In Bolivia, the 15th birthday for girls competes with a wedding in its style, cake and dresses… for boys, they don´t celebrate on the same level… but it is still SPECIAL…
Today at the workshops, I was asked to talk with Everth… Today was his 15th birthday… At the shops they celebrated with a special cake and Coca Cola… and were making him a special chicken dinner… but no one had been able to evoke even the smallest smile from him…
We sat on bricks out back… I acknowledged that his deepest and maybe only desire for his birthday was something no one had the power to fulfill but that we wanted to encourage him… that we couldn´t replace “family”… but we wanted to be like “uncles and aunts” who looked out for him… who in his 15 years had probably carried more burdens than people double his age…
Was there anything that he needed? …wanted? …shoes? …books for school? …clothes?
His head hanging low, he expressed what we already knew was the reason for his deep sadness… “The only thing that I want is for my mom to come home… nothing else matters… I just want my mom…” His mom abandoned Everth and his three siblings almost 3 years ago… A few weeks ago pictures were taken of her… here in the city… To be abandoned was one thing… but to know his mom was just on the other side of the city, but had made no effort to contact her kids, broke his heart…
What could I say? How can you get a smile out of shattered heart?
I made Everth a promise.
I told him I would pray for his mom… Angelica… that one day she would have a change of heart and desire to come back to her kids… that when she came back, she would find her son – studying, responsible, keeping on… and that she would be proud of him…
I also said I´d ask YOU to pray for his mom…
That was his present… Could you help me pray?
And then… if he ever needs shoes, or books or anything to help him “keep going”, to let us know…
Wiping the tears off my cheeks, I looked up and saw a smile…
Below is a little bio that was written up earlier this year about Everth and his family before we knew that his mom had actually come back to Santa Cruz… It was translated and adapted for someone´s birthday party (gifts were given to Everth and his family…)
Everth (14) and his 3 siblings (Yubinca 15, Mario 12 and Dadgmara 9) have lived without their mom (nor dad) for over two years. Shortly after their mom and stepdad separated, their mom abandoned them, saying she was going to work in Chile (although she actually went to another city in Bolivia). The kids lived alone in a bare little room. Neighbors were supposed to look after them, but for the most part, mistreated them and didn´t feed them regularly…
The kids were sent to live with another friend of their mom. El Jordan helped them with 2 bunkbeds, school supplies and groceries whenever possible. Their mom´s friend got tired of looking after the kids and handed them over to social services. (This was the second time they ended up at social services; the first time was when they still lived with their mom. She left them locked in the room they lived in and didn´t come home for several days. Neighbours were able to free them and took them to social services.) The kids were going to be sent to different children´s homes when an aunt (Juana María) decided to take them home with her – even though she has 5 of her children still under her care. 6 months later, her husband left her, and now she is a single mom, struggling to provide for all the needs of her kids… (She is now working as a cook in El Jordán´s workshops…) Yubinca, Everth´s older sister, had to drop out of school to look for work to help her aunt…
In spite of these difficult years, Everth has kept on studying, has stuck with his siblings and hasn´t gone astray… although his sad eyes betray his true feelings… Brayden´s birthday gifts will go to help Everth and his family…
- $28 US will pay for one year of monthly fees for Everth´s school. (The same amount is needed for Mario and Dadgmara.) $8.40 US would pay for one month of school fees for the three kids…
- $11.50 US will buy a pair of pants and a shirt for school. Another $15 US will add a pair of shoes.
- $25 will buy 100 pounds of rice or flour for Everth´s aunt. $20 US will buy 2 breads for each member of the family for their breakfast and supper, for one week.
- Everth and Mario need $1.00 US a day for their bus fares to get to school and home again…
A major expense we would like to help them out with is to build a little brick room where they can live at the aunt´s house. If someone wants to help with that they could give:
- 1 bag of cement costs $10.00 US (we need at least 30)
- 100 ceramic bricks for the walls cost $17.30 US (we need at least 1500)
- 100 baked bricks for the foundation and the floors cost $8.70 US (we need 3000)
If anyone wants more ideas or details, they can write me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Thanks for praying!!!
Corina