Josephine House -- A Shelter for Children in Crisis

Founded in late 2008, the Josephine House is dedicated to the memory of Ruth Powlison’s “Auntie Jo” who ran an orphanage in Brazil for 15 years. Its purpose is to provide a temporary home for abandoned babies and children until they can be placed in a Christian home. It was started by Ruth’s instinctive reaction to help children who were in crisis. Babies were dying and there was an immediate need to help. The need for this ministry was confirmed to the Powlisons when a family judge in Cusco, Peru told them she could send a child to Josephine House a day if they were up and running as a home.

Currently there are approximately 14 children at the orphanage. Most are four years old or younger. It is licensed and officially sanctioned by the Peruvian government. This sanctioning allows for placement of children into the home by Peruvian family court decrees, but many children are brought to the orphanage by family members. The connection with the Peruvian government also provides a conduit for the children to be adopted domestically by Peruvians as well as internationally.

Peruvian house parents and staff workers run the home under the Powlison’s direction. Missionary volunteers help as well. Short term mission teams visit to help assist the staff with the children, play with them, and have performed small construction tasks around the orphanage. 

Welcome Sign for Josephine House

"Shelter for Children in Crisis -- Jesus said let the children come to me"

Most of the children are “social orphans”, meaning one or more of their parents are alive and the reason for them being placed in the orphanage are to escape bad family life or for economic reasons. The range of family backgrounds among the children is large. Some children come from families with alcoholic fathers. Some have unwed mothers. Others are truly orphaned with deceased parents. Two children have a mentally ill mother and no known father. One was conceived by rape. Some have medical issues to include spina bifida, Down’s syndrome, and seizures. 

Back View of the Josephine House Building

The Powlisons have a “covenant view” of the children and they baptize them accordingly. Josephine House is a home, not an institution. The children enter the home in the spirit of Christ who said, “Let the little children come to me.” 

The children live together as a family under the care of Godly workers.  The children are fed well.  Their development is tracked on growth charts.  The staff does exercises with the kids to ensure their muscles are worked.   The love of the children have for each other is apparent when they circle around Beltran, a child with severe special needs, and sing “Ole! Ole! Ole! Beltran Ganara!  (Beltran will win!)” Seeing a group of orphans sing a song with this message to a child with such needs would seem silly to the world, but in Christ we know Beltran truly will win. 
 

 Care giver about to do exercise/play time with Beltran and another child.

 

 Mary Belle exercising/playing with younger children.

The Powlisons are striving to make the orphanage more self sufficient. Cattle and garden projects to raise food are two examples. Raising guinea pigs to sell at the market is another. A new well will help make Josephine House independent of the current unstable water supply as well as providing a water source for the garden project. Stables, green houses, and chicken coops are all things that are needed to further improve the long-term stability of the orphanage.

Several options exist for the children long-term. In some cases, they may return to live with their biological families. Others may not have this option. A Phase II for Josephine House is eventually planned to help meet the needs of older children. In the best case, children will be adopted to Christian families.

For more information about Josephine House visit:  www.josephinehouse.org

Welcome to the blog!

This new blog will chronicle an upcoming short-term mission trip to Peru.  The blog is intended to allow our family, friends, and supporters to follow along. The trip will occur July 9 to July 18.  We will be serving Christ by visiting orphans who live at Josephine House, a shelter for children in crisis located near Cusco.  Some of the team will also be visiting a remote village called Santo Tomas where our church is partnering with a national church. 

I am Jason Lenentine and will be one of the authors of the blog.  Prior to departure I will try to post some background information about the trip.  Two posts have already been completed and are availalble to read so check them out.  Check out the links as well as the current weather in Cusco.

While on the field we will try to populate the blog with updates.  This will be subject to availability of the internet.  We will try our best but there is no guarantee.  Those staying in Cusco should have connectivity, but it is doubtful we will be able to do on-the-fly updates from Santo Tomas.

We really appreciate those who have supported the team through financial giving or prayer.  John wrote in 3rd John to encourage a church to send off a missionary team "in a manner worthy of God."  You have done the same for us and we have been blessed by generosity and faithfulness.  It will be our joy to share this experience with you in this small way.

Our Host Missionaries -- Keith and Ruth Powlison

Keith and Ruth met a Columbia Bible College (South Carolina) in 1977 and were married in 1978.  Keith is a 3rd generation missionary.  His father and grandfather served in Ecuador.  Ruth is originally from Illinois.

Their four children are Holly, Brian, Ellie, and Emma.  Holly and her husband live in South Carolina and have two children.  Brian lives with the Powlisons in Peru.  He is an avid martial artist trained in Brazilian jujitsu and Taekwondo.  Ellie and Emma were born in Peru and were adopted by the Powlisons. 

The Powlisons began serving on the foreign mission field in Ecuador and moved to Peru in early 1998.  They are part of the Hinterland Team, which Keith supervises from their base of operations in Cusco.  The team focuses on several relatively unreached people grounds in the Andean region of South America.  The Quechuas, just one of these groups, are estimated to number over 15 million and are spread out over the parts of five Latin American countries.  The Powlisons work directly with the Cusco Quechuas.  Along with their team members, they also minister among eight more Quechua groups. 

 Keith, Ruth, Brian, Ellie, and Emma Powlison

Geography Lesson Courtesy of Google Earth

It always helps to know where you are going whenever you plan a big trip.  Just so everyone is on the same page this post will discuss a few maps from Google Earth.  They will give you a sense of where Peru is and where the team will be going once we are in Peru.

The first shot is of the Western Hemisphere.  Peru is highlighted.  It is in South America on the Pacific Coast.  Our flights will take us from Huntsville, Alabama to Houston, Texas to Lima, Peru and ending at Cusco.

Here is Peru in more detail.  You can see our arrival city of Cusco.  South of it is the remote town of Santo Tomas.  Three members of our team will travel there to meet with members of a church we are supporting.

The next map really shows the mountainous terrain surrounding Santo Tomas.  The team will pass through areas that are 15,000 feet (4500 meters) in altitude.  The road that will take the team to Santo Tomas is not visible on Google Earth!

While the team of three is in Santo Tomas the rest of us will be in the Cusco Area.  We will be visiting a missionary couple named Keith and Ruth Powlison. Their "campus" is on the outskirts of Cusco, technically in an area called San Jeronimo.

The Powlisons and their team have several areas of work, but we will be focused on an orphanage named Josephine House.  Google Earth really is a modern miracle.  This shot shows all the buildings that are in the immediate vicinity of the Powlison's house.  Josephine House is in the lower right corner.

As the posts progress you will learn more about Josephine House, Santo Tomas, the Powlisons, and our team.