Blog Action Day 08: Casa Hogar Elim orphanage

Today, as a part of Blog Action Day 08 on Poverty, I had originally thought I'd write about Kiva.org, but then I figured, "Nah, a lot of people will be doing that already." Instead, I'm going to tell you a little about the orphanage where Fiona has gone on two mission trips in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Casa Hogar Elim is run by a remarkable woman, whom the children all call "Mama Lupita." From their website:

Mama Lupita began Casa Hogar Elim in her home in 1986 with four children she found abandoned by an alcoholic father (their mother had died). She was married with four children of her own, but God had placed a desire in her heart to help others. Those four children have grown up at Casa Hogar Elim along with many, many other children. They found love, shelter, food, and the message of a Savior who loves them no matter what their circumstances. Of those first four children, one has graduated from college, is married and has started a family. Two others are attending college and the other is working at the orphanage. Mama Lupita turns no one away nor does she send anyone away.

My sister Betsy's church, All Saints Lutheran, began a partnership with Casa Hogar Elim years ago and now makes annual trips down there, where they spend a week caring for the children, giving the staff a badly needed respite from all the food purchase, preparation and cleanup for the week, and doing construction projects throughout the building to help the orphanage serve the needs of the children. Starting in 2004, they were drawn into the orphanage's meal outreach ministry, feeding hundreds of meals in poorer communities.

My sister Betsy has been going on these mission trips for years, bringing her children as they grew. My sister Cindy, who also attends the same church, has starting going, too. Two years ago, Betsy suggested that Fiona go on one of these trips. Fiona did, and it has been a life-changing experience for her. She spends a week playing with the kids, trying out her Spanish. The trips to the surrounding community to serve meals to the people there have been extremely eye opening for her due to the desperate poverty there. Last year, the church had the idea of distributing solar lights to the people there: they purchased lawn solar lights at Home Depot and mounted them on blocks of wood and painted them. For people who have no electricity and no way of lighting their homes at night except by candles or kerosine, which is quite dangerous, these solar lights were extremely welcome.

It has given Fiona quite a perspective on the way that many people live around the world, and grateful for what she has. I think Mama Lupita is a remarkable woman. She reminds me of the story of the woman who walks along the beach, throwing the starfish back. When someone protests that it won't do any good, that the starfish will just get washed back up on the shore, she merely stoops and picks up another starfish and throws it back in the water. "I made a difference for that one." Now the church is trying to help find ways to sponsor the children as they age out of needing the services of the orphanage. Where can they go? They are trying to set up schooling funds so that children who never could have had the hope of going on for further schooling, even college, can achieve their dreams.

I had really hoped to go on the mission trip this year, with Delia and Fiona both, but I don't think it will be possible unless Rob gets a job, like, immediately. (The fee for the weeklong trip is $300, due on December 31.)

This post is written as part of Blog Action Day 2008

Just read the Rolling Stone cover story on McCain

It is just jaw-dropping. A devastating, detailed synopsis of McCain's career. Wow. I learned a LOT. And am even more convinced that this man should never be President.

This is the story of the real John McCain, the one who has been hiding in plain sight. It is the story of a man who has consistently put his own advancement above all else, a man willing to say and do anything to achieve his ultimate ambition: to become commander in chief, ascending to the one position that would finally enable him to outrank his four-star father and grandfather.

In its broad strokes, McCain's life story is oddly similar to that of the current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both developed an uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish behavior. At each step, with the aid of their fathers' powerful friends, both failed upward. And both shed their skins as Episcopalian members of the Washington elite to build political careers as self-styled, ranch-inhabiting Westerners who pray to Jesus in their wives' evangelical churches.

In one vital respect, however, the comparison is deeply unfair to the current president: George W. Bush was a much better pilot.

Read the rest at the link above. Well worth your time.