Happy New Year from Team Panama!!!
The final few days of our trip weren’t without its glitches
and unexpected turns, but our team made the best of it and soaked up as much
Panama as possible!
Wednesday we planned to head to Divino Nino orphanage, but
received a call in the morning from the director saying we would not be allowed
to come. So our team made the most
of it, and headed to the Panama Canal- where we saw our friend Hernan “Chicho”
Navarro at his job of pilot of a ship going through the Miraflores Locks!! The remainder of the day was spent
exploring more of Panama City and “team bonding” activities back at Casa
Paraiso :)
Thursday we spent the day seeing what services are available
to children with special needs in Panama.
We started at Hospital del Nino, the only children’s hospital in the
country. We brought informational
posters and handouts for the PT department to aid in patient education, and
toured the rehab department and the burns unit. In the afternoon, we headed to the National Rehab Institute,
where they have every kind of therapy available for patients from all over the
country. They charge 50 cents per
visit in order for all levels of income to be able to afford therapy. However, because of the high demand,
they are only able to see these people once every 2-3 months. We had the opportunity to spend some time with the PT's in action, working with children with a wide range of conditions. They made sure they worked closely with the caregivers to make sure they can perform these activities at home in the months between visits. Seeing this facility and the volume of
people that are in need here in Panama made it clear how many more facilities
are necessary to appropriately manage all the patients throughout the
country.
Friday we arranged to head back to Malambo Orphanage to
spend more time with our new friends!
As we arrived back at the houses, kids ran up to welcome us yelling,
“Amigo! Amiga!”- the best welcome anyone could ask for. We soaked up as much time with them as
we could in our last day in Panama.
As a team, we also got a glimpse of the heartache these children go
through without a family. In
Panama, families are able to maintain their parental rights over a child in an
orphanage if they visit them once per year. This makes the child ineligible for adoption, and keeps them
in the system until either the family decides to bring them home, or till they
age out at 18 years. One
young boy in the clinic house left with a couple women early after we
arrived. No more than an hour
later, they returned- with the young boy crying and the women pushing him in
the door and leaving. When we
asked what happened, one of the caretakers in the house explained those women
were his aunt and mother, and Christmas is the one time per year they come to
see him. For this young boy,
he wasn’t just abandoned- he is unwanted.
And he is reminded of that rejection each time he sees his family. Seeing the heartache this child
has experienced in his young life broke all of our hearts, and it also clearly
illustrated the need for the work Heart’s Cry Children’s Ministry is doing here
in Panama to reform the laws surrounding adoption. 
Friday afternoon, we set out with our friend Doris Navarro
on a city tour to see all the remaining sights of Panama City- the remains of
the Old City, the artisan fair for souvenirs, and walking around Colonial
Panama. We ended the night at
Tantalo- one of the coolest bars in the world! On the rooftop, watching the skyline and spending quality
time with Jenny and our teammates, was the best way to end a wonderful
week.
Our next steps to support Heart’s Cry Children’s Ministry
and Casa Providencia is to spread the word about the awesome work they are
doing there, and send as many resources their way as possible!! Check out the facebook page and the
brand new website to learn more about their work and how you can help!
Special needs orphanage “Casa Providencia”:
http://www.casaprovidencia.org/
Heart’s Cry Children’s
Ministry:
https://www.facebook.com/heartscrychildrensministry
http://www.heartscrychildren.com/
THANK YOU for your unending support of SUPT Thrive Mission Trips and our partners across the world!!
Keep an eye out for blogs from the last trip of the season-
Community Coalition for Haiti in Jacmel- departing Jan 6, 2014!
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