A Place for Lorenta

A story from Lisa Hobbs, an Anawim Home Team Member:

Lorenta was one of the orphans we met while staying in Anawim. She was a very tall beautiful teenage girl with a soft quiet voice. Lorenta had an incredible work ethic, sweeping up every day (they use a tiny bundle of sticks and are completely bent over - I just wish I could tell them about a broomstick!), she was a great student and she was a nurturer to the little boys.

She had a very bad open wound on the top of her foot so throughout the day she was limping. It was more upsetting to our team that she had to suffer and hobble around, because there was no money for the medical visit to the doctor to get the glass out of her foot. We gave her some of our first aid ointments and bandages and she said in time the glass would come out. How brave!

While we were at Awawim, Lorenta was told she would be leaving to be fostered by a family! She would be helping with a family around the house and with their small children and I hoped she would become part of their family. She seemed a bit nervous and also scared to be leaving - but the next day her bag was packed.

I spent some time with her to see how she was feeling. She was hopeful the woman she would live with was not wicked (I assured her Sister would certainly make sure it was a loving woman). I asked Lorenta to remember to do well in school and continue to study as she is a very smart girl. She seemed less concerned about school and instead said she wanted to make sure she went to mass, said the rosary and was committed to prayer.

Lorenta showed me a letter she had written to Sister Oresoa and the others in the orphanage. It was a love letter to Anawim. She thanked them for all that they did for her and she said how she was going to do her best to do what is asked of her with the new family. She was feeling the loss of leaving Anawim, but she was thankful - knowing she was given a great opportunity.

I was hoping to visit Lorenta at her new house, to make sure she was taken care of and loved, but we never had the chance. I wanted my relationship with this girl all tied up neatly before I went home so I knew she was happy. But that didn't happen. I will just have faith that she is well just as I have faith all the other children in Anawim are doing well with bright futures ahead. Faith is the confident belief or trust in the truth. I know Lorenta had faith in God - that is the truth!