Cumberland GlobalX: Snapshot of a La Casa Child

Some of the children at La Casa de mi Padre have biological families, often extended family, living in El Salvador. For a variety of reasons they have been unable to care for the child, thus the child being placed at La Casa. Efforts are made to restore family connections, when possible, in hopes that child will know the love of their family.

Today (Thursday) was an opportunity for our team to get a glimpse of just one “biological family” in order to gain a more complete picture of where a La Casa child comes from.

Juan, age 10, is mentally challenged, but is nevertheless a loving and spirited boy longing for the love of his “familia.” Juan was brought to La Casa 10 years ago, shortly after having been abandoned as a baby at a hospital. Nothing was known about Juan’s biological family until a few months ago when Norris, the La Casa social worker, discovered that he has an uncle living in a rural area of El Salvador. Juan was so excited to hear he had a family, and was able to meet his uncle and aunt, along with their 5 children.

So, we boarded our bus and headed north, traveling through the Salvadoran countryside past volcanos, fields of sugar cane, corn, bananas, and small rural towns. We even had to stop a couple of times to wait for cows to get out of the road. They were in no hurry. After winding through a mountainous area near the Honduran border we arrived at the home built by Juan’s uncle 16 years ago. It is a simple adobe home where Juan’s uncle and aunt, Benni and Josefina, live with their children. We got to meet them and participate in delivering a basket of food. The family lives in poverty along with many in this country where need is great and unemployment is over 80% in rural areas. Juan’s uncle Benni earns a small amount of money by doing odd jobs in construction, and the daughters try to help by finding and selling aluminum cans for recycling.

After a memorable visit with Juan’s famila, the Team headed back to San Salvador with a fresh awareness that the majority of the world does not have access to the basic necessities that we take for granted. For a family that can barely afford food to sustain them, the cost of a bus fare into San Salvador to visit Juan is difficult to obtain. Yet, a goal of La Casa’s program includes having the family travel there to visit on occassion. To help them reach that goal, one of our team members gave “Uncle Benni” the $4 bus fare needed to get 2 people to San Salvador which will enable them to actually visit Juan there for the first time. Such a small amount for us, yet a huge blessing to them.

After getting back to San Salvador we went to La Casa where some of the team helped the boys decorate bulletin boards to personalize their freshly painted rooms. They loved getting to personalize their boards with their name as well as a photo we printed of each of them. We were especially excited to give Juan his first photo of his newly discovered “familia” to put on his board. He was so proud and was grinning from ear to ear.

Each of these children have been “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) and

inside of each is a longing to know that they have worth and value. Our prayer is that Juan, and all the other children at La Casa, will know that and will reach each of their “individual” potentials and unique purposes that God has created them for.

The week has gone fast and it’s hard to believe that tomorrow is our last full day here. We will go back to La Casa and finish the improvements at the boys home as well as visit land that La Casa purchased to develop new homes for the children.

~ Craig & Zan Nevels