'I have to have a tissue with me'

Former Morgan City business owner Gretchen Crappell has found miraculous solace with her decision to move to Guatemala and serve at an orphanage.

Crappell, 52, closed her contracting business after 22 years. She left the city Jan. 27 to pursue this voluntary venture at Casa Aleluya Orphanage.

The orphanage houses over 400 children. In Guatemala, the orphanage is considered more of a children’s home.

Many of the children are at the home due to some form of abuse. Eighty percent of the children have been sexually abused. Others have been set on fire.

“Most of the kids there are not orphans,” Crappell said. “They’re there because of extreme poverty where the families can’t afford to feed or educate them.

“But the biggest percentage is there because they were abused. And I hear some stories that, I swear, I have to have a tissue with me. It’s horrendous, absolutely horrendous.”

In the beginning, Crappell planned to commit to the orphanage for only a year. But now she’s thinking about extending her time beyond a year.

After the first week in Guatemala, Crappell asked herself, “Is this really my life now?”

The absence of homesickness is miraculous compared to the time she left home to enlist in the Air Force at 19 years of age.

“It took about a month to know I was in the right place,” Crappell said. “This is it. Impulsive. Now, I’m where I’m supposed to be.”

The first project Crappell worked on was her living quarters. The apartment was in bad shape. She scrubbed floors on her hands and knees and replaced the toilet and ceiling tiles.

“All I could imagine was bugs falling through the ceiling,” Crappell chuckles. “Now, it’s like home, and I sleep well.”

Her duties include supervising paint projects, facilitating meetings with American tourists about campus assignments, washing loads of sheets and towels, and purchasing groceries for 150 to 200 guests at the orphanage.

“We find a lot of the people really don’t know how to paint,” Crappell said. “They don’t think twice about leaving paint all over the floor, on countertops and all that.”

As supervisor, “I was told to ask (visitors) politely … not to be messy,” Crappell said.

One of the staff members makes bunk beds from metal. Crappell and other staff members put the beds together for visitors’ stay at the dorms.

Overall, she does what is necessary as a team player to get tasks done for the children’s home to fully operate.

During the Easter holidays, regular staff members were off. Crappell stepped right in to help at the baby dorm.

“I do whatever needs to be done,” Crappell said.

Her favorite thing to do is serve lunch in the baby dorm, “because the kids love you,” Crappell said. “They just adore us.”

“What I love seeing is the people that have grown up there love the new children there,” she said. “It’s just really something to see, because they’ve been in those shoes.”

Before Crappell left she was trying to raise money to purchase a dialysis machine for the campus hospital. No funds were received for that endeavor.

“I find this disappointing. All I can say is ‘God is in control,’” Crappell said.

Crappell is visiting home for a few weeks to take care of personal business. She will return to Guatemala April 19.

For more information about the orphanage’s needs, Crappell can be reached at 985-714-9399 or gretchencrappell@yahoo.com.

Donations can also be sent to Build Your House on the Rock, Attn.: Gretchen Crappell, P.O. Box 12764, Lake Charles, La. 70612-2764.

Crappell plans to return home for a visit every four to five months.

“Most people don’t do things like this out of fear,” Crappell said. “There’s no way God is going to abandon you, if you step out on faith.

“I love meeting new people. I’m good there with two suitcases … perfectly content.”