Learning to Dream

Meet Juan David from the Dominican Republic. He’s one of the many students dreaming BIG through the Compassion Leadership Development Programme.

“When I got the call I got so cold and red-skinned I hung up the phone. I didn’t even say goodbye due to my emotions. I couldn’t speak. A minute later, the LDP Specialist rang back. I managed to say that I was happy and grateful to God. But I told him that I couldn’t speak in that moment.”

This was the overwhelmed reaction of Juan David Dominguez Gálvez when he was accepted for the Compassion Leadership Development Programme, such was the enormous opportunity it represented.

A Spiritual Cure

But life hadn’t always offered Juan David such hope. His father died in a tragic construction accident leaving his mother Zunilda and her young family penniless. Growing up, Juan David knew the symptoms of poverty only too well, including the serious drug addiction and violence of his elder brother.

Yet, through attending a local Compassion project Juan David was starting to see the world through the eyes of faith: “I believed my brother could be transformed because for God there is nothing impossible. I wanted to become a Christian doctor to help people in drug addiction, because I really know how it is to live in such an environment.”

Christ-centred Ambition

Juan David remembers the dissenting voices in his community telling it would be too expensive. But he also remembers the hand of encouragement held out by Compassion: “People told me that I couldn’t study medicine and that is a big dream. So I was surprised to see the headline on the LDP poster – it said ‘Dream Big!’”

So he did. Juan David is now studying medicine at the University of Santo Domingo. But despite his academic achievement and obvious potential, he retains the simple faith that brought him to this point: “I believe that success is Jesus Christ, above all, because Jesus Christ is the centre of all success.”