Just returned from my trip to Honduras where I visited the orphanage that Light and Love Home has been sponsoring. Unlike children in other orphanages who have single parents or seek care due to poverty, the children in this orphanage are without both mother and father. They are children with neither parents nor relatives. In a typical year, only those who have grown old enough to leave the orphanage would return to visit the children (however, it is a very rare event). The house parents of the orphanage live in their own home elsewhere visit the children every day. However, it is the older sisters who are the ones that take turns to resolve all matters whether great or small. Taking care of their home with everything arranged in order while looking after their own studies and that of the many younger brothers and sisters is not easy as there are a total of 25 children in the home.
To support themselves financially, they produce baked goods to sell at the local market or to deliver to specific customers. Each time, they have to spend at least 3 hours to complete the task on hand. It is definitely not a hobby to them where they make light refreshments while joking around. When we talked to them, their hands did not stop working. One of our team members tried kneading the bread dough like them. It did not take long until she became tired. Nevertheless, the children in the orphanage work like this at least once a week. This is just one snapshot of their lives. Most precious is that they feel they have a family.
剛從洪都拉斯回來,探望光愛中心所資助的孤兒院。他們不是單親或只因家中貧困而住進孤兒院,他們是沒有父母、親人的孩子,一年之中也許只有成年離院的兄姊回來探望,而那樣的機會也只有2%。孤兒院的「爸、媽」住在他們自己房子,每天都來看望他們;院中的姊姊們輪值照料各樣大小事情,看見他們把院舍——他們的家照管得井井有條,又要兼顧自己學業,又要兼顧那麼多的弟妹(全院共有25個孩子),實在不容易。
為了幫補生活,他們還自己造麵包、曲奇,拿到市場賣或外發給指定顧客。他們每次要花上三小時或以上才能完成手上工作,絕不是興趣班,弄些茶點鬧著玩。只見他們的手不停搓,與我們說話時也沒有停手;我們的成員也試著搓,不一會已覺得累,而她們每周最少有一天要這樣工作,這些只是家中生活的點滴。最寶貴他們覺得自己有一個家。
- Violin