The Orphan Institute

We have been back at home for a few days now. We are all dealing with many mixed emotions and some feelings of "what do we do now?" We know we want to do more and are working through the things we learned and praying about where God is leading us.

While in Honduras we learned about The Orphan Institute. The Orphan Institute is a nonprofit organization which strives to assist governments with their child welfare responsibilities by advocating for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) to have a permanent family. Free from a particular political, religious, or financial agenda the Institute tirelessly advocates in the best interest of each child.

By partnering with indigenous nongovernmental organizations, the Orphan Institute provides expertise and experience, thereby strengthening a country's ability to meet the needs of its OVC.

These ongoing relationships fulfill the four specific initiatives set forth by the Institute:
-Educating Governments about OVC
-Preventing Abandonment
-Reunifying Children with Birth Families
-Giving OVC the Opportunity to Live in a Permanent Family

If you are interesting in donating to the Orphan Institute go here:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Institute-For-Orphan-Advocacy

More Friday Pics

Friday in Pictures

Thursday

Today we spent the day at Casistas Kennedy. A group went to finish the painting while another group sorted all of the clothes for the kids that we brought with us. Then we went to the preschool room and did a couple of songs and a puppet show. It was really cute to watch the kids faces and watch them trying to do the motions to the songs. Afterwards we went out to the courtyard and let them hit on the pinata that we had bought for them. That was also fun to witness. They really enjoyed it.




After lunch we met with the other team members that are a part of the project that Anna works for. They are a part of the Orphan Institute. We heard from the social workers, lawyers and psychologists. They told us more about what their role is and more about what the needs are. After that a group went to do crafts with the kids and another group went to pass out the clothes to each of the houses. The kids were SO excited about the new-to-them clothes- especially the girls. They put their outfits on right away. Gail connected with one girl in particular. Her name is Karen. She is deaf and the "tia" of the house said that she doesn't get a lot of interaction. Gail spent some time talking with her and gave her a couple shirts and some socks. Karen said it was the best day of her life and she will never forget it. Then we brought her to meet Carrie, another team member who knows sign language. She said that sign language in different in Spanish and English but they were still able to communicate.

We had a special treat for the older boys because they seemed to be in most need clothes-wise. They kept asking all afternoon when they were going to get clothes and when was it going to be their turn. We told them to be patient and that we had something special for them. Right before we left for the day, we all went into their house and passed out their "Care packages" which included brand new clothes and shoes. It had 2 shirts, shorts, jeans, tennis shoes, sandals, underwear and socks. They also got a card that had their name on it and it told them that Jesus loved them. They also each got a salvation bracelet and Samanthat explained what each color meant. They were all very appreciative and told Anna that they would take care of their new clothes and take showers before they wore them. :)

Anna told us that we could have one person take a couple pictures, so Andy has the pictures of us giving the boys their gifts. So make sure to check out his blog to see those pictures.

It is so hard to believe that we only have one day left. It is going to be so hard to leave tomorrow. However I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here and so grateful for all I have learned. We have many that have talked about wanting to come back so if you want to come next year let us know! :)

Pictures from Wednesday

Wednesday

I have some great photos of some of the children we visited today....but I am unable to upload them right now. Hopefully I will be able to later.

Today we visited another orphanage in Tegucigalpa. It is a private run orphanage that has a lot of needs. Anna told us that they just keep taking in kids and she wonders if that is the best thing. I don´t think they have many outside visitors because when we first arrived they were much more timid than the kids at Casitas Kennedy. They have many kids sick with dengue fever and wanted some time to spend cleaning the inside of the building, so we spent the few hours we were there outside on the patio playing with the children. The children there were all under the age of 8. Anna said that most probably have families but that they are too poor to take care of them so they abandon them. The nuns that run the orphanage said there was a need for medicine so we were able to help by buying them medicine for the kids.

After lunch we headed back to Casitas Kennedy. We wanted to do something special for the teenage girls so we watched a movie and gave them pizza, popcorn and pop. A group of us spent time with them, a group painted their house while they were in the movie and another group spent time playing outside with the other kids. I got asked several times by one girl if we were coming back tomorrow. She got a big smile when I said ¨si¨, but it got us thinking about how hard it´s going to be when we are asked that question on Friday.

Make sure to check out a great post by Janell on her blog:
What You Can´t Buy at Walmart

Each Campaign Video- Take a minute and watch it (it's short)

Tuesday

Today we started out at the orphanage. We switched groups, those that painted yesterday did songs and a Bible story and then went to the baby room. Those that were in the baby room painted today. We used stencils to paint soccer balls, race cars, animals and such on the walls. They really could've used a fresh coat of paint, but at least the little we did do helped brighten up the rooms a bit.
It was really neat seeing kids that we met yesterday. They were so excited to see that we had come back. They would run up and give us huge hugs. Anna told us that before we got there several asked her, "Are the gringos coming back? Are the gringos coming back?"

Around noon we headed to a mall to have lunch and then we went to a "Super Wal-mart" and did some major shopping for the orphanage. Thanks so many of you we had a good chunk of change to use to buy things for the orphanage. It was so fun! Thank you!

The picture above is of Janell getting popcorn and pop. Tomorrow we are doing a pizza and movie event for the teenage girls. We are excited to do something special for them.

Baby bananas for the baby. :)

Part of the group with just part of what we bought. We were getting lots of looks from people. I'm sure it looked funny- one cart for instance had a ton of baby food and lots of sanitary pads (for the teenage girls) and then another was filled almost completely with diapers.

Our total was 23,815 dollars...just kidding! It was 23,815 lempira which is about 1250 dollars. We got so much stuff for that amount. Lots of clothes, shoes, food, diapers, toys, balls, hygiene items, baby formula, etc. Again, we were only able to do this because of your generosity.

After shopping we came back to our guest house and we learned more about the orphan crisis in Honduras. We learned about the project that we are working with and what their role is. The orphanage is goverment run, but the project we are working with is a non-profit that has their offices there. They have lawyers, social workers and psychologists that work on the kids cases to help get them out of institutions and into families. The government doesn't have the money to do the necessary paperwork and formalities that is needed to get these kids through the process. That is where this project helps. We saw a great video that I am hoping to be able to upload so that you guys are able to view it.

As Jessica mentioned yesterday, we are all called to care for the orphan- what will your role be?

Day 3 but Day 1 at Casistas Kennedy

Where to even begin today...how about breakfast. We once again our getting fed very well, we had something like a breakfast burrito that turned out be a much needed ¨bigger¨breakfast for what we would be doing today. We have finally had our first day at the orphanage. Half of us spent the morning painting graphics on the walls to cheer things up and the other half of us went into the baby room. Painting was often interrupted by kids coming to see what the ¨gringos¨were doing and hoping they had candy. The baby room has 10 babies (couple months old up to about 2 years) and then there is a separate special needs room which has 4 children; however we only met 3 today. Two of the children were siblings with Cerebral Palsy and possibly something else and the other was a beautiful girl who is blind and has a clef palate. While heartbreaking, all that went through my mind was these are all God´s children whom He loves dearly but chances are they will not be shown as much. We are learning that the class system is alive and well in Honduras and I can only imagine how these children will be treated as they get older.

By the way, this was written by Jessica not Casi so please excuse any errors or lack of info you were hoping to read :)

In the afternoon, we had set up a craft room in which the ALL the kids got to make bead bracelets and they seemed to love this...we had to limit them to 3 a piece. When the kids were not in the craft we just played soccer, jump rope, frisbee, catch, on the playground. In this time, I think all of our hearts were broken! Despite the language barrier we were able to learn some of the kids stories. The little girl who cried and just kept repeating how she was missing her mom and Casi was so gracious and just had this little girl on her lap hugging and comforting her. Gail who learned about one of the boys whose parents had just dropped him off and telling her how no one loves him. We each have a story about a kid. The kids whose parents are in jail, to poor to take care of them, under investigation for abuse...ahh learning all this in one day too.

Did we really mean what we prayed? ¨Lord break our hearts for the things that break Yours¨ Yes, all of our hearts have already been broken, tears have been shed and now the question remains...¨But what will we do with this ¨new knowledge¨ that we have?¨ I think we all fear that we will go home and fall back into our routine but that is something we are all praying that will not happen. Yes, this is the beginning of our experience but we don´t want it to just end on Saturday and we don´t want this to be something you just read. We are being challenged and broken...yet having the most amazing time. We want you to get involved at whatever level you can be but hopefully it will be one that will take you out of your comfort zone and allow you to be vulnerable to what and how God wants to use you.

Unfortunately, we are not able to take pictures at the orphanage so we aren´t able to put names and faces together for you, but trust us when we say these are beautiful children. They do not deserve what they have experienced in their short lives so far and some will need a lot of support to get through it all. God has told us that we are to take care of the orphans. So, I end this asking you, ¨What will you do in taking care of the orphans?¨

Sunday- Part Dos

After church we had lunch at a Pupusaria (sp?). It was delicious. While we were eating there was a bad motorcycle accident that happened outside of the restaurant. The traffic is crazy here! There are no rules really...well Anna told us there are rules but they aren't enforced and people don't follow them. She also mentioned (and we witnessed) there isn't really a 911 here. The ambulance took forever to get to the accident. Hopefully the guy was okay, but we don't know.

After lunch we headed up into the mountains to a touristy town called Valle de Angeles. The drive to and from was interesting. It was beautiful scenery, but windy roads that made us a little fearful that we would fall off the edge. There were also many animals just wandering around (cows, donkeys, horses, dogs). They didn't seem to belong to anyone.

It had a few streets that were filled with shops and cafes and restaurants. In the middle was a square where there was live music and lots of people milling about. We spent a couple of hours there milling around.

After coming back from Valle de Angeles we had dinner. All of our food thus far has been delicious. We were all excited to see that we were having pupusas for dinner (that is what we had for lunch also). After dinner we spent some time as a team praying for our first day at the orphanage tomorrow and then a lot of us played a very fun game called Telephone Pictionary. There were lots of laughs and come crazy drawings.

We are all so excited for our first day at the orphanage. We have spent a lot of time planning and in prayer. We pray that God will use us to show His love to the children. The orphanage we will be spending time at, Casitas Kennedy, is a transitional orphanage. It is the first stop for most of the kids and then they move on to another orphange, into foster care or into the adoption process. We are praying that we can plant seeds of God's hope in their hearts. I also pray that God will open our hearts to the bigger picture of the orphan crisis and what He is calling us to do.

Again, thank you for your prayers and support. Don't forget to check out Andy and Janell's blog.

Sunday

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." Hebrews 10:24.

Today was our free day. Typically they do them at the end of the week, but Anna -our project coordinator -decided it was best that it be today because there isn't a lot of staff at the orphanage on Sundays and it would've been too chaotic for our first day. It worked out well because we were able to go to church with her. We all really enjoyed worshipping with the Hondurans. It was a Spanish speaking service but Anna's husband translated for us. It was awesome hearing songs in Spanish that we know in English. We sang "How Great Is Our God" and a few others. The service was held in an outdoor facility with an incredible view. The people were very friendly and welcoming. The service was a tad bit longer than we are used to (about 3.5 hours long) but it was a great experience!

The view from the church.

Part of the group with the Pastor and our translator, Nahun.

To be continued....