(May 9, 2009-March 17, 2011)
"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (Matt. 25:40)
I'm pretty sure there was never a lesser brother by earthly standards than Orlin. He came to the Children's Centre as a 7-month-old in January 2010 as a hospice case from INFA, the government child protection service. He had been abandoned at the public hospital in La Ceiba, had a severe head injury of unknow origin, suffered severe cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and almost constant bouts of pneumonia.
Over the past year, numerous people contributed to his 24-hour care. Of course, Iain and Liz, the Children's Centre directors, and his three Honduran caregivers spent the most time with him, but all of the hospital employees and missionaries knew him, prayed for him, and recognized the love of God that was being poured into his life. Guildy and Hadley visited him every day, and Guildy told Liz one day, "I pray for Orlin every time I go into his room."
So yesterday morning, when he passed away after another bout with pneumonia, our whole little community stopped what it was doing to help Iain and Liz and make arrangements for his funeral. Funerals and burials are speedy affairs here, required by law to be completed within 24 hours. Samuel, Iain and Liz's 13-year-old son, and couple of the guys at the shop made a wooden cross for his grave, while Josh and several other guys from the shop and a couple of the neighborhood teenage boys went to dig his grave (more on that later). Lucio, the gardener at the Children's Centre, gathered flowers from the grounds, and others got the cabildo (multipurpose room at the hospital) ready. One of the missionary ladies watched the toddlers at the Children's Centre so all the Honduran staff could attend. I didn't count heads, but there must have been well over 100 people at his funeral service, and 8 car loads of people went to his burial.
Guildy and Hadley did well with it all. They were and still are understandably sad at the loss of their little friend, but they are doing well with the concept that our bodies are just houses and the real Orlin isn't there anymore. I was completely exhausted after a day of processing through all their questions, everything from, "Why does Orlin look like a doll now?" and "Why do we have to bury him?" and "Why did they put his glow worm in the box with him?" to "Did he die because we didn't pray for him enough?"
For a little person who never spoke a word or took a step, he had a deep impact on the community to whom God entrusted him. All of us academically know that he is healed and whole and in God's presence, but it is still sad to see him go.
Dr. Abby's blog has a couple good pictures. http://abbyandrimas.blogspot.com/
Grave Digging
There are so many humorous/borderline bizarre things that happen here, and grave digging Honduran style is just one more to add to the list.
The guys above assembled to dig Orlin's grave yesterday morning. They talked with the alcalde (sort of an all-purpose mayor) of Balfate on the way there, and he showed them where to dig. The supposed "open" spot yielded someone's feet a few feet down, so they moved the operation over a bit. They finally made it to the desired 6' depth, digging very carefully because an empty cavern from an old grave was adjoining it. So in the process of digging their hole, they came across 2 other graves. Josh commented on the misshapen appearance of the hole, and the Honduran guys said, "Aw, it's always like this when you go to dig a grave. Just be glad it's not a full length grave. Those can be really tough."
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