On any given day in Manta, Ecuador, you’ll find brothers Alex (22) and David (23) hard at work. One day, you might find them watering their cacao plants under the blistering sun. On another day, you could find them grinding cacao beans, sweat pouring from their brows.
As the brothers craft their artisanal chocolate bars, you’ll also hear them pray, asking God for wisdom and thanking him for bringing them this far. After all, what’s now a thriving chocolate factory once felt like an impossible dream.
Poverty Turns Sweet Dreams Bitter
When Alex and David were little, they had visions of game-winning goals and crowds cheering their names. But living in poverty in Esmeraldas, Ecuador, they knew becoming a professional soccer player could only be a dream, nothing more.
Poverty keeps children from reaching their dreams — or even trying to reach them at all. Dreams are often replaced with sheer survival, as children must worry more about what they’re going to eat or finding safe water to drink.
Many children must turn their attention to helping support their families instead of getting an education or playing sports.
The question of “What do I want to be?” is replaced with, “How do I help my family make it through the day?”
Even as young boys, Alex and David knew they would need to put their professional soccer dreams aside. But little did they know that another dream would soon take root.
Building Courage & Confidence at the Compassion Center
Alex and David were registered as children in the Compassion program through their local church. At the church, the boys had access to safe community, protection from harm, medical care and nutrition support, helping relieve the daily burden poverty placed on their shoulders.
They also received educational opportunities that would change the course of their lives. Classes and workshops at the center opened doors of possibility otherwise locked tight.
“At the program, we had many activities, classes and workshops, such as entrepreneurship. They always helped us, trained us — not only in entrepreneurship, but also in accounting. Even though I was little, I felt like we were being prepared for the future.” — Alex
As the boys grew, the loving supporters around them, from their sponsors to their center tutors, continuously encouraged the boys to dream.
“We, as Compassion, work with young people in extreme poverty. They face incredible challenges. When I talk to young children, I tell them to have dreams so that they dare to dream beyond their communities and so they don’t feel bound to repeat the same path as their parents, but instead keep becoming better, day by day. — Romina, partnership facilitator, Compassion Ecuador
Alex and David discovered that nothing was impossible with God on their side. Each day, their confidence in their heavenly Father and themselves grew. They began to look toward their futures with courage, knowing and believing that nothing could stand in their way — not even poverty.
Forced From Home in Search of a Better Future
Opportunities for making a living are often few and far between in impoverished communities like Esmeraldas. Many young adults must make an impossible decision: Stay near home and risk remaining in poverty permanently or chase a seemingly impossible chance of escaping it.
After graduating from the Compassion program, Alex and David decided to move to the city of Manta to chase a better future for themselves and their family. While life in Esmeraldas was challenging, it was home. But the brothers took off, leaving life as they knew it behind in exchange for uncertainty and possibility in Manta. They didn’t know what the city would hold for them — they simply needed to find a way to sustain themselves and their families.
“Be Strong and Courageous”
The dreaming never stopped for Alex and David. During their journey in Manta, they learned that Ecuador produces some of the highest quality cacao in the world. They also found a love for chocolate and the process of making it.
All their learnings about entrepreneurship and accounting during their time at the Compassion center came flooding back. And passion filled every conversation they had about creating something honest, sustainable and meaningful.
A new dream took shape that Alex and David found impossible to let go of: Owning a business — specifically, a chocolate factory.
But where would they even start? They had left everything behind in Esmeraldas. The odds were stacked against them. Yet they heard the voice of their earthly father, Jhonny, telling them to keep dreaming. And a Bible verse the brothers had memorized as children resounded in their hearts:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9, NIV
With a call to dream coming from both heaven and home, the brothers boldly stepped into their future as entrepreneurs.
A Dream Becomes a Chocolate Factory
Armed with determination, encouragement from loved ones and the lessons from the center, Alex and David succeeded in building their dream business.
Each morning, they rise before the sun. They exercise, have breakfast and pray for God’s grace for the day. Alex and David then head out to the chocolate factory they founded together. The brothers and their father spend the day making artisanal chocolate bars out of some of the finest cacao in the world.
This isn’t like the factory you’re probably thinking of with endless rows of production lines and larger-than-life machines. In this factory, everything is done by hand, from watering the plants to harvesting cacao to pouring chocolate.
Alex and David manage every step themselves, using only organic ingredients and following high-quality standards from bean to bar.
Alex and David are proud of their work. To the brothers, their chocolate isn’t only delicious, but it’s better for the body. They love sharing the health benefits of chocolate with others. Chocolate with higher cocoa content is rich in antioxidants and known to improve heart health.
“We consume chocolate bars that are not so nutritious. But we have the raw material and the best cacao. So why not consume chocolate bars that are good for us? We sell better quality cacao.” — David
There’s Life in Chocolate
The family named their chocolate Rulate. The word ru comes from the Quichua word ruru, meaning “the organ of a plant.” And late is a nod to chocolate. Putting it altogether, the name means there’s life in chocolate.
For the brothers, this is true in more ways than one. Not only is there delicious, good-for-you ingredients in their chocolate bars, but the brothers’ lives were also transformed in creating them.
Through their hard work, the brothers and their family have created a sustainable livelihood that will help them achieve lasting freedom from poverty. Working in their factory also continuously brings them closer to their heavenly Father.
As their cacao plants grow, they’re reminded of his faithfulness and how he has been with them their entire lives.
“Seeing these plants grow every day, seeing that we can enjoy them each day, the fact that I can watch it myself — I see that God loves me very much and that he is with me all the time.” — David
The Brothers Haven’t Stopped Dreaming
Alex and David know, without a doubt, that dreams can become reality. And that’s why they continue to dream about their future and that of their business.
The brothers hope to continue growing their factory so they can provide jobs for others and export in larger quantities, sharing their chocolate globally. They also hope to participate in the International Chocolate Salon, the world’s top chocolate competition.
Just like the best chocolate is pressed, the brothers have been pressed by the weight of poverty. But they haven’t been crushed. With confidence in themselves, courage to chase their dreams and faith in their heavenly Father, Alex and David are leaving poverty behind, one cacao bean at a time.
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but no abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. — 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, NIV
