Mondays and Wednesdays from 9-2:30 I work at Esperanza Viva. It's been such an incredible experience, one that I hope I never will forget or take for granted. I have just gotten permission to take more pictures so hopefully the rest will be uploaded sometime next week.
So my first day at the orphanage had a slightly nerve wrecking beginning. I don't think I had slept more then four hours because I was so excited/nervous to finally begin! Excited obviously because I would once again be doing what I loved (working with kids) and nervous because my contact, Alejandra had informed me that I was a sort of experiment. Normally Esperanza Viva would have groups of small short term missions trips, usually no longer than one week come to work at the Home. But I would be working for a month. "We never do this." She told me about fifteen times. "You are the first person we allow this with, so we will be watching you and just so you know, we never do this." No pressure...
I arrived at the orphanage slightly early, and was given the run through of the rules by Alejandra. And once again I was told about the huge exception they were making for me to work for my time. I remember praying "Oh Lord please don't let me screw this up by doing something stupid." Most of the rules were things I had figured would be on the list, such as No Going To The Bathrooms With A Child, No Being Alone With A Child, things like that. Alejandra also told me I would not allowed to be taking pictures for a while, and I could not give the children any gifts, nor could I give them any means to contact me for the first few weeks.
"You will be working in the kitchen. For now, we are asking that you stay in the kitchen, and not interact too much with the kids. You are on a bit of a trial as we see how this works out, because we never do this and who knows? After a week or even after today we might ask you not to come back. I know that you wanted to teach a dance, and I don't want to be rude, but we love our kids and we have to protect them, so we'll first see how you do with this before we give you more." I assured her I understood. And with that I was sent to the kitchens
Working in the kitchens has been so amazing! I get to talk with the other girls who work there, (most of them are 19 as well) and they have been helping me to improve my Spanish. There were a few days when I did feel a little disappointed not to be working hands on with the children but I reminded myself that God was in control. I started using my time in the kitchen to pray for the kids as I was cooking and this grew my faith and my joy as I worked.
Then, last week I was taken aside by Alejandra. She told me she had been talking to the girls I worked with and they had told her I had been a great help in the kitchen. She said, "We are so happy that you have obeyed all of our rules, so we are going to let you teach the girls a dance."
I was so happy! I went home singing "Our God Is Greater" and thinking about the dance. Since that day I've been splitting my time from working in the kitchen to teaching about 15 girls a praise dance a long with a Bible study at the end of each practice. We practice outside in a spot where there is absolutely no shade for 2 hours at a time. It's hard on the girls who are not used to practicing so much in such conditions. But they are doing an excellent job! Please continue to pray for us!
For myself: creativity, patience, overflow of joy and wisdom as always as I teach the Bible study.
For the girls: patience (with me!), endurance, overflow of joy and understanding of the lessons
A wonderful praise note is that I am teaching the lessons half in English and half in Spanish. My wonderful helper Aurora is not completely fluent in English so we switch back and forth. Praise God! He is helping me bridge this language gap!
Below are some pictures I was able to take at the Inauguration of the new dormitories that were just built, along with some information on the orphanage itself. Enjoy!
These are the gates to the Home
The buses that take the kids to church
The new dormitories!
There are four bedrooms, each bedroom has six sets of bunk beds. All the blankets are the same, but each child has their own personal pillow. The kids are divided by younger boys, older boys and younger girls, older girls. The younger children live on the first floor and the older kids live on the second.
Quite a few of the single supervisors live 24/7 at Esperanza Viva and sleep with the children. The bed on the left is the supervisor's bed and the bunk bed set are for any smaller children that might need help at night, there is also a crib on the other side for any babies.
The Doctor's Office
The Offices where the administrators for Esperanza Viva work (the people were from the tour we were on)
Computers for the kids to do homework on are also in another part of their rooms
These are the classrooms for the school. The children rotate, depending on their jobs and activities for school hours.
Desks for the older children that might be more independent
Teacher's desk
Desks for the younger children who might need more help one on one. Working in tents is not easy. In the summer we were told it gets so hot sometimes it's like working in a sauna and they have to do school outside in the grass. In the winter, or when it's raining during hurricane season it can be very cold and too windy to hear what the instructor is saying.
Laundry room for around 100 children.
One more thing that I want to mention. A correction on my part. While Esperanza Viva is referred to as an orphanage, it is not. The children who come to live at Esperanza Viva come to stay. Many of them have families that visit on the weekends. Most of the children have come to live at the Home because of poverty in their family. One of my friends from the kitchen told me that she has many brothers and sisters but only she, her sister and 2 brothers came to live at the Home.
It is a very difficult ministry, one that requires everything of the supervisors and administrators who serve in it. Please keep praying for them! The two pictures below are of the team of people who work at the Home on a daily bases.
Thanks for reading! I'll be posting again soon, my time here is almost up. God has been good! He has taught me many things about ministry, serving Him and quite about about myself as well. Hasta pronto mis amigos! Bendiciones a todo!
Forever and Always,
-Sarah