Each child comes with her own background. There are various ways to be abandoned, and each one was. In Elma Fonseca's words: "they come dirty, with lice, know nothing about Jesus, hungry, abused, withdrawn, they eat on the floor, and they don't know how to use the toilet." 

In one way or another they get brought to Casa Hogar M. A. Mi, and there an amazing - no,  miraculous - transformation begins to happen. Here's more about that transformation:

They all go to school, to weekly devotionals, and to church on Sunday; they study and play in the commons and each one has her own bed to sleep in; they have regular meals and their own clothes; they take baths, and brush their teeth, and get corrected when they need it. And their hurts are cared for. Americans may wonder "so what's the big deal?" The big deal is that for most of the children, this is the first time in their life to do these things!

	In time they begin smiling, then laughing, and eventually they begin playing with others. They go to school and do homework. We take this for granted as a normal and expected life for children, but for these girls it is heaven; remember the life they came from?
After spending four days in the orphanage during a mission there, one of the men commented, "We have been here four days, and I have not heard one single child cry." Another man said, "Not only have I not heard one cry, I haven't heard them even fuss with each other!" And it was the truth. It was undeniable testimony to what the Lord Jesus is doing there in the lives of these girls.

Probably one of the clearest indicators of the healing that happens to them is that they begin to love and care for one another. All over the orphanage you see them helping each other, older girls helping younger ones, and groups of different ages playing together.

Some children stay at the orphanage six to seven years, and a few stay longer. Elma recommends to a local government agency when a child is ready to leave the orphanage. Some return to family, but regardless of where they are going, the agency checks out where the child will be going, and follows up after she has been there for awhile.  That miraculous transformation we talked about -- the transformation is so deep that most are Christians when they leave!