The Orphan Institute

We have been back at home for a few days now. We are all dealing with many mixed emotions and some feelings of "what do we do now?" We know we want to do more and are working through the things we learned and praying about where God is leading us.

While in Honduras we learned about The Orphan Institute. The Orphan Institute is a nonprofit organization which strives to assist governments with their child welfare responsibilities by advocating for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) to have a permanent family. Free from a particular political, religious, or financial agenda the Institute tirelessly advocates in the best interest of each child.

By partnering with indigenous nongovernmental organizations, the Orphan Institute provides expertise and experience, thereby strengthening a country's ability to meet the needs of its OVC.

These ongoing relationships fulfill the four specific initiatives set forth by the Institute:
-Educating Governments about OVC
-Preventing Abandonment
-Reunifying Children with Birth Families
-Giving OVC the Opportunity to Live in a Permanent Family

If you are interesting in donating to the Orphan Institute go here:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Institute-For-Orphan-Advocacy

More Friday Pics

Friday in Pictures

Thursday

Today we spent the day at Casistas Kennedy. A group went to finish the painting while another group sorted all of the clothes for the kids that we brought with us. Then we went to the preschool room and did a couple of songs and a puppet show. It was really cute to watch the kids faces and watch them trying to do the motions to the songs. Afterwards we went out to the courtyard and let them hit on the pinata that we had bought for them. That was also fun to witness. They really enjoyed it.




After lunch we met with the other team members that are a part of the project that Anna works for. They are a part of the Orphan Institute. We heard from the social workers, lawyers and psychologists. They told us more about what their role is and more about what the needs are. After that a group went to do crafts with the kids and another group went to pass out the clothes to each of the houses. The kids were SO excited about the new-to-them clothes- especially the girls. They put their outfits on right away. Gail connected with one girl in particular. Her name is Karen. She is deaf and the "tia" of the house said that she doesn't get a lot of interaction. Gail spent some time talking with her and gave her a couple shirts and some socks. Karen said it was the best day of her life and she will never forget it. Then we brought her to meet Carrie, another team member who knows sign language. She said that sign language in different in Spanish and English but they were still able to communicate.

We had a special treat for the older boys because they seemed to be in most need clothes-wise. They kept asking all afternoon when they were going to get clothes and when was it going to be their turn. We told them to be patient and that we had something special for them. Right before we left for the day, we all went into their house and passed out their "Care packages" which included brand new clothes and shoes. It had 2 shirts, shorts, jeans, tennis shoes, sandals, underwear and socks. They also got a card that had their name on it and it told them that Jesus loved them. They also each got a salvation bracelet and Samanthat explained what each color meant. They were all very appreciative and told Anna that they would take care of their new clothes and take showers before they wore them. :)

Anna told us that we could have one person take a couple pictures, so Andy has the pictures of us giving the boys their gifts. So make sure to check out his blog to see those pictures.

It is so hard to believe that we only have one day left. It is going to be so hard to leave tomorrow. However I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here and so grateful for all I have learned. We have many that have talked about wanting to come back so if you want to come next year let us know! :)

Pictures from Wednesday

Wednesday

I have some great photos of some of the children we visited today....but I am unable to upload them right now. Hopefully I will be able to later.

Today we visited another orphanage in Tegucigalpa. It is a private run orphanage that has a lot of needs. Anna told us that they just keep taking in kids and she wonders if that is the best thing. I don´t think they have many outside visitors because when we first arrived they were much more timid than the kids at Casitas Kennedy. They have many kids sick with dengue fever and wanted some time to spend cleaning the inside of the building, so we spent the few hours we were there outside on the patio playing with the children. The children there were all under the age of 8. Anna said that most probably have families but that they are too poor to take care of them so they abandon them. The nuns that run the orphanage said there was a need for medicine so we were able to help by buying them medicine for the kids.

After lunch we headed back to Casitas Kennedy. We wanted to do something special for the teenage girls so we watched a movie and gave them pizza, popcorn and pop. A group of us spent time with them, a group painted their house while they were in the movie and another group spent time playing outside with the other kids. I got asked several times by one girl if we were coming back tomorrow. She got a big smile when I said ¨si¨, but it got us thinking about how hard it´s going to be when we are asked that question on Friday.

Make sure to check out a great post by Janell on her blog:
What You Can´t Buy at Walmart

Each Campaign Video- Take a minute and watch it (it's short)