Last year, Love & Hope Children’s Home began introducing our staff via our blog. Today we would like to continue to introduce some of the incredible people we are blessed to have working for us at Love & Hope. Veronica and René have both worked at Love & Hope as caregivers for less than a year, but have earned their keep with their initiative and drive to serve our children.
Veronica started working at Love & Hope Children’s Home ten months ago with the older girls. She is the perfect fit for working with the older girls: a wonderful role model, patient and very organized. Veronica seems to have a talent for speaking softly and steadily, keeping the girls calm and their conversations rational. She says that her favorite thing to do is “to be with my group of girls in the room, everyone on the bed talking about things that they consider important. Sometimes we read, sometimes we just talk, tease each other, listen to music. I give them advice when they finally ask me for it. I enjoy feeling a part of them; I enjoy when they hug me. It makes me happy when they trust me. Sometimes they tell me quietly, ‘I love you.’ I like being with them in the good moments and also in the bad ones.”
It is obvious that Veronica sees her job at Love & Hope Children’s Home as more than a job. She has her own two children and husband at home who surely miss her while she is on shift with us. She says, “Nothing happens by chance but by the will of the Father. He knows that we are capable and he has a purpose for each of us. I am thankful to God for permitting me to come to this home and be able to feel like a part of this big family that is full of love and hope.”
René has worked at Love & Hope Children’s Home since last June. He has been a great addition to our team and a role model for the boys, who adore him. If René thinks something is fun or cool, his boys follow the lead and are more inclined to participate (like learning German and playing math games). The boys are always all over René, jumping on his back, hanging on his shoulder, calling his name and constantly seeking him out to play or joke around.
Upon beginning work at Love & Hope, René says that he noted the familial environment that we try to maintain: familial rather than institutional. When he met the kids, he knew instantly that they were all unique in every aspect. René feels that one of his strongest connections is with Jacobo, because Jacobo reminds him of his own childhood: “For the way that he acts, the way that he treats me, the trust he has offered me. He is a child full of questions. He has won my affection in an incredible way. He is a unique child, like the others, but I feel that we have a great connection.
When asked what he has learned about kids from working in our home, René says: “If I write a list of the things I have learned at the home, it would be very, very long. Their actions can come across as ‘tornadoes’, but they are still children, with their innocence, their sweetness, their purity. The capacity that they have to forgive offenses, seeing things in a different way- it makes me smile and gives me a sense of admiration.”
Love & Hope Children’s Home is blessed to employ (thanks to your donations) such a great team of people as we do our best to meet the needs of our amazing children. Pray for our staff as they work with the Love & Hope kids!