I had the opportunity to work with orphan children, which has become part of my life story. I will share how this experience happened:
I heard that a new orphanage had moved to my neighborhood. They were renting a house across the street from my house. I heard some whispering from my neighbors, saying things such as: “these children can’t play in the garden,“ “don’t let our children play with them,“ “how is it possible that Mrs. Magneto has rented her house to an orphanage,” “these kinds of children shouldn’t live in our neighborhood.” I heard these kinds of phrases from them so I felt curious to meet them. One day after my job I went to visit them. I introduced myself to a lady that took care of them. I told her that I would like to visit them. She said : “ You are welcome “ this is how the story began………….
I called my friends Karen and Eunice. I told them about the children and that we could visit them . I remember the first time that we visited them they acted wild, I mean they kicked, punched and insulted us and all the time they repeated a phrase, “ you are just here for today and you won’t ever come back to visit us .” I think they had bad experiences with volunteers .That day we showed a puppet program and played with them and we also shared about Christ . Each day that we visited them they felt more confident so they started to talk more with us . So we met the six children: Julio , Cristian, Orlando , Freddy , Jairo and Martin .There were 2 more boys, but they ran away trying to look for their mother . I didn’t see them anymore .
One weekend I took to Jairo and Cristian to the center of town. We went to a book fair and I bought some fairy tales for them and the rest of the children. Then we went to eat ice-cream. When we returned to the orphanage the children were waiting for us. It was at night, and I sat with them in the living room to read the book , and they took some sheets of paper and colors and started to draw some drawings and some characters from the books. I remember that day the best drawing was by Orlando. His drawing was perfect and beautiful, the best one . Orlando is a guy that has dyslexia and he suffered a blow to his brain from his mother so he was affected and he could not pronounce words very well. He is the weakest of the group . When I returned to my home I couldn’t sleep thinking about him. His face and the drawing were on my mind. I cried that night; I said to myself, he has a great skill but no money to develop this . I prayed for him that night and I was thinking about what to do . Days later I went to the art school to talk to the manager. I requested from the school a partial scholarship for Orlando . I told the manager that I had discovered a great talent in an orphan child. “ He has a great talent,” I said, and could they give him a partial scholarship? He looked at me and said, “I won’t give the child a partial scholarship, I will give a full scholarship” !! I saw the Glory of God. I was really excited and I bought paintings and some paintbrushes .This is how Orlando took painting classes. He did beautiful paintings !! I think he can become a great painter!!
I also observed that there were not many volunteers and they felt alone if nobody visited them. They lived with the maid and the manager, and she just came to see them during the day because she lived with her family . I knew that they needed some help with their homework and that they were able to learn many things, so I encouraged my friends from the University to visit them . The orphanage moved to another neighborhood because they were not able to pay the rent so they went to another house. My friends started to visit in their free time but they didn’t have much time. I wondered what I could do? So I looked up on the internet some international organizations that send people to volunteer, so I found AFS “Intercultural programs “ http://www.afs.org.pe and I contacted them . I went with Sonia the ex manager to have a meeting with Sofia Catalan the president of AFS . We asked her for help sending volunteers to the orphanage so we filled an applications form up. This is how I met Sofia and “AFS” helped the orphanage . This organization sent many volunteers from different countries that helped the children with homework , languages, games and having a fun time . They filled not only the emptiness of the place also the hearts of the children ! Thank you Sofia Catalan !!! We shared great experiences . I organized games in the beach , I think playing in the beach is relaxing and I enjoyed that day. We also visited another orphanage with the kids; my friend is the director so I talked to her and she was happy to receive us . We had a fellowship day , we had origami classes and they learned the art of making bracelets . We celebrate some birthdays. I have a friend David Sutton that helped the children pay for swimming classes, clothes , toys, and food. Thank you David!!! I think the children always remember those wonderful days .
There were some problems in the orphanage, for example there was not a good organization. The manager was not the right person for this position because there were no specific departments and she didn’t care much about the children. They needed more than time with volunteers; they needed a psychologist, doctor, social worker, etc. I was working and studying at the university; I was just a volunteer so I couldn’t do much . Finally the manager was not paying the rent or electricity so they had to move to her house . One day the government of Peru went to visit some orphanages and they saw the children sleeping on the floor without any protection, so they took them to another orphanage where they are living now. It is a big place where there are a lot of orphan children. I went to visit them many times. I live in Lima now but when I visit Trujillo I try to see them . One day Jairo told me that the orphanage was taking many pictures of him and he will have a new family, but they didn’t know who they are. Jairo is a child that all the time holds your hands , I know that he needed love; he gave each person that visited the orphanage a huge hug. I know that he wanted a family. Before he arrived to the orphanage the police found Jairo dying in the beach; he was 3 years old and he used to sing in the bus. His mother visited him just a few times and later she disappeared. Now Jairo has a new family . He is in Italy and there is a rule that you can’t be in touch with an adopted child for 5 years . When he said goodbye to the children he cried a lot and said that some day he will return for them !! . I hope to see Jairo again !!!
Cristian and Julio are brothers. They were adopted by an Italian family also, and they live there now . I remember one day I was playing with Cristian and he said, “Carol, do you have children ?” I replied : “no.” He said : “Would you like to be my mother ?” It really broke my heart. I just held him until he felt better .
Now his dream came true, he has a real family and he lives with his brother I had the opportunity to meet his grandfather; he used to visit them .
The last time that I visited them I didn’t see Jairo , Cristian and Julio, I just saw 3 of the original boys and 1 new orphan. Fredy told me that he wants to become a Chef, Martin loves languages , Orlando wants to become a painter . I believe that they can reach their goals !! I always want to keep in touch with them ! I hope someday to see Jairo , Cristian and Julio !! I always wonder what is going on with them! They are still on my mind . : )
I want to thank the AFS intercultural program volunteers for the volunteer work, Sofia Catalan , Karen Vasquez Haro, David Sutton, Cristina Ferradas, Mariela Nunez, Juliana Agusto , Susy Quilcate, Eunice chavarrie , Yeraldine Icochea Mejia , Angelita Casanova ( my grandmother ),Paola Pereda ,Marlom, Clara lee, willy Madrid .
“What I learned from this experience is that when you have a big problem it becomes tiny when you see orphan children’s problems.”
