Sofia Gabriela Bundy

There is something magic that happens when you sit with a child and you talk to them. I have seen the children come, and they have the capacity to not see impossibles. In our case, they come to us and say, I'm hungry, and now they know that anything they need, they can come to us, and they never stop to think, would they have something? What if they don't? What if when I come, they turn me down? They never let fear stop them. So watching the kids, playing with them, and just sensing the purity in their heart and the capacity they have to believe - I think that has been my biggest motivator. The children believe without limits, and that faith and fearlessness they show me every day keeps me going and reminds me why this work matters.

Never believe that something is impossible. If you want to change the culture of a company, if you want to change anything - everything and anything can be possible. Anything that you get your mind and your heart to, you can do, in any place, anywhere. This advice has guided me throughout my journey, especially when I started Faith Seeds International with nothing in my hands but a desire to change the world. It reminded me that when you truly commit yourself mentally and emotionally to something, there are no limits to what you can accomplish.

I wish and I hope that everyone would find their purpose in life. When you find your purpose, find your purpose and believe that you can do it. Because when I started, I started just with the desire to change the world, but I didn't have anything - literally, I had nothing in my hands to help the children. But somehow it came through passion and the hearts of kind people being moved. Find your purpose and believe that it can be done, because it certainly can. It takes faith to do something, and with that comes believing in yourself too. When you discover what you're meant to do in this world and you believe in it fully, miracles happen - every bill we pay, every school payment we make feels like a miracle to me because it takes things we cannot do humanly.

Financially, it's always challenging, but culturally there are significant obstacles as well. One of my dreams that I still haven't been able to achieve, but I know is coming, is to have a technical school where men and women can learn carpentry, construction, and other trades that would help them provide better for their families. The challenge is that adults who have been hurt by life have had their capacity to believe damaged - they ask me, do you think that will really help us? It's hard to change their minds when they're so used to their current situation. Children believe, but adults have lost that. Another major challenge we face culturally is with girls, because Guatemala is a male-dominated culture. In rural places especially, there's still a belief that men can go to school and have rights, but women don't. Occasionally we hit the bump where a father will say, okay, my girl made it to 8th grade, enough school, she needs to go to work. We have to work with the parents and convince them to let the girls finish. Sometimes we succeed, and sometimes we cry because we couldn't change their minds. But we have had success - we have girls who have graduated high school, and three of them are in college right now.

Faith is the most important value to me - you have to have faith to do something, and with that comes believing in yourself too. Truth is important, as is honesty. Accountability is crucial because you have to be accountable for everything - that brings protection to yourself, to your work, everything. Being accountable keeps you honest, and when you own what you've done or own what you need, you're speaking truth. These values all play into being an upstanding person in both my work with Faith Seeds International and in my personal life with my family.