Falling in love
I never really liked children that much before. Sure, I always thought they were cute, but it annoyed me that they couldn’t have an intelligent conversation with me, that they hadn’t learned all the rights from the wrongs, that they weren’t yet independent, and that they didn’t mind being dirty (not bathing every day, not washing their hands often, picking their nose, putting things in their mouths, etc…) I didn’t blame them for any of this; I accepted that children will be children. But, I decided that other people could deal with the children being children while I surrounded myself with “mature” adults and focused on other issues.
If I’ve learned anything so far during my time in Honduras, it’s how to love children.
A little background: Suzy started taking in abused children a little over a year ago. She first took in a family of five children. The oldest (girl, age 12) had been sexually abused since the age of six. The rest had also already been sexually abused. Soon after their arrival, Suzy started getting more requests to rescue abused children. She decided to branch off her organization (the LAMB Institute) to include a children’s home. She currently has 32 children living with her, plus her own adopted kids and the children of the house parents who live with the children and take care of the house. Including the adults, there are 49 people living at the house in Las Tapias. At the moment, there’s really no room for more kids, but once the permanent children’s home is built (hopefully within a year or so), Suzy is hoping to house about 100 children. She wants to provide a permanent home for the children, not an orphanage where children move in and out, going from foster home back to the orphanage back to another to foster home.
I’ve been spending increasingly more time with the children. It’s definitely a draining task, and I usually go home to Flor del Campo at the end of the day where I can sit in peace and privacy in my own room. Sometimes, I spend the night at Las Tapias, but when I’m there for a long time, I really miss my privacy and space.
I believe that through children, we can see the best in humans as well as the worst in humans. We can witness the youthful innocence that people like to idealize when they talk about children. But we can also witness the greed, the selfishness, and the jealousy that continue to negatively impact people throughout their entire lives.
Though I continually witness the worst parts along with the best parts every day, I have learned to understand and subsequently love the children through the understanding. Actually, maybe I’m giving myself too much credit. Maybe I haven’t learned to understand them at all. Maybe the truth is that it’s just impossible to keep my heart from going out to them because of their stories, because of the abuse and neglect they’ve endured, because of the sad look in their eyes, because of the smile and hug and “Estela!!” they greet me with… I didn’t think I’d fall in love here, let alone with children!
[To be continued…]
If I’ve learned anything so far during my time in Honduras, it’s how to love children.
A little background: Suzy started taking in abused children a little over a year ago. She first took in a family of five children. The oldest (girl, age 12) had been sexually abused since the age of six. The rest had also already been sexually abused. Soon after their arrival, Suzy started getting more requests to rescue abused children. She decided to branch off her organization (the LAMB Institute) to include a children’s home. She currently has 32 children living with her, plus her own adopted kids and the children of the house parents who live with the children and take care of the house. Including the adults, there are 49 people living at the house in Las Tapias. At the moment, there’s really no room for more kids, but once the permanent children’s home is built (hopefully within a year or so), Suzy is hoping to house about 100 children. She wants to provide a permanent home for the children, not an orphanage where children move in and out, going from foster home back to the orphanage back to another to foster home.
I’ve been spending increasingly more time with the children. It’s definitely a draining task, and I usually go home to Flor del Campo at the end of the day where I can sit in peace and privacy in my own room. Sometimes, I spend the night at Las Tapias, but when I’m there for a long time, I really miss my privacy and space.
I believe that through children, we can see the best in humans as well as the worst in humans. We can witness the youthful innocence that people like to idealize when they talk about children. But we can also witness the greed, the selfishness, and the jealousy that continue to negatively impact people throughout their entire lives.
Though I continually witness the worst parts along with the best parts every day, I have learned to understand and subsequently love the children through the understanding. Actually, maybe I’m giving myself too much credit. Maybe I haven’t learned to understand them at all. Maybe the truth is that it’s just impossible to keep my heart from going out to them because of their stories, because of the abuse and neglect they’ve endured, because of the sad look in their eyes, because of the smile and hug and “Estela!!” they greet me with… I didn’t think I’d fall in love here, let alone with children!
[To be continued…]
posted by starburst at
22:06
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