Hands in Action

During my time here we have been spending alot of time at a woman's shelter that just opened up January. It was the heart of one of the Nationals here. There have been 3 families in the short time I have been here. One young woman with 5 children, another with one small baby, who recently left and one that we picked up from another shelter last week.

We went by the shelter on our way from visiting My Sweet Refuge and there was a Mayan lady with her 4 children waiting for someone to come and get them. She said she had rented a room in another persons house but she did not have transportation. The shelter she was staying in ran out of funding and was closing. We called the Maria who is in charge of the Hands in Action shelter, near our home and she came.

It is like every country in the world...The same problems, just different culture and language. Here we have a woman with 2 girls, ages 7 and 5, a boy 3 and one in the house maybe 2 years old and a baby on the way. No job, no house, no food. My heart breaks for the lack of direction for her. We asked if she wanted to come to the other shelter or take her to the house where she rented a room. She had no answer. She does not know what she wants or how to get there.

My heart broke for this family. I asked the oldest girl about school and she said that she does not go to school because her mom did not tell her to go. Where would they go? What would the mother decide to do with her family? After some time, she decided to go to the shelter, Hands and Action. We loaded the small pick up with everything this family had and moved her to the shelter. One full bed, 5 napsacks of clothes, one potato sack of toys, some plastic dishes and an ax. There was a few other things but not much.

It was a ride I will never forget looking in my rear view mirror and the faces of this family in transition. We stopped and got some sweet bread and unpacked their things in the new room that they would be staying in. The total time to move her was less than 45 minutes from start to finish.

I pray that this family will get the counsel and care they need at Hands and Action. The vision is to teach the woman skills so they can get jobs and the first business is to open a day care at the shelter. In the meantime, they have been a huge blessing to us by helping us with the water filters and going with us to the villages. The children were on summer break but are now back in school.

I pray on what God will have me to do before I leave for these families. Anything and everything is needed but I pray...God what do you want? Please stand in prayer.