Islands of Desperation into Islands of Safety

I am sitting in a lovely living room, enjoying a cool breeze coming in the open balcony sliding door, eating a light lunch after church at the Children's Home in San Buenaventura (SBV).  Burned into my memory is picture Amanda and I witnessed yesterday, coming back from  a shopping trip (one of three we made yesterday).  Because we had been to the Mercado, we had no purses, jewelry or anything else on us at the time.  In the small island  at an off ramp of the highway sat a man, perhaps middle aged, certainly very weather beaten and very dirty and downcast.  He sat near a piece of what looked like a shower curtain strung up between two trees.  He was vacantly staring out toward the traffic.  Behind him was a little girl, about 3 years old dancing in the breeze made by the passing cars.  Amanda and I both searched our empty pockets in vain hoping to find some money to give them so they could at least have a meal.  The image of her turning around playing and dancing so expressively speaks to her innocence and faith and trust that she may not yet be able to express that someone will take care of her.
At church today Suzy was inviting the children to come up and say how they feel God's presence in their lives.  Many children volunteered.  One said he feels God's presence in everything around him, one expressed gratitude for having won a prize at school, one gave a lenghty testimony.  Then one little girl, whose life has been dramatically changed since coming to the Children's Home said she has felt God's presence all her life-she is about 7.  Her mother is a deaf-mute who could not take care of her, so she and all her brothers and sisters are now at SBV.  She is a beautiful and happy child who knows God loves her and is taking care of her.  This is the story of the children at SBV, out of desperate circumstances into loving arms, in safety and in a nurturing home where they can thrive.
My heart goes out to the little girl living in the island of the dangerous highway-what a metaphor for her life!  Will she stay trapped in her poverty and surrounded by danger?  Or will she find her way into another island of safety and love?  We know she is one of God's littlest lambs.  We know God cares for her.  Dear Lord, give me the courage and trust in you to find a way to help this little child of yours, and keep her safe through the dark nights.  May she come to know you love her too.

A New Beginning

January 29-Nine days into this new life.  Already it feels like home, except that it is warm, both in spirit and in  climate.  Friday, the 28th, The Staff and children of LAMB gave Valerie Fowler, the American teacher and head of the school at the Children's Home, a rousing and touching send off.  The children sang songs and performed their own choreographed routines to the music.  They even performed incredibly complicated pyramid formations.  This was on a concrete floor with no mats or safety aids, and standing on each other's backs, shoulders, or balancing on each other.  The way each child helped the others was heart warming. Even the tiny toddlers stood around being adorable while "singing" a song.  Everyone so enjoyed the food and cake that followed.  I got to hold Yolani (the beautiful baby that happens to be blind) and we played pat-a-cake, and a few other finger plays.  Many of the older children compete for the chance to hold her or carry her around.
Amanda's new job is help get the new CASA LAMB started up and comfortably inviting to the various teams that come down to work.  We have been shopping nearly non stop for the many things the house needs.  If you know Amanda, you know what a shopping queen she is.  It has been amazing to go into everything from super sophisticated malls, a la US,  to the crowded Mercado where stalls and vendors are set up on the street and the prices were absolutely bargain basement.
At school, registration for the children took place last week and the search for teachers goes on.  We are still several short, so the full workshop that I will be doing will happen next week-Feb 7th.  This coming week I will be helping to get the preschool and kindergarten classrooms set up.  I will help arrange and set the  furnishes of those rooms.  Any leftover (?) time will be either shopping with Amanda (surprize, surprize) or working here at CASA LAMB to get it ready for the first team in February.
To see the love and experience the joy of doing some fulfilling work here is my deep, deep pleasure.  Imagine children in circumstances so impoverished there is no hope for a bright future.  Then comes the  opportunity to go to a Christian school where they are safe, cherished, fed spiritually and literally, and given the tools of learning that may help unlock a better future.  To be a part of this mission of hope
is why I came here.  Thanks be to God for this gift.