Veronica Raquel Caycho Astete

In January of 2008 I visited an orphanage in Chincha, Peru, with a mission group we were working with from Brooklyn, New York.  The orphanage seemed well run with a little over 60 girls living there ages 3 to 18.  I spoke with one young woman, Raquel, in my limited Spanish, and

learned that she was 17 and would need to leave the orphanage when she turned 18.  She would still have 2 years of high school to complete before she could graduate with a diploma.  She said it was her greastest desire to finish school and needed a family to live with who would help her reach this goal.  I thought about her request many times.  Robert and I became “empty nesters” September 1st the previous year and were fond of our freedom and restful home.  I didn’t really want to give that up, but I knew there was a young lady who needed a room, just like our guest room.  I thought and prayed about it then a while later asked Robert what he thought.  He thought and prayed about it for a while, too, and then said that he would be willing to take Raquel into our home.  I didn’t see her again until June of that next summer when we visited the orphanage again with a mission team.  I immediately looked around for her and she was the first orphan I saw.  She didn’t seem to recognize me and seemed very sad.  I spoke with the director through an interpreter about Raquel coming to stay with us.  We were referred to their psychologist who referred us to the judge responsible for her case.  They wanted us to become Raquel’s legal guardian or adopt her.  I had only felt led by the Lord to help Raquel through 2 years of highschool and befriend her.  We saw that she would turn 18 long before all the legal paperwork could be done so we chose to just offer our home to her.  We’d  hoped to pick Raquel up from Chincha on her birthday December 22nd, but the judge, psychologist and Director of the orphanage seemed to be giving us the run around.  We went to Chincha a couple times then called often.  Finally on December 27th, Raquel called us and asked why we hadn’t picked her up, she’d been waiting since the day before.  We quickly took the 3 hour bus ride to pick up Raquel and were back in our apartment by 9:00 that evening. 

It has been 6 weeks since Raquel began living with us.  We have found that things aren’t exactly like we anticipated they would be and she has entered a different world from what she knows culturally, economically, and spiritually.   Although Raquel is a sweet fun, loving girl, who is very capable of whatever she puts her mind to, we found her not to be very motivated to do what she needs to do to get ahead.  We felt she was taking advantage of us instead of working together to succeed in her goals.  Thankfully Robert is good at thinking things out and knowing how to progress.  We have many people praying for us and helpful friends and Kelsey here to give us advice and translate for us to make sure she understands.  Presently we seem to be progressing towards a good school year.  After Robert gave her 2 weeks to improve in her behavior and additude (sound familiar parents of teenagers?) or else leave our home, she has become the most cooperative, pleasant, hardworker you can imagine.  There really is a lot of potential in her.   

We had several other serious conversations with Raquel through the 6 weeks, but this was the most direct one spelling out the consequences of her actions.  Putting Raquel through school and caring for her other needs is more expensive than we imagined and we don’t want to waste any of the money God has provided for us while we are working for him as missionaries in Peru. 

We are looking forward to making a difference in Raquel’s life, but don’t want to waste our time and resourses.   Our greatest goal in her life is that she gives her heart to Jesus and follows him.  Presently, she isn’t open to that.  We’ve been loving her through our actions, though a couple of well meaning peruanas have shared the gospel with her directly.  She is not open to Jesus making a difference in her life yet, though we have great hope for the future.

There are other pictures of Raquel and her time with us in the “Browse My Photos” link on the left side of the page.