Hope to the Hopeless

Last week, we went and did another assessment to a slum area that we had never been to before. In fact, we didn’t even know it existed.

We met an amazing woman named Caroline.  She’s a widow - twice over. Both husbands died of HIV.  She, herself, is HIV positive, fighting to stay alive for her children.  

Caroline’s home is no bigger than eight feet by eight feet. It is your typical home of mud and sticks with a leaking tin roof.  She has one bed and two chairs for her and her children to sleep on.

Caroline & her home

Caroline is the type of widow we love to and desire to work with.  She saved up money from casual work and invested it into a business to help support her family.  She goes to town each week and purchases clothes inexpensively.  She then walks back to her home area and sells them for a higher price.  With this business, she makes about $50 US per month.

Sean encouraged and affirmed the great work she was doing.  The more he encouraged her, the more his eyes welled up with tears.  And so did Caroline’s.  When was the last time, if ever, that she was told she was doing a great job to take care of her children? When was the last time someone showed love through their words to her?

Sweet Caroline

During our meeting with her, she told us that her 15-year old daughter was not in school because she did not have the funds at the time to register her into grade eight.  Grade eight costs a bit more because of preparation for the final exams to head the class into high school.  Unfortunately, her daughter will not be able to attend school for the 2014 year as you need to register at the beginning of the school year which is in January.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to get her registered into school in the 2015 year.  In the meantime, we are praying about what she can do for the remainder of this year so that she doesn’t stay idle at home.  We are looking into a few different options.

We also found out that her two of her daughters, ages 10 and 12, walk round-trip 40 KILOMETERS (almost 25 miles) for school each day. They head out at 6:00 in the morning, when it is still dark, walking through the slum area to get to school. The reason they walk so far is because they were going to move to that particular area, enrolled in school and then Caroline decided not to move there but couldn’t afford the fees for the schools in her new home area.

This caused us great concern as walking in the dark in both the morning and evenings is dangerous, especially for girls. The chances of them being raped, taken for child trafficking, or kidnapped to be house girls’ increases in areas of where they walk through.

We also found out that the two younger ones, ages 5 and 6, walk round-trip 12 kilometers (over 7 miles) to their preschool. This too, is dangerous for them.

When we heard this, we knew that this was an immediate need for the family; to get her four children out of the schools they were currently in and into schools that were closer so that they would be safer in walking to and from home.

This is where we are calling upon you for assistance.

In order to move the four children to a school in their home area, we need to raise $300.  This will cover the cost of: desks, uniforms, school fees, feeding program, and school supplies. 

Anything we get above and beyond that amount, we would like to put toward two different things.  The first is to increase Caroline’s current business. If we can have her invest double, she will be able to make more each month and be able to provide for her children the basic necessities of food and shelter.  Our prayer is that we can come alongside and assist with school fees for the children through the sponsorship program but she can take care of their other needs.

The second thing, should there be excess, is to purchase a bunk bed (or two), mattresses and blankets for them.   We would like to work with her to possibly find a bigger place for the family, especially if she is able to increase her monthly income. Then we can purchase the beds once she’s in the new home.

Our first and foremost desire is to protect her children and get them to closer schools.  

If you would like to assist with this, please see below of where to send the money.

You can send cheques to:

ReACT

199 Jean Street

Barrie ON

L4N 7S9

CANADA

Please make the cheques payable to: ASSISTS PROJECTS and on the memo line of the cheque or an attached note, write: O5M – Caroline.

Note:  Our apologies to our US supporters as you will not receive a tax receipt if you send funds to this address. We are working on getting a US contact so that you will be able to receive tax receipts in the near future.

We look forward to updating you on this family.

Thank you in advance for your support.

In His service,

Sean & Meredith

Least of These

I, Meredith, have been in Kenya for over eight years now. I have seen a lot.

Poverty. Death. Sickness. Witchcraft. Demons. Hopelessness.  Brokenness.  Widows. Orphans. Girls who lost their innocence too young. And not by their decision.

And I have seen the hand of my Abba, my Father in all of these situations. His love, His presence is the healing of it all.

I have seen Him remove demons from a young woman.  I have seen Him heal a little boy who’s little body was covered in HIV, chicken pox, meningitis, malaria, typhoid and pneumonia and was given less than 24 hours to live.  Less than a week later, that little boy was in our backyard, running around with a soccer ball.

I have seen Him restore beauty and love into young girls who had their innocent lives ripped out of their hands. I have seen Him in the smiles of the forgotten, the widows and orphans, by providing for them in ways that only He can provide.

I have seen Him love on Sean and me these past few months through opening doors, words of encouragement from people and providing needs without us even having to ask Him.

He knows and He loves.

With God’s leading and vision, Sean and I have started a new ministry here in Kenya (more on that in another blog) and are networking with other ministries to see how we can come alongside them and assist families in their area of which they serve.

Last Tuesday, we went with another ministry, Africa Connect, to visit the Tuwani slums.  Africa Connect has a great relationship with the people of Tuwani. They have been there many years and have transformed lives by bringing God’s love and light to a place that was once dark.

The need in Tuwani is great and we want to be able to assist Africa Connect in the desire to see the widows and their children and the orphans living with their grandparents to have a chance of getting out of poverty, free of malnutrition, healed of illnesses, education for the children, and to find hope and love in Jesus.

The first family we met, the guardian of the home was a woman whose name is Susan.

Susan

She cares for three children: two grandchildren and one nephew.  Susan is HIV positive.

Their home which is only one room and no larger than 9x20, is made of mud and sticks. Their roof is made of tin with holes where a ray of sunshine shines through a bit.  Fine for the dry season, not so nice in rainy season.  The one room home is also the kitchen to cook food in. There always seems to be a bit of smoke in the air as the only ventilation I see is the door.

I notice that there is one old bed, two couches and two chairs, all of them worn and very dirty.  There was a sheet hanging from the ceiling to separate the “bedroom” from the sitting area.

Susan looked overwhelmed, tired, and beat up emotionally. I constantly smiled at her just so I could see how beautiful she would look with a smile across her sweet face.  I got one smile. And yes, she is beautiful.

I began to get the stories of the children she cares for. Her nephew, Peter, just four years old, lives with her now. His mother lived in Northern Kenya and in December of 2013, was killed. Her life was taken by robbers; her life worth far more than what they probably stole from her.  You can still see the ache on Peter’s face of knowing his mother isn’t coming to visit him.

Susan’s grandson, Derick, is six years old with a gorgeous and contagious smile. His father was killed during the post election violence. Derick didn’t get to meet his father; he died a few months before Derick was born. Derick’s mother is away in Bible school.  She was taken by a church and comes to visit him when she can.

And last but not least, Susan’s granddaughter, Sylvia. Too young to be in school but that doesn’t stop her from following her brother Derick to school every day and sneaking into the baby class so she can be near him.

Sylvia doesn’t know her father and likely never will. Sylvia was conceived out of rape; all too common in places like Tuwani.  But the blessing is, she has a grandmother that, in her exhausted state, will still try to find food for her. She has a brother who clearly adores her as much as she does him. Beauty from ashes.

Another home we went to visit was a single mother named, Emily. She has four children under the age of six years old.  Her husband ran off on her when she was four and a half months pregnant. 

Emily

Her home is similar to Susan’s except it was about 9x12 in size and the only piece of furniture was a couch that only had one old cushion and a small stool. 

Emily looked broken and hopeless.  We found out that her two month old son doesn’t even have a name. She is waiting for her husband to someday return and give him a name.  For now she calls him the same name as her second born son: Alfred. 

The baby looked drawn and emotionless; he made no attempt at eye contact and didn’t respond to touch. Thankfully, he was a solid baby, being fed by his mother’s breast milk but still my heart ached to take him in my arms and love on him.  I wondered if he felt her sorrow, her pain.

There was a heaviness in these two specific families.  I spoke softly to God, “Shine Your light in these homes.  Let us help them, please. ” Sean prayed over each family before we left. 

Afterwards, Sean and I sat and talked about these two families.  I have been here eight years now and Sean has been here five and half years and our hearts still ache for families like these. You don’t become numb; you don’t just shrug your shoulders and say this is the way of life here.  You take care of the least of these.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.  All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’" – Matthew 25:31-40