We walked down to Irma and Jose's house, had a lovely breakfast of eggs, bananas and arapas. An arapa is a flat, round, heavy pancake type bread, made of corn and flour. We've eaten quite a few arapa's while in Medellin and disliked them every time. Tasted similar to a styrofoam cup. However, these were fresh and served with honey. Thanks Irma for changing our perspective on the arapas! Yum!
After breakfast we returned to our rooms and had a short nap. We were sooo tired! Bruce got in the shower. Wait! You must first know about our bathroom. Everything in the bathroom is in it's original state. The potties were tiny and since they've not been used in years and years, they are covered with some kind of black stuff with no seats or lids. The shower was a small area where they used to bathe the children. It had a spout, with a hole that allowed the water to flow out. The water was cold. Bruce didn't care. He was going to shower. I took a bird bath...thank God for baby wipes! While Bruce was in the shower, we thought it would be a good idea to also bathe Abi. She was covered in sweat and dirt...very gross. So he held her in his arms while I bathed her. She was screaming!!! I was walking out of the bathroom to get a towel and BOOM....I took one step on the concrete floor, in my flip flops and fell flat on my back. I suppose, I tried to break my fall with my left arm, wrist and hand but it didn't work. The cold, water is flowing out. Abi is screaming because she HATES the shower and cold water. Bruce is yelling at me that he already has a towel in the bathroom and I'm laying flat on my back in great pain!! Seriously, could this have just happened? Bella comes in the room to find me crying from the pain and yelling at Bruce that I've fallen. She's such a comforter. She runs to me, leans down, holds my face in her precious hands and says, "Mommy, are you okay?" Of course, I sucked it up and said, "Yes, sweetie. I just fell but will be fine." Bruce still in the shower with no clue as to what happened...UGH!!!! Bella told him I had fallen. I got up, got Abi a towel, took her and went on with life. I wanted to bawl! I wanted to go home. I wanted to leave this "mission" trip and go back to Hotel Paris in Bogota!
We were all done. All of us were melting down and wanting to escape back to a place of comfort and rest. That wasn't going to happen...
We spent the morning on a tour of the facility. I had my video camera out and we got everything on film. :) Andrew and Irma showed our family around the orphanage facility and explained each room. Irma spoke in Spanish and Andrew interpreted. We were able to see the room that Ms. Nancy stayed in and her co worker, Ms. Edna. Both of these women gave their lives for ours and to bring glory to God. Both of these women, along with others, changed the lives of the orphans (including me) forever. We got to see the little cups and plates that were used to serve the orphans. We saw the room Irma and her 10-15 children were in and the area where she washed all their bottles. She had a couple favorites, although that wasn't allowed. She especially loved Linus. She said he was very dear to her heart. After we toured the orphanage facility and asked questions, we went to a warehouse type area. Irma allowed us to scrounge through many old items. I told her she could have the biggest estate sale and make tons of money off these items but she said in Colombia no one wanted antiques. She said she had a man come by once to give her a price on a specific item and he was willing to give her .50 per pound...no matter what the item. Not a good idea. I so wish some of you, American's, could get your hands on some of these items. We could make a fortune off this stuff and then give the funds to help support the school! Irma opened one very large, tin, canister, that read, "Infant Paradise, Villavicencio, Meta, Colombia." It was used to send items from America to the orphanage. She had many of these huge barrels. One of the barrels was FULL of toys that the kids played with while at the orphanage. Mostly balls. Another barrel was full of Sunday school items. They were given to Ms. Edna to use as tools to teach the children about Jesus in 1954. Irma said she was still using those items...unbelievable!
After our tour of the orphanage facility, we walked over to the new area of buildings. The walk was through fire ants, over rocks, tall grass and about 10 feet from cows roaming around. These buildings were for Victory Christian School and a church. Irma runs the Christian school. Her son-in-law, Richard, who is married to Naicy (Joanna's sister), is the pastor of the church. The family is very involved in the ministry and lives on all of this property. They are always together and seem to love it! The church and school facility is beautiful. It was a blessing to see what God has provided for these beautiful Colombians in Villavicencio.
Our day ended with a nice dinner. Bruce, Andrew and Samuel (Jose & Irma's son) went to Exito (much like a Walmart) and got beef to cook. Samuel is a very nice young man...sweet spirit, easy to be around, late 20's and also the Daddy of Sarah! Bella and Sarah became friends today. Sarah is 6 and bigger in size than Bella. Dinner was served around 9pm...beef with onions, baked potatoes, the yucca plant sliced and fried (like french fries) and salad. Very good.
We ended up taking showers in Irma's house. The water was still FRIO!!!!! Very frio/cold but we managed. We were so filthy at this point, hot and sweaty, we just had to do what it took to become clean. It was interesting, to say the least, to help the kids take cold showers...eat dinner at 9pm...walk down to our "casa"...sleep in hot rooms with bugs flying around...and hope for good rest....gotta do what you gotta do, right?!
Sweet memories made today in Villavicencio. Andrew's extended family here are loving, accepting and beautiful!!! Glad we persevered through the difficulties and allowed ourselves to make treasured memories today.
1 comment:
you will need a trip to the spa upon your return...massage...mani pedi the works to recover from your adventures!
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