What do they need?

When Tom Eklund first started Orphanage Outreach, he came to this orphanage in Monte Cristi that I’m at now. This time 15 years ago, the kids were dirty, and many of them had bloated bellies from malnourishment. There was very little food and water to go around. When Tom talked to Pastor Ramón about bringing some resources and volunteers down to assist the orphanage, he said “We’d be happy to provide you with more funding for food and water.” No-brainer, right? That probably would have been my gut reaction as well.

But Pastor Ramón simply said “No, what we need is a wall.”

If any of you are familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of basic needs, the primary necessity is safety and security. The children at the orphanage in Monte Cristi had no sense of boundary before the wall was built. People from the community could easily roam in and out of the orphanage grounds, and kids could easily wander off.

Now that there is a wall, the primary need of the kids is met: security. There is a thick wall, about 10 feet high, that runs the perimeter of the orphanage grounds. Inside the wall is the orphanage itself, where the children live, as well as a playground, a basketball court, a main office/educational center, and a cluster of ramadas (where Orphanage Outreach volunteers and interns live). The children here have clear physical boundaries that allow them the safety and security they need to gain some sense of emotional stability, amidst the trauma they have already endured.

I love this story, because it just goes to show that when you come in from the outside, you cannot make assumptions about what a community’s (or person’s) needs are. You have to ask. Tom Eklund thought he knew: food and water; it seemed obvious. But it’s a good thing he asked, because the answer he received was vastly different than what he expected. This is a good lesson for me as a social worker, but it is also a crucial aspect of any kind of helping profession and mission work as well.

In other words, feeling like we already have all the answers can sometimes be detrimental, even dangerous.