The Limon Nurture Project: A vision for the future
As many of you know, there is a large population
of orphans and widows in Limon. Many mission groups visit the soup
kitchen,
located just yards from the Carolina clinic. I spent some time
there last September, on my first (likely of many) trips to Honduras.
Now, I happen to have a little boy that was 17 months old at
the time of my trip to Honduras. I encountered many children
there that reminded me of my little boy. But, my little boy gets
three meals a day and my little boy has two living parents to
care for him. My little boy has people to help him feed himself
and my little boy never has to worry about who will take care
of him. These children have none of that. I believe that God
has given me and others a vision to change the course of the
lives of these children.
This vision begins
with developing a nutrition program for the children that get
their nourishment from the soup kitchen.
Thanks to the efforts of Beryl Nichols and many others, we now
have enough money to keep the soup kitchen in operation at its
current level of 5 meals per week for the next 5-6 months. Is
that good? YES! Can we do better? With God’s help, ABSOLUTELY! We have a fantastic opportunity here, because we have access
to so many medical professionals, who can assist in determining
what needs to be done for these kids. First, we need to know
the nutritional status of these children. This will require some
effort on our part. Some questions we need to answer: What chronic
conditions do these children suffer from? What are their nutritional
deficiencies? What supplements do they need to attain optimal
health? What routine health care should they be getting? How
malnourished are they? Once we have a good idea of their nutritional
needs, we can design a program to meet these needs. This will
require expansion of the feeding program, supplementation, and
routine medical care for these children. We may also need to
address environmental issues, such as whether they have a safe/healthy
place to sleep, adequate clothing and access to an education.
Once we have insured their basic needs are being met, we can
look to other ways of enhancing the quality of life of these
children. I believe that every child should have someone who
nurtures them, helps them with their schoolwork, and generally
takes the time to teach them important things about life. I believe
that there are people in Limon that could be empowered to do
this for these kids. If we can give them the tools, education,
and support to do this, they could make an amazing impact on
the lives of these children. The hope is that these children
can obtain the knowledge and values necessary to become a new
generation of leaders for the community of Limon. These children
are valuable in God’s eyes and it is time we started seeing
their potential.
These things will not happen overnight…it will be a process.
Undoubtedly, there will be setbacks and we will learn as we go.
But, these, the least of these, God’s beloved children,
deserve nothing less than our best. These children are worth
it! My question to those reading this is: Will you believe with
me in the possibility of impacting a generation of children in
Limon and changing that village forever? Will you pray with me
for their health and safety and the success of our efforts? Will
you partner with me in helping these children have a life, rather
than just an existence? Will you commit to being a part of changing
these children’s lives forever?
If your answer is yes to any of these
questions, send me an e-mail at ahinescapron@yahoo.com. I truly
believe that this vision
was given by God. Please be a part of it with me.
Love in Christ,
Anna Hines-Capron
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