orphan care.

-
I wrote this post a month or so ago, but never posted it. I fear commenting on adoption or orphan care lest I be labeled naive. But, I read it again, and I still think it stands. And I am naive, I’m still fairly sure we can change this world, because God is on our side. I’m just learning to embrace it.
(Ps. Since I wrote this I have gathered approximately 200 new poo related stories, including Baby B who pooed on my bed the other night. It’s a good thing he’s cute.)
—
Yesterday I sat through a sermon with three kids who shouted, cried, huffed, stomped and never sat still.
Tonight I have lay for the last hour on a bed in the bedroom of four kids under five who are flat out refusing to sleep, even though everyone of them is exhausted.
This weekend I have dealt with two cases of explosive nappy where I have ended up covered in poo.
Yesterday I received a message from Daniel after he also dealt with an epic poo incident which I can only assume has forever impacted the smell of his bedroom.
In general, the last two months of my life have involved far more bodily fluids than the other 23 years.
Parents, I am aware you already knew this but oh. dear. life. Children are hard. (And poo an unreasonable amount for the size of them.)
But, here’s a difference for you. The majority of the kids I am working with are, in one way or another, orphaned.
I don’t know if you think about the sheer number of orphans there are, or how much it crosses your mind if it does, for me it’s more or less constant.
At least it is now, but when I’m in NI, it’s not. Not to the same extent anyway.
And I think I know why.
Yesterday was Orphan Sunday. I don’t know how many NI churches mentioned it, let alone did anything with it, but I would imagine probably not all that many.
Here in Cochabamba, the international church I was at dedicated the whole service. And here’s why I think there is such a difference…
Here in Cochabamba, the ‘orphans’ they talk about have ceased to be just a statistic. They have ceased to be just an issue to fix.
Instead, they are faces and names, laughs and cries, hugs and kisses.
In some cases, they have even ceased to be orphans, and are now sons and daughters.
“When the least of these have faces, they become a lot more difficult to ignore.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

the ache.

-
This post isn't about one child. It isn't even really about me. It's about people all over the world, joined together by a pain, by a longing, an aching. People who have loved children unconditionally, children who were not theirs. Children who were not theirs, but who felt like theirs. Who they chose to love like they were theirs, who they chose to love like this wasn't a short term thing. Even though they were warned over and over not to do it. You see, though we come from different countries, though we speak different languages - we ache the same. We ache for children who are no longer ours. Maybe we're still in their lives, maybe we're not. Maybe we're happy with the life they have now, maybe we're not. Each of our situations are different, but they hurt the same. But here's the interesting thing, it's an ache we wouldn't give up. An ache we wouldn't give away. Because what that child got in return, well that's w
Read more

Almost 8 years in the country, gringa still doesn’t speak Spanish properly.

-
COCHABAMBA, Bolivia - British woman, resident in the city for almost eight years, continues to offend and confuse locals with her questionable Spanish abilities. Sarah Allen, 30, has been living in Cochabamba since September 2014 and claims to have taken classes from local language schools and completed considerable amounts of independent study - something that she does not display in many of her interactions with locals. A former landlady of hers told us, "The day we met Sarah, she told us that she had gone to the US for treatment for extreme constipation. We were very concerned for both her well-being and the well-being of our facilities here. To travel all that way surely meant a very severe condition. However, we came to find out what she meant was training. I don't understand how you get those two mixed up." We also talked to a mother whose child was in Sarah's class. "We went to a Mother's Day party, and after an emotional moment watching a video of ou
Read more

#sleepover (one week later).

-
Image
I wrote this last week, and maybe forgot to post it. Apologies - but the photos are too cute to miss. So, when #braveheart was in hospital he asked me a couple of times where E. was, because he missed him. This is miraculous in and of itself since usually they're fighting. E. missed C. too, so we decided to bring him over for a sleepover. C. has a lot of rules for what he can and cannot do (all of the things a normal 4-year-old would want to do are not allowed...) so we've been pretty strict with him and the normally very torpe  (rough) E.  Also, neither of them speak the best, but they understand each other perfectly - Hannah and I have no idea what they're plotting or planning. Pray for us. (Edited: they did not kill us, thank the Lord.) Reunited, and it feels so good. Movie time before bed. (Don't tell them, but I might have fast forwarded through an hour of it to speed up bedtime.) E. took over my bed... C. had to sleep on the floor, so
Read more