This week has been all about Justice.
We have worked hard to make sure that a young girl who was being raped nightly by an orphanage director is finally going to be properly cared for.
We are working out all the details for a little 4 year old girl weighing 14.7 pounds to be placed in a decent home this week, so she can get the care she needs..
We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for orphanage homes with corrupt and negligent directors who will soon be closed once and for all. After years of working hard for the justice of these neglected and abused kids, we see that a system is now being set in place so that the social welfare office can take these homes to court to bring final closure to them.
We are actively working to find healthy solutions for each child within these homes. We are blessed to have such favor within the country and government to help bring about change in this Nation. We see God doing amazing things here.
This week we made an amazing connection with a Former Liberian resident now living in New York, who is also taking action to help the many needy children in Liberia. She is building a state of the art Boarding School for 4 to 10 year olds. It will open in August. This school will be run by two very capable nuns, who love God passionately. Through our meeting, she committed to accept children meeting their criteria who will no longer have a home when their orphanage is finally closed down. In working along side the social welfare office, we see this as the number one problem the Government will have once these closures begin to happen. We are now starting to see God answer our prayers to this impending dilemma. We have realized that if the Government does not have a place for these children to go, then the closures will not happen. This is critical for action to be taken.
Another highlight has been my meetings with the orphanage directors who are doing a great job with their children. Working with each of them for a plan of manageability, was another personal goal on this trip. We have had many planning conversations regarding the number of kids they each feel they can realistically take care of when their new businesses are running at capacity. Having a plan for sustaining themselves and not being dependent on others, has always been our goal for these homes. My challenge to them is to duplicate themselves through mentoring their friends to each take a child to help share the load. These conversations were very encouraging and productive.
I will leave Liberia with a full heart yet again, and continue to have full confidence in God and our field team left on the ground. Coming back to Texas I will continue to fight for these kids lives and future along with our other office personnel who are equally passionate in these efforts.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Kissing the orphan and kissing the President: Update from Liberia
Bombed out vehicles lined the streets as far as your eyes could see. Buildings were decimated by fire and bullets and overflowing with squatters.
Just five years ago, when we first came into Liberia, 14 years of civil war had turned Africa’s beacon of prosperity to ruins.
With each trip back since 2005, it has been amazing to see all the structural development. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been working hard over the last four years to bring restoration to this completely destroyed country.
As far as our work with the orphan children, it has been a slow process in seeing justice prevail. The government is working on new policies so that the homes with corrupt or abusive directors can be legally closed, but this has been a long process and is still taking too much time. On the other hand, we are seeing amazing results in those homes with wonderful, trustworthy directors, yet the kids suffer terribly due to the circumstances of poverty. Through God’s guidance and our amazing staff on the ground, we are having wonderful results with them.
Each day I am surrounded by orphan children starving for affection and love, children who have been discarded by society. My heart breaks for them. They’re desperate, they crave whatever attention they can get.
One such a day last week, God revealed to me a beautiful illustration of His love.
After spending the afternoon at a very needy home leaning down and kissing the sweet little dirty cheeks of neglected children, I stopped by the mansion of the former President of Liberia.
After driving through his security gate lined with men with machine guns, it was evident that he was a very important man here in this country, and I was driving into another world.
In greeting President Blah, I kissed him on each cheek, which is the custom here. He greeted me with a great, warm welcome. We had a wonderful time listening to his stories of God’s faithfulness in keeping him alive through the war and the many death threats and hardships after the civil war ended. It was such an honor to sit and listen to him, and as I left his home, I began to have an epiphany regarding what had just happened in those last few hours.
Within one hour, I went from kissing the cheeks of orphan children, who are the lowest in society here in Africa, to kissing the cheek of the former President, who is esteemed as the highest in society.
God began to reveal His heart through this picture: In most parts of the world people are valued according to what part of society they come from, yet God regards each human life with incredible value and worth. Every single person is priceless, irreplaceable. He intensely loves each equally. God values the orphans the same as he values those from the highest in society such as a President.
May we always strive to value all those in our path as God does. And may we see how our simple acts of mercy can truly change the destiny of someone else’s life..
Just five years ago, when we first came into Liberia, 14 years of civil war had turned Africa’s beacon of prosperity to ruins.
With each trip back since 2005, it has been amazing to see all the structural development. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been working hard over the last four years to bring restoration to this completely destroyed country.
As far as our work with the orphan children, it has been a slow process in seeing justice prevail. The government is working on new policies so that the homes with corrupt or abusive directors can be legally closed, but this has been a long process and is still taking too much time. On the other hand, we are seeing amazing results in those homes with wonderful, trustworthy directors, yet the kids suffer terribly due to the circumstances of poverty. Through God’s guidance and our amazing staff on the ground, we are having wonderful results with them.
Each day I am surrounded by orphan children starving for affection and love, children who have been discarded by society. My heart breaks for them. They’re desperate, they crave whatever attention they can get.
One such a day last week, God revealed to me a beautiful illustration of His love.
After spending the afternoon at a very needy home leaning down and kissing the sweet little dirty cheeks of neglected children, I stopped by the mansion of the former President of Liberia.
After driving through his security gate lined with men with machine guns, it was evident that he was a very important man here in this country, and I was driving into another world.
In greeting President Blah, I kissed him on each cheek, which is the custom here. He greeted me with a great, warm welcome. We had a wonderful time listening to his stories of God’s faithfulness in keeping him alive through the war and the many death threats and hardships after the civil war ended. It was such an honor to sit and listen to him, and as I left his home, I began to have an epiphany regarding what had just happened in those last few hours.
Within one hour, I went from kissing the cheeks of orphan children, who are the lowest in society here in Africa, to kissing the cheek of the former President, who is esteemed as the highest in society.
God began to reveal His heart through this picture: In most parts of the world people are valued according to what part of society they come from, yet God regards each human life with incredible value and worth. Every single person is priceless, irreplaceable. He intensely loves each equally. God values the orphans the same as he values those from the highest in society such as a President.
May we always strive to value all those in our path as God does. And may we see how our simple acts of mercy can truly change the destiny of someone else’s life..
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Liberia trip Nov 28-Dec 11: Checking on team and projects
At the sight of our vehicle, children came screaming and running towards us as we pulled into their orphanage home today. This is always a highlight and an emotional time for me upon each return to Liberia. Opening the door and being mobbed by a sea of black little healthy faces is the most amazing and wonderful sight, as I remember just a short time ago, pulling into this same orphanage with these very same children in huge distress. They had sunken in eyes and very malnourished and skinny little bodies when we first met them. There is nothing more rewarding than being apart of their rescued and transformed lives due to our intervention.
Orphan Relief and Rescue was founded 3 years ago to help the orphans in the orphanages that no one wants to touch. They are the homes in the worst conditions. Our animals in America live in better conditions than most of the orphans here. We want to help change every aspect of that. My husband and I being co-founders reside in Lindale Texas with our 3 kids and travel back in forth to Liberia overseeing the work here.
Our 7 full time International field staff members and Liberian employees are doing a phenomenal job with our programs on the ground here. Our relief, construction, capacity building and child development programs are all in full swing and accomplishing amazing results.
The difficult part of what we do is seeing the many abuses that go on in the homes that have very terrible and selfish directors. We want to see those kids removed once and for all from those homes. I have many meetings set up this coming week regarding this issue with many people of influence. We want to be a part of the solution to this other very real problem. I will keep you posted in next weeks dispatch. Check out our website at www.orphanreliefandrescue.org for more information about what we do.
Orphan Relief and Rescue was founded 3 years ago to help the orphans in the orphanages that no one wants to touch. They are the homes in the worst conditions. Our animals in America live in better conditions than most of the orphans here. We want to help change every aspect of that. My husband and I being co-founders reside in Lindale Texas with our 3 kids and travel back in forth to Liberia overseeing the work here.
Our 7 full time International field staff members and Liberian employees are doing a phenomenal job with our programs on the ground here. Our relief, construction, capacity building and child development programs are all in full swing and accomplishing amazing results.
The difficult part of what we do is seeing the many abuses that go on in the homes that have very terrible and selfish directors. We want to see those kids removed once and for all from those homes. I have many meetings set up this coming week regarding this issue with many people of influence. We want to be a part of the solution to this other very real problem. I will keep you posted in next weeks dispatch. Check out our website at www.orphanreliefandrescue.org for more information about what we do.
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