HOPE

As I was praying about the new direction God was calling me in my life, the theme & word of HOPE came up over & over. The word came over and over in my prayers and in Scriptures I was reading. Even one of the most tangible ways was while I was serving on a Student Mission Trip to Ecuador, asking Jesus how I could prepare for my time coming up to serve in Africa, a high-school student made me a bracelet of leftover wire we were using to build the second floor of a school with the word HOPE. Then I found out the children’s home I was going to was named Tumaini, which is HOPE in Swahili. But upon arriving at Tumaini, I found the Lord also had another reason I was to pray for Hope.

We both arrived the same day at Tumaini Children’s Home in Kenya, but both have very different stories. I arrived showered, well-fed, healthy, with clean clothes and 2 suitcases full of luggage. She arrived dirty, hungry, sick, with nothing but a urine-soaked outfit and a blanket. My arrival had been long awaited, and I was so smiling and happy to finally arrived to live with the children and staff I had been praying about for so long. Her arrival was a complete surprise, and she couldn’t stop crying as she was surrounded by strange & unknown faces.

You see Hope arrived an abandoned baby literally found in a ditch by one of the schoolchildren who was walking home (Tumaini also has a school that people of the community can pay to send their children to help the home in financial support). The police were contacted and told to bring her to our home for a few days until they could either track down her family or take her to a baby home. Normally this home only has ages 2-18, but looking into her precious face the staff could not refuse. New clothes, blankets, medicine, and diapers were donated by the staff members. The staff women & older girls at the home take turns feeding, playing, cleaning, and sleeping with the child as she is so young she requires constant 24-7 care. Watching the older girls, many who have never known love from their own mothers, loving on this baby girl seems to me to be one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring ways I have seen Jesus’ love radiating from people. The staff & older girls have sacrificed their own money to provide food, medicine, and diapers for Hope these past two and half weeks. They have also sacrificed their work/school breaks to take care of her. They have given so lovingly. Hope now has a smile on her face so many times and is finally starting to look a healthy weight and overcoming sickness from all the love and care she has been shown by Tumaini Children’s Home. But there is an issue of custody & finances. I’m told the home can apply for custody of the child from the courts rather easily, but to do so they need to know they can support this child’s food, clothing, education, and medical care long-term financially. To fully financially support Hope – for clothes, blankets, caretakers, medical care, shelter, and education when she is old enough - $120 a month is needed. The staff of this home have already given so much, but they are unable to give this amount long-term as so many are suffering themselves to provide food & education for their own children. If anyone can sponsor her fully, partially, or even just give a onetime donation towards her care please email me at sblovesjesus@gmail.com Maybe you can only pledge a one time donation of $120, or you can pledge $20 a month for her – everything helps! If you are unable to give financially, please I ask you to pray for this precious one, that God would provide a loving home for her to grow up in and that she will not get lost in the corrupt government system or worse end up back on the streets. OUR GOD IS A GOD WHO PROVIDES! He has provided for me, He has provided for you, and now let us join together as the body of Christ to pray He will continue to provide for this precious seven month old child.

“For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me...And the King will respond, “Truly I say to you, whatever you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” – Matthew 25: 35-40