This week I got a little taste of how hard
this is going to be, the real
challenges. Not the menial stuff
I’ve talked about in the past, like food poisoning or nasty bugs, but the real
pain that comes with fighting for justice in this broken world.
Most of you probably heard through my
facebook about the newborn baby brought to us last Wednesday, sweet Noah. His 18-year old mother brought him to
us after she was raped and refused to have an abortion, causing her parents to
disown her. The mother had absolutely
no way to care for the child as she could hardly care for herself, in addition to
their being “problems at home”(aka abuse) … so after talking and praying with
her she was certain this was best for the child. Although our orphanage is still being prepared, we saw the mother’s desperation and great need, allowed her to sign the child over, and
lovingly embraced the precious boy.
For 5 days we cared for Noah, and despite
sleepless nights from having a 10-day old child, fell in love with him. Maybe it was my fault for letting
myself become so attached to him, though I don’t regret it. I desire to care for each child as my
own, even if it (selfishly) hurts me to eventually see them adopted into a
great family (obviously what is best for the child).
 |
| Precious Noah (11 days old) |
Well on Sunday afternoon we got a knock on
our door- the mother was back. She
was flustered and wanted her child.
As we sat and talked about how it was a normal response to miss her
baby, she needed to remember why she brought him to us in the first place. Nothing had changed in her situation. Well about 15 minutes into our
conversation, the police showed up.
The mother ran in fear into one of the back rooms and begged us not to tell
them she was here. We were
confused, we didn’t know who called the police.
We spoke with the police and we learned the
biological father’s parents- remember the father raped her- filed a missing
child report and their investigation led them to our home. We learned the other man with the
police, the mother’s boyfriend, has been abusing the mother. No wonder the mother was terrified-
absolutely terrified as she cried and begged us not to let anyone know she was
here.
After calming her down, we had to allow 1
of 4 police officers to come in and talk.
The officer demanded we release the baby to the mother, and then the mother,
baby, boyfriend, and police would go to the biological father’s parents house
to stay until things were sorted out!!!
I could hardly believe what we were hearing. So we did what we had to in that moment. The police couldn’t care less regarding
the paperwork the mother signed about granting us full custody of her child
(which our attorney previously told us would be sufficient).
All the locals that know the system here
keep saying “you don’t want to get involved in this, it’s a really messy
situation.” But that’s why we’re
here. God has called us to fight
for the justice of the oppressed here in Tena, so that’s what we will do. We went back to the government office
Monday and were told there is nothing we can do about this case… but little do
they realize how big our God is.
Although this one situation hurts me beyond
words, it also fires me up. I’m
reminded this is a fight. And the
fight isn’t against social workers or government systems, but against those
powers binding people into chains (Ephesians 6:12), causing women to be blind
to their self-worth, causing men to crave power over women to the point where
they go to abusive processes to “prove” their dominance, and causing
defenseless children to be victims of their broken homes.
Anyway, I say all that to ask for your
prayers for this situation. We
want what is best for everyone, especially Noah and his mother. My fear is that they are back in an
abusive home with minimal food/nutrition/clothing/etc.
And we ask for prayers beyond this case,
that we would start to understand how we can gain custody of children from the
moment they are brought to us. We
take our role seriously and are not merely “babysitters” for children until the
police force us to return children to their disgusting and heartbreaking
circumstances. God has called us
to “seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the
widow…” (Isaiah 1:17).
And finally, just an update on Juanito- we
are still praying and believing for him, too. Since my last blog we have made a surprise visit to his home
to check on him. He seemed to be
ok although we are still very concerned for his safety. With the exception of the drunk uncle
that kept insisting I was a doctor (which did add some humor to the tense
situation), the family was not overjoyed to see us and once again, we left
empty handed. We will visit them
again soon to bring more food and check on Juanito.
God bless for now! Dios te bendiga,
Tanya
For the last few weeks we have all been
working very hard on finishing documents and working on the orphanage, striving
to reach our goal of having the building up in about 10 days. From building doors to landscaping, and
painting walls to building gazebos, things are finally coming together. Although we have many more days of hard
work ahead, our work load will be lightened this week as we welcome a World Challenge group from Sydney,
Australia, whom I’m sure will be such a huge blessing to our ministry.
It’s also a blessing to welcome Kayla, the most recent long-term volunteer for our team. She arrived 2 weeks ago and already has been so wonderful
to have here! Not only will
she be a huge help for the ministry, but I’m personally thankful to have
another friend my age to pursue God’s purpose for this city.
And finally, I’m so thankful that a few of
us found time to sneak away for a day and take a rafting trip with some local
friends here. Since Tena is a
whitewater rafting capital of the world (where Ecuador has more rivers per
square kilometer than any other country), it seemed appropriate :) It was so good to see the Amazon from a different
perspective, and just sit back and admire this incredible country… 
