New Hope International Ministries
I met Edson Souza while I was an undergraduate at Palm Beach Atlantic College (now University) back in the late 80s. He would ride his bicycle all over campus, always clad in smile, always filled with the love of Christ. He would say, in his strong Brazilian accent, even to complete strangers who jogged down Flagler Drive: "You know what the "hell" is? Hell is my life before I met Jesus Christ."
Edson was a waiter in Rio de Janiero in 1987 when then PBA president Claude Rhea came in and found himself highly impressed with this young man. Rhea offered Edson a scholarship to the college right on the spot. Souza would go on to get his Bachelors of Science in Business and later, his MBA in International Business.
He scored a solid job in Atlanta but quickly felt led to return to his native Brazil to oversee a ministry for those in the slums, the same favelas in which he grew up. He founded the New Hope International Ministry, a non-profit, non-governmental organization in 2001. New Hope stresses training programs focusing on vocation, education, and athletics. Their stated mission is:
".to identify at risk children and provide a Safe House environment that will offer them hope and opportunity in the midst of the poverty, danger and hopelessness of the slums of Rio de Janeiro. We reintegrate the children and young people of these poor communities by alleviating the social exclusion that affects them spiritually, socially, and to improve their educational opportunities so they can live productive and wholesome lives."
We got to have dinner with Edson and his wife a few years back. This past Saturday, my friend Don Harp, former alumni director of PBA, updated me on the ministry and reminded me that they need support. I wanted to give them one more outlet here.
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