Emotions Stir at Needs and Victories for School/Orphanage

I wish you could have walked with us on the newly-purchased land in Bikeke, the village in Kenya, where over 100 children will soon be schooled and cared for. 

We were excited and grateful, as I know you are, for this step that will provide a permanent home for one critical response to poverty: education.

As we walked over to the school’s temporary location, the head teacher pointed to a beautiful girl and told us, “Last year, the director rescued this orphan who was just at home with a relative and unable to attend school.  Even public schools require fees!  Now, she has proven to be very bright and is nearly at the top of her class.”

And there are dozens more just like her.  It was a priceless moment.

Emotions Stir

Have you ever felt like crying and jumping for joy at the same time?  This describes our daily emotions while traveling through Africa. 

First there is the heartbreak at the depth of the needs of so many: ordinary people and families who have no means for a meal today, children who cannot afford an education, handicapped children who are marginalized or even abandoned. 

Yet, we also feel such excitement and hope at the changes we ARE seeing which you are bringing about with us: spiritual transformation that church planters ARE bringing to so many (over 100 new churches recently planted), bright children who ARE receiving an education, and smiling women who ARE incredulous at the opportunity they have been given to become tailors through the women’s training center.