BOGOTA, Colombia (UBS), April 8, 2002 — Harvey Alfredo Leon Higuera never intended to open a drug rehabilitation centre — he just wanted to open an auto repair shop. But the night before his well-equipped and located facility was to open, he found he had some overnight visitors from his neighbourhood. And now, four years after allowing them to spend 'just one night' in the midst of his mechanic's equipment, the would-be entrepreneur heads a Christian ministry that has six facilities across Colombia helping about 150 men and women at any one time.
And now, Mr Higuere and his team have some help as well — from the Colombian Bible Society and Opportunity 21. "Everything was a miracle," Mr Higuere declares. "My desire was not to create a foundation but an automotive center." His 'mistake', he says was when he invited the people of the community to come and see his new business. "We invited people from the community, but they came and didn't want to leave," he explains. "We said, 'OK, you can stay one night, and we will give you breakfast in the morning, and then you must leave."
UBS/Larry Jerden
Four years ago, Harvey Alfredo Leon Higuera wanted to open an auto repair facility, but God had other ideas. Today he heads a ministry with six rehabilitation centres across Colombia helping some 150 men and women rebuild their lives. Bogotá, Colombia.
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Mr Higuere said he always considered the building as a gift from God, and he was just trying to share it — a little. " We had all the electronics and mechanical equipment in place to open the automotive facility," he said. "The young workers were to begin on Saturday, and we invited them to come on Friday night and take a bath, get a night's sleep, then wake up and eat breakfast.
But instead of just young men arriving, the earnest Christian businessmen found himself overwhelmed by women, children, and dogs, as well. "We expected 20 men," he recalls. "In all, 150 people arrived. So people started to wash their clothes, make their beds, and we prepared breakfast.
"But after breakfast, they settled in, and we were deciding what to do, but by then it was 1 p.m. and they were asking for lunch. So we prepared some food, they ate it, and then lay on the floor, waiting for their clothes to dry. Soon it was 7 p.m., and they did not want to leave. They asked us if we were Christians, and I said yes. They asked me to read Bible, so I did. Then they started worshiping God and singing. It was 10 o'clock before they got through. They said if they could sleep here that night they would leave in the morning.
"We prepared another breakfast, another lunch, and another dinner. Some more people came and we told them that they could not stay. But they would not leave. We told them that this was a mechanic center. They said, 'Well, let us stay on the second floor.' I agreed, but prayed to God and said, "One week and then they go." The crowd did leave the next morning, but then returned, and this time they brought with them their cooking utensils and began setting up housekeeping.
Mr Higuere's next step was to prepare a rigid schedule, thinking that if there was a schedule, they would not want to stay. But they accepted the rules. And there was another change — he noticed that they were calling him pastor. "Why do you call me pastor?" the businessman asked. "I am not a pastor. I just want my automotive center." "No," came the reply, "we have prayed about this place (the upper floor). God has given it to us. We are also praying that your mechanic center will be our place."
At that, a somewhat frustrated Mr Higuere went to see his pastor and told him he wanted his mechanics center. "There will be no mechanics center here," his pastor told him. "There will be a foundation. You'll not need mechanics. You will be with the people — you will be with the foundation. And you will help people get the things they really need."
Mr Higuere gave in and formed the Casa de Rehabilitacion Hombres Nuevos. "At that point, I knew that God was calling me to work with the street people. So I put away my automotive equipment and begin working with the people. Before I realized it, a year had passed. I discovered that I loved seeing hearts broken by the Word of God, and God doing His work in their lives."
But even then, Mr Higuere didn't completely give up. "That first year I fought with God," he recalls. "I kept telling God, 'This is not for me. These people are not for me.' But now five years have passed, and I have six houses serving 200 people and a TV program reaching many more."
The people his foundation ministers to are street people with alcohol problems, sexual problems, and other kinds of behaviour problems. "But they are here because they want to be," he says. "If they want to leave, they can go. Sometimes we take individuals to our facilities in other towns to get them away from their old environments." The treatments seem to work. All the leaders in the Foundation must be people who have been helped — rescued — by the foundation.
Ricardo José Cruz, director of the Hombres Nuevos facility in Bogota, is a prime example. "Thanks to the Foundation and the love of God in my life, I've been rehabilitated for three years," Mr Cruz says. "Now in my heart is my desire to serve God, because my life was a victim of drugs."
The Colombian Bible Society is eager to help men like Mr Cruz, and has entered into a new relationship with Hombres Nuevos to try to make that possible. "Our first contact with the Bible Society was just a month ago, when they brought us the first materials," Mr Higuere says. "As a result of that visit, we look forward to working with them in the future." "I think the materials are excellent," he adds. "Now we need training in how to use them. We want to share them with people outside of our own Foundation. And the Bible Society's audiotapes are especially valuable for those who do not know how to read."
Source: Larry Jerden, United Bible Societies
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