Fredi Vegamonte Coca

Fredi arrived at the Pneuma Project in May 2024. His story includes early loss, abandonment, and three years in the COMETA youth correctional facility. These are difficult circumstances, without doubt, but what interests us is not dramatizing his past but showing what he's building with his present.

He grew up in the tropical region of Cochabamba under his mother Josefina's care. When she passed away, his stepfather took him to the city of Cochabamba and abandoned him there, leaving him without resources or family. During a period of vulnerability, an unknown woman decided to help him, offering him a home, access to education, and a safe environment. That act of compassion changed his trajectory.

Legal problems related to the family that took him in forced his admission to a care facility. It was during that period that he deepened his Christian faith, reading the Bible and developing a more solid understanding of his beliefs. However, he made a mistake with legal consequences and was sent to COMETA, where he would remain for nearly three years.

Fredi speaks of that period with mature perspective. He states it was precisely in that environment where he consolidated his faith, feeling support in critical moments: study permits, emotional containment spaces, and opportunities to learn. COMETA forged in him a self-discipline and ability to face adversity that are evident in his daily behavior today.

When he arrived at Pneuma after completing his process, he became our longest-standing resident. He has witnessed the program's evolution, seen other young people arrive, and has become a reference figure for his peers.

What distinguishes Fredi is his intellectual capacity. He has a level of reasoning that allows him to develop articulated speeches, analyze complex situations, and express ideas with clarity. During our Transformation Academy sessions, his participation not only demonstrated understanding of concepts; he integrated them, questioned them, and applied them to his own experience.

One of the most revealing moments was when COMETA invited him to return as a visitor. The facility where he had been confined for three years asked him to speak with the young people currently going through what he went through. Fredi shared his story and offered a message of hope from a spiritual perspective. That moment confirmed something we had observed: he has genuine vocation for teaching and leadership.

During his participation in our academies, he identified his strengths: empathy, ease of communication, ability to teach, and desire to guide others. His academic goal is to study Education Sciences, understanding teaching as a path where he can unite spiritual purpose, professional vocation, and community service.

This month, Fredi will achieve a significant accomplishment: he will graduate from high school after completing two school years in one by attending night classes. This result represents academic discipline and ability to sustain multiple commitments simultaneously: studies, participation in the academies, household responsibilities, and personal development.

Fredi also shows inclination toward entrepreneurship and business. He actively participates in our Business Academy alongside José and Fernando, and has explored business ideas in the past, especially in gastronomy and pasta preparation. His business mind complements his educational vocation.

However, Fredi faces real challenges. We work with him on aspects of responsibility and consistency that are still developing. More significantly, he faces emotional factors that can affect his performance and require specialized psychological intervention. The wounds of abandonment and years of institutionalization have left marks that need professional healing so he can reach his maximum potential.

What's valuable about Fredi is his openness to growth. He recognizes his areas for improvement, seeks help when he needs it, and shows genuine willingness to work on himself. Today he perceives himself as more confident, more open to expressing his ideas, and with clear direction.

His next stage is full of possibilities. With his graduation imminent, he must decide his professional path. His heart is inclined toward entrepreneurship, business, and education. He envisions a future where he has a profession, his own home, and where he can become a mentor for other young people who have gone through similar situations.

Fredi's story shows that genuine change is possible with the right environment and personal commitment. He has gone from instability and confinement to becoming a leader in training with clear vision for the future. His journey through Pneuma has allowed him to resume his education, strengthen his faith, discover his identity, develop independent living skills, and visualize a path where his past experience becomes a source of strength to help others.

Fredi Vegamonte Coca represents the type of transformation Pneuma seeks to facilitate: young people who transcend their circumstances and become agents of change for the next generations.