Shituru Orphans

Wow it has been so long since I last updated my blog. Things have been going well here in Kisankala. We’ve started cleaning up the village and working with the local school. We have a garden and I’ve got my work cut out for me! So many problems but I am finding solutions. I’m doing my best to spread the message of hope to the people in the village. I’ve already seen a change. People are seeing a future for this place.

My one regret or hesitation or bad feeling in the pit of my stomach about taking this job was leaving behind the nearly 100 orphans I worked with for so long in Shituru. I had arranged to start a day center for the kids and provide education, food, and whatever else the kids were in need of. These kids had all captured my heart. I knew that if I quite my old job and took this new job the program wouldn’t be started and the kids wouldn’t be getting the help they needed. I told myself I would be helping more kids by taking this new job but the feeling never went away.

Then I started talking with my friends from the church in Shituru and they told me an idea they had. What if we negotiated with a school that members of our church worked at to pay a flat rate to the school instead of per child. We decided it couldn’t hurt to try so we started meeting with the principle and asking for a discount. As we were in the negotiation process someone brought up the fact that 2 kilometers is far for the young kids to walk by themselves. We went back to the drawing board trying to figure out what we could do. We finally decided that the best solution would be to hire a member of our church with experience as a teacher to walk the kids to and from school each day and she could help the kids with their homework and check up on them. We negotiated the whole thing down to $400 per month for 160 orphans. We were already supporting orphans in Toyota who attended that school and I had been given a list of 50 more orphans who wanted a chance at an education in the Toyota area. The normal price is $5 per child per month which would have been a total of $800 per month.

Then it was a matter of finding the $400 per month and God provided all the money needed. There is even enough to buy each of the children a new school uniform! The people I trained to do children’s ministry in Shituru will now be doing weekly chapel services at the school the orphans will be attending! The kids will be able to go to school, continue learning about God, and we are even helping them with medical expenses. Not only that but my friend Irene who has been looking for a teaching job for years will now be employed at last! God couldn’t have worked this out better.

I was so encouraged when I met with the kids after not seeing them for 2 months. I gave them a quiz to see what they remembered. I asked who knows Ephesians 6:1? The kids were jumping up and down yelling “pick me pick me!” One answer that really touched me was when I asked who knows the story of Elijah and the Ravens? Lots of kids raised their hands but I called on Davie a boy maybe 5 years old who tends to be hyper and more interested in fighting other kids than paying attention. He said “Elijah was hungry but there was no food so he prayed and God sent ravens to bring him bread.” I know most of those kids have experienced times when there “was no food” and it makes me so happy to know that they see now that God loves them and he cares that they don’t have food and he will provide for them. I thank God for those kids and the work He is doing in their hearts. I also thank all of you for your contributions and prayers that are changing the lives of 160 Congolese orphans!