Roblealto

Roblealto was definitely one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Charissa and I both felt so blessed to have had the opportunity to work there. We worked at the center for 1 month. I could write a pages about it but since I´m already in Chile and have tons to blog about I better stick with the highlights.
What a learning experience. First of all we would wake up early each morning (Eat Gallo Pinto, rice and beans, for breakfast) and head to the bus stop. Standing there was always a good time. The bus stops are usually unmarked, just some random spot on the road. If you don´t know where to stand the bus won´t pick you up. There are no street names or house numbers. Everyone goes by land marks. It could be a perfectly sunny day, yet the locals would be carrying umbrellas. We didn´t understand it at first. It was the rainy season. The weather can change in an second. From blue sky to torrential down pour. We were almost always caught off guard. You are soaked to the skin in a matter of minutes. Waiting for the bus on the side of the street makes you a prime target for puddle splash. Every car, bus, truck, motorbike that drove by would send a shower of water in our direction. It was useless to try stay dry... there wasn´t enough room to back away from the edge of the road. We just took it for granted and got used to it. I actually loved the rain. Another thing we noticed standing there was the pollution. There is definitely no air-care. It seemed like every car and truck sent out the blackest exhaust. You notice how much you breath in when you go to blow your nose... black. :) Once we got to Roblealto we´d fall into our routine. Charissa and I took turns working with the babies and the 3 to 5 year old. No one spoke English so I was forced to learn the basics. During the kids nap time I´d spend time with the older guys, playing soccer, skipping or just hanging out. We got so attached to our kids. The cool thing is we can sponsor them when we get back home. Charissa and I really felt like we could be of the most service if we just took the dirty jobs away from the staff, that way they could do more necessary tasks. It was funny because I prayed that God would give me the dirty jobs... the answer came that morning. That day at work I got to change diapers and wash the toilets. I remember going home feeling like I´d really done my bit... taken on the worst jobs. I was soon to be proven wrong. The next day a kid barfed on me and so I got to clean that up. Later that day there was a dead rat found in the play ground. Cleaning that up was pretty grim. Crawling with maggots. (Don´t think Roblealto is dirty though. Keeping the place and the kids clean is really important to the staff, they do a great job.) That night I figured... now I´d really done the worst job. Haha, nope. The next day my group of kids broke out with lice. That day was spent picking lice. (Thanks to God´s protection, neither Charissa or I got lice) I just had to laugh. All my expectations were just so blown away... and every time we start to get proud our little bubble gets popped. The thing is, we only helped out for one month. We still felt like we did so little, more than anything our eyes were opened to the needs Roblealto is meeting. I really want to support them from Canada when we get back. The staff are doing so much more than us everyday. Over all we really had an amazing time. I got to teach art to the older kids. It brought tears to my eyes to see how excited they were with their work. I´ve never taught such keen students. Nor have I taught such a large group. There must have been about 40 kids. It was so cute to see all their imagination. Even though the group was large I tried to spend time with each kid. After a month we were both so attached to the staff and kids. There are 150 kids at the center and we pretty much know them all by name. It was so sad to leave. We really got to see what a difference a little love can make. The night before our last day of work, Charissa and I stayed up till 2:00am making each staff member a cartoony card about our time with them and baking cookies for them. When we got to work.... Surprise!! They had decorated a room with balloons and a good bye banner for us. It was so sweet. We don´t know how they managed to get time off to come and eat cake with us and decorate the room. We couldn´t believe it. They are so busy it would have been so hard to make the time for it. We were all so sad to say good bye to each other. They loved their cards... everyone was laughing at the little details and inside jokes. We made a funny mistake on the bible verse we wrote inside. We wanted to write the verse in the end of Proverbs about the woman of worth. The part that says ´who can find a woman of worth for her price is far above rubies´. We accidentally put ´for her price is far above precious legs´ instead of ´precious rubies... in Spanish of course. (The Spanish words for rubies and legs are just one letter different. Anyway... they got a good laugh.) One of Charissa´s little babies was actually crying so hard, he wouldn´t let her go. The main help we can be to Roblealto is prayer.

Prayer Requests for Roblealto:

- Pray for Kiani. She´s a Roblealto child. Her mom, who is working to keep them off the street, has cancer.

- Pray for Kevin. He comes from an abusive background and is really scared to let anyone touch him. Thanks to the loving staff we already saw a change in him. He´s only 5 years old.

- Pray that the staff will have wisdom when it comes to deciding what kids to let come into Roblealto. There are very few openings and tons of kids who want to get in. They´d love to admit all the kids but there isn´t the funding or space right now. Just pray that they have wisdom to accept the kids who need it the most.

- Pray that Roblealto staff can build another Day Care Center. That way they can take 250 more kids. The project plans are already there, but they will need $2 million to build and fund it. Different Churches around the world are each trying to raise a chunk of the money.

- Pray that they can find 2 more instructors for the 15 de Setiembre Center. That way 30 more kids can come in. They need instructors who will do the job as well as work together with the staff, the Roblealto family.

- Pray that the organization can raise $200,000 for another 2 homes. The homes are for kids who are either orphans or who´s parents don´t care for them. Also pray that they can find more ´Home Parents´.