Our CINAFE Kids...

No, we haven’t dropped off the face of the earth…but sometimes, it feels like we’re hanging on for all we’re worth to the edge of it! I find that when I get the time to actually sit down and write a blog, that I’m apologizing for allowing so much time to lapse between writings…this time is no different…I’m sorry!!! Remember when I used to bore you to tears with my musings on the incessant crazy Managua drivers or the simple beauty of the ox-pulled carts going to market in the early morning hours? I don’t know about you…but I miss those days! Life now is too hectic and too filled with worries and problems. My prayers of late have been that God would help me open my eyes again to the wonder that this place held for me when first we came to be aliens and strangers in this land.
So, you may be wondering what we’ve been doing lately. A lot. We are now the “official” overseers of CINAFE, the child’s protection center where we’ve been spending the majority of our time since the beginning of the year. This is also known as Fortress of Hope and if you are interested in knowing a bit more about our new “home away from home”, you can read their latest newsletter at www.fortressofhope.org.
There are so many changes taking place right now there…some we are implementing and some we are trying to maneuver through. The CINAFE board made some necessary changes in personnel at the beginning of the year, before we came on board, and as a result, some of the new people who were put in place have discovered that they are not necessarily a good fit with CINAFE. Because we are a government approved child protection center, we are also accountable to the Ministry of Families. With the ideas and the values of the current presidential administration being executed, the stress level of facilities like ours goes up incrementally. Working with these government agencies is not for the faint of heart! Consequently, we are once again, going through some personnel changes. This means our stress level is going up incrementally!!!
And talk about stress…right now, we are currently looking for a new physician, a new social worker and a new director! I have recently been speaking with other Americans who run facilities similar to ours and have found out that this kind of turnover is not unusual. Maybe not. But it is discouraging. We are a ministry-run facility and all of CINAFE’s financial support comes from donations just like most ministries. That means that we operate on faith and a shoestring budget. It also means that those who come there to work professing they want to be involved in growing God’s Kingdom but leave because they can make twice as much money at a call center makes us the rest of us scratch our head, try to somehow lengthen the shoestrings and remember our faith is what holds those shoestrings together!
The kids though are amazing! We still have fifteen children, ages 2 ½ to 16. I say “still” because that could change at any moment. There is now a government program that is designed to remove all children in child protection centers and reunite them with their families by the end of 2011, based on “the rights of the child”. In theory, this sounds great…but our fear is that these kids are going to be put back in to the same situations from which they had to be removed.
We’ve already received word that at least two and maybe another 4 might be leaving us soon. I just can’t even imagine what CINAFE will be like without them there…and I can’t imagine what their lives will be like if they’re not. For all the toils and troubles that we’re working through at CINAFE, it’s still a haven for these kids.
Let me tell you a little about these tough little survivors. Erika is our oldest…she just turned 16 and there is a possibility she might be leaving us soon to return to her family in El Salvador. She’s a quiet girl and is most comfortable when she’s got her friends around her. She is always watching and observing and she doesn’t easily trust but she has a great affection for Karen and Dwane, the couple in Ohio who were instrumental in starting CINAFE. I think she is torn about returning to her family and although she will miss the other kids at CINAFE, I truly believe she will miss seeing Karen and Dwane when they come back here for visits. When I first met Erika, I asked her what she thought she would like to be when she grew up and she told me a car mechanic. I was surprised at that answer and asked her why and she told me it was because they made a lot of money. I reminded her of that the other day and we both laughed about it.
Francela is also a pretty girl and a very smart girl when it comes to reading people. She is very sociable and does not like being alone. She will be 15 this year although she looks older than that. She has a beautiful smile and a determination to live a life different than the one she came from. That determination can work for her or as it sometimes now does, against her.
Selena is 13 and is also a girl who looks older than she is. She has such a friendly personality and there is no pretense with her. What you see is what you get with Selena. She has a head for business and already knows how to negotiate to get what she wants. I think one of the things I really enjoy about Selena is her ready smile. She is very childlike in so many ways and still loves to play games.
Sugeyling has to be one of the prettiest Nica girls I’ve ever seen. She is a natural beauty but she doesn’t see herself that way. She is a very quick learner and I’ve found she has an aptitude for English. She wants to travel to Russia some day. Sugeyling’s favorite color is black and she loves rock music. She is always polite and helpful and I love to be around her…but she doesn’t know Jesus and every time one of us try to talk to her about Him, she becomes very hard and quiet. She’s one I worry about a lot.
Minerva just turned 13. She’s entering that awkward stage and is not comfortable in her own skin. She’s very shy at times and yet she craves attention. She often seems much younger than her years and is struggling to find her place in this world. Sometimes, she does not do well with authority figures or her peers and yet she will bond very quickly to someone she is drawn to knowing.
Aida is 12 and is one who has a special place in my heart. She informed me the other day she wants to now be known as Elizabeth! When we first began at CINAFE, she was hard and closed off and refused to let me even put my hand on her shoulder. What a long way we’ve come in these few short months. Today, when she saw me after being gone to her grandmother’s for a week’s visit, she threw her arms around me and hugged me like it had been years since we had seen one another. Aida is very smart but she treats her school subjects like she does everything and everyone else…she does/accepts them on her own terms. She can quote numerous scriptures and has memorized long portions of Psalms.
Those girls all live together in one house called the Estrellas…the Stars…and they are.
Mariana is 11 and is another one who always seems to have a smile on her face. She is much lighter in complexion than the other children there. She even has freckles. She is another one who is quick to help and just beams when given words of praise. She has an ear for English and tries to mimic my words as closely as she can.
Wendy turns 10 this week. She loves to tease and is always up to something. She’s definitely a creative thinker and if not kept in check, can quickly find herself in some kind of mischief. She is always in motion and loves to participate in any kind of activity that involves movement of some kind.
Esmerelda is another one who is a very pretty young girl. She is 12 and is most comfortable in the role of tomboy. She can hold her own playing soccer and is tough as nails when she gets hurt. She’s just now starting to realize that it’s okay for her to enjoy nail polish and wearing dresses and she’s acquired a real affinity for cute earrings. I think we may be losing our “tomboy”! One of the most remarkable things about Esmerelda is her voice. She has a gravely low voice which is always a surprise to anyone who first hears her speak.
Fernando has only been with us since the beginning of the year. He’s a lovebug and is usually one of the first to come give us a hug when we arrive at CINAFE. He, too, always has a smile on his face which belies his quick temper that often gets him in hot water with others. But just as quickly as his temper flares, it’s gone and he’s back to his sweet smiling self. Fernando is 11.
Those four share a casita and are called the Delfines or the Dolphins. We just recently had a team in who helped us do some remodeling on one of the casitas so that Fernando could have his own room and the girls are sharing another room. I know they all are more comfortable with their new privacy.
Our last casita is called the Arco Iris…the Rainbow house. Reyna is 10 and loves to play games. She is the mancala champion and delights when she wins. She is another one who loves to be hugged but like the others, it’s taken us time to get to that point with her. Sometimes she’s all smiles and other times, a smile is hard to coax but either way, if the opportunity presents itself, she has her arms wrapped around me…sometimes making it difficult to even walk. Reyna and Esmerelda are sisters.
Daniella is bright eyed and as curious as they come. We don’t know exactly how old she is as she was found abandoned when she was smaller. We are guessing she is around 5 or 6 years old and her birthday is celebrated on the day she came to CINAFE…that really was a new “birth”day for her. She is another one who likes to tease and is often laughing and giggling. She also has a stubborn streak a mile long and the challenge lies in teaching her when it’s appropriate to use it and when it’s not.
Reynaldo is 9 years old and has such a great smile. He loves to jump out and scare us, laughing hysterically if he thinks he’s accomplished his goal. He is a typical little boy, scooping up bugs, playing with cars and just making noise for the sake of making noise. His glasses make him appear much more studious than he actually is. He is Reyna and Esmerelda’s brother and is often a favorite with teams as he’s just got such a great little personality.
Milagros is a child that everyone is drawn to as she has big beautiful brown eyes and is so petite and fragile looking. She often has a very serious look on her face and it can take her a very long time to warm up to someone. Once she has made that decision to be friends, she also loves to tease. It’s just that she is another one who communicates on her terms only. If Milagros is unhappy, everyone within earshot knows it. It’s amazing how someone so little can have such big lungs! Milagros is 6 and is Reyna’s, Esmerelda’s and Reynaldo’s sister.
Belen is last but not least…but she is the youngest. Again, we are guessing at her age and we estimate her to be about 2 ½ years old. She has the best little smile and pretty much runs the place. She really misses the kids while they’re at school and is always excited when they come home each day. She is Daniella’s sister and so we celebrate Belen’s birthday at the same time as Daniella.
So, now you know just a bit about the kids who help brighten our days here. I watch them play, study, do chores and fuss and I marvel at how well they function for the most part. I won’t share their individual stories but I will tell you that each one of these children has good cause not to laugh or to trust anyone and yet, almost every one of them is quick to flash their smiles and to hug and be hugged. Some may attribute that to the therapy they receive from the psychologist at CINAFE but I believe the reason they are flourishing there is because Jesus touches them through those who work there and who truly love these precious ones.
One of our daily prayers is that God would bind the enemy and keep him far from the children at CINAFE. We pray protection and healing for them. We pray that they will learn how to act and react in appropriate ways to the situations they will face in this life. We pray that when we talk to them about Jesus that He will soften their hearts and open their ears and most of all, we pray that there will come a time when we know these children not just as “our CINAFE kids” but also as our brothers and sisters in Christ.