Transformation Tuesdays Blog
by José Chinchilla, Honduras National Director
I have learned that working for children requires compassion and love and knowledge, professionalism, and continuous training. Whether in foster families, homes, or orphanages, the children in our care need prepared people who can provide care that will help them redirect their journey to mental health and healthy relationships. I firmly believe that it is an injustice if we fail to train and prepare ourselves to give the children of Honduras the foundations they need to live in this broken world and build resilience as they face the challenges ahead of them.
It is no coincidence that God's people had to be constantly taught in the Word and its teachings. God's Word and law had to be taught when people awoke and when they went to sleep; it was to be passed down from generation to generation. We can observe that God teaches us a very clear principle when reading these practices. God's people must constantly be learning in this world, not only from his Word but also from God's science that helps us understand the behavior of the mind and the brain. For this reason, one of the values of Family Life Mission is continuous training. We must train ourselves to transmit knowledge to other people, organizations, governments, and civil society.
We are very grateful to God to have the opportunity to host the first Latin American Conference on Vulnerable Children at the end of March.
By Lisa Steele, FLM Executive Director
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.—Matthew 7:24-25
Like the wise man who built his house on the rock, we are Building Foundations at Family Life Missions. Everything we do helps vulnerable children and families grow strong physically, academically, socially, psychologically, and most importantly, spiritually. As we look at where we have been, where we are, and where we are going, we see 2022 as a pivotal year in “Building Foundations,” so we have adopted this phrase as our theme this year.
Every family, every child, every program is built on the Rock. We all know that a foundation needs to be solid before building on it. The homes we build in Honduras for vulnerable families have a firm foundation so that they will withstand rain, wind, and floods. But the firm foundation we make is not just physical. We are building a firm foundation of truth and faith in Jesus Christ for these families. Our mission is “to partner with God to place the lonely in families.” That means we work daily to keep families together or reintegrated, educate them, provide spiritual guidance, and make sure that every child in our care feels our love and the love of God. And we do all to the glory of God.
by Lisa Steele, FLM Executive Director
Most children are placed in orphanages or residential homes because of poverty. Most are not “true orphans.” The majority of these children have a surviving parent or a close member of their family who could take care of them if they could afford to do so. At Family Life Missions, we know when we strengthen families, we are helping them stay together.
Many children can stay with their families with the right resources and tools. Keeping families together is better for the children, reduces the number of children in orphanages and residential homes, is more cost-effective (the cost of supporting a child in an orphanage is 5-10 times higher than supporting a child in a family), and most importantly, honors God.
God created the family. He knows that children need love, a sense of belonging, and a connection to the community and church. When we help children within families access education, food, shelter, and trauma therapy, we partner with God.
by Kerin Acosta, FLM Psychologist
At Family Life Missions, part of our daily routine is to identify and express feelings properly. At one time this was hard work for the children living at the Por Los Niños Village. Because of the trauma they had experienced, they had lost their voice and they didn't know how to express what they were feeling. Some tools, such as the feelings chart, has helped. The children learn how to express their feelings and can identify more than three feelings when there is a change in their life. This gives us a lot of satisfaction knowing that they have achieved emotional health. Research shows that not expressing emotions and feelings hurts our body and can causes heart disease, ulcers, or gastrointestinal problems, as well as experiencing high levels of cortisol (the hormone that is produced by stress), causing tension in the neck muscles and experiencing headaches or muscle aches.
In our culture, not expressing negative feelings is seen as being a strong, resilient person. Of course, that is a mistaken belief. Through trainings, counseling, and psychological therapies we teach children and families the importance of properly expressing emotions and feelings to have healthy, holistic families in the community of Catacamas.
