Rich & Ramona WagnerSeptember 23, 2008We’ll start our update with Beltrán. Beltrán was found next to his dead mother who had been an alcoholic most of her life. No one knows how long he had been alone with her body. He is five years old, has Spina Bifida, and is smaller than our one-year-old grandson Ryan. His eyes are blue. But not really. They are covered with something like a cataract. He can’t talk, feed himself or walk. But he loves music and he will laugh and giggle when he hears it. Instead of allowing him to be left to die on the street or in a field, we have taken him into the Casa Josefina, our home for children in crisis. We will give him the best medical care that we can provide, given where we are. He is already being showered with love, something that is new for him. He seems to respond to it, but it’s really hard to tell. What will be his future? Only our Lord knows. But we refuse to leave him to just die, alone and unwanted in some field. Fabiola is the latest baby to come into our Josefine House. Her mother is a 19-year-old “working girl” who just didn’t want a baby. Especially one with Down’s syndrome. She is approximately a year and a half old, but her size is that of a two-month-old baby. She was legally taken from her mother who just didn’t want to take care of her, or invest any money in food, medical care or diapers. She was close to death from starvation when she was taken from her mother. She is starting to gain a little weight and seems to be a little more aware that something is going on around her. It’s really hard to tell what actually is getting through to her. One thing that we have learned from both of these two new children is that they both respond very positively to being held and loved on. It’s something neither of them has ever had before. Remember Evelyn? Evelyn was the first baby to come into our Josefine House. She came to us unwanted, physically dehydrated and hungry. Skinny silent and unresponsive. Boy has that changed! She is now well fed (maybe too well fed) happy and laughing most of the time. The couple we had taking care of her have decided that they want to keep her, so we have started the long legal process to make this happen. Rosita is the 13-year-old girl that came to us as a result of a medical brigade we did with 1st Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga. Still a little apprehensive around men and boys, she is starting to smile every now and again, is making girlfriends, and is doing well in school. Please pray for the children that God brings our way, that we may show them the same love that He shows us.
We decided when we started the Josefine House that we wanted to try to make it as self-sufficient as possible. We also wanted the option of giving a breeding set of guinea pigs or rabbits to extremely needy families in very remote areas. The purpose is to introduce protein into a mostly corn and potato diet, to help improve their overall health. We started with about 10 guinea pigs. It seems we now have a farm, with over 50 guinea pigs, bees, chickens, rabbits, a milk cow and a calf that we are raising for meat. We have just started raising the rabbits. They will provide more meat but aren’t totally culturally acceptable. We figure if the kids just grow up eating rabbit they’ll never know the difference. We could just tell them it’s chicken, like they did to me in elementary school when we had fried “chicken” once a week in the school cafeteria. The Water Filtration Projects We have moved ahead with providing clean drinking water to those most at risk. In a small village called Altiva Canas we have built three concrete block platforms, each with an 1100-liter water tank on top. These three tanks were installed in homes for children. Cuna Urpicha has 31 children from 6 months to 3 years of age; Hogar Comunitario Carrusel has 30 children, 3 to 6 years of age; and Hogar Comunitario Yachaywasi has 33 kids, 6 to 12 years of age. We have also installed 2 2500-liter tanks in the community center that can be accessed by anyone who lives there. The water project is accompanied by an education program that will teach about drinking clean water, washing hands, brushing teeth, alcoholism and worms. We purify the water in the larger tanks, and then use that clean water to fill the 3 tanks in the children’s homes. We have had an absolutely miserable time trying to send large files and newsletters like this one over the Internet. Between a dying computer and the saturated high speed Internet here, we have to limit file size. So instead of putting pictures in this letter and the one MTW that will send out, we have put them on our Photo Bucket page that is listed below. We want to thank all of the people who have given to help us buy the water tanks. From the Josefine house staff and food for the children, to guinea pig food and materials for evangelism, the funding all comes from our supporters. As the ministry continues to increase, Mission to the World says our support account is in a “downward trend.” Please pray about this as your church makes its budget this year. Lord Bless,
Rich & Ramona Wagner
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Our Peru mailing address: - September 29, 2008 |