They're Heeeeeerrrrre!!!!!!!!!!

That’s right, the orphanage house is filling up with busy little bodies, running around and playing with their new toys. There is so much to share with you all, but I will try to keep it short and give you all a great update on what is happening with orphanage. I guarantee that this is well worth the 5 minutes of reading.

Arrival

The past four months we’ve been trying our hardest to get the government to help us find the girls for the orphanage. We knew the need was there and we met the right people but everytime our hooks came back empty. I relate this to fishing because its like standing in a stream with your pole in hand and watching fish jump all around you but you have no idea what they are biting on (for those of you who don’t fish, bare with me). You make contact with the right person so it seems, but when it comes to reeling in the catch, nothing. It’s a mix of lacking trust and sheer laziness. However, Ruth had the great idea of going directly to the area where all the displaced people are. I must say that Ruth has been a huge blessing to us as she has taken on all the paperwork, bureaucracy and phone calling. For those of you who don’t remember Colombia has the world’s third largest internally displaced population of over 3.5 million people due to 40 years of on-going civil war in the countryside. El Tiempo (the biggest newspaper in Colombia) noted that there are over 500 displaced people who arrive daily in Bogota, the majority of which are women and children.

This last Saturday we went to Soacha (the southern most part of Bogota and by far one of the poorest areas) and arranged to meet up with Pastor Emiro and his wife Janet (who are apart of our church leadership). Emiro showed us around and we went up the hill to the poorest parts of the barrio. Fortunately everyone knows Emiro because he had a church there and so we were welcomed warmly. However, the cases we came across were anything but warm. Though I had been there before and have had plenty of encounters with extreme poverty; brokenness, abuse and hopelessness is never something I have ever gotten used to. Two sisters (11 and 12) prostituting themselves for a coke or a few dollars. Parents openly telling us in front of their kids they hate their daughter and that they don’t want her, or hearing about 6 year old girls who are beaten and raped by their stepdads or just some random neighbor. It’s the type of thing you don’t want to hear, see or even repeat but unless you hear the brutal reality you cant begin to address the problem. We met many parents who were interested, and even more children who ran after us wanting us to persuade their mom/dad/caretaker to let them come and live with us. Having loving parents (myself) it was really hard for me to see the interaction between these children and their parents. Drunk or sober, 99% of the parents who were interested in our program showed absolutely no interest or love for their daughters. It was like they were deciding whether they were going to give up a dirty old shirt or not. Basically the only thing that held them back was whether they had to take a bus to the orphanage or if they could just hand over their daughter right then and there.

We didn’t take any girls home with us Saturday but we set three appointments at the church for Sunday. The caretakers of the girls showed up (one couple, a single mother, and a single dad) and we gave them a look around the house and then interviewed them. Meanwhile the 2 daughters of the single mother and the daughter of the single father had their medical reviews with a doctor from the church. The single mother had to be in her mid 30’s (she didn’t know her birthday) and she was a mother of 6 kids (20,19,11,9,8 and 5 years old). She didn’t know how to read so I read the contract to her and she gave me what answers she could come up with, however, she didn’t even know how to spell her daughter’s name. The single father was the same, didn’t know how to read nor did he know any info about his own daughter. I had a mix of emotions because I always expected that we would get the girls from the State from some foster program, but to see a parent happily hand over their child was so sad for me to see. Upon leaving his child the single dad asked his daughter if she would like to stay at the home or go back with him, and without missing a beat she eagerly replied “no, I want to stay”. All the parents agreed that they will come on a regular basis to see their daughters, but that the girls are to stay until they are 18 years old. So we now have these three little girls, Mayerli (8 years old), Jeimi (5 years old) and Julieta (9 years old). Tomorrow (Tuesday) 3 more girls will come and then another 4 later on this week. We anticipate that all 20 spots will be filled in the next 10 days to 2 weeks.

A Prolonged Miracle

I have received wonderful encouraging emails from many of you and I am very thankful for them. However, I must tell you all that I receive far more credit than I really deserve for this orphanage. Believe me this is not false humility, this is me telling it as it is. A year and a half ago I arrived here in Bogota and we had nothing. I mean nothing, nothing. Actually, I take that back, we had an estimate at how much it would cost to run an orphanage for 20 girls. The amount was and still is BREATHTAKING and the probability of raising that much money MADE ME WANT TO LAUGH AND CRY at the same time. It was like imagining the task of pushing a car up doomsday hill (for you bloomsday runners). I remember vividly though, when after looking at the estimate, Pastor Libni turned to me and said,

“you have a unique opportunity Jacob. You are here, you know the costs and needs for this project to work and you will see how God answers prayer. This orphanage will be a miracle that only God can do. Many people in the US will say, ‘no, Jacob you just worked hard, its not a miracle its just hard work’, but you and I both know the costs and difficulties that they don’t see’”

There isn’t any better way to put it than that. This project is and will continue to be impossible without God’s grace and working hand. I can call people to raise money, but I still need to get authorization from the Government. I can run all the errands and with a little bit of luck get the government to comply and give me a license but I still need to get the girls. I can spend months looking for girls who need a home and not have enough money to feed and clothe them. I can fundraise more, start a business and earn money for food and clothing but the girls still have enormous emotional needs. We can get the best child psychologists and spend lots of time with the girls, but in the end they are still children, rejected by their parents and relatives. Its not until I am exhausted from pushing, that I realize I cant do this on my own or even with the help of others. God and God alone can provide for these girls. In the end its only God that can restore a rejected abused little girl into a person capable of forgiveness, love and knowing just how much God cares for them. So, again, I want to emphasize this is not false humility but simply diverting the credit where it is due.

STAY TUNED…..

My lovely bride to be, Catherine, is working with Ruth to develop a registry with Target for the things that girls need. The only things these girls have when they come is the clothes they have on, which are falling apart. We have some clothes here, but we still need clothes, shoes, and of course help with food (especially as food prices have risen recently). In any case, I will be sending out another group email with all that information and we have friends leaving Spokane, Wa to come down here in the end of May so they can collect the items and bring them down here.