Friday, May 16, 2014

Only a Few Survive


Can you hear the giggles?  The bubbling over with joy?  The look of wonder? We have raised funds to send 100 orphans to camp!


ONE HUNDRED OUT OF FOUR HUNDRED THIS STEW IS TRYING TO FEED!!
 
Oh thank you to those who are giving. 

Deb, Katy, Nicole, Mindy, Rachel, Heather, Tonya, Marianne, Katrina, Bettina, Kim, Mary, Erika, Cheryl, Crystal, Tobi, Amy, Madeleine, Genna, Heather, Rebecca, Andrea, Jennifer, Kori, Philip, Judith, Kelly, Jennifer, Candice, Joy, Kelley, Candice, Ashley, Cindy, Dee, Amanda, Brenda, Jessica, Patricia, Naomi, Beth, Gaye, Lori, Brooke, Lisa, Kat, Tom, Rebekah, David, Cheryl, Rosemary, Amy, Ryan, Cynthia, MayLynne, Anonymous X 17
 
You make ME smile.
 
They live in a world where they have been put away.  Discarded.
 
Some of them are not 'true' orphans.
 
That's the saddest part.
 
Some of them have families.
 
But poverty and drugs and broken homes and for a multitude of other reasons - they are put away.  The saddest part of the saddest part is that many of them are children of orphans.  The cycle repeating itself over and over and over again. 

 
 
Orphans over there have no leverage.  No connections.  No props to pull themselves out of the pit they have been dropped into.  When they grow up and age out of the system (those who are not special needs and are allowed to age out) they are placed randomly in trade schools without any consideration of their strengths or abilities.  A monthly stipend (about 30 U.S. dollars from what I understand) is spent within days of receiving it by 15, 16, 17 year olds who have no idea how to budget and no loving parents to guide them in making good decisions.  They resort to stealing or selling themselves so that they can eat.  Drugs and alcohol become their escape.  Many are jailed.  Many die.  Some commit suicide.  And for many many of the girls.  The pretty ones.  They are snatched up into sex trafficking. 
 
Only a few survive.
 
That is the reality.
 
It is a reality of despair and chaos and crisis.
 
And in the midst of this crisis - in the region where there are more orphans than any other region in their country... the ministry team we support is doing its work.
 
Each week traveling to the orphanages.  Internats.  Institutes.  Traveling so that they can BUILD RELATIONSHIPS.  Traveling so that they can learn the names and personalities and gifts and abilities of every single one of the orphans God has placed in their paths  Traveling so that they can help them as they grow up to find another way.  An alternative to the chaos.  An alternative to the despair.  A road that leads to hope.  Life. 


This camp is a GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY.  Taking 600 orphans and investing in them for a week to 10 days a life-time of memories that will be good and wholesome and happy is so very worth dropping our nickels in their bucket.  The ministry team will spend those days knowing that they will see those same orphans again.  Week after week.  Year after year.  Cementing the relationships. 
 
This is not a hit and run camp.
 
It isn't a camp where the ministry team is coming from the U.S. and will return after a week of exhausting fun. Yes.  Some will come from the U.S. to help.  But the core group.  The ones who are running the camp and doing the lion's share of the work.  They live there.  They work there.  It is their world.  Their home.  Their orphan crisis.
 
This is a camp where the ministry team has already laid down the foundation for many many many of these children.  A foundation of love and nurture.  A foundation where the children have learned that these people are kind and true.  They care.  They come back each week.  They hold them in their laps.  Listen to them. 


 
 
It's a camp where long-term relationships will be formed.
 
The orphan crisis over there is overwhelming.

It is truly overwhelming.

Social orphans.  True orphans.

Orphans becoming parents to orphans.

Orphans dying.  Orphans sold.  Orphans lost.

So few are ever adopted.

Most are either locked away in institutes or are set adrift in a world that cares little about them.

Only a few survive.

That's why this camp is so worth our time and energy.  The investments that will be made are long-term and life-changing.


Please help us raise what we need to send all 600 to camp!!


300 are going.

300 are waiting!!



Please!

If you want to see ALL the prizes CLICK HERE
 
If you want to know more about why in the world we are doing this... CLICK HERE
 
If you haven't given yet... Please do!  I need every single person reading this blog to join in.  Five dollars or Five Hundred dollars.  Whatever the Lord lays on your heart - please give. 
 
 
 
 

1 comment:

  1. You are doing such a great job moving troups ! :)
    I come sometimes 2 or 4 times a day to check. :)

    I admire the hair plating many girls have in the photos !
    I would love to have mine done ! Sometimes very unusual !

    ReplyDelete

Loving words from kind people make our hearts glad!