This past weekend, I visited the Umoja Children's Home for a second time, for a special purpose.
Crystal's grandmother read the post about our last trip to the orphanage and was so touched by the wonderful work that Joseph was doing that she asked to donate $500 to the children's home. From the remaining funds for our trip, I wanted to supplement that with $700 which combined ends up being about 100,000 Kenyan Shillings.
The director of the orphanage picked us up at Tenwek about 9:30 in the morning and brought us out to the children's home. I brought with me the last of our sample soap, shampoo, and lotion samples to give to the children. We drove up to a large group of children. They all looked curiously at my bag of brightly colored bottles.
We walked over to the office and I discussed the desire that Crystal's grandmother had to give and they explained that the money would be used to purchase more land that was being offered to them for the Children to grow more crops for food and to sell.
From there walked around to tour the campus again. I pointed out to one of the visiting radiologists, who had decided to come with me, the excellent condition of the bunk beds and cleaning facilities.
As we walked around, we began to faintly hear the songs of the children rising up. As we walked backed the noise of the children singing beautiful songs of joy and thanksgiving resounded in our ears. They're faces shown with joy and they were excited to share their home. It was so loud and they were having so much fun, I might have joined in dancing a little as well! ;)
As I sat down, I was surprised to find out that we were having a ceremony. Offering thanks for what God had done. Since I knew the money was his I was glad to give it and I was blessed just as much as they were by the generosity of the people supporting Crystal and me here in Kenya.
Each one of them got up and gave a short description of who they were, how old they were, and what they're favorite Bible verse was. Then the older girls gave great speeches of thanks for our obedience to God.
As Joseph introduced me, he noted, "more beautiful than this bright shining morning that the Lord has given us, is the joy that is on each one of our faces". The children knew I was offering/delivering a gift, but they didn't really know how much or what for, but they were so tremendously grateful!
They asked me to speak and so I gave a little message that I've been working on this week. I'll summarize it here:
Yesterday, as I was driving out into the community I was reminded about the orphans that live amongst the people here and how God calls us to take care of them.
I remember that a few years ago, a group of Christians in Washington State had the idea that if every congregation adopted children, there would be no more orphans in our state that year. But the project fell through. When children are raised in an ever-changing environment, they develop difficult behavior problems. Many parents, even good Christian parents believe it would be to much for them to have to try to change one of those broken lives.
Yet that is the condition in which God seeks man. It's very well known that the younger you adopt, the easier it is to raise a child within your family without a significant upheaval. But God does not want us to be forced to believe in him. He offers to adopt us as his own in exactly the state we're in. Whether we have great lives with great parents or terrible lives without, God calls us to serve him. He is one that will never leave you, and that is a promise no one else in the world can keep.
I am giving this money to you as a blessing in the same way that it was given to me! I pray that all of you would seek his will for your lives and trust his voice as you grow
They rose in ovation and sang 2-3 more songs both in thanks for what I had said and again with the heart of joy that was already overflowing in their music.
We ended with prayer and handing out the bottles of soap and shampoo. Afterwards, I talked with the older children, soon to graduate from school. I asked them what sorts of careers they were interested in: "a lawyer", "a teacher", "an engineer", "a doctor", and "a pilot". They asked me about the time and cost involved and I encouraged them to pursue those dreams, perhaps fairly achievable in this setting. And that was why this story is so powerful. Joseph has been a very honest, hard working man and has invested a lot of his time and labor into the children and their home. Because of his efforts these children actually have some chance to do well in the Kenyan school system and with the skills they learned in farming at the orphanage, they will be able to provide for themselves.
God has surely blessed this place and it is so apparent on the faces of all these children!