Smiling Faces & Full Bellies (Thurs. 7/5)

Our first full day in Bolivia lead us to the Sacaba house.  Samuel and Ilsa are a young couple who have taken in two girls for IOU Bolivia in addition to caring for their own.  If you are not familiar with the house parent style of housing IOU Bolivia uses you can find out more by going to www.ioubolivia.org.  Hilda is ten years old and was orphaned by her mother when she was 5 years old.  Fabiola is 18 months was  abandoned by her mother at the health clinic where she was raped by the doctor.  Since the father didn't want responiblity for the baby she was put up for adoption.  The Sacaba‘s three biological children are Ruth who is nine, José who is 4, and Rouss who is 15 month old.  We were able to paint their house as well as spending time with Samuel, Ilsa, and the five children.  When we were leaving we all said goodbye to them the customary Bolivian way; by hugging and placing our cheek against the other person’s while making a kissing noise on both sides of the face.  Even though most of us don’t speak much Spanish and they don’t know much English, we left them feeling like family. 

In the early afternoon, fifteen of us went up to the  to help feed the babies there.  The children at this center are malnourished and spend anywhere from one week to six months being nursed back to health by the staff.  These children range in age anywhere from newborn to four years old which is the cutoff age for children to receive help for this particular clinic.  There is also a daycare for children who have graduated from the clinic so their mothers can work and build up some money so they can feed their child.  Today there were around thirty children being cared for by the clinic.  We helped feed the children their food which is catered specifically for each child based on their nutritional needs.   After the children had finished eating we spent a good deal of time holding and playing with the children.  Most of these children don’t spend much time out of their cribs so being held and played with was something that made each child light up. All of the children are very small for their age and it was heart wrenching to see how close to starving to death they were.  Many of the children would reach for their food before being fed and would have their mouths wide open before we even had time to blow on the spoon.  Each of us seemed to find a child that tugged on our hearts a little harder than the rest to which we gave a little extra love.  Unfortunately many of us don’t know or remember many of the children’s names as we were quickly told the name by the nurse who handed us the child’s food and there were no name tags on their cribs.  When it was time to go it was difficult to see the look of desperation in the children’s eyes pleading us for more physical affection. 

Some of the team members wanted to share in their own words what their time at the nutrition center was like:

The nutrition center was a very heartwarming experience. I saw the eyes of the Lord in each and every child I held. Those kids are very fortunate to get a meal every day and have such wonderful staff that cares about them. All of the kids were from ages 1 month to about 11 months I would assume and they were very adorable kids. Every time I picked up a different kid I felt a warm good feeling. I pray for these kids every night that they become fully healthy and lead to wonderful lives.

-Derek

Walking into the Nutrition Center was a very life changing experience. My heart broke when I saw all of the hungry babies and the understaffed nurses. I held this little boy and he was all smiles, I have never felt that kind of happiness before in my life; it was an amazing feeling! Jacob and I got very attached to a little girl. She was very calm and didn’t cry unless she thought we were going to put her back in her crib. I was almost in tears when we had to leave. I am really glad that I had this experience at the center. Those babies have a special place in my heart. Feeding them was another experience, I have never fed a baby before and after a few spit ups, messes and re-adjusting I got the hang of it! (: For me, life stopped when I was with those babies. 

-Nicole

The group who stayed at the house was able to spend extra time bonding with the family and running a dental clinic for the children who live in the neighborhood.  Lori has training as a dental hygienist and was able to teach some of the team how to show the children the importance of good dental hygiene as well as how to brush their teeth correctly.    First the dental team applied disclosing solution to the children’s teeth which turned the plaque on their bright pink enabling the children to see the amount of plaque on their teeth.  Then they had the children brush all of the disclosing solution with their tooth brush while learning how to brush their teeth correctly.  Finally, the dental team brushed fluoride on every tooth in the child’s mouth and gave each child a toothbrush and a small tube of toothpaste. 

Here is what some members of this group had to say about the experience:

The experience of hanging out with the family was amazing! At first the kids were really shy and didn’t really seem interested, but by the end every single kid was draped around one of our necks laughing and having fun. Cleaning the kids’ teeth was an incredible thing to do. It made us feel like we were truly helping those in need and it is something that I will never forget. It turned out that the father of the family played guitar so we pulled out two guitars and went back and forth “showing” the other some songs and how to play them. My Spanish is pretty limited so it was so fun to communicate with him through music. The hardest part of the day was saying goodbye to the kids that we became closest with, the tears were running on many. Knowing that my little friend José is being watched every second of every day by God makes it easier to say goodbye, but my heart is still heavy knowing what he has to go through in life. All in all day one is a success and I’m more than excited to see what God has in store for the rest of the trip!

-Kyle

Scraping, sanding, painting, playing, and cleaning teeth was what I physically did today. Emotionally I felt blessed to be able to help repaint the family’s house. I felt joy when playing and cleaning the children’s teeth! At first the kids stand at their mother’s side, but once we “tried” talking to them and encouraging them to play with us, they became more open. Showing the kids how to clean their teeth correctly was a bit of a struggle because communicating is how you teach someone how to do something and our Spanish is not the best. We had to demonstrate and try to speak some basic Spanish. The kids did great, out of about 40 kids only 3 kids cried! I was nervous in the beginning, I didn’t want to hurt the kids or make them feel uncomfortable. After a while, I got a hang of teaching them how to brush in small circular pattern, and cleaning their teeth. Hearing everyone’s stories was amazing but sad because the stories were heartbreaking! Learning about their lives and getting attached was why saying goodbye was the hardest thing I did today. While saying goodbye I could feel God opening my heart and eyes. Feeling God working with me is an amazing feeling! 

~Brittany

For an updated version of our prayer requests, go to the “Prayer Request” tab at the top of post. Pictures coming soon!