orphan care.

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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.)
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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.”

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