“…We also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope.” – Romans 5:3-4
Lorena Vasquez, the founder of Casa de Sueños, grew up in the tenements.
Her life is one of perseverance, character-building, and
a God-given ability to give hope to others. This is Lorena’s story…
Lorena’s Story: Phase one – “Locked up and very afraid”
In the bustling city of Medellín, my childhood unfolded in two distinct phases, each coloring my life in a different way.
My mother was 16 years old when she had me. As a teenager, she struggled financially. When I was just two months old, she gave me to relatives. I was there for a few years, but when I was five years old, my mother reclaimed me.
From the time I was five until I was eleven years old, we lived in the tenement houses scattered across Lovaina, Campo Valdés, and Prado Centro, the most dangerous neighborhoods of Medellín. That was not a good time in my life. I spent a lot of time alone, locked up and afraid because my mother would lock me in during the day to keep me safe.
Her precautions didn’t help. Things happened to me there that I don’t want to remember and would rather forget.
Those were sad years. The only good thing was that I always spent the weekends with my relatives. That’s when I felt happy.
Then Sunday came, and I had to return to the tenements, scared, discouraged, and sad.
“I spent a lot of time alone, locked up and very afraid.”
Lorena’s Story: Phase Two – “If I studied, I could achieve whatever I wanted”
The narrative of my childhood began to shift at the age of eleven. My mother remarried, leaving me in the care of relatives once more. Though my newfound family faced financial constraints and already had three children of their own, they embraced me wholeheartedly. I understood what it meant to feel safe and welcome.
Living in two such different worlds showed me that there was a bigger, better world outside of the tenements.
My new family included three children of my relatives plus a cousin they had also welcomed. To me, we were all siblings. My relatives consistently impressed upon us the importance of education as the key to progress. Despite hardships—times when food was scarce and school supplies even scarcer—I understood that knowledge was my way out. If I studied, I could achieve whatever I wanted.
My resolve was clear: I would never again find myself trapped in a tenement.
If I studied, I could achieve whatever I wanted.
Empowerment
My journey towards empowerment kicked off at age fourteen as I undertook various odd jobs: cleaning houses, assisting at the school store, and vending fast food alongside my mother.
By the age of sixteen, I was working with my older brother as we embarked on a street-side roast meat business. Earnings from this endeavor funded my enrollment in a technical accounting program while I completed my final year of high school.
With the money that I earned I was able to pay and enroll in a technical skills program in systematized accounting while I finished my last year of high school. I went to school from Monday to Friday, I worked from Thursday to Sunday, and I attended the accounting program all day every Saturday.
By the time I graduated from high school, I was already in the second semester of the accounting program and due to my good performance, they assigned me an internship in a very prestigious advertising agency that paid me the full minimum wage. That is how at seventeen years of age I was able to go and live by myself in a small apartment and pay for all my expenses including the university’s tuition, which I paid in installments.
At eighteen, my work was rewarded with a job as a treasury assistant in one of the largest foundations in the country. A scholarship enabled me to pay for my entire university education, and I emerged as a Public Accountant, later specializing in senior management. At the age of twenty-two, I assumed the mantle of director, overseeing the entire region of Antioquia with more than 100 employees under my charge and more than 500 children and young people in the programs.
“…at seventeen years of age, I was able to go and live by myself in a small apartment and pay for all my expenses including the university’s tuition, which I paid in installments.”
“I understood God’s purpose for me.”
Even though I was a Director with a very good position and salary, I always felt that something was missing. Because the government sponsored the programs I was working with, we were advised not to speak freely about God or the Christian Faith. It was also not possible to have enough time with each child to make a difference. We were not able to carry out long-term therapy or guidance in the fast-paced, government programs that only allowed a short time frame to work with the child.
I began to question the purpose that God had for my life.
Then I met Yanira, not knowing at first how much she would influence my life. Her way of believing in God and her certainty in what He had prepared for her tested me because I had many fears. Yanira had followed her faith and had already built a very large foundation in Cundinamarca. We became friends and co-founders of our Foundation in Medellín.
The church that we attended motivated us to create the Foundation. It was Yanira who took the first step and resigned from her job to create Sueños y Huellas, which is now known as Casa de Sueños, The House of Dreams. Without her, Casa de Sueños would not now exist.
Lorena’s Story: The House of Dreams
I resigned from my job two months later. Together we started this dream, always to create opportunities to expand the kingdom of God and to reach many people who would never set foot in a church but who need to know God.
We began to investigate which population and which projects needed us the most and decided the tenements had the most urgent need. There were great difficulties, but only then did I understand why everything I experienced in my life had happened.
I understood God’s purpose for me.
“…only then did I understand why everything I experienced in my life had happened.”
My vision for Casa de Sueños
I dream of teaching as many children as possible that there are other realities apart from the tenements and that they are not destined to live there for all their lives.
I dream of showing them that studying is the way to fulfill their dreams; that they are not destined to live the same life as their parents and relatives; and that having discipline and helping their parents to be better is important because growing up without them is very difficult.
I dream of creating a high-quality study program for the greatest number of children and young people as possible, thus helping to break the cycle of poverty that overwhelms our city.
I dream of teaching the entire population that God can change lives and has a purpose for everyone. If we trust in Him, we can go a long way and be an example to others.
“I dream of teaching the entire population that God can change lives and has a purpose for everyone.’
Lorena’s Story: What I want you to know about Casa de Sueños
We want to change lives and provide opportunities to those who do not see a way to achieve a purpose and break out of poverty here at Casa de Sueños.
You need to know that we are not a welfare program. We work with people so that they can acquire tools to change their lives while understanding and respecting each person and each individual’s process for healing.
Through Casa de Sueños, we yearn to etch the belief that life’s trajectory can be altered and that dreams don’t have to die inside the tenements.
I want you to know that my story can be the story of others, too.
It’s a story of transformation, of faith, and of undying commitment to kindling hope in places where it had grown dim. It’s a narrative driven by the fervent belief that every life can change for the better and that every individual can carve their path to success with God’s help – and the support of Casa de Sueños.
“I want you to know that my story can be the story of others, too.”
You can offer hope to children, too.
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