Forgotten No More

Can you even imagine being in this situation…your father has died. Then your mother dies, leaving you orphaned. You have no extended family to take you in. You have nowhere to go. You have no one to look after you. You are only 11 years old. And you have the responsibility of your 9-year-old sister. You have no identity because you have no documents, not even a birth certificate. You and your sister are taken by the police to a transitional children’s center. Here children are placed for a short time while representatives from Social Action search for your family. But they find no one for you. They search for an orphanage to place you in. But all of the orphanages are either full or they don’t take in older children. So, you remain at this center… watching other children come and go after being reunited with family or taken in by an orphanage. You wait and you wait for someone to come for you. But no one comes. Each day, you wake up, make your bed, shower and complete your chores. The rest of your day is spent waiting. You cannot go to school and study. You don’t go to church. The only time you leave the walls surrounding the center are when you are sick and must go for a consult at the hospital. No one thinks of you. No one cares about you. No one loves you best of all. 

 This was what Faustino and Beatriz lived for two years. They were forgotten. No one even really knew they existed. They did develop a friendship with another boy with a similar story. France arrived at this transitional center around the same time when he was 10 years old. He was born in South Africa and his Mozambican mother brought him back to Mozambique. She died leaving him orphaned with no family. So, France waited for a placement somewhere along with Faustino and Beatriz day after day. 

I cannot even comprehend the helplessness and hopelessness of being abandoned and left like these children. We don’t think about such things because we do not ever come into direct face-to-face contact with such children. In fact, those of us living in the first-world nations will probably never in our lifetime even meet an orphaned child. We go about our lives never giving much, if any thought, to orphaned and abandoned children. Let me tell you from personal experience, it is life altering to meet such children. It changes your whole outlook on life and what is important. Even after 10 years of working with orphaned and abandoned children, I still am emotionally devastated each time a new child is brought to my attention.  

It was heart wrenching to sit across from Faustino, Beatriz and France at a cement table and listen to their stories. Their greatest desire was to attend school. Faustino's dream is to work and have a job. Beatriz wants to be a teacher. France dreams of being a pastor. Their soft brown eyes took me in. The downcast expression on their faces conveyed their thoughts. They thought we also would not want them. They thought we also would leave them at this center and forget about them as we went on with our lives. But they thought wrong. They were about to have their whole world transformed. 

 Having heard their stories, we shared our story with the children. We explained who we were and why we were there. We invited them to come with us to be raised in one of our Sunshine Houses as a part of our family. Each one gave us a blank stare. We repeated to them that they were welcome if they chose to come. They stared back in disbelief. They looked at each other. They looked again at us. Again we told them they were welcome to come with us. This time, they responded and they eagerly accepted. Yet they still sat on the cement bench and didn’t move. So, we told them to go pack their belongings and say their goodbyes to the people who had cared for them at the center. They looked at us, looked at each other, and looked back at us again…and like the shot of a gun, they were off! Up they went to hug their primary caretaker and shake hands with the men who were the groundskeepers of the center, all of whom were seated within hearing distance following our entire conversation. The children headed off to pack, their primary caregiver right on their heels trying to keep up…brushing tears from her eyes.

 Each child showered and dressed in their best outfit and emerged from the dormitory with fully stuffed book bags. The children were offered lunch but not one of them was able to eat. They were too excited to go. After they returned their still full plates to the kitchen, we took a group photo before heading to the car. 

 Their primary caretaker walked with them all the way and helped to load them in the van, tears in her eyes. 

We reassured her, sharing that she had cared for them well and it was evident that she loved them. We promised her we would continue her good care for them. Satisfied, she moved away from the van and joined the group of men seeing them off. We waved goodbye to the group and began the hour trip back to Matola. 

 The children chattered together in the back of the van during the trip. I couldn’t understand what they were saying as they were speaking in Shongan. Again, I tried to imagine what they must be thinking and feeling. For sure, they were excited. The tone of their voices and the broad smiles on their faces every time I turned around to take a peek at them revealed this. As we arrived in Matola and began the drive through the community to their new home, it got very quiet in the back of the van. No one was speaking anymore. Reality was setting in. 

 We arrived at their home and were greeted first by Antonio, the little boy who lives at our first Sunshine House. He heard we were bringing children and wanted to be the first to meet them. I am sure he was happy to see two boys emerge from the van. Antonio, Vicente and Helio are for sure outnumbered by the 9 other girls in our houses. No sooner had Antonio greeted them than their new mother, Catarina, appeared around the corner of the wall. She was beaming! She had been waiting for two months for children to fill her home. She greeted each child with a kiss on each cheek as praised God for bringing these children to her. 

We proceeded to show the children the house and to make up their beds with fresh, new linens. Antonio was right there helping us with the work, but the three new children were drawn to the television in the living room…a very new and alluring attraction for them. The time arrived for us to leave Catarina and the children so they could get to know each other and spend their first night together as a family. Smiles were still plastered on every face but one…Faustino. His face was blank. He was doing his best to stay strong, but soon the tears began to stream down his sweet cheeks. I sat next to him with my arm around him consoling him, encouraging him, and loving him. I am so thankful he had his sister and his friend with him. They are a huge support to each other, so I asked them both do their best to help him adjust. We took a family photo and left the family to their evening. 

 These children and their new mother were in my continual thoughts for the remainder of the evening. I woke up at 3 am thinking of them again. So, I got up and prayed for them and all that is ahead of us. First thing this morning, I headed to their house excited to see how they were. As I parked my car, they all came running out to greet me. In fact, I couldn’t even get out of the car. They all tumbled in with smiles and greetings. They were joined by Madalena, Antonio’s sister at the first house. Like Antonio, she wanted to get to know the new children. Our Sunshine children are one big extended family. They may live in different houses, but they are brothers and sisters and support one another in the most beautiful ways.  

Catarina caught me up with how the night went. The two younger children went to bed early, exhausted from the full day they had. She then had the opportunity to sit on the sofa with Faustino and watch a film on television. It was quality time that left him feeling full and ready to sleep. All three children slept soundly and woke up to a new day and a new life ahead of them. 

 Faustino, Beatriz and France are no longer alone. They now are part of a family. They will grow up knowing they are a part of not only our Sunshine family, but they are part of God’s family. They will know that they have a heavenly Father who will never leave them or forsake them. They have a heavenly Father who saw them and their needs. He kept them just for us. They are now our treasures. We are three children richer today. These precious children are forgotten no more.