Bringing Positive Change to Women in Need Through Fashion in Colombia

As a single adult, Luz Mosquera had been wondering if there were other areas where she could serve God apart from leading a single adults group at her church. “I was asking God during my prayer time for an opportunity to do something different, something where I could make a change and impact lives,” Luz shared with us.

Women from the Niquitao neighborhood are marginalized and usually blocked from opportunity.

The answer came when she saw Liz Bohanon’s Grander Vision video at The Global Leadership Summit in Medellin, Colombia. “How Liz has worked with those women touched my heart and sparked an idea I could pursue to create positive change in the lives of women who desperately need a hand to help them get out of their broken reality of prostitution, drug addiction or selling goods on the street. ”

Women from the Niquitao neighborhood are marginalized and usually blocked from opportunity. Then they usually cannot escape their practice. No one gives them a hand to learn appropriate skills and move to a better life.

As a fashion designer, Luz was aware of many job opportunities for women in the Medellin fashion industry. Skilled and trained women could work in clothing factories and make it their living career and source of income. Luz says, “In my GLS seat, I just had this vision of helping the women from Niquitao by providing them the training they needed, and helping them find jobs once they were trained. I had the contacts, the knowledge and the passion to make this a reality.”

She started to make contacts at government offices that offer training programs, and found they had just what she needed to start. She also founded a non-profit organization to make it official and start to fund the program with donations.

In my GLS seat, I just had this vision of helping the prostitutes from a nearby neighborhood by providing them the training they needed

The NGO, Viento Fresco (Fresh Wind), opened in January 2018 with 25 women signed up. Along with the training, they offer them a place to be nurtured with the love of Jesus and share the gospel with them. They also provide a place to take care of their children while the women are learning.

“In November 2018, we will graduate 18 of the 22 women who trained with us,” Luz shares. “We are celebrating that so many are with us still as official statistics say a large number of women in similar programs usually quit. Government authorities had asked us how we made it, and how we were different, and my answer is ‘The love of God.’  Because we do not just give them skills, we love them and are moved by Him.”

These 18 women will start working in the companies that are sponsoring the program. Companies that would normally not have recruited a woman from that neighborhood, but are now trusting in this program and are willing to give them a chance.

We do not just give them skills, we love them and are moved by Him.

Luz shares, “I am so excited to see them making their own money without selling themselves. Providing food and clothes to their kids and being proud of how they did it. I am so thankful to God for answering my prayers through the GLS. “

God used the GLS to change Luz’ life and service by becoming an influential leader, transforming the lives of many Medellin women and empowering them to build their own future.

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