Cari Burck

The Orphan Train

This project means a lot to me, my family, and our friends.  My husband and I love children and always talked about having a big family.  We never knew exactly how that would play out in our lives until a few years ago – right after our second child was born.

Most people don’t know it but there really is an orphan crisis in the world today.  Depending on whose stats you read, there are as many as 18 million children in the world who have lost both their parents and are growing up in orphanages.  International adoptions were a huge thing for the last 25 years.  The problem with that is that most countries are starting to shut down International adoptions because of the criminal elements that work there way into the process.  So countries like Romania, Bulgaria, and Guatemala (all of which continue to have orphan issues) no longer allow Americans to adopt their orphaned children.  Those children go into poorly run and funded orphanages.  Most of which – if you could see would make you turn your head in disgust.

We are not immune to the orphan challenge in the United States, 397,122 children in our country do not have permanent families.  They grow up in the foster system.  Sometimes that’s a wonderful experience for children.  Sometimes it isn’t.  About 25 percent of these children are eligible for adoption.

How we got involved with orphans is all a blur to me now because our son was so little but one of my husband’s clients was involved in International Adoptions in Guatemala and when the Guatemalan government shut that process down the adoption agencies just left.  There was an orphanage that one of his clients decided to just take over and run.  It had 40 children in it that would have just been shipped out to the kinds of institutions you see on television where there is like one care taker for 50 children.  She called us and said, “I need you to do this with me.”  We agreed.  Within months we had the right 501c3 documentation that we got from someone we knew who was going to close down their nonprofit.  That was a miracle because that process can take a long time.  We raised a lot of money in those early days too.

I remember my first trip down there.  I went to take pictures for the new website we built but spent most of my time getting up close to little ones, looking in their eyes, and smiling.  There was a little guy that was about 8 months old.  His name was Lester.  Lester didn’t smile.  The Special Mothers (that’s what we call our care takers) told me that he never smiled no matter what.  I made it my mission while I was down there that first time to get that boy to smile.

I just loved on him and gave him attention and acted silly.  I remember the Special Mothers watching me.  I know they thought I was a little crazy.  Little by little Lester began to crack.  Before I left, I snapped the first picture of him smiling.

Today I’m on the Board of Directors of the organization we started.  It is called Forever Changed International.  Our goal for our children is to always have one special mother for four children.  We want our children always surrounded by love, to know they are loved, and to know that God loves them.  That’s starting to pay off too.  Our children in Guatemala are growing up and thriving.  They have self-esteem and confidence like you wouldn’t imagine.

I see the smiling pictures every month of Lester at school and playing with the other children.  His special mom tells me that he has come so far since he was a little guy.

I always thought I would be the mother and have a lot of children in my home.  I had no idea God put that desire in my heart so that we could help start and run an orphanage in Guatemala.  A lot of our families time, energy, and resources go to helping run Dorie’s Promise.  I help make the decisions about private schools, remodeling bedrooms, hiring chefs who understand nutrition and coordinating care with our physician.

In many ways, I feel like the mother of the 40 children we care for.  I don’t get to hug on them and love on them face-to-face like I want but I know they are getting everything they need to grow, thrive, and have the chance to be exactly who God created them to be in this world.  My dream is that some of these children will grow up and solve the Orphan problem in Guatemala.

My friend Michelle DeMonnin who owns DeMonnin Art Studio in Washington, helped take my idea for this train and bring it to life.  She did the poster and designed the decals for the train.  She is the co-artists for this project and I want to make sure she gets credit for that.  She’s an adoptive mother of the most beautiful little girl from India name Chloe.  To say there is not a little bit of Chloe in this project just wouldn’t be true.

A lot of people came along side us and helped.  My Father-in-Law Don Burck and my friend Frank Schuler spent time trying to figure out what we could do with the base.  One of my favorite ideas from them was covering it with rocks.

My friend Mike Emerson at Huntington Steel figured out how to make the springs on the top of the train come to life.  He also consulted on different ideas for the base.  Without him, I think I would still be trying to apply coats of fiberglass to the base.  Mike finally said, just wrap the original wood base in metal and paint it.  Credit also needs to be given to the guys at Paris Signs for their work.  Tony Wheeler there is a friend and really helped take Mike’s concept for the springs to the next level. Paris also did the decals of the children and made the metal base for us.  The painting on the base is for good or bad is all mine and is based on Michelle’s concept.

When people see my train, I want them to feel love for children.

I want them to be reminded that there are children everywhere who need them – especially in our region.  There are so many ways to help.  Adoption is the ultimate way to help but not everybody can do that.  Foster Care is another way to really change lives.  There are local kids that need you!  I know adoption and foster care overwhelm people.  That’s okay.  Not everybody can do that but everybody can do a monthly sponsorship or give a gift to an organization that cares for orphans.

That’s my message with this train – look around you and jump on the opportunities to change life for children who don’t have parents.