100 Oranges

Bible Class:

Teaching Pre-School about Genesis 1. First there was darkness and chaos. Give 15 kids black tissue paper and you do in fact have darkness and chaos. Most of the tissue paper made it onto the kids' clothes. But, I think they got the idea. 

Kindergarten Class con "Miss," as I am affectionately called. 

Arturo

Arturo is the welcoming committee at the Children's Home in Coban. He's 8. And could probably eat his weight in pancakes. 

Saturday I spent the day with him and his 28 'siblings.' When I first arrived at 8am Saturday morning I found myself in the kitchen juicing 100(ish) oranges for breakfast. The ladies in the kitchen were a delight. A few of them shared pieces of their stories. But, they are hard stories. To tell. And to hear. The common story for these kids who come from indigenous tribes up in the mountain is this: Their parents had them at young ages of 11-13. As little kids, most of them were raped or sexually abused by family members. As a result they (the girls) become pregnant at really young ages, too. If they survive the pregnancy, they are often abandoned. Some are abandoned with their newborn baby.

This Children's Home houses 29 kids with a story similar to this. The couple who runs this home drives up into the mountains and picks up abandoned children. They do look for papers and information on each child. Of course, that takes time and patience. 

They currently live in this home. Eat here. Sleep here. Teachers come in during the week and teach them. They all have chores around the house and homework in the afternoons. And on Sunday they have a worship service. The kids are grateful and happy. 

Breakfast!

Movie Time!

Currently the Children's Home is building a bigger place which will be called the Children's City. They have bought the land and are now starting the construction of the first house. The new home will have a boy's dorm, a girl's dorm, several parks, gardens, a home for missionary groups to stay in, a prayer house, a cafeteria, and a church in the center. 

This river runs through the property that they just bought. It's calm and stunning. 

This week I will be counseling several youth in the school who are going through some tough situations. I will also be going out to buy 29 pairs of shoes for these kids at the Children's Home. And it's "Field Week" at the school which means some other teacher signed me up to lead a dance workshop :) 

Blessings and Peace,

Micaiah