Natchez &8212; For 27 years, Nilda Escobar has lived with crippling rheumatoid arthritis. That did not stop her from spending the last 20 years as a social worker in her hometown of Cusco, a Peruvian city high in the Andes Mountains.

On crutches, Escobar has gathered homeless children from the streets, leading them to the safety of the orphanage she has directed for the past five years.

When she returns to Cusco from Mississippi next week with a group of Natchez missionaries, she will take with her the Christmas gift that has answered her prayers &8212; the ability to walk unaided.

Joe Mitchell, director of development at the Natchez Children&8217;s Home, met Escobar during mission trips he has led to Peru as a &8220;fund-raising and friend-raising project for the Children&8217;s Home,&8221; he said.

Escobar&8217;s disability weighed heavily on him, Mitchell said. He was telling the story to a good friend when the idea came to him. &8220;I realized my friend&8217;s son was an orthopedic surgeon. I called Ross, and he jumped right on it. He was so excited about the project.&8221;

The project would involve two knee transplants. For the first, Dr. Ross Ward of Laurel accompanied Mitchell to Peru and took along all the equipment and the prosthesis needed to repair one knee.

&8220;It totally changed her life,&8221; Mitchell said. &8220;She went from a person who had not walked in years to someone who could shuffle with one crutch.&8221;

Logistical problems made it difficult for Ward to make the trip for the second surgery. Not to be denied, Mitchell saw to it that Escobar would make the trip to Mississippi for the second knee replacement, which took place last week.

Recovering and walking without assistance, she is in Natchez to spend Christmas and to await her return home next week.

&8220;It&8217;s a huge gift,&8221; she said. &8220;It has changed my life. I am so thankful Joe had the commitment to make this happen.&8221;

The poverty and alcoholism in her city of about 800,000 has led to homelessness for many children, she said. &8220;Many families are broken, and the children are left on the street. And sometimes the conditions on the street are better than those at home.&8221;

Her orphanage, which includes a home for boys and one for girls only recently donated by a Natchez church group, provides a safe haven for the homeless. But Escobar has more than safety to offer.

&8220;It is hard for them to change habits they learned to survive on the streets,&8221; she said. &8220;In the first year, my primary mission is to change their habits and to get them to stay in school. Some have been on the streets for 10 years and never have been to school.&8221;

The bond she has been able to build with the children and the successes she has had are impressive, Mitchell said.

&8220;She was recently called to the school by school officials for them to tell her about significant changes they had seen in all her students,&8221; he said.

Helping the children to toe the line is a constant process. &8220;It&8217;s a fight that&8217;s never finished,&8221; she said.

The second knee &8212; the ability to walk again &8212; will allow her more freedom to tend to her children, she said. &8220;This is a huge blessing for my life, but I&8217;m more excited about being a better blessing in the lives of the children. There&8217;s so much to do. And I&8217;m determined to do more.&8221;

For the children to see that prayers can be answered is the most exciting outcome for her, she said. &8220;I had the children pray with me,&8221; she said. &8220;This has taught them about the different ways God answers prayers, one of them being how their American friends came to help.&8221;

Others in the Natchez area have been involved in assisting Escobar, including Dr. Lynn Palmer, who has assisted with medical care and will be in the group leaving next week for Peru, and Ann Thornhill, a registered nurse, who also has assisted with medical care and has been among those traveling on mission trips with Mitchell.

For Mitchell, the association with Escobar has been uplifting. &8220;It&8217;s had a powerful effect on my life,&8221; he said.

The arthritis affects all the joints in her body, and she endures pain because of the disease, she acknowledged.

But the miracles that have led to her new knees keep her smiling and optimistic. &8220;The children have been the joy of my life. I&8217;m like a proud parent. Let me show you a few pictures,&8221; she said as she reached for two small albums.