Well… I’m really bad with birthdays… I have a hard time, not remembering, but actually doing something, for birthdays of even the people closest to me…   However… birthdays have been on my mind a lot lately… I’ve come to realize, once again, how important birthdays are to many others – especially to our kids…

Just the other day it was Mery’s birthday (August 6th).  Weeks ahead of time, Mery reminded me countless times about her birthday…  Disappointment flashed across her face when I told her I probably wouldn’t make it out to her little “place” on her birthday  (some of you have been out to visit her before – you might never have seen a poorer place, but at the same time, you’ve probably rarely met up with such simple sincerity in a hostess or heard such joyful laughter in the kids…).  When she came to class the day after her birthday, a special cake was waiting for her – to share with her teacher and the other students… Mery who usually more shyly stands by the sidelines in class and activities, got to be the center of attention… It was her day…  I don’t think it was just the shower that she took at El Jordán that made her face shine as she left our place that day…

It was Benjamin’s birthday the day after Mery’s…  He turned nine years old…  Two weeks ahead, he had already bought 2 kilos of rice, out of his own “savings”, for cooking a meal where he could invite people from El Jordan to celebrate with him…  His dad died years ago, leaving Mariela with three kids…  She had one more baby (Joselin – now two) whose dad also died several months ago…  Mariela herself was abandoned at 6 months of age… and grew up her first 5 years in a children’s home… and then went to the streets…  Family?  There is none…

Well… there is one actually…  In many ways, El Jordán becomes their family.  We want to introduce all of our kids to Christ – so they can become a part of HIS family… and as members of that same family, we are called to love, support, exhort and carry each others’ burdens…  An idea that repeats in my head is that:  these kids have grown up knowing perverted versions of basic concepts (love, justice, mercy, forgiveness, grace, etc) that we use in our “gospel message”…   How will they truly understand those truths to be able to believe and live their lives based on that?   I believe that as children of God, we need to be reflecting God’s character, producing the “fruit of the Holy Spirit”, so they can “see” Christ and understand Truth.  Anyhow… just a little soap box moment…

Back to Benjamín…  On Friday and Saturday nights, after the younger siblings are in bed, he and his mom go into the drinking/cruise avenues of the city (they live 27 kms out) to pick up aluminum beer cans to sell for recycling.  This is the way how they buy their food for the week, pay bus fares etc…  Mariela gives Benjamin his “share” of the money…  He saved and saved up his money… for what?  Well… to buy ingredients for a special birthday meal… socks… underwear (he doesn’t have a grandma to give it to him!!!)… a shirt and a pair of pants… and because his little brother had a birthday two days before him, he went to the market to choose a little shirt and shorts for him…  Wow…  Most kids (big and little!) ask, and expect things to be given to them…  Benjamin’s day was special… but at 8, turning 9, he had to plan it (and pay for it)…

The other day it was Vicky’s birthday (María Luisa’s stepdaughter)… she turned 13.   Nobody had every really celebrated her birthday before… so this year Maria Luisa cooked a special meal… Vicky was allowed to invite her special friends for lunch… she invited everyone from El Jordan…  This is an amazing family… Saul and Maria Luisa have 3 children of their own… Saul had 4 kids from before (including Saul Jr. who is mentally challenged)… and they have been raising two of Saul’s nephews…  Eleven mouths to feed… every day… mountains of clothes to wash… homework to monitor… etc… etc… etc…  They eat bread and tea in the morning and again for supper…  The price of bread has gone up – to three buns for 1 bs (7.8 bs per $1)… just for breakfast and supper, they have to spend 15 bs (30 bs a day).  For lunch… well… Maria Luisa tries to cook for less than $5… but it is difficult…  Saul drives taxi… he has to pay a daily “rent” for his taxi of 80 bs… he has to make that, plus gas money… and then after that whatever he makes is for food for the family…  but there are some days when there simply isn’t enough…  Chicken for lunch – isn’t the filet that we might be used to… Maria Luisa has to make money stretch… If there is money for “meat”, she has to buy the innards to cook…  So… for Vicky’s meal, when they had “real chicken” to eat… it was a real treat… As we sang Vicky her “Happy Birthday”, tears rolled down her cheek… This was all for her!

I’ve been thinking of why their birthdays are so important to them… why it is so important even if I don’t have a gift to give, to acknowledge that day and give them a great big hug?   I think I’ve seen more tears – happy/sad tears – during times when we celebrate birthdays… We sometimes try and have birthday cakes for snack when there have been birthdays… and so many have said that they had never had a birthday cake… or never blown out candles on a cake before… 

I think many times, their birthday is special… because it is “theirs”… Mery who suffered terrible physical and emotional abuse when she was growing up… who even now suffers the consequences of those… Now she has to give herself totally to providing the basic necessities of her own children…  Abuse still is part of her life when her partner drinks…   So I think her “birthday”, or that someone cares enough about her to remember her birthday (even though I was reminded many times), is so special…  Again… it is “her” day… no one can take it away…  She might not have anything else to her name… but she has her birthday…  Benjamin, so young, yet having to be the man of the family…  He has to be responsible… he has to take care of his siblings…  he has to work…  Yet, his birthday is special… because it is “his day”… instead of thinking of everyone else except himself… he was the center of attention…

Years ago when I worked on the streets all the time… I remember “Basurita” (Little Garbage – was his nickname)…  It didn’t matter when I met up with him… nor how often… he’d ask, “Hermana Corina… When is my birthday?”  And I’d reply, “August 13th!”  …and he would go away with the biggest smile on his face… Sometimes he’d bring over his buddies and say, “This is hermana Corina… she knows when my birthday is…  When is my birthday?”  …and I’d give my usual reply…  and “Basurita” would walk away, shoulders a bit straighter, with more of a spring to his walk…  Birthdays.

When is your birthday???

No… I’m not going to try and keep up with your birthday too…  but I want you to think for a minute…  When is your birthday?  Everyone knows when their birthday is (even though some people as they get older might want to forget!)  Even little kids have an idea when their birthday is… 

Anyhow… back at the end of June I was doing some running around with Irene… You might not remember her… I think I mentioned her in my last Christmas letter…  She is the one who was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS last December… and although she was toothpick thin… with so little energy that she could barely talk… she helped us peel potatoes for our Christmas meal…  Someday I’ll write an update about her…  Anyhow… we are working on getting Irene registered with a government program that helps people diagnosed with HIV.  Right now Irene is at an AIDS clinic on the edge of town so I have to go pick her up… bring her into town for her tests etc, take her back…  Irene doesn’t know how to read or write… so to go through this process, she really needs someone right beside her… Others point her vaguely in some direction, there might be a big sign that makes it obvious to anyone else where they should go, but not so for someone who can’t read…

In one of the offices, the lady behind the desk asked how old she was.  Irene said 20.  I was sitting on a near by couch and kind of perked up my ears… I thought she was 22.  Then the lady asked when her birthday was… Irene kind of looked down and all around and then at me… and shyly asked, “When is my birthday???”  She had no idea!! …and unfortunately, unlike Basurita’s birthday, I don’t have that one registered in my mind…

I phoned El Jordan to ask Abraham if we had some birth certificate for Irene… or something with her birthday on it…  What a surprise to find out that her birthday had been the week before -  on June 18th !!!  (and she had turned 22 years old).  Her birthday had come and gone… and nobody knew… not even her!!!

I had the clinic’s permission to take back in the afternoon… so Marco and I took her out to lunch along with Jovana, a El Jordan volunteer that Irene loves…  When Marco prayed, thanking God for Irene… and her birthday I peeked (!!!) and Irene was crying… not sad… but just feeling – special!!!!

We told her that her birthday couldn’t be complete without cake… so we took her into a super market where they sell cakes by the slice…  Her eyes got bigger her than her face, looking at all the decorated cakes… and choosing which one she  wanted… for her birthday…  In the end she couldn’t decide… and ate TWO pieces of cake!!!  We bought her a couple other special snacks… and Irene went back to the clinic flying on cloud nine…  It is really something so small… but I thank the Lord for allowing me to share Irene’s birthday… to me, it is just another illustration of God’s tender love and care – for the “forgotten” and the “unloved”…

I pray that I never get too busy or wrapped up in “things to do”, “goals to meet”, whatever!!! that I would forget to be an instrument of God’s love in the lives around me…

So… Happy birthday to all of you!!!  …whenever your birthday might be!!!! =)

Love you lots… and thanks for listening…

Corina

Here are a few pictures… I hope they go through without clogging up your email!!!

Benjamin working…

…and happy with his new clothes…

Irene... eating her birthday cakes…