Tales from the street

Children at the Casa Hogar Adulam orphanage receive Christian love and care from the staff. They also benefit from Scriptures provided by the Bible Society of Mexico. Three boys told Larry Jerden what the casa means to them.

n Isaac Medina: ‘a man found me in the streets, dirty and on drugs’

MEXICO CITY — Isaac Medina, 12, began his life with many disadvantages, and by the time he came to Casa Hogar Adulam, the scars were starting to show.

“Because my mother was an alcoholic, when I was a baby she gave me to someone else,” he says. “I remember that when I was four years old I moved around a lot so I never knew my parents.”

When he was six Isaac left his foster-home and went to live on the streets. “I met some older boys, 16 or 17 years old, and they taught me how to sleep under a bridge and how to beg and steal money. And they taught me how to take ‘speed.’

“The government had a program where workers would walk around the city, looking for kids, and if they had no place to stay, they would send them here.”

By the time a government worker found Isaac, he was in bad shape. “A man found me in the streets, dirty and on drugs, and sent me to the government welfare office. They sent me here two years ago.”
The youngster experienced a tough introduction to God’s love.

“My first day without drugs, I wanted to take them again,” he says. “I felt horrible pains inside because my body was craving drugs. I also wanted freedom – the freedom of the streets.”

Although he says his feelings have changed, Isaac admits he still misses the freedom. But he is glad that his life has turned around.

“To be honest, when I was on drugs, I felt good and felt self-sufficient,” he declares. “But now I feel even better!”

Much of his new feeling comes from a sense of self-worth that he never experienced on the streets.

“When I was on the streets, people looked down on me,” he recalls. “But, now they look at me differently. I can feel it, and it feels so good.” The youngster has no doubt about the source of the change.

“Because they are Christians here, the pastor teaches about Jesus,” he says. “I wanted to change, and when I accepted Christ, I did change!”
He has changed so much, in fact, that he wants to be a pastor.

n Felix Perez: no contact with his family now

“The first time I came, I was sent by the government because my parents beat me,” he explained. “I tried to go home and I stayed two years, but they abused me again.

“I came back here on my own. I had suffered a lot at home and I wanted to come here. I feel good here. I want to go to school, to have somebody to teach me about better things in life, and I get that here. I enjoy school and I am good at it, so I don’t want to miss out on it. I am in the fourth grade and I can read and write.”

Felix has become a Christian since coming to Casa Hogar Adulam, and he says Jesus has changed his life.

“I don’t use bad language now. I like to read the Psalms and Zechariah, because those books tell how God wants to have a good relationship with the people.”

Felix says that when he grows up he wants to be a fireman.
“Because people suffer when their home is burned or they are in an accident, I feel sorry for them and I want to help.”

n José Alberto Marroqui: acceptance has completely changed his outlook

“I was living at home with my parents,” he says, “but they told me to leave. I think I was just being a boy – I played instead of going to school – but they didn’t want me in the house any more, they wanted me out.”

What his parents did not know was that José was not only playing, he was playing around with ‘speed’ and other drugs. The government welfare office took over and sent him to an orphanage – but he did not stay long .

“At the first place they sent me they hit us and took our things, so I left,” he explains. Then he heard about somewhere friendlier.

“I heard about this place from one of my friends who had lived here. I was afraid to come because I was afraid the people here would be angry with me. But I needed a place to stay, so I came.”

What José found in the Christian home, however, was not anger but acceptance. And that acceptance has completely changed his outlook on life. “Here, they love me,” he says simply. “They are good to me because they are Christian.”