USA. My name is Flor Alba Gillingham. I was born in Puerto Lleras, Colombia but was raised in Valle del Cauca, in Colombia. At the moment I am living in Montana, USA. Despite having had many challenges throughout my life, I have been abundantly blessed, and one of these blessings is a very good friend of mine, who gave me the idea and encouraged me to do the MBS course — a business training and self-reliance program that teaches how to run your own business, improve your home life, and work on your community to help it grow.

I have been working as an English teacher for more than 27 years, and have been tutoring on my own for about 10 years. Last year I started giving classes online and the knowledge I acquired through the MBS has helped me see this as a business, identify its strengths and weaknesses, and more importantly find a way to improve it. 

Along with providing me a wider perspective of what I do for a living, the MBS provided me encouragement to reevaluate my lifestyle and to commit to do the necessary changes to improve it, find various ways to save, and reconnect with something I have always loved doing: serving others. 

In order to complete the program, I carried a service project where I made bread in order to provide food for people in the streets. On November 2nd I put my plan in motion. My husband and I had previously noticed that there are always people around the courthouse in my city so we decided to go there. At first I was nervous because I didn’t know how they would react but, once we started, a peaceful and rewarding feeling filled our hearts and the desire to keep serving grew stronger. We then decided to contact the Poverello Center so that they can become a helpful bridge. 

I just want to express my special thanks to those that were right beside me and helped me complete this new step in my life.