Friday, June 28, 2013

Through the eyes of an orphan


The following are based on true stories that I have come across in the past few years that deserve to be told: (disclaimer- the pictures are not of the child the story is about for protection of privacy)

Try to put yourself in their place and see the world through the eyes of an orphan….

The wetness around you is thick. The stench is so pungent that it hard to take even just one of the 40 breaths you require a minute. It is so dark all around you- it just validates the evil that has happened to take place in your short life. Those your age desperately need warmth and soft blankets swaddling them, but you freeze as you lay completely naked in the viscous stench. Others that are as fresh out of the womb as you couldn’t last as long as you without anything in their belly… but you have a just enough strength to let out occasional weak cries- desperate pleas for help that seem hopeless in this hole you are in. You never once have been held with love. You were not wanted; your mom couldn’t afford to feed you because she couldn’t even really feed herself. Naked, hungry, cold. In the bottom of a privy. And you’re just barely a day old.

Now imagine you are a common man. An odd sound is coming from the outhouse, and quite honestly it is one you just can’t ignore. You swear it sounds like a baby’s cry, but it is so faint that it is hard to tell. A few steps from the door cause your stomach to jump to your throat and your skin to become clammy… the source of the sound is undeniable now. Anything but this. Peering over the ledge of the seat, you can barely make out the baby lying in the muck. Little fists pulled up to its face. And like an angel sent from God, you lower yourself slowly into the sewage to snatch the newborn from certain death. This baby is nothing but thin skin and tiny bones. You have no idea, but the warmth of your arms has changed everything for this tiny life.





This time it was a happy life. You weren’t like those kids who didn’t have a mom and dad that ran in the streets. Well, you weren’t at least until a hurricane wiped away everything that brought you joy. It took your mom’s smile when you’d dance. It stole your dad’s dedication to bringing home food for your family every day. That hurricane even took your sister you loved to tease until she was furious with you. Oh, to have her be angry with you again… even just once. It took everything from you. You wandered the streets in a daze a while, but eventually found yourself at a place where they take in kids like you. Kids with no one left. They feed you, have a school you attend, and give you a safe place to live within the walls of the compound. Sometimes people visit, and you watch as all the other kids rush to them with delight. Some days you even join in their joy of those people who radiate the love back, but today is different. Today you just feel sad as you watch the other kids play and laugh with the visitors. You sit as far out of the way as you can and your heart breaks watching the visitors hug the other kids with huge smiles. You can see it as clear as day in your mind as you remember your mom’s face light up when she’d take you in her arms. She’d tell you how much she loved you, just as your sister would come to try to jump in. She always annoyed you so much back then, so how can you miss her so much now?

One of the kids on the bench must have drawn a visitor with a long flowing skirt in, because she’s walking over to your table. Your sad eyes barely meet hers, and you fight back tears because there is something in her gentle eyes that reminds you of your mom. Before you realize it, she sits down- next to YOU! You can’t raise your face to her right now, because you’ll know you’ll start to cry and she shouldn’t be distracted by you when all the other kids are so happy to see her. The girl with the tie die shirt and green skirt does something next that you are not sure you’ll ever forget. She wraps her arms around your skinny frame, and she just holds you. You try to be strong at first, but you melt because you’re just eight years old after all. Seconds are all it takes for the tears you held inside so long to start flowing, and your soft sobs are just loud enough to catch her attention. She doesn’t say anything at first, but then it comes… in desperately broken Creole, she asks you why you are sad. In a sobbing whisper, you say, “Paran mwen te mouri”. Her embrace strengthens as she realizes what you said--- your parents had died. Her showing up that day and holding you close in her arms prove the words she says next as she tells you God loves you.





Now this time it would be enough if your only problem was that you were dangerously malnourished at three months of age. But your story of how you got to this point of starvation is the real clinch. It is truly a story of tragedy, one that is sure to cause people to have to take a deep breath. Your mom was just a child herself at 15 years old when she was raped by the man who was living with her mom. When the story surfaced as her belly grew, it was horribly distorted and the man accused this sweet girl of seducing him. Instead of her mom defending her daughter, she was thrown out to the streets so this evil man could stay. Homeless and desperate, your mom did the best she could with the best attitude she could for your first few months of life, but starvation overtook both of you. You were the size of a newborn after months of not growing, and she knew she had to save you from dying. She brought you to a place for babies just like you. Though it hurt so much to leave you there, she saved your life. God’s destiny for you is far too great to miss.




Final story…



You were the curse. Yes, in this land of voodoo and witchcraft, you were it. Why were you the cursed one? Well you just so happened to be the second baby in the womb. Nothing more, nothing less.. that’s just the way it is. Your mom hid that she had twins from everyone she could, and only takes your sister in public so people don’t know she’s cursed. Your sister is plump with health, but your emaciated frame is a result of only getting the leftovers, if any. You are hidden, shunned, and punished endlessly for your curse. If only you knew that just a country away that twins were a blessing—dressed in matching dresses and bows. Your stuff would be purple, and all of your twin sister’s stuff would be pink. If only you knew that because of this horrible belief that you are cursed, your immune system would be so dangerously destroyed from starvation that a common bout of diarrhea would take your precious life just months from now. Yet when you reach Heaven’s gates, you will learn just how cherished you are. For the very first time, you will never go hungry again. You will never feel like you don’t matter. Never ever again will you feel cursed, for you were created for greatness in Heaven you never could have fathomed. You will discover that God loved the weak and powerless like you so much that He fiercely commanded people to defend you so many times in His book you never got to read. You will discover God whose love lasts for eternity. You will finally experience the truth of Psalm 27:10- “For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.”



“If you can’t feed one hundred people, then feed just one” –Mother Teresa

“Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.” –Mother Teresa

“He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” –Jim Elliot