I visited an orphanage today. This orphanage has thirty-three kids ages 3-11. Here are some pictures. The poverty really affected me.
This is the entrance.
Walking into gate there is a little path you can see below. The orphanage is the building in the picture. It is one-story.
There are 3 rooms inside. Two rooms for sleeping (one for boys / one for girls) and one large room (that has the ceiling missing from the earthquake) which is used for cooking/playing/eating.
Walking up to the entrance:
The main all-purpose room with no ceiling:
Girls bunk room:
One outdoor, non-private toilet for all 33 kids and staff:
Well for cleaning and bathing (but not for drinking):
Earthquake damage:
The place is ran by one man with the hired help of a daytime lady and a nighttime lady. The orphanage is his home and (as you can see) badly damaged in the earthquake.
He told me that after the earthquake he began taking in orphaned kids from his neighborhood whose parents had died. He says people want him to still accept more, but he can’t, he is maxed out.
He told me he has no regular support, but gifts come throughout the month from individuals and sometimes a church fundraiser. He also visits supermarkets in town and they sometimes give him food nearly expired.
He said that he and the kids pray often for provision, and God provides.
Today God provided them with some extra bread from our bakery. We had bread leftover from yesterday I didn’t want to sell and, after asking around to see if anyone knew of a needy orphanage, one person said he knew of one that was supposedly needy, but he had never visited it personally.
My opinion after seeing it was that they are very needy!
But, how do you help? They are living on faith. As desperate as the situation is, this man is experiencing provisions of God in a real and tangible way (that is what it appears at face value, anyways).
This short video clip by Steve Saint brings home the point about the difficulty in knowing how to help-up, and not hand-out:
Partially paralyzed Steve Saint falls on stage and proves a point about dependency