The Leaders, Staff and Volunteers of H’ogar De Amor - THE REAL HEROES

Every great organization is fueled by the people who run it.  We experienced the most passionate, dedicated and hard-working leaders, staff and volunteers.  These people are giving their lives from morning till night every day to serve and love these kids.  We are so inspired by them; how big their faith is and their faithfulness. 

We wanted to highlight the people and some of the things they do to make things run (aka The Real Heroes).

Joel & Ceci:

Joel (Ho-L) or Pappi Joel as the kids refer to him as and Ceci (Ses E) or Mammi Ceci as they kids refer to as, have run the Casa Matriz home (ages 6-12) for over 22 years. Cecy is also the bookkeeper for Casa Matriz & Adonai Church. Every dime, donation, gift for a child she knows about it, has a record and a thank you ready. She is incredibly organized & innovative such so that the government will go to her to ask for help in what to do in other orphanages. Joel not only serves at the orphanage but also coaches football ( soccer) to kids in the community at a football club 5 days a week; ages 3-8. Their work ethic again is insane; not sure how they do all they do in a day- but their motto is to serve & love the Lord with all they have and this is truly the truth they walk every day.

Pablo & Raquel:

Raquel is a director of Casa Matriz and helps run the home.  Pablo is the pastor at the church Grupo De Amor, and son of Nahun and brother to Sobadi (in Kelowna).   They have 2 children Darra (14) and Matthias (11). Raquel is so lovely- she has a heart for God & kids. She knows the kids so well and supports the day-to-day staff to keep everything flowing. Pablo not only works 6 days a week at Casa Matriz doing any project as he is very handy, and does all the solar panels and leads the general maintenance. He is also the Pastor at Grupo D'Amor and generally speaks at the 2nd service, sometimes Saturday and Sunday night as well along with leading small groups of young couples. We watched that family in awe of their service and love for everyone who crossed their paths. They wrapped their arms around us in love and will miss their family deeply; our kids became good friends with their kids too.  

Stefan & Cynthia:

Stefan has been involved since 2011 (was there when Erin went).  He is now married to Cynthia a H’ogar De Amor graduate who stayed on and worked at the orphanage.  They now have 3 boys ages 1, 3 and 5.  Together with another couple they run the boy’s home (Casa Senior) where they have up to 16 boys ages 13-19.  Most are in school at Adonai and the older ones are in university or trade school.  They built the home in 2019 and Stefan and Cynthia share an adjoining home with their own space for their family.

Stefan left an easy life that was filled with financial security and opportunity in Germany

Brenda:

Brenda became very special to our family Brenda is also a Casa Matriz & Casa Senorita graduate since then has worked in Casa Matriz. She loves to cook and is the cook for a lot of lunches & suppers (which is feeding around 50 people every time) .  She spoke English so it was easy to connect & communicate and we were able to learn Spanish from her.

Lena:

Lena is a volunteer from NYC. She arrived in August with little Spanish and is now a fluent impactful member of the team of everyday at Casa Matriz. She was a joy to be around and learn the “ ropes” of every day chaos and how to be helpful with the kids and most importantly support the staff.

Lena playing with some of the kids.

Jose Manuel & sisters - Belen, Rosa, Leti :

Jose Manuel (Manuelo) became like a best friend to our family (especially Jay & Izaiah).  He is 18 years old and was part of one of the group family homes with his 3 sisters. Jose is a full-time staff who does maintenance, clean up, and everything & anything that needs to get done roles. Jose 2 younger sisters Belen & Rosa who are in high school, but every day help support the home in many ways everyday such as cooking & laundry, doing the kids girls hair etc. They also teach Sunday school & very focused on their studies- I was in awe most days of what they tackle as a teenager- incredibly inspiring. Jose’s oldest sister Leti is a full-time staff member- she is a great member of the team who the kids look to for guidance and direction. They are an amazing family who truly loved our kids and made us feel so at home in everything we did.

Ken Kaper:

You never know who you are going to meet in your travels, but Ken is a special man.  Ken is 82 years old.  He has been coming to the orphanage for 22 years.  Ken is a retired electrical/telephone installer.   Ken lovingly volunteers his time for 2-3 months every year.  He stays in Casa Cuna (where we stayed in one of the rooms).  He spent most of his time in Casa Leonel with the older boys, but we spent time with him every day.  Each week Ken and Jayson would take a 15 passenger mini bus of Casa Cuna Kids to preschool at Adonai.  We had 11 kids 3-4 years old in the back, with no seat belts and let me tell you it was wild. 

Ken drives them on Monday/Wednesday and picks the up as well.  Ken is in amazing shape and drives everywhere which is just outstanding considering how challenging the roads are.  I never actually drove with him as Jayson was always the driver.  Bless his faithful heart.  He did zoom calls and small group chats every day and night and was faithfully in his word every day.  He would also walk to a gym and walk around with no shirt on at night.  Just a special human, and we were blessed to know him during our time!  

Ken had an attitude of, hey I'm here to help whatever I can do.  He did it with a smile on his face, joy in his heart.  He was inspiring by his love and joy at 82 years old!

This is Ken.  He works all day helping others, is in multiple small groups and bible studies every evening.  He was praying during a zoom call, his eyes may have been closed for a few moments!

Bedro, Senior Cecy , Honey, Elena:

There are countless other staff who have their roles and are faithful stewards of them- They pour their hearts into what they can do for these kids, providing what food, clothes, opportunity & time they can, and most of all a love for God.