Let me tell you about a little three year old boy that captured my heart. His name is Amile. He was abandoned by his mother to a hospital around Beius, Romania after birth and he ended up in the REMM facility about a year ago. He is smart, curiouse, funny, active, and an all around cute kid. He latched on to me the first day, along with another little child named Pamilla, a little girl.
I spent a good deal of time with him, far more than with any of the other kids. He loved the swings in the playground, so I spent quite a bit of time pushing him, while he said “ta tali” or higher. He also loved for me to just hold him. When I would first arrive and come to the playroom in the facility, he would run up to me with a big simle on his face and, with outstreached arms, say “sus” or up. He would say “a cola” to direct me over there to one area of the room or playground. His favorite thing was to say ashi, which means shoulders. I would put him on my shoulders and run around. While these acts seemed so insignificant and even worthless to a mind that was trained in a quantity/quality production-oriented culture, these acts of touch and attention were small ways I could express the love of Jesus to him.
When I left him Friday, he melted. The workers told him I was going to go away for a long time and he bawled and bawled. It amazes me how quickly he became attached to me and almost so permenantly, in only 4 days. I think it reveals the desperation of his situation: he is so desparate for a nurturing relationship (especially with a male) and affection and love that he attached himself to me, of all people. Hopefully in the next month he will be put in a foster home, because of the nature of the current adoption situation in Romania prevents him from being adopted. I hope he will be sent of to a good home with two loving “parents” and not float around from house to house. And this is the end to which I pray.
That afternoon I layed my hands on Amile and prayed hard for him, because I learned that week about what happens to these kids when they grow-up: because of the economic situation and lack of jobs, abandoned kids are sent away when they reach 18 and often resort to a life of crime or prostitution to make money. I prayed that he would be able to grow-up in a good home where he will be nurtured and have the opportunity to learn in a school and enjoy a rich, full life. I prayed that he would hear and understand the good news of forgiveness, salvation, and restoration through Jesus Christ. I prayed that God would build him up into a mighty warrior and that Amile would be a powerful force someday for the Kingdom of Heaven.
This experience with Amile, and the abandon children in general, had a profound impact on me personally. It was hard for me to look at these kids and think about their situation without getting angry at the world, and momentarily with God. How could individual people and the world cast aside children like the bones and skin scraps of a chicken dinner? Even more unsettling, how could God allow the suffering of so many (millions??) of innocent, vulnerable babies and children, especially the dispicably mortifying acts done to them? Why does this happen? When, oh Lord, will your final act of consumation bring about a restoration of this world to the way you intended it to be?
My prayer is that these questions, while unsettling, will not paralyze, but spur me to action. I hope now that I am back in this selfish, consumeristic country, I will not settle into medicocrity and self interest. Rather, my prayer is that these questions and this experience will be a catalyst for personal involvement. The Book of James says that pure religion is care for orphans and abandoned children, among others. Through this experience and this reminder from James, I realized I do not have to travel 6,000 miles to purely express religion. I can express my devotion to the Way of Jesus and His love in each small act of love to one person where I live in Falls Church, Virginia. Jesus taught me that through Amile.
be His,
jeremy
