The Story of Mariana

How God Loves & Transforms the Lives of Orphan Children

This is Mariana Araujo.  She is one of the over 400 children that has passed through the loving care of one of our Melanie Centers.  Let me share her story with you. Mariana’s life started with great difficulty.  At age 2 her father passed away.  At age 3 her mother, who was HIV/Aids positive lost her life as well.  Mariana’s aunt took her and her two siblings in to care for them, but her husband did not want them and made her aunts life very difficult. Because of the husband’s anger, unkindness, and hatred for the three children, the three of them ran away and went to live in the house that their mom left behind. They wanted to try and live on their own. 

For nearly 8 months, the oldest of the three, her brother Corado who was just 6 years old did all he could to try to provide for the three of them.  (Can you imagine that?) The families in the community also did all they could to help the three orphaned little ones, but because of their own poverty they could not do much.  Eventually, one of the mothers from the community alerted the community leader (the tribal leader) and he was able to inform the Mozambican Ministry of Social Services, who are responsible for caring for orphaned children.  Social Services then quickly notified Pastors John and Maria from the Melanie Center, explaining the need for a home where these three precious kids could live and be cared for. Mariana came to live at the center when she was almost 4 years old.  She was sick, very sick, and though we did everything to care for her, she never seemed to get better. We took her to the doctors many times over the course of several months trying to identify why she never got better. Test after test the results would all come back negative. The only thing they could identify is that she was severally malnourished.  Malnourishment is very common in pretty much every child we receive at the Melanie Center.   Maria’s instincts told her that there was more going on  than just malnutrition. Frustrated with the lack of answers, she took her to a private medical doctor.  That doctor decided to do an extensive set of blood tests to see if she could find out what was making Mariana so sick all of the time.  Finally, when the results came back, they discovered she was infected with HIV/Aids. Now we knew why she was always sick.  We quickly registered her with the Hospital as a HIV positive little girl which would entitle her to receive the very powerful antiviral medication she needed.  In just a few short months, we began to see Marinas health improve. Month after month, with good food and medication we saw Mariana get better and better.  Her face, her skin and her little body began to heal, she began to grow, she began to play, she would smile, she would laugh. We witnessed a transformation happening before our eyes.Over the course of three years in our loving care, we saw Marianas life change.  She was now healthy, well nourished, attending school, and learning. She was filled with energy that allowed her to play and do chores, just like the other kids at the center. She began to learn about Gods love for her and chose to give her life to God.  Then, a beautiful Mozambican family came to the Melanie Center expressing their desire to adopt a girl who needed a family.  After a few months of Mariana getting to the know the family, and the family getting to know Mariana, the Lord opened the doors to give her a beautiful forever family.  

Last week she came to the Melanie Center to visit her Melanie Center mom and dad and brothers and sisters. She is now 12 years old (see the picture above). She is so happy. She is healthy, growing well, going to school, and loving the family who adopted her and the new life that God has given her.  God is so good.This is what the Lord does in this ministry.  It loves, cares, and blesses the orphan.  Your loving prayers and generous financial support of us as a family and of the ministry help to make this happen.  Mariana often tells people that she has 4 families:  Her biological family, her Melanie Center family, her American family, and now her adopted family. 

Friends, what an incredible example of how the family of God works together.  Thank you SO MUCH for being a part of her family.

With much love and gratitude,

Alex & Melanie (and Mariana too)