“We were leading a trapped life,” shares Christian. Christian is 17, and his sister Alba, is 19. They describe their life so far as growing up in broken house: their house often had no water or electricity; their neighborhood sees a lot of crime; and their mom is struggling with addiction and unable to care for them or their younger sister.

Earlier this year, Christian had a breakthrough when he was convicted of a crime and spent several months on house arrest. He knew that was not the direction he wanted to head in life. Alba was already connected with MSC, and working towards getting her GED, and Christian decided to join her. Their case manager really helped provide a positive influence and helped them to realize the other paths available to them.

Both Alba and Christian are still working towards earning their GED’s but they are in a much better place than they were last year at this time.

Christian also became involved in MSC’s Genesis group for young people, and he has since started his own program with a couple of other young men from the Genesis Group called Positive Movements. By forming Positive Movements, they hope to help youth succeed by encouraging them to get involved in positive activities instead of doing other things that may lead to unhealthy or criminal activities. Their organization has received attention from both the Mayor of Federal Way and the Seattle City Council.

When asked what advice they would give kids their age or younger, Alba said, “Stay in school, don’t get sucked into the streets, and always remember who you are.” We think that’s great advice!