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| My cousin, Carl Robanske of Embracing Orphans |
The following is an excerpt from the first Embracing Orphans Newsletter in January of 2008.
"It was only days after my return from my first trip to Blossom Gardens when this letter was sent to my friends and family. This short story embodies the essence of Embracing Orphans - to show them they are loved, so that they may experience and understand the Father's love.
January 2008 Carl Robanske Embracing Orphans Newsletter
It was Friday, the last day before our schools winter break. I'd been looking for options to put my faith into action during this break. It didn't come together with a lot of time for planning, but God will take what you give Him and use it for His glory. And He did.
Blossom Gardens is an orphanage for children months old to age seven. In addition there are also children up to age ten who have mental disabilities. There are sixty five children at Blossom Gardens with the most attention being needed in the toddler room. Thirty five toddlers live in this room. Our attention was spent embracing, making faces, bottle and spoon feeding, and lightening the load of the care givers. The majority of the time two staff members tended to the needs of the thirty five toddlers including the five with Cerebral Palsy and five with Autism.
I'd like to share one story with you from my time spent at the orphanage. Nap time came at about eleven o'clock. Children were falling asleep on their colorful mattresses, but one looked uncomfortable, confused, and heart broken. Her eyebrows dipped and her lower lip stuck out as she looked at the kids around her. Then a single tear rolled down her cheek. I asked a staff member how long she had been at the orphanage. She responded, "Two weeks, she never talks". I could read the hurt on Monesia's face. Throughout the time I spent at Blossom Gardens she barely made a noise, until the last day. I took Monesia to the classroom upstairs. I got out picture books and read to her. I took out the stuffed animals and pretended they were talking to her and kissing her. I picked her up high in the air over and over again. She started to laugh. Much to my surprise as I embraced her she began to sing. In a still small voice she sang.
How often we forget that we are loved."
(story continued...)
Since then, Carl Robanske has used every school break and summer vacation to travel to Jamaica. He founded the nonprofit Embracing Orphans organization and has racked up a lengthy list of projects for Blossom Gardens and other orphanages. Those include building and furnishing a playroom and library; facility maintenance work such as drywall, painting and electrical work; starting a preschool program that includes teacher training and supplies; funding dental check-ups; installing hands-on toddler toys and two commercial-style playgrounds; replacement of all toddler cribs and paying overdue utility bills. Embracing Orphans has also funded training on issues such as autism and abuse and neglect, and provided appreciation dinners for the facility staff.
More than 100 volunteers from a dozen states have joined him in eight trips to embrace orphans, he said. "Which is, in my opinion, incredibly amazing. We have a ripple effect from that, one relationship builds another relationship, building a whole other community of people. "
His life is probably not exactly what his parents pictured when they were raising him in Dayton, Robanske speculated with good humor. "I think my parents think it's odd. I think all of us in my family are odd, so it works out all right."
He continues to love teaching and has no immediate plans to leave the field, he said.
"I try not to do too much long-range planning. Then you take the guess work out of what God really wants to do."
(excerpt taken from Union Bulletin article on Carl Robanske)
To learn more about Embracing Orphans and how you can be a part of their work in Jamaica, visit their website by clicking here or contact them at embracingorphans@gmail.com.
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