Imagine celebrating 21 years of nurturing young minds, only to be told days later that you must close your doors.
This was the reality for “Mi Pequeña Lucecita” preschool in La Caramuca, Venezuela—a place that, for two decades, has offered not only education but also spiritual guidance through prayer, Bible stories, and songs to the surrounding community.
In this article, inspired by David and Luz María Ernst’s latest newsletter, we share the preschool’s journey: the obstacles it has overcome, the victories it has cherished, and how it continues to stand as a testament to the enduring power of the Word of the Lord:
On October 3, 2024, we celebrated, along with our preschool children and their families, 21 years of our Christian preschool. On October 7, local authorities shut it down.
We knew we were approaching a turning point and had been hopeful that we might be able to expand our community education program this school year. But the decision went the other way.
What happened? Since mid-September we were involved in the latest round of a struggle that continued for more than a decade. To begin at the beginning, we started our preschool with the help of a non-governmental organization that existed in the early 2000s.
This philanthropic enterprise, Fundación del Niño, provided foodstuffs for preparing nutritionally balanced breakfast and lunch, and certified teachers to establish neighborhood preschools in private homes that met certain standards for health and safety. Luz Maria enrolled her home in this program and we were off to the races. The foundation was quite pleased with our ability to meet the material needs of the children, and had no problem with the fact that our daily routine included prayer, Bible readings, Christian songs and Biblically oriented crafts.
As time went on, the Ministry of Education of the state of Barinas took over more and more of the funding and administration of the program. Eventually, all of the in-home preschools but ours were closed. We were able to keep ours open because of overwhelming support from the surrounding community. But every year since 2012 we have had to contend with a faction within the state bureaucracy that wants to close our preschool.
Every year we have won the argument with support from the families of our preschool children, although with constantly changing, at times arbitrary regulations. From 2003 to 2020, children attended our preschool from two to six years of age, with a graduation ceremony to see them off to first grade. Since 2020, the parents, although they prefer our preschool, have had to transfer their children to state-run preschools at three years of age with no farewell.
We have long suspected this opposition was ideological in nature. Luz Maria recalls how, some time ago, a representative of the school district told her that we should be prepared to be assigned a homosexual teacher. Luz Maria told the representative that was a non-negociable “No”.
This time we were told plainly that the only way our preschool could continue to operate was if a) we turned our property over to the state; and b) eliminated all the religious content from our educational program. Once again, the community rallied to our support. More than 200 people signed a petition to keep our preschool open. For a while it seemed like the fight was in our favor, with the possibility we might even be able to expand beyond the preschool level.
Then came the October 7 announcement and, two days later, the confiscation of preschool furniture and equipment that had been lent to us in 2003. The families staged a protest at the preschool to which their children had been transferred. They have not given up and plan to make further appeals.
So we are considering ways to continue our ministry in a somewhat different form. One option still open to us is registering as a completely private school. This would require, first of all, that we would have to charge tuition. Since the community wants what we have to offer, at least some parents may well be willing to pay minimal tuition. Third, we would be completely responsible for paying at least one teacher with full benefits.
Otherwise, we still have Luz Maria´s after school tutoring. We could expand that program to include weekend workshops in remedial mathematics and English, for example.
Also, there is the possibility of seminars in other subjects of interest to the community, such as gardening and food preparation. In any event, we will have to turn the page and start a new chapter in our ministry, God willing.
We have walked in faith since the beginning, and, by His grace, have stayed the course for 21 years. Thanks be to the Lord for that, and we trust that the future is in His hands.
Read more here about Ernst’s missionary work.
Valeria announced this in her latest newsletter, where she shared stories about her multicultural experience in the Uruguayan capital and news about baptisms and confirmations at the Lutheran Church of Uruguay.
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