CIPI

Today we were planning on doing the same thing with the CIPI girls as we did with The Promise House girls yesterday, but the kids at CIPI ended up having a little dance recital (there's a video on Facebook of the younger kids) so then the girls we normally meet with had to go to class. We went to the toddler area, and ended up getting rained in.

But, we met some girls there who were driving here from Houston, Texas with their mom and stopped to ask for directions. They ended up being arrested by the police for not having their passports. The mom went to jail, and the girls were sent to CIPI. They got in contact with their mom, and she's out, but they can't let the girls go until they have the right paperwork. The oldest sister (there are three) was filling us in on all of the kids in the toddler area. One girl was left in the street and CIPI found her. One girl was left there by her family (she had siblings, they just chose to leave only her.) And I found out the story of Marta and Miguel. They have been in The Promise House since my first year here and were sent to CIPI last week. Apparently Marta has been in these types of housing since she was 3, she was raped and had Miguel at 11. Now she's 17 and working in the toddler area just so her and Miguel will have a place to live at CIPI because she's too old to stay there.

I'm trying to imagine having a 6 year old to take care of right now. I can't. I mean, she was Bethany's age when she got pregnant and had him... That's so awful. And the worst part is that none of it is her fault.

We also went and fed the homeless last night, which was awesome. It was really humbling, and very eye opening. It's funny because I always think I've come to terms with everything here, and that I'm able to handle it all emotionally, and then I go to feed the homeless. Or I find out that my favorite girl/child here was raped at 11.

Also, please keep one little girl in CIPI in your prayers. We had a little attitude problem with her today, (she was giving us the middle finger), and Katie sat her down and told her that was not okay, and that she couldn't do that. The little girl said "I'm gonna tell my mom if you don't let me go".. Well, we found out later that she has no parents. She was just left at CIPI. And, apparently, she gets in fights with Miguel a lot.. I can just tell she's very troubled, and can't be older than 5, and it's heart breaking.