Andando Por Las Calles (Walking the Streets)

I spent last Tuesday in one of the poorest neighborhoods of San José, Costa Rica. As soon as we arrived I began talking with a pastor who works in the neighborhood on a regular basis. He turned to us and said:  

 ¿Ve a estos dos niños? Su padre los abandonó y su madre trabaja de cinco en la mañana a siete cada día. Los vi andando y andando por las calles cada dia. 

Translation: Do you see these two children? Their father abandoned them and their mother works from five in the morning to seven each day. I see them walking and walking the streets every day. 

As I looked at these two children, a 5 year-old girl and a 3 year-old boy. my heart was broken. I couldn’t believe it. These two little children, fending for themselves on the street every day from 5am-7pm!?! Could it be true? How could a father and mother be in such a desperate situation that they let their children wander through such a neighborhood all day?

Sure enough, the entire time we were in the neighborhood these two children would wander past us on a regular basis, showing up for a meal the pastor offers to children of the neighborhood every Tuesday and sticking around for the afternoon bible club. I never did get the opportunity to talk directly to these children as they often shirked from attention and kept to themselves. But the image of those two children will always be with me. This little girl and her brother are the type of children for whom Casa Viva is offering hope. 

It is children like these who are sleeping in a bed, loved by a family, eating three meals a day, and attending school. When I think about these two children who continue to wander the streets of a very dangerous neighborhood, my prayer is that God would intervene on their behalf and cause the local government and local churches to act on their behalf.

Costa Rica Here We Come

On March 26th we leave for Costa Rica.

We (Kristin, Joshua, and I) will be there primarily to lead a week long mission trip from Wheaton Bible Church. We have 11 participants coming down to work on the Casa Viva offices, repair some Casa Viva families, and to throw an Easter Family Fun Night for al the Casa Viva staff and families.

During this Easter Fun Night, families will wonder between 5 stations learning about the importance of Easter, playing games, eating dinner, and learning about American traditions associated with Easter.

Additionally each family will walk away with a tree that they have decorated to teach their children about Easter during Holy Week. There are 12 items that hang from the tree based on the resurrection eggs by Family Life today.

In addition to being in country for this trip, we will be around a few extra days to do planning, work, and to be with the Casa Viva staff in Costa Rica. While in country we'll be staying with Phil and Jill Aspegren just a block or so from the team house.

We'll also spend some time with Tito and his family.

Casa Viva // Autumn Newsletter

The latest Casa Viva newsletter should be hitting your mailbox this week! If you want a sneak peak of the newsletter you can download the Autumn 2008 Welcome Home.

In it you'll find a great article by Jill Aspegren on the importance of connecting children to families and communities. Lack of connection is one of the biggest faults of orphanages and institutions.

When Children turn 18 they are shown the door in institutional settings, whereas at Casa Viva children develop connections with extended family members, church communities, brothers and sisters. They have a place to go home to celebrate Christmas the rest of their life, they have an uncle who owns a tienda down the street that might give them a job.