KIA's LONG STORY TOWARD LOVE

MAMA KIA's LONG STORY TOWARD LOVE

Kia Ingenlath was born in 1949 to missionary parents. Her mother and father became engaged on the island Trinity, and continued to convert the indingenous carribeans while raising their children in the British West Indies. Little Kia was the preacher’s daughter with another side to the story. Devout by day, drunken by night, her father was a man who hid behind the cross and excused his abusive behaiviour in confession. They moved home to Florida when Kia was 10. Her brother died when she was 12 years old. Her father died soon after, of what was taken to be a broken heart, though actually a brain aneurism. We are all stricken differently. Her mother died that same year as breast cancer matastisized to her brain. So Kia was left orphaned and alone before she was a teen. She hid out with a friends family to avoid foster care.

And at the age of 14 she crossed county lines into Georgia, to marry her 30 year old Semolian Indian boyfriend. Her father hadn’t been nice. When her new husband beat her, she excused the behavior as male. She was pregnant with their 4th child at 17 when he knocked out all her teeth. Soon after he was put away for Moonshining in their dry florida county, which finally allowed his obedient battered wife an exit. An employment retraining program found funding for her schooling on the rationale that she was unemployable because without teeth she was too ugly to hire. So she signed up for nursing school, and got a nice set of false teeth too. With the new smile, the program no longer could justify the funding, but her straight A’s convinced them to keep her in school, In the days before computers her friends in the front office just had hide her files to keep the officials from reviewing her case.

It wasn’t until her Junior year that her husband got out of jail and was shocked to find his stay-at-home wife in College. He responded by burning down their house thinking they were asleep inside. Fortunately they happened to be staying in another town to be close to campus. Her college advisor took up a collection and found them a new place to stay. But when her husband tracked them down, and left a bruise in the middle of her chest with the barrel of his shotgun, her advisor again took up a collection, this time to get them out of town.

So at 19 Kia changed her kid’s names, got them new birth certificates, piled her family into their crummy car and fled Florida. They traveled west, living in camp sights and national parks. Her kids grew up at Yellowstone, and Yosemite, where nice rangers looked in on them, her five year old kept time by Old Faithful, and new camper’s kids came each week to befriend the family on extended stay. She finally made it to Lake Tahoe California, where they were well treated at the soup kitchens, church socials and camp showers of the generous county. It was the late 60’s and there were a lot of dropouts and hippies living off the system with conviction. No one questioned a mother of 5 raising her family out of her hatchback. But that wouldn’t do forever.

She went back to the university of Florida and finished her nursing degree under her assumed name applied to her past credits. Again her fans in the front office found a way to bend the rules in her favor. After graduation she got a full scholarship to to get her midwives degree at St. Mary’s ?? Catholic college in California on the basis that she was a preachers daughter. It may seem misplaced to call a battered teen mom of four lucky, but she wouldn’t see it any other way. It was in those days that she began to appreciate the presence of angels in her sphere.

When her youngest son was diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic at the age of 16, she moved the family to Costa Rica to keep him out of institutions and public scrutiny. But the foreign environment didn’t do him much good. He still heard the voices and complained of the frightening forces out to get him. She moved him home, but never really lived in the States herself again. She started Tierra De Milagros in her son’s honor. It is a healing retreat center located in the remote part of Costa Rica most attractive to celebrities. There she met Woody Harrelson and his wife who were regulars to the region. She became their midwife, birthed their two children and solidified a lifelong friendship. They stay with her when they’re in Costa Rica, and she with them, when in L.A.

It was for her 50th birthday that Kia planed her “Coming of age” trip to Peru. She went to Machu Pichu with her shaman to celebrate. But it was in Cuzco Peru that she became aware of her calling. She would sit in the parks at night and offer the abondoned and stray kids meal. But she soon realized that they didn’t only need to eat, they also needed an education, basic healthcare, a place to live and some love. Her vision of a home for kids began to form. But it was when her grandson Chandler Sky died two days after birth, that Kia dedicated to the idea of an orphanage. Her grandson came to her in a dream with the message, “All the love you have for me, give it to the children who need it more.” Along with her daughter and son-in-law Marie and Allan Patton, she developed the ‘Chandler Sky Foundation’ with the aim to open a home for the children in need.

So in 1998 she returned to Peru and began to search for a sight for her children’s home. She spotted the hacienda from the main road, and had to walk 30 minutes through a garbage dump and down a dirt road to get there. But it was just what she had in mind. It was large enough to raise a big family, and remote enough to not fear for their safety, with tall palm trees announcing its once regal position. Found in complete disrepair, it had been abandoned when the workers revolt removed all the landowners and reclaimed the land for the people. The campesino community owned the property, but as a collective, they couldn’t decide who should live in it, so it remained empty for decades.

As a woman and a gringa, Kia had two strikes against her, but she was persistent. It took at least 10 meetings with the campesino collective for them to even listen to her, when finally they agreed to lease the empty Hacienda for her orphanage. Woody Harrelson’s organization Oasis Preserve put up most all of the initial funding. It took months to renovate the dilapidated buildings. They had to take off the rotting roofs to let out the bad spirits and then replace them with terra-cotta tile. Windows were cut where thick stone walls stood. Bright paint and murals replaced drab walls. Lawns, flowers and fruit trees were planted all around. And the hacienda was ready to become a home. Now all it needed was its inhabitents.

They were introduced to their first kids through the town teacher. After their father had fallen drunken off a cliff and their mother drank herself to death, their teacher brought 8 year old Jorge home. His Ten year old brother Roberto was housed with an aunt, meant to work the fields as is often the case with the parentless kids of Peru. They are traditionally passed between family members, taken out of school to save expense, and worked in the fields to earn their keep. Girls are often sexually abused, and boys physically in a society of heavy drinking and little respect for the young. Kia and Marie acted quickly to invite the bothers into their brand new family. Now the cornerstones, Roberto and Jorge are handsum, bright boys and will clearly go far in the world.

The next two brothers came from a home torn apart by abuse. It was their mother, disguised as an aunt, with her own forged death certificate that brought 8 year old Michael and his brother Exwar to the home. She delivered the boys as orphans to protect them from her new husband’s nearly deadly beatings. She chose to lose her children rather than her husband which is a common cause of abandonment, when a new man doesn’t want to raise his wife’s first family. The boys had to play along, which left them cowering in fear, and heartbroken by their abandonment. Now they are at home, strong and helpful with their 25 younger siblings. They are even allowed to visit their mother, with love and supervision.

Rosa perhaps suffered the worse abuse. She was passed between drunken uncles until she was nearly comatose from the severe handling. She was sent to the local convent when she could barely function in the family. The nuns delivered her to the orphanage in terrible condition, mute, dazed, scared and scarred. She is now a smart, lively, affectionate, and helpful teenager, albeit a bit suspicious of strangers. Bless her heart.

Sergio had been living on the streets of Cuzco. Left with a sister, the young siblings had no way of supporting themselves. She turned to men, he had only his own whiles to rely on. A 7 year old entrepreneur, Sergio is now a loving, resourceul, and capable 12 year old kid.

Next Kia and Marie went into the community with a tip about a girl, but found she was not actually an orphan. While there, they were introduced to LuzMarina. When her parents died she was put in charge of caring for all her cousins. At nine years old she wasn’t considered an orphan but rather a nursemaid. Her grandmother relied on her help. But Kia urged for her move to the Casa de Milagros. She spoke no Spanish, only Ketchwa, had a bad case of parasites and a severe lice infection, her head shaved bald and and swollen, until she was offered proper care at the Casa. She is now a flaxen haired beauty and a joy to have around, helpful and funloving.

Word spread through the community, and the stories were passed to Kia. They heard of the young mother’s battle with cancer before Hermalinda and Bellisario’s mother had actually died. But they continued to check in till the siblings were delivered to the Casa on Christmas day 2000.

That year they grew from the initial 6 to 9 kids. In 2001 the family had grown to 14, with a few new kids each year. This year Jose Luis and Yulissa were brought into the family. For two years her younger siblings already lived with Kia, but at 9 Yulissa was useful at her relatives. Her grandmother felt she should be paid for all the upkeep she invested in Yulissa before she would allow her to leave her house. But that would amount to buying a child, which Kia could not consider. It was a battle, but they got Yulissa early this year. At 11, she doesn’t yet write as well as her 7 year old sister, but she is social and sweet and touched by her very first birthday party this January.

As of February 2005 there are 24 adopted siblings along with three of Marie’s own, living not as an institution but as one family. Initially Kia, Marie and Allen did triple duty, caring for all the kids, running the home, gardens, kitchens and organization with a little help from a small staff. Over the years they have seen fit to extend the staff to include permanent cooks, gardeners, teachers, care takers and most recently Marco and Lizette as full time Mama and Papa to the kids. Now Kia can focus on Fundraising along with her blessed Mama duties. Marie is always Mama as well as administrator and facilitator, and Allen looks after the sustainable agriculture projects, the vegetable gardens, green house and domestic animals. Since his serious motorcycle accident he has not been able to be as present in the big house up the stairs.

The first Year Woody Harrelson’s Oasis Preserve supported the whole project. They sent the kids to public school and kept the annual costs within the $50,000 budget. Their numbers have since tripled. They now send their 27 kids to a private school, and will again improve their education when an alternative school opens in the neighboring town. The new school will cost more but will extend the ethics and positive principles they foster at home. Instead of insults and strict conditions they will be schooled with love and positive encouragement. And that is the most important point to raising this unique family. So the annual budget which is at the reasonable rate of $115,000 will need to grow this year to nearly $175,000 to include this and other visions on their wish list. The boys want to go to soccer camp. And all the kids want bicycles. And they need books, school supplies, and an in home teacher to lead activities, and after school and summer classes. But they will make due regardless of their budget.

The Casa also relies on volunteers from the world over to add fresh energy to the programs. Volunteers are invited to help the kids with their chores, run art projects, lead classes in yoga or dance or music, take the kids on outings, or lend energy to the upkeep of the Casa. Often travelers hear about Kia and her kids from other travelers along their path. They are welcome to drop in for a short stay or arrange to be there for any number of weeks for a $10 daily donation along with their good energy.