Today we visited Guatemala’s state orphanage. The most overwhelming feeling when all the activities came to a close was that of hopelessness. I had to hold back tears as I looked across their blank faces. 700 children stay in a prison like place that is meant to only hold 400. The lack of care is evident. I know they probably want the best for the kids, but it is just impossible when there are 40 children to 1 worker. How can they possibly give the children the love and attention they need when they can barely cover the necessities? My heart breaks knowing that a majority of these kids will live here until they are 18 and then the only place for them is the streets, which they won’t be prepared for either.
We spent the morning with the special needs older kids and the special needs babies because no one visits them. When we walked in the room they came up to us with open arms and we embraced them in return. It makes me sad to admit this, but at times it was uncomfortable. I didn’t know what to do about the lack of personal space. I am a cuddly girl but to have kids hanging on you and drooling on you is a little different. I did my best to stay focused on my purpose there though: being and showing love. So I hugged them back and danced and ran around with them and made noises and laughed. Even though some moments, like I mentioned earlier, were disheartening, it was so beautiful to see the small things that gave them such great joy.
Before we went to visit the special needs babies, we spoke with the teen moms and pregnant teens. It was so difficult to learn that some of these girls were only 13. One of which was 13 with a four month old, another 16 years with a 3 year old. I just couldn’t comprehend how this had happened and I prayed that God would restore the years of their childhood that had been seemingly stolen. In order to encourage them Jessica translated a message for me about how they are beautiful and precious. First I shared a little bit of the gospel message because many of them aren’t saved and I at least wanted them to have the opportunity to know Christ. Then I shared the message that touched me when I was around their age about giving their mirror to God and only allowing Him tell them who they are. God’s feelings and views towards us never change. He always says that we are loved, valued, worthy, precious, and beautiful. We must look to Him for our identity. We went around and prayed with the girls who shared needs and then had them write down a few things about themselves that they found good. We wanted to affirm in them that even though they have had difficulties, and some of them even sexually abused or abandoned, that they are good moms, beautiful and loved by God.
While with the special needs babies we got to put donated stuffed animals in their cribs, replace their old socks with new ones, wipe their faces with cool wipes, and rub their arms and legs with lotion. Unfortunately we couldn’t do every thing for every baby, but we did our best to make our way around to all the cribs and pray and love on them through physical touch.
A lady in our group is about two weeks away from finalizing an adoption. She brought with her the three girls she is adopting who actually came from the state orphanage before they went to Dories Promise. I had the pleasure of showing two of the girls to wipe the kids faces and rub their arms and legs with lotion. The mom even got the girls to pray in Spanish over the special needs babies. My heart was so touched to watch them serve their people at such a young age. It was beautiful and I was so thankful for their precious prayers and gentle touches as they loved on these forgotten children.
Our afternoon consisted of some activities with the children of Dories Promise. Two of the team members here put on a music class with the kids and let them play on harmonicas and ukuleles and a guitar. It was so cool to watch the kids sing and play on them. Others made the popular rubber band bracelets! Did you know there is a way to do them with a plastic fork?!
My girl Ingrid came over to me and placed a purple and pink one on my wrist! My favorite color is purple and she remembers because hers is too! Ingrid and I painted each others nails while joking in Spanglish with the other mamas. It was too much fun! By the end of our time together she told me I was her amor! (her love ekkk yay!) I also got to talk to Mirna about her schooling and how she wants to become a beautician while I watched her practice on some of the little boys of Dories. Thanks to my new friend Jessica, who translated for me, I was able to express to the girls that I really care about their family and that I hold them each close to my heart. I am so proud of these beautiful girls.
Oh and Maria and Ana didn’t miss out on the fun either, they both made rubber band bracelets and played on the instruments (pics above) and Maria even had me paint her little toes! I love getting to know these girls! Before our time with the kids was up, I went over to visit little Abe and of course he was having the time of his life with one of the team member’s go-pro cameras. They said he had been running around with it for fifteen minutes. It was honestly the cutest thing! I can’t wait to see what was captured on film. I really enjoyed cuddling him when they turned on a movie to settle them down.
So much thanks to all of you who made this possible! I will be uploading more pics to Facebook! We are laying some concrete sidewalks tomorrow and passing out food bags and water filters in the community! As well as more activities with the kids of Dories! Zumba to be specific!
