My second week in Guatemala was spent at an orphanage called Casa Bernabe. It is located on the hillside just outside busy Guatemala City. We arrived on Sunday, just in time for their church service to begin. Ali and I rushed to put our bags down, to join in the church service starting on the second floor of their main building. There were kids everywhere, boys and girls ranging from a few months old to 18 years old. As the worship music began (in Spanish :), I started thinking about the situations each child at the orphanage had to face in their lives thus far. How each child somehow became motherless and fatherless, by nothing of the child’s doing most likely, but of choices made around them that affect them so deeply. Thank goodness orphanages exist and that they provide hope, shelter, and food for these kids!
Casa Bernabé provides a home for orphaned, abandoned, and handicapped children. There are over 150 children at the orphanage; they are divided up by age and gender into several houses, under the care of missionary house parents. It was so amazing to see the love and commitment of the house parents. Each set of house parents were taking care of over 10 kids each, talk about a demanding job! One of the nights, all of us were assigned to a house to watch over the kids to relieve the house parents for a few hours. I got assigned to the baby house, which housed about 15 babies ranging from 2 months to about 1 year. I could not believe the work that goes into taking care of that many babies! I am ashamed to say, but it was the first time for me to change a baby’s diaper, and I can’t imagine doing that all day!
A big issue that the orphanages in Guatemala are struggling with is that due to corruption within the system, the Guatemalan government has currently restricted adoption. Therefore, stopping the flow of orphans coming into orphanages and then getting adopted into a family. So, orphanages are being forced to turn away many orphans due to the lack of resources. This very sadly leaves many children with little hope. Prayer is definitely needed for this situation. Please also pray for more resources and volunteers for this orphanage.
So, the eMi team and I met up with several design volunteer professionals from the States to work on helping the orphanage. The orphanage requested a school expansion in order to house the large number of students on campus. Our team was able to begin the architectural and structural design for the school, as well as complete a precision survey of the site. I was able to help out with the structural and architectural designs and drawings for the school. It was so exciting to see how the things I have learned in school can be used directly to bless people. I was also motivated to learn much more so that I could be a lot more helpful.
Throughout the week, we all worked on the project and got to spend time with the kids at the orphanage. On the last day we were there, two unfortunate things happened. Three boys ran away from the orphanage, it was very sad to hear, but we pray that the boys returned safely. The other sad thing was that my camera disappeared and we all are about 99% sure it got stolen. But thankfully, there are 3 other interns with me that all have cameras and are letting me take pictures. So I’ll still be able to have pictures to share.:)
Anyways, also on the last night, all of us got to share pizza and sodas with the older teenage boys house. It was great to eat with them and hang out afterwards. There was a boy that Ali and I got to hang out who really stood out, named Raphel. He was a good basketball player, knew really good english and kept singing “I want it that way” by the Backstreet Boys. It was awesome!
I feel so incredibly blessed by this experience so far. I have been learning a lot from just seeing how people live and am very encouraged by the faithfulness of the Lord. Its funny how when you leave the environment that you are most comfortable in to an environment completely foreign, is the time when you can step back and reexamine the important things in life. It’s also a time to question what you believe and challenge your thoughts against your actions. So to say the least, life is interesting and I’m holding on for the ride.
1 comment:
ms dodge, reading your latest entry was def an eye opener. more like a reminder i guess. your story reminded me of back on project when we went to tiujana (spelling?) and went to the orphanage. that was a great day. anywho i will def be keeping you in my prayers as well as the children. your an amazing woman of God and i love you!
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