My day today was very exciting because I got to hold babies. First we visited the Reyna de la Paz home, a home where very young mothers and their children live. The girls were teenagers and many were victoms of sexual abuse from family members or random strangers. When we first arrived there, it was like a community, all the girls friends with each other joining together in their pain to bring joy to their new lives. When we greeted the girls our first thought was shock. Here were these girls, who were younger then me (one little girl was 12!) living a completely different life. You could see God working through these mother's hearts however, because despite the situation they were in, they had smiles on their faces and greeted us with open arms. One of the girls told us her story. She got pregnant at 16 years old. After her baby was born, she lived with the father of the baby who was in his thirties. He would beat her and that was when she came to live at the Reyna de la Paz home. Hearing this, I felt so much compassion towards her. I couldn't even imagine what she is going through but I pray that God will show her his amazing love and heal her brokenness. I spent most of my time in the newborn room, helping the two ladies in charge of 6 babies, care and feed for them. In broken english I asked how many children were there, what were the mom's daily routines, etc.
Half through the morning one mom came in to feed here baby, after she was done she sat down to pump some milk for later, being the american that I am I assumed that she would use a breast pump, I didn't expect the newest model but instead she sat there and pump her breast by hand letting it drip in to the bottle. I was shocked! Im normally very comfortable around breast feeding and pumping and typical mom behaviors but seeing this mother who was younger then me sit there and take a painstaking long time to pump a small amount of milk for her child while she was gone broke my heart. I asked the head lady if they had mechanical breast pumps and the answer was no. Immediately I wanted to go buy them one, or two or enough for mother. But was it a custom thing that they didn't have them or money or both? I was so touched by this that I am hoping to buy or collect several pumps to send down to the home for these young mothers. Right now I am praying for understanding if it's a custom difference, clarity if its not to see the next step of action.
The second home was amazing. It was another government run home. The children run up to you the moment they see you and cling to you so tight, it's hard to breathe. It makes you feel special in a way because you are sharing that moment with these orphans who will never forget it. The most important thing to these children is to feel loved and accepted and hopefully we achieved that today through teaching the word of God. We asked them if they knew they were in God's hands and they all replied in unison, "si." We were grateful that the kids knew God has the whole world in his loving hands and they are not forgotten.
It was a blessing to be able to share God with these children and seeing their compassion for him. As we continure to pray for them we hope they continue to grow in theeir relationship with Christ. It was a great experience that I will never forget.
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