From Robert J. Benson, the story of the beginnings of Arms of Love

Nothing could have prepared me for my visit to “La Chureca.” Located on the shores of Lake Managua, La Chureca is one of the largest garbage dumps in Central America, where more than 1,200 people live. When the garbage trucks arrive in the morning, dozens of children, some as young as three years old, rush to the newly dumped garbage and pick through it hoping to find something to eat. I learned that many of these children live at the garbage dump, have no family, and are simply on their own.

Busloads of Children

My first encounter with street children is equally vivid in my memory. While driving through Managua in January of 1999, I watched as two buses packed with children pulled into a heavily guarded facility. I asked my companion who these children were, and he explained that they were street children who were being transferred to an adult prison. Their crime? In many cases, nothing more than the petty theft of a hungry and homeless child.

For some street children, it can be far worse. On one occasion, a young street boy lifted his shirt to show me a bandage covering most of his chest. He had been stabbed repeatedly in a fight. He was lucky to be alive. Others are less fortunate.

Can you imagine one of your children homeless, without anyone to care for them, living in a garbage dump, looking for food, or fighting for their lives on the street?  Neither can I. But do I know what it’s like to be abandoned.

Abandoned

My parents separated and divorced before I was born. During the first two years of my life, I was in the sole custody of my mother, and the victim of severe negligence. I know from medical records that I was admitted to the hospital on numerous occasions for severe malnutrition, pneumonia, and other ailments. I have scars from operations that no one has been able to recall or explain. On some occasions, I was left in the care of complete strangers. Finally, when I was two years old, my mother abandoned me completely.

By the grace of God, I survived these years and was welcomed into a good Christian home where I grew and matured. My new family changed my life: they influenced my values, my faith, my education, and my career. I can say for certain that I would not be here today if not for God’s intervention by providing me a loving family when I was abandoned more than forty years ago.

Sharing the Gift

My road to ministry to children at risk began in the most unexpected of places. On August 14, 1998, during a business meeting in Dallas, Texas, God spoke clearly to me about establishing Christian homes for orphans. Though unexpected, God’s call resonated within me: my own experience had given me a desire to help orphaned and abandoned children. The pieces were beginning to fall into place ... the circumstances of my life and long-held desires of my heart became illuminated with a common theme and purpose, and the calling that God had been preparing me for came into clear focus.

In the months that followed, the vision continued to take shape: the importance of basing the children’s homes on a family model, connecting the homes with local churches and church planting, and the need for the projects to work toward self-sufficiency.

God showing the way

On October 29, 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated Nicaragua, causing 3,800 fatalities and leaving up to 800,000 people homeless.  The following week, God connected me with a church planter in Nicaragua who shared my vision for building homes for abandoned children, through the Vineyard church in Costa Rica.

Christ for the City International and Menlo Park Presbyterian Church joined with Arms of Love and the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of San Jose, California, in contributing significantly in the first stages of the project. And by April 2000, we began receiving children into the first home. The following year, in January 2001, our first home began receiving children in the Philippines.

Over its first 10 years of ministry, Arms of Love has been privileged to minister in many different parts of the world.  I don’t know exactly how the ministry of Arms of Love will develop over the next ten years, but I can say with confidence that it will reflect God’s plan and purpose, as we continue to follow His leading in this ministry.