Chain of Love is an organization founded in 1993 by a fellow named Ken Bayer and his wife, Jerilyn. Chain of Love is devoted to helping children in need to get back on their feet, rescuing them from hopeless or other abusive situations. They are then welcomed into one of nine families where they are given every opportunity to live a normal life. The homes are each independent with a hard working mother, a father that has a day job, 9 brothers and sisters plus any fraternal children the parents might have.
Upon arriving at the community David and I were told that we would be staying in the family homes. This was the first time they had tried this out as usually they get big groups of people coming to help out and they are set up in dorm style type rooms. We were pumped that we got to get a full experience living right in the homes. David was staying in a university house with a man named Nelson. He became David’s Pai and was also known as the best chef in Brazil! I swear we gained 20 pounds forcing 2nds and 3rds even though we were about to explode! I got to stay next door in Fabi and Marco’s home. I shared a room with 4 little girls one of which was my little angel (Taiara) because she spoke English and I knew no Portuguese!!! Her schedule was crazy! We would stay up chatting until 1 or 2 in the morning, she would then wake up for school at 6am, come home from school around 11am, eat some lunch and then take off again to an Admin training course until 11pm!!! I think she was probably happy when I left so she could finally sleep again! She moved to Chain of Love when she was six with her brother and last year her brother started hanging out with a bad crowd and ran away from their home. She has been worried sick since he’s left.
Our first job was to plant a hedge of trees between two houses and 15mins in we had about 20 helpers! The job then probably took us 3hrs longer than it should have but it was a blast hanging out with all the kids! The boys would do flips off of the houses and grab a soccer ball and juggle for 10 mins straight! The girls would take our camera and take glamour shots! It was so much fun! You would have never known that any of these children lived in foster homes or had a tough start on life. 
They were all sincerely happy and even though they knew no English would make us laugh non stop! We played soccer with the kids on the first night and were blown away by their skills!!!The next day we were put on a painting task and were told that taking the kids on as helpers was probably not a good idea. Too bad David and I are bad at telling the kiddlets to go away because before we knew it, the youngest of the group, Alex, stepped right into the paint can! Hahaha made quite a mess when he pulled his foot out and started walking until I had time to whip him up into my arms!!!
David wasn’t too impressed and made me distract the kids. I thought it would be a good idea to let them all write their names on the walls where we hadn’t started painting until, until we later realized how hard it was to cover the names with the paint, it only took a few extra coats… OPPS! Either way after two long days of painting we got it all done and it looks great! In between working hard we also had plenty of time to spend with the kids, families and other volunteers and workers (especially Rev. Chris Kidd who helped us organize everything, Thanks so much Chris!!). Really everyone there is very amazing and committed to the cause. It was so much fun to sit in the evenings with Nelson, Fabi, Marco and the kids trying to communicate, pulling words from Portuguese, Spanish and English… but usually figuring things out in the end. The one night they even prepared a special Brazilian BBQ for us, and wow was it incredible. I can’t recall the last time I had meat that tender!!!! And the kids…. What more could be said? So much fun, so loving and most of all soooo happy despite their tramatic pasts!! Truly a testament to the work being done by Chain of Love!
During our stay, David and I decided to become sponsers to two of the children and were excited to find out that they were both kids we had spent a ton of time with. We are sponsoring a little boy named Ezaquel and one of my roomates, Ellen. We were blown away when we read the profiles of the children, almost in tears finding out about their tough pasts. I had just finished reading a book that reminded me exactly of Ezaquel’s past. It wasn’t something that happens in real life. When you see his beautiful little smile you would have never known though. We got really attached to the little ones and can’t wait until we can come back again to visit them. 
If you are interested in learning more about the organization, or checking out the children and their stories, just follow the link! http://www.chainoflove.org/
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