Horses for Orphans, Brazil - Day 1: Arrivals

So we are here.

At Betel Orphanage in Brazil. It is so far from home! We flew from Heathrow to Atlanta, and that took 8 hours. And then we flew from Atlanta to Brasilia, and that took another 9 hours. And then we travelled by bus for 2 hours. But now we are here.

The familiar strangeness of the place hits me as we turn down the dirt track towards the farm. I have heard so much of this place and the Horses for Orphans project these last two years, seen so many photographs, dreamed so many dreams. And now we are here. This is not just another dream. The heat and the sounds of children reassure me of this. In my mind and in my dreams they never speak Portugese – even though I know this is their language! Now Portugese is what I hear all around me; in the voices of the children as they call to each other, in the shy greetings of each boy; in the conversations between the adults.

I find that I have to discipline and manage the explosion of joy and love inside as I meet each boy, reminding myself that while I might feel that know them, they do not know me. This is the nature of our modern world – I have seen so many photos of the children in the horse project, and heard Ingela tell of their adventures, discovering and mastering horsemanship. While designing and illustrating the Journals that the children use, I drew many of the boys from those same photographs. When you stare at a photograph for a long while, you do begin to feel that you know the person in that photo. The more so if you pray for them.

We meet Pastor Ernesto. He too feels familiar. Except that he is so much taller than in the photo. The girls and I have often prayed for him by name. He welcomes us to Betel, and tells us that he doesn’t speak English. And we do not really, in spite of our efforts to learn, speak Portugese - yet. So we smile at each other and stand in a comfortable circle and listen to Ingela explain where we come from and who we are. 

And then we go for lunch. Again, that peculiar familiarity. We have seen the big dining room before. Now we collect our plates and fill them with rice and beans and vegetables. The food is simple but good. We eat with Ingela and Richard and the boys who came along to collect us from the airport. The rest of the children ate lunch earlier.

After lunch we head back to our house, which we are sharing with the rest of the girls on the team – Mel. Emma, Rebecca. Rebecca is from Sweden, the rest of us come from England.... although Ingela makes a point of introducing Kate and Julie and me as the South-Africans. Thankfully we collapse on our beds; we have a couple of hours to rest before we meet with Ingela and Richard to discuss the plans and objectives for our time here.

In the afternoon we go for a walk around Betel with Emma, meeting people and hugging children along the way. Because this is her fifth trip to Betel, she is well positioned to show us around. This is such a pretty place and so much has been done to make it so. There are flowering trees and bushes along the well-kept pathways. Tall Eucalyptus trees stand in soldierly rows, guarding the edges of the horse paddocks and arenas. The children live in various houses on the farm. There is a church, and a big dining room, and a school for the younger children. To our astonishment we come across an ostrich, lying all by herself on the grass. Neil offers her a piece of fruit, but with a queenly sideways turn of the head she declines to associate with us. There are also ducks and geese, and dogs and cats and rabbits and cattle... and, of course, the horses.

We wander down to the arena. Horses are grazing along the sides. We recognise some of them from photographs we have seen. Like the ostrich, they are not particularly interested in us. They are far too busy with their own very important affair – grazing. We see Richard’s well constructed fencing. I remember when they were putting in the first poles to build all this. Now it is here in front of me – solid, real.

We note that some of the bolts are loose or missing in the fencing. One of the maintenance tasks for the team. Neil offers to do this job. Julie and Kate note that the mucking out has not been done. Normally this would be done by the boys, but there are a few changes taking place, and right now it is not clear who should be doing what tasks when. The girls volunteer to clean the arena. So already we have some ideas of things we can do to be useful here!

Back at our house we make tea and then Richard and Ingela give us a summary of the current status of the project. They explain the schedule we will follow and how we will fit in with the orphanage routine. They also tell us some of the things they would like us to do while we are here – teach horsemanship, teach English, help with the revisions of the handbook in both English and Portugese, do maintenance tasks. And most importantly, to pray and seek God for direction for the next phase of Horses for Orphans. This particular project has been running for three years now, and it is time to look at expansion and development.

We go back to the dining room for supper. Same as lunch – rice and beans and salad. I sit with Aurimar and some of the girls. Aurimar is teaching me one sentence of Portugese at a time. So far I have learned to say: ‘What is your name?’ and ‘My name is Cathy’. He is strict about pronunciation, getting me to say it exactly as he does.

In the evening we spend a little more time with Ingela and Richard and 20 year old Reginaldo, who up until now has led the horse project. Reginaldo was one of the orphanage boys. Three years ago Ingela began training him in horsemanship and since then he has led the project, caring for the horses and teaching the children. In spite of his youth, he has done a great job. He has a wonderful way with the children and it is clear that he is deeply loved and trusted by them. Sadly, the leadership is less supportive. It seems that they would prefer an older, more experienced person in his place.

After tea and chats, it is off to bed. We are relieved to find ourselves there! We are very tired.

Preparations

The countdown has begun in earnest now that there is just over a week to go! On 21 October we fly to Brasilia, Brazil. Arriving on the morning of 22 October, Kate and I will be at Betel for two weeks. Julie Anne is staying for three weeks.

Kate and I return to the UK at the beginning of November so that I can be present for my eldest daughter Jenni's university graduation. And straight after that I am on an aeroplane to Bangkok, arriving in Cambodia on the evening of 11 November. I will spend a week participating in Operation Justice and will stay on for a few days afterwards as well.

I am excited about all this, but right now there are a lot of things to arrange with regard to our home, other family members and our animals - dogs, horses, geckos, turtles and water creatures - all of whom need to be looked after in our absence! I am very blessed to have my PA and friend Leanne Ferguson coming to stay at our home while we are away.

Please pray for peace and properly focused prioritisation in the run-up to our departure.

A Request

Dear Friends

 As you know, I went to Cambodia earlier this year, to look at the issues of child trafficking and prostitution and to see if there was a way in which I could help. This trip was very much an expression of my heart, as I have always loved children and have been dedicated to promoting their well-being in whatever way I can. Children are the future of our nations and of our generation.

For most of the preceding years this love was expressed in the context of home education – supporting and encouraging parents in their task, running my website and its associated discussion lists at www.Christian-unschooling.com, and raising my own children as well as I possibly could.

As my own children mature, I find myself more able to devote attention to other issues pertaining to children. I have been involved with Ingela Larsson Smith’s ‘Horses for Orphans’ project for the last 18 months or so, helping with the editing of her book and creating Journals for the children. In October, finally, a great desire will be met, as Julie Anne, Kate and I travel to Brazil to help with the project for two weeks, and to meet some of the children whom we have loved from afar.

One week after I return to England, I leave for my second trip to Cambodia with XP. Once again I will be involved with whatever is needed to assist Cambodian Hope Organisation in their objectives – things like interacting with children in the villages and with young prostitutes at the Karioke bars, visiting patients in the HIV and TB wards, distributing gifts to the people living and working on the rubbish dumps, and helping at Safe Haven, the children’s home in Poipet.

As before, I would like to take gifts for the children and young women. I also hope to have time, whilst there in the environment, to consider more closely the possibility of setting up a preschool/mums and tots group in a village... the long term dream is to see similar groups in all the villages around Poipet. Obviously there are many steps to be taken between dreaming a dream and seeing it reality.

You can follow along with my experiences and discoveries on this blog. Please pray for me, and for the projects with which I am involved. 

I would also appreciate it if you would consider supporting these ventures financially. You can do so via the Donations button below.

• Flights are expensive, and I would love to be able to go to Cambodia 3 or 4 times a year, and to Brazil as often as possible. My husband Craig and I are also committed to going to Pattaya, Thailand for the annual Extreme Love outreach to prostitutes. Our next trip will be in March 2013.
• In Cambodia, I met a young man with a great gifting for children’s ministry – he was one of the interpreters hired by XP to assist us on our last trip. Narith has determined to study English so that he can become more useful to this work. I would love to help him realise this goal by helping to pay for his studies. I hope too that he will be part of the preschool project of which I am dreaming.
• I am interested in setting up a preschool/mums and tots group in one of the villages of Poipet and resources are needed to start this project. If you want to know more about this particular project, please contact me.
• There is a wonderful fundraising initiative called 'Break the Cycle' - a cycle race from Siem Reap to Poipet, and it would be great if Craig, who is a keen cyclist, could participate in it sometime.
• It is a real privilege to bring gifts to the poorest of the poor – the people who live and work around the rubbish dumps of Poipet and Siem Reap. Last time we brought toys and clothing for the children, and toiletries for the adults. The currency exchange rate works very much in our favour, as our currencies go a long way in these countries.
• Finally, I have a dream. There was a young woman I met in one of the Karioke bars in Poipet. Her name was Siam. She touched my heart in a huge way and I have not been able to forget her.  I hope to find her when I go back to Poipet in November. And maybe, just maybe, if I could help sponsor her rehabilitation, she could go to CHO and discover a new way to live.

More about XP’s ‘Operation Justice’ here:

http://xpmissions.com/index.php/operation-justice

More about Cambodian Hope Organisation (CHO) here:  http://www.cambodianhopeorganization.org/

More about 'Break the Cycle' here: 
http://www.breakthecycle.org.au/cambodia/

More about Horses for Orphans in Brazil here:

http://www.horsesfororphans.com/

Shattered

My son painted this picture after he heard about Operation Extreme Love, Thailand. He wrote the following comment about it:

"This was the final piece for my final major project for the first year of my college course. 

I normally prefer not to tell people the story behind the art work. I like people to be able to view the art work and come up with their own interpretations. The portrait has a story of its own to tell. But I decided to share it this time. Please spend some time looking at the art work for a little bit before reading this though.

Before I started painting this art work, someone told me about the sex trafficking industry in Thailand. A lot of  young girls are forced into it and are completely unprotected. I thought about how they should be kept safe inside their parents, partners, friends, or families protection but are not. They are exposed, abused, damaged and hurt. While painting this painting I had this in the back of my mind.I wanted the portrait to be beautiful but at the same time to express the great sadness, loss, pain, and abandonment the girl is feeling. The tears are of great sorrow. 
The piece is called 'Shattered'."

Beautiful Things....

What's Next?

• I hope to go - along with my two youngest daughters - to Betel Orphanage in Brazil in October. Our good friends Richard and Ingela Larsson Smith have founded a unique ministry called Horses for Orphans, and we would love to be involved as team members for a week or two. More information here: http://www.horsesfororphans.com/teams.htm

•  I want to go back to Cambodia with XP in November, for the next Operation Justice outreach. More information here: http://www.xpmissions.com/cambodia_outreaches_xpteam.html

• I have also had some thoughts about a project for a 'mums & little ones' group, incorporating preschool education with CHO... but this is still just an idea at this stage. I will let you know of developments as and when they occur.

• In February/March 2013 Craig and I plan to return to Cambodia and Thailand with XP for the next Operation Justice and Operation Extreme Love outreaches.

Meanwhile, please pray for me regarding the above points, and also that I would have sensitivity and clarity in hearing and discerning what God wants me to do when and how. I am very certain that this is just the beginning.

If you would like to contribute towards the costs associated with doing these trips, you can do so with Paypal (below).

Justice is...

giving a choice to those who have no choice,

and a voice to those who have no voice...
~ Bonnie Roye