13. Peru: He Spat In My Face

‘He spat in my face. He spat again. Then he spat a third time. I said, “Have you finished?” Then we talked all night.’

This was Alonso Prado’s response when I asked how the night shelter was going. ‘It was like looking in a mirror,’ he said. ‘I remember when I first came to Girasoles I spat in María’s face. She just wiped it off and kept loving me. Oh God, have you really changed me that much?’

Yes, God has! I too remember Alonso when he first came. He was cold, filthy, frightened. When he was seven his feet were badly burned and he was put on the street. He knew the meaning of total abandonment when he came to SU’s Lima Centre. After several years, he came to faith and is now on staff telling lonely boys that Jesus really does care.

SU has seven homes for abandoned boys scattered around the country and plans to double that number. Each year we contact over 50,000 needy people who visit our medical ships on the Amazon, and our work in over 350 schools puts us in contact with many abandoned children.

A common belief in Peru is that a deaf child is profoundly retarded and is a punishment from God on the family. They are kept out of public view with no effort ever made to communicate with them. They, along with countless abandoned boys, are locked in their silence. We are immensely grateful for the partnership of the Vine Trust of Scotland and for their enthusiasm in sharing the task of building a full-fledged Centre for the Deaf in Lima.

Our Lord’s final cry of anguish on the cross, ‘Why have you abandoned me?’, was when his Father broke off communication. We are telling growing numbers that in Christ communication has been restored.