Invisible Children...The Unseen Children of Nicargua

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I take this title from an amazing documentary about child soldiers in Uganda, however, the story from today, while not similar is equally tragic, true and transformational for us. From our time at the school we went to the Hat Ophanage, a government owned, but minimally supported orphanage for an array of children from an diverse set of backgrounds and conditions. Everything from runaways, to abandoned, to children with handicaps. Children ranged in age from 3 to 24. We went there not knowing what to expect and were confronted by hopelessness.

A bleary sun parched campus, with dreary buildings and broken down playground equipment greeted us as we entered through large gates. Children in grubby shirts and girls with short hair greeted us. Immediately we knew who the abused, abandoned and hurting children were. Child after child approached with open arms, waiting, expectantly to soak up of love, if only for a few hours. With in minutes, each of our students had 'their kid' the one who would attached themselves to us for the day.

We worked hard raking leaves, cleaning dreary rooms, washing half tiled shower stalls...in essence, being available. Throughout the day, opportunities arose, some of which are noted by some of our students. With each of those opportunities, relationships with the kids of Hat grew stronger. Some of the students have shared their thoughts below.

Colton: I worked on a garden today. I also planted watermelons. To my dissapointment, I learned that people steal food from the orphanage's garden. How desperate do you have to be to steal an ophanage's food?

Tianna: So one of the fun things we did after all our work at the orphanage was have a fiesta for the kids. We supplied pop, a pinata, and ice cream. Two of the mentally challenged kids were dancing together to the music, which was pretty catchy by the way. The kids were so happy hitting the pinata; their laughter was so rewarding. One boy, who was probably around 18 or 19 and had a drug addiction in the past, and was possibly autisitic had seemed forlorn and withdrawn all day. Then he got to whack the pinata and huge, unexpected smile split across his face. It was so hard for me to imagine what it must be like for these kids; how they must feel about their day-to-day lives and I could not even fathom the level of joy a simple fiesta would bring to them. For me, a pinata and some ice cream wouldn't be a huge deal, but for these kids, it will probably be a longtime memory. This brings me to a memory of yesterday: we got to try eating coconuts and drinking the milk straight from the coconut. It was such a novelty for us to pass around the coconut, tip it back and drink the milk, then break it open and gnaw out the meat. But then the kids hanging around the school collected as many coconuts as they could, likely to bring home to their families. They even picked coconuts out of our refuse pile. One little girl had a coconut in her hands and when I sat down beside her she clutched it close to her chest as if afraid I would take it from her. I realized that something that we take for granted, something that we ate for fun, could have been their only meal for the day. Seeing how little these people live with and how much they value all that they have makes one realize how much we take for granted-stuff that we have even though we have barely worked at all for it.


Cassidy: When we arrived at HAT I dont really think the orphange really hit me untill one of the girls was talking to my dad. He didnt know what she was saying so I went over to translate. She wrote on a napkin "yo quiero ir a Canada con ustedes" (I want to go to Canada with you (pl)) It literally broke my heart that after 2 minutes of meeting us she was willing to leave with complete strangers and go to a country she knew nothing about. I told her it was cold in Canada, and there was lots of snow. she said she didnt care, she'd get a jaket. she just kept repeating the same line over and over "yo quiero ir a Canada con ustedes" and all I could do was say "lo sineto" (Im sorry).

Brooke & Alyssa: yes, we decided to write ours together. surprise, surprise! Today we saw two different groups of kids, in two very different walks of life. The one major similarity is their willingness to love unconditionally. These kids allow themselves to be vulnerable to complete strangers in a desperation for a relationship or any amount of love. We can admire their bravery and hope to break that barrier that we've conditioned ourselves to back at home. The difference in relationships is they dont fear rejection, they love honestly. A little boy also picked us bright yellow flowers and then chased our bus when we went to leave, waving us off at the gate. His name was Frankie.

Back to the teacher's voice....although I am sure you would rather read the students....one last story from today....

At Hat, the government provides some support, but very little, especially in terms of food. They provide rice and beans, but that is about it. Today, we were able to provide food (check out the picture of the bus after our shopping trip), healthy food, vegetables, flour, milk, eggs and toilet paper, yes....when we arrived they had no toilet paper.

The children at Hat are truly the invisible, unseen and forgotten children of Nicaragua....but not today! As I come to a close (yes I am long winded) I am reminded of the somewhat accurate metaphor about darkness and light. There is no such thing as darkness, only an absence of light. Today, I witness light being shined into a dark place...tragically we had to leave, and our students struggled with that, but I hope and believe, that a little residue of light will remain, thus making their darkness just a little less dark. Let that be a challenge to us! It is our task to shine light into dark places.

If I take a moment to write to the parents (yes, others you may read as well). You have made your children available to bless others. By their presence, their work fundraising, their unabashed love, their hard work, their deep caring for other human beings, their open hearts, and their desire to make a difference, every child on this trip has blessed the people they have come in contact with. As Mrs. Peters said so aptly at our debrief last night, she would be proud to be the parent of any of students on this trips....indeed!

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