Hogar Rafael Ayau | Antiochian.org Orthodox Church

A small piece of heaven on earth

Several weeks ago, I was blessed to return to a place that I consider a small piece of heaven on earth, the Hogar Rafael Ayau. For those of you that are not familiar with the title, the Hogar is an orphanage in Guatemala run by Orthodox Christian nuns. Through God’s grace, the Hogar provides a true Christian home and school to approximately 90 very special and beautiful children. Previously, I was fortunate to visit the orphanage in July 2004 with an OCMC team to run a day-camp program for the kids over a 3-week period. This time around, my trip was rather different. It was more of a personal mission trip for both Nadia Lawand (my dear friend from Montreal) and myself.

Before I write more of my experiences at the Hogar, justice would not be done if I didn’t speak about the preparation work for the trip and how God was working, in the details, even from the very beginning. I think the biggest success story to be told is the overwhelming generosity of people as we worked to collect monetary and item donations that we would carry down with us in 4 large suitcases. Thanks be to God, Nadia and I were both showered with donations, and not only from our families and our church communities but also (and sometimes more abundantly) from work! It was amazing just to watch the Lord work in people’s hearts. I have to say though, the icing on the cake came when we held a fundraising dinner a few weeks before our departure. Many friends and family worked together with joyful hearts to organize this event and it was an astounding success! I say this not to glorify myself or our church or anyone, but to glorify Christ, because through His blessing, we raised over $10,000 to give to the orphanage! A good friend recently reminded me of what Christ did with the 5 loaves and 2 fish. In a similar way, He blessed the fundraising dinner in abundance, beyond what we ever imagined! You can picture the look on Mother Ivonne’s face when she saw the cheques and what this meant for running the orphanage for the next month. (The Hogar is completely privately funded and depends largely on the donations of its supporters, having monthly expenses of up to $30,000 USD.)

As I mentioned earlier, setting foot on the orphanage grounds once again was like stepping into a mini-heaven, though there is nothing about its location that might suggest that heavenly quality. The Hogar is located in the heart of Guatemala City in zone 1, well known for its crime, prostitution and noise (our earplugs can attest to that)! That being said, it is very much a haven to all of the children who live there that have sadly come from these awful outside environments. It is absolutely AMAZING to even have a glimpse into the healing that these children experience – they are loved, fed, held, taught, baptized, prayed for and so much more. In return, they love, play, hug, learn, pray, confess and commune, to name a few of their activities.

One of the t-shirts that can be purchased from a little store at the Hogar bears the logo, “Hogar Rafael Ayau, Where Angels Walk.” I am sure that it is a place of miracles where angels really do walk and watch over these prayerful children. One of my most touching moments at the orphanage was when I was in the nursery playing with the babies – this was one of our daily “tasks.” I had just taken Francisco out of his crib. Francisco was born with a hole in his heart and was both mentally and physically underdeveloped. I was having a hard time controlling his head because he was constantly launching it back. I then noticed that as he was doing this, he started smiling for no apparent reason and just kept looking up. Finally I looked up to see what he was looking at and all I saw were the icons of an archangel and of Christ and absolutely nothing else. It was such a beautiful moment. I wondered to myself, what are you seeing, Francisco, that my impure heart is unable to see? After re-telling this incident to one of the missionaries who knew all the babies very well, she exclaimed, “Well, you should see him during the Divine Liturgy!” It is events like these that witness to the holiness of such a place.

In retrospect, realizing that our journey is called a “mission trip,” I wonder whether the mission had more of an impact on me than on the orphanage. In any mission, the goal is to give glory to God in whatever task we undertake to do. Ideally, I hope that our time at the orphanage was fruitful and that we were able to serve as witnesses for Christ. Truthfully, I can’t help but feel that I received more of the witnesses of Christ. Perhaps this is what leads me back there. Whatever the case, may glory be given to Jesus Christ forever!

Posted on: March 3, 2006

Written By: Ramia Ibrahim

St. Elias Cathedral, Ottawa