Most of the children who come through Shadow of His Wings Orphanage feel like rejects—unwanted and unloved. To be told you are a piece of trash and treated as such degrades your self-image. An incredible event at Shadow showed the kids that there are people in high places of authority who care about them. I remain amazed that it happened.

“Are you serious? Royalty is coming to Shadow?” I asked.

“Yes, she wants to come and see the Project and meet the kids. Her desire is to help organizations like ours, so she will come to get to know us better,” replied the social worker.

Wow, the wife of the president of Guatemala wants to come here! My mind could hardly take it in. How many hundreds of orphanages exist in this country, and she plans to visit us? I knew the kids would be ecstatic when they heard the news. The idea made my heart flutter. For such a visit, there needed to be a royal welcome, and we needed plans to show how our orphanage operated. Questions flew in my head. How do we entertain such an important person? Could we be close to her during our visit? How did she pick us?

Our social worker explained how we got chosen. A friend of the Project, who worked in a government office, had contacts with people working with the First Lady. While her husband held the office of president, Wendy Berger desired to help the poor and to work with organizations committed to serving the people of Guatemala. The friend heard that the president’s wife would be visiting orphanages and suggested Shadow of His Wings Orphanage. Those in charge of these visits added our name to the list, and Wendy Berger selected our orphanage. During her visits to the orphanages, she wanted to ascertain the pertinent needs and decide how best to assist these non-profit associations.

Preparations began in a hurry. When we told the kids the news, they blankly stared for a few seconds, and then everyone talked at once. “The president is coming?” “No, his wife is coming, and her name is Wendy Berger.” “Will we get to talk to her?” “I think so.” “No, they’ll have guards around her.” From that moment on, every home buzzed with anticipation.

The excitement in us adults climbed as high as in the children. We wanted to put out the welcome mat to honor the First Lady for what she represented and for her acts of goodwill. To me, I saw it as an opportunity for our kids to learn how important they were in the eyes of many. Their lives meant something to people of importance, and these people wanted to invest in them because they had value.

With plans in hand and dust flying everywhere, every breathing body went into action for this royal visit.