Love takes a Risk
One afternoon, over 20 years ago, Carmen Beteta, 19 years old and living as a prenoviate
nun in a Honduran convent, came face to face with the hopeless desperation felt
by so many abandoned children. Two young girls, ages 8 and 9, were brought to the
convent by a concerned woman in hopes that they could find refuge there. Their mother
had died and their new family with older stepbrothers was not safe. The convent
was unable to take them in, but Carmen could not erase their fearful faces from
her mind. Knowing that she had a key to her parent’s empty home in Tegucigalpa,
she decided that same day to leave the convent in order to care for and protect
the two girls.
A Home for Those Who Have None
That pivotal first day marked the beginning of Hogar de Niños, Nazareth, now an
orphanage that is a living example of words like “love,” “home,” and “family” to
200 girls and boys, many who never knew what it felt like to belong to someone.
“Mama Carmen,” with the assistance of a nurturing Christian staff, lives every moment
of every day for her children, overseeing their care and activities, loving them
with the love of Jesus.