Next, the world? A touching story!

If this is your first visit to my blog and you want to know more about our SCKC Memory page drive, please hit the button to the left ....or please, you are more than welcome to read on..... I have to share this amazing story as many of you would have helped create pages that might just be going further afield than you thought........

 After all the camps earlier this year, we safely packed away the packets of unused LO's and books, ready to be put towards the needs of the '09 SCKC camps ...time passed ...The SCKC summit arrived, all the directors loved the memory book idea..... Then the very day we asked you wonderful women to help again, that same day I found out that in fact four camps were scheduled for January......I received this email from Tammy, the SCKC Illawarra Director ( she is also my Niece, she knows me only to well! )..........

Hey Jules 

The email below is one of our SCKC leaders that worked with us for 4 years and then went to Colombia on a mission trip and never came back – he ministers there full time in total faith ……see what he wrote about the memory books he wants to do with the kids – can we help him ?  ..................

.........I am not sure if Many of you know, but my life changed completely a couple of weeks ago.  The boys house father left, leaving me in charge of 20 kids.  Its been huge.  Coming here 3 months ago I didnt think I would so quickly meet such responsibility.  I wake up each morning still a little overwhelmed by it, but rejoicing in the opportunity.  20 childrens lives I can directly impact, what a blessing from God.
 
Its a big day though.  20 kids make their beds at 4.30am, then do their chores.  Once they get to school I have 2 loads of washing to do, then 2 more when they get back from school.  There are constant conflicts I need to resolve, crying kids I need to console, and homework that needs my attention.
 
My best moments are the evenings when we can chill out, and I can sit on one of the boys beds and we just chat.  Ask him how his day was, and we pray........................

I would like to start scrapbooking with them next year.  Photos seem very powerful for them, so I thought it would be a cool activity to make a photo album with each of the boys.  From time to time I find a child crying, saying they cant remember their parents.  No photo of their parents seems to add to their hurt.  So I would like to start a photo album of their new life, their new beginning, so they have some memory of the good times they now enjoy.  If you are at all able to help finanically with this idea, or can send some scrapbooking supplies, please let me know.
 
Jon

My first reaction, was an excited yes, Of course!! I emailed him immediately, we have some left over albums, some packets of pages sitting here waiting, some bits & pieces to add as embellishments, we can certainly help you out.....I was thrilled to be able to share what we had done for our Aussie Kids with Children on the other side of the planet ( I didn't have to think twice to know you would all agree)....... as the day wore on and some dissapointing news about the album supply stressed me, I re-thought my earlier offer of assistance, I berated myself for being so spontaneous, I had given away precious books we needed, where is that whip!!....I calmed down and stoically thought one way or another I would get the books and I trusted you wonderful scrappers would come through with the pages.... still I scolded, "Just think next time before you open your big mouth!"

Later the next day I received another email from Tammy, she thought I might like to see some pictures of the kids via an email Jon had sent earlier in the year.......By the end of it, I was convicted that the offer I had made was not only joyfully spontaneous and the right choice, but that we really could embrace and love without ever touching or knowing and get so much in return......oh and did I mention I was in a puddle of tears........If your brave read on.....Kidding, you will love it.....

X Jules

 

 

I was having a really bad week last week. I guess that just happens from time to time.

I sorta feel bad admitting this, as my last email described the culture shocked I experienced whilst working in America.  Since returning to Colombia, I have been impacted by a reverse culture shock.

I couldn't work out exactly why I´m here. Guess I got a bit homesick. I realised I have a good life back home. I´ve got a good job in Sydney, good friends, some great volunteer work, I have my family.

Man, I could start complaining about being here. I work for free, I have to share a room with a German guy (which isnt really all that bad, just something else to complain about), we eat beans too often, the kids make me play soccer all the time, and then they laugh at me because I cant play soccer, I get tired of speaking Spanish, yadah yadah...

I summed up all that I've sacrificed to be here, and I wasn't sure it was worth it.  Why give up so much for some kids I don't even know?  Why should I even care?

But then it was Aduar´s birthday.  Aduar is the guy who works with the boys in my orphanage.  I suppose the house Dad.  He is a very cool 34 year old, who loves the boys a lot, and they love him even more.

They had been saving up for his birthday for the last month.  They had raised $5, I'm not quite sure how, but they had.  I pitched in $5, and with the 10 they were able to buy 2 large bottles of coke, a bottle of cheap wine, a hat, a pair of socks, balloons and streamers.  I was very impressed.  They fixed the place up very nice.

The party went well, we had a lot of fun dancing to techno music, and some of the boys did some clown acts.

But then we had the 'circle'.  Every boy had to stand in the middle of the circle and say a few words to Aduar.  It went well for the first half of the group.  They thanked him for being good to them.  Then the second half started to get a little more emotional, shedding a few tears.  Then it was Marlon's turn. 

Guess I should tell you a bit about Marlon.  Both his parents died some years ago.  He lived with his grandmother until she sold him to a farmer in Mundo Nuevo.  There he was made to work long hours and only allowed to go to school occasionally.  When he did attend school, he would arrive dirty, sickly, and with the same torn clothes each week.

Anyway, Marlon was removed from that situation and was placed in the orphanage which I'm currently working.  He is a sweet 10 year old boy, full of life and character, with a mischievous smile.

He stood in the middle of the circle, so small, and said to Aduar

¨Que quiero decir es...¨,

[Translated] "What I want to say is....¨, and then nothing.  He stared Aduar down, and then broke into tears.  Not normal tears, more the uncontrollable kind that make you shake.  Aduar picked him up in a hug, and then we all cried.  All 20 of us.  I guess the tears I shed were more out of politeness for the moment, but never could I understand the emotion behind those children's tears.  Never could I understand their significance.

 

Tears shed for the one person in the world who loves them.  For the person who accepts them and defends them, and has lifted them out of the most lonely of lives.

Tears shed at the fact that they have no previous experience of a father with whom to share a birthday.  No father to hold them and cry with them.  Tears for a lost past.

Then I understood why I am here, and why I should care for kids who I hardly know.   Why I can sacrifice a few pleasure in Australia to be here.  These kids have nothing and no one.  True, I miss my family; these kids have none.  I miss my good job in Australia with a decent salary; these children come from living on the streets in abject poverty.

 

 

16 kids with 16 crazy stories.  9 year olds addicted to sniffing shoe glue.  7 year olds whose parents were murdered violently, leaving them orphanged and on the street. 

¨Are you happy here?¨ (expecting a negative response, as I could never understand a child being content in an institution).

¨Here I have what I need, before being here I had nothing.  Yes I am happy¨.

 

 

So pretty much Phillip (the German) and I just help Aduar be their Dad.  We wash the kids clothes every day, serve their meals, play cards and soccer with them every night (soccer being a very intense event).  We take them walking through the jungle, stealing mandarins from trees and splashing through mud. 

 

  

 

My life is surely privileged.  It is so hard to not always think the grass is a little greener; but I thank God for the blessing of working with the children of Colombia.

Comments

[Petrina McDonald]

well that is certainly a 4+ tissue flood of tears you've given me there!!!
makes me realise that I don't even halfway know what "sacrifice" means.
thank you so much for sharing that Julie.

[Cassie Thorne]

I am reminded everyday that we are fortunate here in Australia, my children are yet to know hunger, yet to understand what it is like to have no warmth or clothing or even real pain from a disease. I am so blessed and it is through people like you that I am able to "pay it forward". Thank you for the opportunity.