Its a Hard knock Life….
If you’ve never seen the movie Annie, well you’re missing out because it’s a great movie. Annie is an orphan who lives in an orphanage with the head lady, Miss Hanagen, who is very mean. The orphans all have chores and things they have to do every day even when they are being treated horribly. Throughout the movie, Annie runs away and finds her dog Sandy but gets caught and taken back to the orphanage where she stays until she’s adopted. This is just a small summary of the movie but in some ways, it ties into what my team and I are doing this month.
This month we’re working at an orphanage in Cachora, Peru. It has some similarities to the movie Annie but its also very different in so many ways. Here we are out in the country where this small orphanage is located for ministry. There are eleven girls and seven boys that live as orphans here. However, they’re not all technically orphans. Only one of the kids is an orphan and the rest I guess you can say are more like foster kids. They have parents that basically aren’t able to care for them for one reason or another. They say sometimes the parents will come and visit but not very often or for very long. Which, in my opinion, makes it harder on the child to see their parents once or twice and just feel like they’re not important. So like Annie, these kids are living in a house full of kids who may also feel like they are displaced. These kids here are so lucky because unlike Annie, they have people all around them who truly do care about them.
Rolaans and Frine are the directors of the orphanage. They have three kids of their own, Esteban who is eight, Gabi who is four and Ana who is two. This alone can be a handful but they chose to leave their comforts and lives in Cusco to come here and take another eighteen kids under their wing. Unlike Annie, these kids get a lot of love from this incredible family.
I have never seen a group of kids as loving and welcoming as this group. We only spent two weeks there and they stole my heart. For kids who have been abandoned, they have the biggest hearts out there. They’re always running up to us every single time they see us to give us hugs and tell us they love us. They go to a public school in this little town up the mountain Monday through Friday and some on Saturdays (due to teachers protesting). They leave at 7:30 and come back around 2 in the afternoon, so we don’t really get to see them during the day. When we found out we would be spending time at an orphanage, we thought we would be spending more time with the kids. But, even in the little time we do have with them, it has impacted us so much and I just hope we’ve impacted them at least a little. These kids need love just as any other kid does. They get love here but thats also twenty-one kids needing love from the five adults that live here as well as Matthew and Valariea who also come to the orphanage to help out when they can. That’s still a lot of children and I believe God put us here this month to just love on these kids a little extra. I also believe God sent us to bring a little relaxation and help for Rolaans, Frine and the workers here. They do so much for the children and facility on a daily basis and God is doing so many amazing things through them. Thank you to the people like everyone here, who choose to leave their families and lives to do what God has called them to in ministry.
So the orphanage is on a little farm, nothing real big but something. They have a decent-sized garden, a couple pigs (that will eventually be butchered), chickens, a cat (with two new kittens we saw being born), and multiple dogs. As Annie found a friend in her dog, these kids also love these animals. They all have chores to do as well but I have yet to see them scrubbing the floors like Annie. Usually, most of their chores are done on the weekends but some are in the evenings. The chores can consist of sweeping, cleaning their house, dishes, helping wash and prepare fruits and vegetables for meals, taking the scrapes to the pigs and a few more. They’re all so respectful and I have yet to see an attitude from any of them. They are an amazing group of children and I just love them so much.
We have done a few things in the evening to try and spend a little more time with them. One night we were invited to Rolaans and Frine’s house to watch the Peru vs. Colombia soccer game. Let me tell you, this is a big deal and most of the kids had their faces painted. Everyone went down to watch the game, kids and all. It was a fun night, we watched the game, ate cake for dinner and the kids had a great time. I thought it was awesome how they wanted to involve all the kids in watching the game. They could have easily just watched the game alone but they love these kids so much and wanted to spend this time with them. Another night, Erika put together a game night with the children before she then led a sermon for church. Here at the orphanage, church is on Saturday evenings. We had a few worship songs (in Spanish of course), Erika then spoke about the lost sheep and then she did an activity with a piece of scripture. She did a great job putting everything together. All the kids had so much fun playing all the games and it was pretty fun for us as well. You can also see how much the kids love Jesus just by the way they worship, pay attention and talk about their devotionals they do every night after dinner. I love how much they bring God and his word into the lives of the children here. It’s such an important part of their lives and growth to get them ready for when they leave. At dinner one night, we had some of our music playing and then we put on ‘Cotton-Eyed Joe’ and started to line dance. The kids loved this and were asking us to teach them. I’ve never seen a group of young kids pick up on a line dance so fast and they were so excited. I absolutely love line dancing, so my heart was so over-joyed with being able to teach them and share that time with them.
The lives these kids have lived I’m sure wasn’t good. I don’t know all their stories of how or why they ended up here, but I’m happy this is where they ended up. They could have easily ended up somewhere similar to an orphanage like Annie’s. God blessed these children with all of these people to not only love and take care of them, but to also teach them about Him and prepare them for life after the orphanage. I already miss the kids and everyone from Cachora. God has great things for these kids and I know big things are in store for them because they love God so much. I thank God for placing us here this month because not only did we get to spend time with the kids but also bless Rolaans and Frine with a date day to themselves to escape for a while and reconnect with one another. God is good and He always has the best in store for us. Just as everything else in life, you can’t get anywhere without following or getting directions from someone. If you don’t, the chance of getting lost or having problems is far greater than if you had help. When you follow God and follow His directions, I promise He will take you to places you would have never imagined were possible. Trust me, the places He’ll take you are far greater than any you could imagine for yourself. If I chose not to follow God, I wouldn’t have had the chance to love on orphans in Peru.
God is good and I am blessed to be living this life to glorify Him. I am not fully funded yet and have about $4000 left to go before hitting my final deadline at the end of November. If you would like to partner with me by donating you can do so by going to my main page and hitting the donate link. Thank you all for being so generous in your donations and helping me get this far.
I would also like to thank you all for your love and prayers. This trip definitely has it’s challenges and some days are harder than others. None of this is for nothing and God is putting people in our paths to speak to about Him and its been awesome seeing some of them accept Christ into their lives and also just be a drop of water into the hearts of others. He has big plans ahead and I couldn’t think of anyone better to follow in my life. The race is full of uncertainties but God tells us to have faith in Him because He’ll lead us through them all. Please keep praying for safety, health and growth for my squad and me. If you have any prayer requests, please let me know those as well.
Thank you all so much,
Love you guys, Paxtyn. 🙂
