Joni & Friends

The first week of November, Jonah, Maddie and I (Kathy) volunteered to work at the Joni and Friends Family Camp for disabled children and their families here in El Salvador. Founded by Joni Erickson Tada, this ministry is an opportunity for families of disabled children to come to a safe place to be loved on, ministered to, and to just plain have fun! This year, 25 families were invited to attend. Each family can bring a total of four family members for a completely free retreat for 4 days at a lovely hotel at the beach. These families are usually from the poorest in El Salvador. Here in El Salvador, disability is treated like it was many years ago in the U.S. Hiding disabled people away, neglecting them. Acting like they have a disease and being repelled by them. I could tell you so many stories of these families. It would melt your heart. I was so thrilled that both Maddie and Jonah wanted to volunteer to be a buddy to a disabled child, or to a sibling for the retreat. That meant that they were with that child almost 24/7. After long days of go, go, go, Jonah and Maddie would just drop into bed each night exhausted. I was sooooo blessed as I watched my kids extend themselves and sweetly serve these beautiful children. Maddie was assigned little Jennifer. She is severly handicapped and non-verbal. She is nine years old, yet, so tiny she wore diapers the size of an average one year old. Jennifer always had a smile on her face. She grabbed everything she could get her hands on…faces, hair, jewelry, clothes…so Maddie really had to watch her flying hands! I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Maddie so content as when she was with Jennifer. Maddie loved on her, carried her, played with her, spoke to her, swam with her, and by the end of the retreat, Maddie shed tears as she had to say good-bye to this sweet little one. Jonah was assigned Kevin, the 12 year old sibling of one of the disabled children. The siblings of the children who are handicapped can have a very difficult life with many challenges. Usually, they take a back-seat to their sibling. The disabled child takes so much time, energy, and focus, that the sibling gets lost in the shuffle. This can cause resentment, confusion…these kids need to be loved on and told how important and special they are. At the retreat, they have ministry sessions just for siblings. They are loved on, and taught how to process what they are experiencing in their lives in a healthy way. Watching Jonah hang out with Kevin was a joy. Kevin had a constant smile on his face, and a twinkle in his eye. He was just so happy to be there he couldn’t stop smiling. All day, Kevin and Jonah would run around to all the events: games, singing, crafts, bible stories, swimming, flying kites, worship services, meals,…they were buddies. I loved watching these families as they were presented with three beautiful meals each day. The families that came were just so overwhelmed and blessed by the abundant, delicious food! One family rarely has enough food for everyone. If there is only a bit of money for food, they buy milk for their disabled child, but everyone else goes hungry, including the 5 year old little brother. One family just could not understand that they would be given food at the retreat. Three meals a day, for free. (How could that be, that would be like heaven?) They were concerned that if they came to the retreat...if they took those days of work to come, how could they supply food for their family for those days? But, they desired so greatly to come that they saved up enough bread and Coke for 4 days, and brought it with them so they would have food to eat at the retreat! Can you imagine their reaction when they understood that, truly, three times a day, a delicious, bountiful meal would be put before them!? Another family, desiring greatly to attend the retreat, could not afford the pampers for their disabled child to wear on the bus ride to the retreat. (This could be 2-4 hours) At home, they would use cloth diapers, (without plastic pants, which aren’t available here) but on the bus, they would have to have something to prevent ‘spills’. Joni and Friends provides pampers for the disabled children during the duration of the retreat, but this family had to GET THERE first! The only way they could pay for those pampers? They took all their dishes, and went into the street and sold them. Then, took that money, and bought pampers for the bus ride. Well, needless to say, the retreat was an amazing, special four days for all the families, and for those of us there serving. What a priviledge. Also, seven family members accepted Christ during that retreat, which is open to Christian and non-Christian alike.