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Veritas grad aids orphaned children in Guatemala

Ministry — College junior spends two months working in orphanage through summer program

By: Laurent Bonczijk (The Newberg Graphic)
Published: 8/25/2010 12:00:00 PM newberggraphic.com

A Veritas graduate spent much of his summer working with orphaned and abandoned children in Central America.

Matt Jones, a junior in Bible theology studies with a minor in anthropology at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., spent eight weeks in Guatemala this summer working at an orphanage.

The trip was through a Wheaton organization that provides students with opportunities to work abroad in the mission field. Students apply to the program and if successful are sent, although they don’t choose the country.

In Jones’ case he had little knowledge of Spanish and enrolled in an accelerated course before leaving. “There was no way I was going to go to Guatemala without speaking the language,” he said, adding “by the end I was able to function. I’m conversational now, which is nice.”

The orphanage was 40 minutes outside of Guatemala City, the capital, a small compound on a hill with eight single-story houses and a garden. Several mornings each week Jones worked in the garden, and he would spend the afternoons playing soccer with the children. He didn’t have any prior gardening experience, “but I sure learned fast,” he said of feeding pigs and harvesting.

He was assigned to a group of 16 boys ranging in age from 9 to 12 years old. “I was just sort of there to be part of their lives,” Jones said. “They have kids of all ages from newborn to 18.” The orphanage then helps the children enter college or find a job.

Most of the children are either orphans or have been abandoned, Jones said. Others are referred there by the state’s social services agency.

Jones has been wanting to work with children in ministry, and the experience of working with orphans has further focused him to wanting to work with children who have come through tough situations. “I really learned a lot about love,” he said, “because those kids have been so hurt by so many people.”

Sometime a child would act up and hit another kid or even Jones. Jones said that he would still show them love, “I’m not going to retaliate or hit them back,” he said. Instead he just explained that it was not proper behavior.

The trip has made him much more aware of the size of the world, he said, and how tiny he is in it. “It was an incredible experience.”

Matt Jones poses for a photo with some of the Guatemalan orphans he cared for this summer.