolution — a sudden, complete, and marked change in their lives, fueled by love. When Something New met these families in December, we committed to assisting with housing, food, and job support. After just a month, each person has food on the table, lives in a safe building, and has new friends and a community of support. Their lives have changed dramatically, and they are now seeking ways to help others in similar situations. They are coming together like a family –whether it’s sharing a meal, watching someone’s kids so they can work, or giving away the few soles (Peruvian currency) they have to get someone safely home. The rEVOLution is growing. 

Love will keep us together. 

Each Venezuelan we’ve met has reason to hate and be bitter. Angelo faced daily prejudice at his job in Ecuador, and was fired after a month without reason or pay. Kimberly’s brother was shot and killed for his motorcycle in the streets of Venezuela. Brayan ventured out one morning in Lima to sell juice, only to have his stand kicked over by one of many Peruvians who feel threatened by Venezuelans–believing the common mantra that all Venezuelans are violent and “stealing their jobs.” 

Our world has become increasingly divided. Hurt creates wedges, and causes people to lash out at one another. It has become harder and harder for people from different cultures and viewpoints to simply live together as human beings. At times the division can feel overwhelming, but we at Something New will continue to invest in the one thing we know works: love. 

Love unites. Love looks past mistakes, even when those mistakes have caused hurt. Love settles bitterness. And that is exactly what we are seeing with this group of Venezuelans. Not a single one is living in anger or as a victim. No one is seeking revenge or dwelling on how they’ve been wronged. They’ve experienced radical change through love, and each one wakes up in the morning with simple hope and gratefulness to be alive. 

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Dr. King understood the nearly insurmountable division, hurt and anger all around him. He knew the weight of the task at hand, and also understood that to change things, each person would need to take action. Not one, not two, but every single person who felt their conscience pricked. Even when everything in and around them said to shrink back.That’s the thing about revolutions, they test the endurance of the dreamers, and the only way the arc starts to bend is if the dreamers refuse to give up. 

Each one of us plays a role in bending that arc. The small, individual things we do can become collective movements. We can’t each do EVERYTHING, but we can ALL do something. And that changes everything. We invite everyone to be part of this rEVOLution. To go on strike against just looking after our own needs. To rebel against the systems of division creeping in on our world. To infuse love into our communities, wherever we live.

Give today to help Venezuelan families fleeing violence, or contact us to learn about our upcoming service trips. 

Love isn’t just a feeling: it’s a verb! Through small steps, we can use our gifts to change the world.

Too Wonderful to be True

Lucia grabbed her son’s hand and held on tightly. The butterflies in her stomach got stronger and stronger the closer she walked to the airplane. How did I get here? She wondered, amazed, as she followed Abbey, a Something New volunteer, down the center of the plane toward her seat. This seems too wonderful to be true!

Lucia, her two sons, and two Something New volunteers—Carla and Abbey—found their seats near the front of the plane. “This is your seatbelt,” Carla explained to Lucia. “You can click this metal clasp in the space on the other side, and the strap will stay in place. There is also a light and some air conditioning above your seat.”

Lucia snapped her seatbelt in place, and then looked around the plane. Everywhere she looked, she saw blue and white. Blue seats and blue carpet. White walls, white ceiling, and small white tables on the back of each seat. This was her first time on an airplane, and so she looked everywhere. She didn’t want to miss any moment of this incredible experience.

Five minutes later, the pilot spoke through the intercom. “Flight attendants, prepare for take-off,” he announced, and Lucia watched three tall women in red skirts and vests walk up and down the aisle. Someday that will be me, she thought, and she smiled as she remembered her dream to be a flight attendant. Her smile quickly turned to a look of surprise, though, as the plane began to taxi down the runway.

All of a sudden, Lucia did not know what to do. The plane began to move faster and faster, and the front end lifted off of the ground, defying gravity more and more with each hurtling leap forward. Lucia grabbed the armrest of her chair. She covered her face in surprise, and let out a gasp. “Ahhh!” she shrieked, and then quickly covered her mouth. Abbey and Carla smiled, and chuckled happily. And just like that, tears filled their eyes.

All the Emotions

For the rest of the day, Lucia felt more alive than she had ever felt in her life. When the plane touched down in Lima, she clapped with the other passengers. When she walked out of the airport terminal into the heat and humidity of Lima, she inhaled deeply and sighed with happiness. She enjoyed the hour-long van ride to her new home in the heart of Lima. She didn’t think the day could get any better, but it sure did – right when the van pulled up to a five-story building across from a small, green park.

Angelo, the van’s driver, honked and waved and smiled. Beep, beep, beep-beep-beep! Beep, beep, beep-beep-beep! A cheerful welcome—fitting for a very cheerful Lucia, who laughed, and climbed out of the backseat onto the smooth, gray sidewalk. As soon as she did, a group of at least forty people came around the corner towards her. They were all smiling, and every single one of them came and hugged her. “I’m Brayan,” one told her, as he picked up her younger son and set him on his shoulders. “I’m Divanid,” another said, as she grabbed the handle of Lucia’s bag and began to carry it inside the building. “Welcome home!”

Lucia started to cry as the line of people grew longer and longer. She saw Something New volunteers, Peruvians, and Venezuelans all together, welcoming her and her two boys to their new home. “This is your life!” they all told her. “It is real, and it will last.”

“Come inside!” said Robert, a Something New volunteer, as he held the front door of the building open. As soon as she walked inside, Lucia saw balloons everywhere. A huge sign in the front entryway read, “Bienvenidos a Casa!” (Welcome Home!) Lucia walked upstairs and was amazed at everything she saw. On every floor of the building, people smiled and hugged her. They showed her the kitchen, family room, and playroom for her boys. They walked with her up the stairs, and explained where the bathrooms were.

This is Your New Life

By the time Lucia reached the fourth floor, she felt overwhelmed. I have felt every emotion today, she thought. I don’t know how this can get any better!

“Are you ready to see your room?” Divanid smiled at her from across the hallway. “It’s right down here!”

Lucia followed Divanid down the hallway to a wooden door next to a tall window. Divanid opened the door wide, and Lucia gasped. Directly in front of her was a wooden closet, with soap and shampoo inside. A fan stood to the right side of the room, and on the left side were two beds with beautifully-colored comforters. 

Lucia started to cry even more, and several Something New volunteers stepped in to hug her. “This is your new life!” they said. “Welcome home.”

In just one short month, 42 people now have a new place to live. A “House of Hope” that provides safe housing to Venezuelan refugee families in Lima.

As one resident simply put it, “the first day I arrived here, I felt hope.” From going without a warm shower for over two years to sleeping on cardboard in a shared room with seven other people, these families have survived more than most of us in the United States could imagine. Some walked 11 days by foot from one country to another. Others crossed frigid rivers with their bags balanced over their heads. Most have barely been able to make a few soles (Peruvian currency) to feed their children. And all of them have faced ethnic discrimination from people who feel they are threatening their jobs and way of life. 

This building represents much more than just a roof over their heads. Their kids are safe and cared for. They cook and live together as a community. They share responsibilities and free one another up to work. They learn English together. Each day is a step forward. And with a safe and secure place to live, each one is now able to begin looking towards the future….with hope.

Here are a few pictures of a “day in the life” at the Hope House!

Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis has caused millions to flee to neighboring countries like Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Latin America has not faced a migration to this extent in modern history, and resources to aid refugees are waxing thin. Syria is the only country to top Venezuela in the number of displaced individuals, yet according to a recent OAS report, Venezuelans have received less financial assistance from the philanthropic community than refugees from other countries. This has left Venezuelans vulnerable to human trafficking, sexual violence, xenophobia and labor exploitation.

In addition to helping women and children from a battered women’s shelter in Cusco re-establish their lives, Something New provides resettlement services to Venezuelan refugees in Peru. Often fleeing Venezuela with nothing but the clothes on their back, these individuals walked for days without food or water to find refuge in Peru. We provide food, housing, job finding services, and basic health needs to these refugees, but cannot do it alone. Click here to support!

New year…new outlook!

2020 didn’t just bring new lives and a new community for our Venezuelan friends in Lima…it also brought new “20/20” vision! Something New bought glasses for all these beautiful people. And with financial support we gave, two more were able to buy glasses to send to their mothers in Venezuela.

With such a shortage of medical supplies in Venezuela, even if they tried sending money to their families, there are no glasses available to purchase. This perspective can be difficult to imagine in the U.S., but is a daily reality in Venezuela. 

We feel as happy for these families as we would be for our own. And they could not be more grateful. Cheers to “20/20!”

2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the MLK National Day of Service. Something New didn’t have to look very far to find a story of service to tell!

Last week several men in our Venezuelan branch of Nuevo Camino encountered a man on the streets of Lima whose wheelchair was tattered and broken. Without a second thought, they ran to the store to buy parts to fix his chair. On the way, they decided instead to pool their (slim) resources and buy him a new wheelchair. They never considered how much money they didn’t have in their pockets, or whether their kids could still eat that night as a result. They simply saw a stranger in need and stopped to help.

Each of these men knows what it’s like to be that “stranger on the street.” When Something New met a group of Venezuelan refugee families in Lima, we committed to supporting with jobs, food, and housing. It would be so easy to pass by…to pretend not to see the need. To ignore the fact that if we don’t do something, the ones we’ve encountered will starve. But we are not a people who can do that, and these men aren’t either. Once you’ve experienced someone stopping to invest in you, you can’t help but want to do the same for others.

The MLK Day of Service celebrates the legacy of one of history’s greatest civil and human rights leaders. Without knowing or intending to, this group of men encompassed the spirit of Dr. King. They chose not to look the other way when a need crossed their path. They gave, whether or not they “had” anything to give. They experienced the joy that comes from putting others before yourself.

We have much more work to do in Lima…more people to meet, more mouths to feed, more people desperate for hope. We need your help! Click here to join us in supporting this community!