Unreal. That is what I can
say about our last full day at Hope of Life. The day started out uneventfully,
but whatever else we did that day seemed unreal. It was definitely a busy day,
and to be honest, it wasn't until the next day what we saw, touched, and did, that
really hit me hard.
Well what we did was an
amazing opportunity for us and that was tour the hospital. We didn't have
enough time to do it when we toured the rest of ministry earlier in the week,
so, Carlos had lead that tour once again and told us once again, about how he
dreamed about having a hospital, and now this dream became a reality. Initially,
there was to be a two-story clinic that World Help donated. But, Carlos wanted
do something bigger. As he prayed, God sent others who donated money to finish
building it, and now there will be six floors and with a helicopter pad on top.
This hospital will be free unless you’re in the top level. That level, as
Carlos says, is for “VIPS”, those who have money. See the money that they will
pay, will cover the rest of the floors. This hospital should be opening shortly
in the coming months.
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| Hospital |
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| View from third floor of the Hospital |
After finishing the tour, we
went to another village called El Mitch to give out food bags for families and shoe
distributions. Once again, we split up into groups, and I got to help fit shoe
sizes before they went to get their feet washed and put the new pair of TOMS
on. It was another simply amazing opportunity to serve these people, who have
nothing.
As the kids were standing in
line, I didn't realize that they may have stood there for a while, until a
little boy was getting his shoes measured. He was standing in front of me,
waiting patiently. As I asked someone to pass me a size, and as I turning
around to fit him, he couldn't wait any longer for the bathroom and wet himself.
His face, was in totally embarrassment and with my broken Spanish, I tried to
assure him that it was ok and not to worry, with a smile. This just reminded me
of how long they must have waited in line, because by the time we came, lines
of waiting individuals have formed already. It is just simply amazing to watch
these people wait in line for a bag of food and shoes. In America, we don’t
have to wait hours and hours for a mere bag of food, we have the luxury of
running into a store to buy almost anything. Same goes for shoes. Any color,
style, any brand, right at our finger tips. Imagine just for a moment, if you
didn't have that luxury… How different would life be for you?
After finishing up, and
loading the buses back up, we head back to Hope of Life for lunch. After lunch,
we headed to Teculután, which is one of the 78 feeding centers where Hope of
Life serves hot meals. This particular place is not like another place we had
been to. It was a dump. Literally a dump, where there is trash absolutely
everywhere, where people live, and eat, and sleep. As we drove closer to it,
our translator, Julio, who lived not far from that dump, asked us not to be
afraid to show love to them as we do to others. They might be dirty and have
nothing, but they still deserve to be shown God’s love and we were there to do
just that. Julio was telling us a little more about the people and the culture
and how they live in general, and what really stuck with me is when he said,
“these people may not have anything, but are the most content people on earth.”
Not one day will they say that they are doing bad. They still thank God for the
life that He has given them. As I, and probably a lot of other teams members
thought, how is it that they have nothing, live in a dump, and still be happy
and thank God for all that they have? Many times, we complain about the
smallest things, things that are non-sense, instead of thanking God. Why? Often
times, I need to remind myself that no matter what is going on, I need to thank
God more for things that happen in life, than complain because if those people
that live at a dump are thankful in everything, why can’t we be as well? It
really is a reality check. Though I’m not going to say that this is always
easy, but I’m trying to get better at this.
This view of children,
mothers, fathers was hard to fathom, until later (personally for me). I was
ready to love on these people, no matter what. I got to serve very little of
the food, but that for me meant that I was able to walk around and simply love
on these people. I came upon this little girl, and immediately fell in love
with her. As I was around her, while she sat on the concrete floor with her
food, she gave me one of her hands to hold. She held onto it tightly and
wouldn't let go.
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| Cutest little girl! |
Then her mother came up to where we were. I
got to ask her mother, the child’s name and age. Her name is Kailee and she is
three years old. This just stuck something in me because I also have a niece
who name is Kailee and is two years of age. When the girl’s mother told me her
name, I was a bit surprised because it is so different from others. It really
isn't Spanish… But nonetheless, I had some connection with her, but can’t
really explain why. After a bit more, she got in my arms and hugged me while
putting her face next to mine.
This happened until we had
to leave. While holding her, her mother moved her shirt over, and showed me
that she was injured. It looked like something might have bit her, but when the
mother tried to explain, I couldn't understand. I was so upset that I didn't
know enough to understand! This just makes me want to learn more Spanish, so
the next time I go, I can understand more of what people tell me and also so I
can converse back. My heart broke for this little girl. Why do all these
children have to live here? Why can’t they get a better chance at life, than
collecting plastics and glass as their job?
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| Some of the kids that live at the dump |
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| A home at the dump |
As we left the food distribution, we went to walk around the dump to see
more of where people lived and to hear more about how these people live. Then
again, time came to leave. Some team members had tears in their eyes from all
the sights. As we were leaving, Kailee’s mother was standing near the bus, as
she watched us get on. I got to wave her a last goodbye, and with the mother’s
smile on her face, I won’t forget these people that are close to my heart. My
heart once again broke and a piece of my heart stayed there with Kailee and her
mother. I do hope, one day, I will see them again!
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| Thank you to whoever captured this moment! It was Kailee with her mom wavy bye to our team. |
We drove right to the baby rescues, after the dump. We drove into a town,
then had to walk to the river, which we probably got to about a twenty minute
walk. Since our team was big, only about 7 could go across the river to get the
kids, while the rest were waiting on other side, to assist with help when they
returned.
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| Arrived on the other side |
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| Bringing the kids.. |
It was a moment that, no one knew what to expect to see. As the boat
was coming back to where our team waited, it seemed a bit chaotic. Some other
people from our team came closer to the boat, to help with getting kids and
bringing them to ambulance. As you can see from these photos, it was something
you don’t see every day. We were rushed to get into the transportation to get
to our other bus, and then to go to the rescue center. As we arrived to the
rescue center, only a few people at a time could go into the rescue center to
see how the process goes. Other team members who were in the ambulance, were
walking out crying. It was hard to see and really feel these kids that could
have been so close to death, if they were not found. I got to meet one of the
boys who was rescued. He is 11 years old, who had the least of problems. He had
a tumor on his lower back, deformities, and was also malnourished. He started
crying when I approached him, and tried to cheer him up or talk to him so his
mind was not on what was going on. It was definitely a tough seen to see. Here
are some of the photos of the kids that were rescued... There was six in total.
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| 16 year old- was 69 pounds |
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| 2 yrs 8 months- was 15 pounds |
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| Her baby was 4 months old weighing at 5 pounds |
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| Another one of the rescues |
After finishing up, we had to head back to the houses to get cleaned up for
dinner. We also got to say our goodbyes to the kids at The Rescue Center,
elders home, and special needs home. We had only an hour to do so, and it
seemed like it was much shorter! We came right in time when the kids were all
washed up and eating their dinners. So once again we had to the chance to feed the
children and just love on them. I immediately went to find Esperanza, and held
her the whole time. This time, she was so much more alert than the other
previous days, I loved it! As I talked to her, she was just smiling at me and
looking carefully at me. I love that moment when you know the child is happy
just by holding them and talking to them. After a little while, she ended up
falling asleep on my hands. But when our time came to
an end, I had to put Esperanza down and went to say my last goodbyes before
leaving the rescue center.
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| Henry and Esperanza |
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| Emilio and I on last night |
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| Love Diego's smile! |
As we headed to dinner, I walked through the elders home and said my goodbyes
to them. I came upon an elder who, actually knew English! He was such a sweet
guy! He was like, your part of this group that is leaving tomorrow? I told him
I was, and he was like, but we didn't have time to talk! I told him I really
didn't want to leave either and would of loved to get to know him, and told
him, that I will be back, hopefully soon!
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| Final night meal-so good! |
Dinner time! This last night, we had some tilapia (which is a fish, for
those who don’t know) and rice. Since it was our last night, the children from
the Paradise home (orphanage) preformed some songs for us, and… we had a
birthday party for Ana Paula who turned one, the next day, when we were
leaving. It was a special evening and sad also because we were leaving the next
morning.
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| Some of Liberty Students.. |
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| Tiffany, Laverna, and Taylor |
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| With Aracely, and Ana-Paula |
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| Right before the performance |
After dinner, we headed back up the mission houses so we could get our
stuff together and then, we had a bon-fire! That was an awesome ending to our
time there! Hugo (our translator) provided marshmallows, and Taylor got a
guitar, and we did some devotions, also praising God through songs!
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| Our last evening get-together |
What an
amazing time we had that evening. Of course, on our last night, we didn't get
much sleep, but who needs it when it is the last night, right? Joking about the
sleep.. lol Anyways, I definitely want
to elaborate on the how the rescue happens, but will be on the next post. Until
next time!
“There is nothing worth living for, unless it is worth dying for.”
― Elisabeth Elliot
