Soaring to New Heights

The African nation of Mozambique is one of the poorest in the world, but since his 2006 graduation from West Chester University, alumnus Steve Soars has been working in northern Mozambique. Soars and his wife, Cassandra are the co-directors of the Vocational Training Department for IRIS Ministries, a non-profit Christian ministry headquartered in Mozambique dedicated to helping poor children, founded by Rolland and Heidi Baker in 1980. Through his work in IRIS ministries, Soars works alongside Mozambicans to teach and mentor adolescent children adopted by the ministry by preparing them with the necessary job skills needed, ensuring their future success.

Having been a member of the Friars' Society and Campus Crusade for Christ during his time as a student at WCU, Soars was no stranger to good works, or giving one's time in the spirit of service to others. However, Soars is very quick to point out that he feels he has gotten much more from the Mozambicans than he has given to them. For him, it was a paradigm shift of how he looked at serving and the relationship he had with those he served.

"I came to Mozambique with the right attitude, but I had the wrong belief that I was the one giving and they were receiving from us. It was through relationship with these beautiful people that confronted this arrogant belief and allowed our interactions to be reciprocal." To Soars, being involved in the Mozambicans lives helps him understand their perspective on the situation they live in instead of him labeling them based on his own feeling of their depravity. "If you are looking for a problem, you will find a problem. However, if you are looking for the treasure in the people, you will also find that. The poor are often only poor materially, and rich in many other ways. I am sure that if the extreme poor we work with could afford a plane ticket to the United States they would find a completely different kind of relational and communal depravity," Soars says, noting that we need some of the joy that they find in everyday life.

While many philanthropic organizations go to great lengths to provide and deliver aid to developing countries, IRIS Ministries goes further by facilitating an education program; imparting skills, knowledge and training to the hundreds of children adopted by the ministry, so that they can graduate from IRIS Ministries and go on to work a successful job, with the ultimate goal being a final exit from poverty. Like most impoverished nations, Mozambique is confronted with a dearth of clean water, health care, education. Naturally, aid flows in from western nations, like the U.S. and Canada, which meets several immediate needs.

"But aid only goes so far," Soars added. "If our children do not learn skills to provide for themselves, then they cannot succeed, and regardless of how much money the West gives them, they will never believe in themselves." In this ministry Soars belongs to, aid meets development. For the last two years, Soars has lived in Mozambique with his wife Cassandra and works to provide that very important component. Each day, he meets with a group of 15-18 year olds where he, along with a Mozambican co-director, counsels them concerning their eventual transition to a job. "From their first day of job shadowing, to the day they begin working, we and Mozambican directors are there, counseling them and teaching them the basics of management, customer service skills and different trades," he said. Since the vocational work with Soars and the Mozambicans began, the first few youth have gone from extreme poverty to successful jobs.

A young woman adopted by the ministry named Chantel grew up in extreme poverty. Soars' vocational team trained her not only by bestowing a good education, but providing her first work experience at a local café established by Soars. By working at the ministry's café, named Café Juntos (Portuguese for "together"), Chantel and others gain professional experience to build on and eventually move forward into new jobs. Café Juntos, an onsite business, is the final mentoring stop before they enter new jobs and professions. Like many others, Chantel was provided with the opportunity to work at the café and as Soars summed it up, she ran with it and is now a manager of another local café nearby where she earns a middle-class salary that will allow her to attend a local university.

"It;s about building confidence in them to believe in their future," Soars said. "This is the first generation that has really been able to dream about a hope and a future. Mozambique obtained its independence from Portugal in 1975 after 500 years of oppression and then fought another 17 years of civil war which ended in 1992. It is typical for our children to naturally think of survival, but they can now start living with hope for a good future."

Another success story involves a young woman named Onesia, who like Chantel grew up in extreme poverty but was adopted by IRIS ministries and mentored by Soars and his Mozambican co-director, Ismail. Onesia became a waitress at a nearby restaurant and is continuing on a positive path. While some go into the culinary profession, many go into hospitality management and transition into jobs at nearby hotels. Others pursue trades like carpentry, tourism and construction, and IRIS ministries is there to support them all the way through.

Through its mentoring program, IRIS ministries has gained partners, in the various industries, that hire a number of new employees right out of IRIS. While the ongoing goal is to lift many Mozambican children and young adults out of poverty by mentoring them and helping them find jobs, the end goal for IRIS is to see its adopted children succeed to the point where the Western missionaries can step back, allowing Mozambicans to take charge of the program. In fact, through its leadership composition, IRIS is already on the way to achieving that end.

"I have friends who are anthropologists and are often grieved by the way Western missions operate in the third world. Many think I will become defensive on this count, but I am much more apologetic than anything else. I, too, think Western missions can become very colonial in it's current methodology, and there must be a shift from Western charity and empty preaching and evangelism, to holistic empowerment that serves the dignity of the indigenous people. Our mantra is "what does love look like?" which basically means building relationship with the local people and discovering how we can partner with them based on their desires and needs, and not ours. Everything we do is alongside Mozambicans.

When students come to West Chester University they are often told to "grab the ram by its horns," and use their college experience to become proactive professionals and contribute to their community. In order to volunteer in Mozambique, Soars left his job as a social worker in West Chester and relies on donor support. Soars does annually return to the United States and Canada to inform and update his sponsors on the other side of the world of all the positive developments that are happening in Mozambique. In just a few years, this WCU alumnus has definitely taken the proactive approach, not just by making a life out of service to others, but by living among those he serves, and being transformed in the process.

Soars is also currently partnering with other WCU alumni Ryan Brooks King and Shane Daniels who have started the Beautiful Door Foundation, which is mainly a Chester county mentoring service but they also partner with African nations to build fresh water wells. They have financed a well for Iris that will go in sometime in the late summer. http://www.thebeautifuldoorfoundation.org/

If you would like more information on this Golden Ram and his work, or you would like to partner or donate, visit the Soars website at www.whoisyourneighbor.info, or e-mail Soars at whoisyourneighbor@yahoo.com.

-Tony Maalouf '06