Joni’s House El Salvador is a Beacon of Hope

“This happened so that the works of God might be displayed.”

John 9:3

Joni’s House is an international disability center located in the poorest areas of the world, designed to serve and equip families struggling with disabilities. At Joni’s House, we are providing medical and mobility support, essential resources and therapies, and Christ-centered spiritual care to entire communities.

Even though little Renata is only two years old, she and her family have become an important part of Joni’s House El Salvador.

Renata has Down syndrome and was born prematurely with a heart defect that required open heart surgery when she was just four months old. Her parents, David and Monica, could not afford the heart surgery Renata required if she was to survive, but the national children’s hospital in El Salvador had mercy on them – providing the surgery that saved Renata’s life.

When Renata was born, David and Monica were devastated by her diagnosis. They asked God to show them what they had done wrong. Why had their baby been born with Down syndrome?

But at Joni’s House, Renata receives treatment from top-notch doctors and therapists who give her the educational and enrichment therapies needed in order to help her be all she can be. She’s having experiences and participating in activities she simply would not have access to outside of Joni’s House.

And David and Monica have access to Christian counselors and pastors. Through Joni’s house, they’ve gained a biblical perspective on disability. Sharing through an interpreter they explain, “We now can see that Renata’s life is a testimony of the life and power of God!” David and Monica have now fully accepted Renata and her disability.

“We thank God because now we think differently and want to help other parents who have children with disabilities, too.”

At Joni’s House, whole families come to understand their value as God’s image-bearers, and entire communities come to see that we are all equal in the eyes of Jesus.

“You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Psalm 139:13-14

Joni’s House answers Christ’s call in Luke 14 to “go out quickly and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame so that God’s house will be full” (verses 21-23). It’s a place where the world’s wounded and disabled receive complete Christ-centered care and see the salvation message lived out with compassion. Every Joni’s House is a beacon of hope for families who are barely getting by, because Joni’s House throws open the doors of welcome – respectfully serving families impacted by disability in the name of Jesus!

Joni’s House gives food to the hungry, hygiene kits to the sick, and even housing to impoverished families living with disability whose shelter is little more than a wooden lean-to with a rusty tin roof. We provide wheelchairs and wheelchair maintenance, wound care, physical and occupational therapy, and educational opportunities.

At Joni’s House, we provide the Word of God and let the world’s disabled know that they, too, have a place in Christ’s kingdom here on earth and for all eternity.