September 28, 2012 Kakamega

Greetings

I missed a day on my blog.  I got on the computer last night and couldn’t bring myself to write anything.  This morning I am still having problems as my mind continues to race a mile a minute.  Not only is the micro-finance venture on my mind the Orphan project is eating me alive.  There is so much to say about Orphans and this blog is really not the place to spell it out.  However it is my blog and I need to say something.  Here goes!

Yesterday I spent the day continuing my reading assignment “The Orphan Report” by Joe Knittig of the Global Orphan Project.  I actually finished the report and found it to be exactly what I was looking for.  I spent the last three years hiding from what I saw on that back street in Uganda and kept pushing it off and pushing it off.  After reading this report I realize that even though our idea of Church based Orphan care was the way to go our implementation would have failed miserably and would have had dire consequences.  Joe explains in chapter twenty two on a scale of one to ten with one as a terrible phony orphanage to ten as a well executed perfect Orphanage the best he has seen executed is a seven.  He goes on to say that he has been involved with some very painful level one orphanages as well.  As Aaron and I travel to Uganda with Bishops Hezron and Moses we will need to realize what we are up against on both sides of the pond.  My expectations of a first successful Church based Orphan care project will probably not be a level ten execution and as Joe states it might not even be close.

The report makes a very good argument of why not to proceed and as I sit here with tears in my eyes and my hands shaking I still can’t bring myself to say no.  During our whole lives we are conditioned to believe that orphans are simply children without both living parents or just one of them gone.  This seems to be the standard that is used.  However is this the standard that our Lord uses?  What about those street children that I saw in Uganda?  Many of them have parents that are living and are not really orphans according to the secular standard.  What about a young girl maybe ten or eleven years old caring for her multitude of younger siblings while her mother is gone for long periods of time looking for work or food to bring back to her children.  Years can go by before the mother or father comes back.  Are these children not Orphans?  As Joe puts it a true Orphan is a child without a Champion.  Thanks Joe for helping me understand.     

I have seen plenty of orphans during my visits to East Africa.  However I have seen them in what I would say is a state of contentment.  I might be using the wrong word but that is the only one that comes to mind right now.  It was the street children that hit me the most.  It was the street children that God beat me over the head with.  It is those children in the shadows that nobody wants that God is telling us to help.  So out of ten orphans as Joe states there is One Orphan that is being left in the shadows.  Those Ones are too hard to manage and do not fit into the model of the secular global orphan scheme.  As Joe states the word orphan brings peoples emotions to a heightened level and the more gruesome the marketing the more money flows in.  This has become a multi billion big business with high expectations and you better get results.  When working with the Ones you are almost guaranteed bad results.  Why would anyone want to invest in a loosing proposition when the other nine (or the many) will perpetuate the money flow?  The Ones are cast aside as collateral damage and left to fend for themselves.  The ends justify the means?

The other day before I finished reading the report I had asked Hezron about the street children and he told me that we wanted to stay away from them because they were too much trouble.  That struck me as odd at the time and today when I meet with him I am going to dig further into his thinking.  Back in December 09 was Hezron just pointing it out to point it out or was God telling him to point it out.  I would of never realized what I was seeing if Hezron wouldn’t have pointed it out.  I guess this is why they are in the shadows.  How many more shadow children are out there?  After reading Joe’s report I can understand why Hezron would want to stay away from the Ones.  It’s a loosing proposition.  The internal and external forces on both sides of the pond are going to certainly crush anyone that tries to help.  I don’t believe God is calling on me and the people that he has put in front of me to continue to perpetuate the nines.  Granted the nines can use some help but there is plenty of organizations, people and money helping all ready. 

We also need to remember that Satan plays a role in this and he is a liar.  He will use anything in his means including good people to tell his lies.  Every trip I make I get a little wiser.  It has come to pass that some around me have other agendas and that is to be expected.  I will still love them for in my own mind and my own situations I can relate.  My prayer is that the lies will eventually be exposed and we will all grow more powerful in God’s word to expel the evil that is all around us.   

The good news is that there are many others out there that are hearing the call to help the Ones.  I would put Katie Davis in this group and if you haven’t read her book “Kisses from Katie” please do so.  I am not looking for the orphan that is living in a loving relationship with her grandparents or other relatives.  I am not looking for the orphan that is in a single parent home being adequately taken care of.  I am looking for that Orphan that One Orphan nobody wants.  Granted some of our projects will benefit and help sustain some of these orphans however I am not looking for them since they are in plain sight and out of the shadows.  I hope I made that clear to my friends on this side of the pond (Africa).  God calls on us to help all Orphans and all Widows.  Of course our Lord also tells us to help anyone in need.  When we go into a community we will be helping orphans, Orphans, and others as well.  There would be dire consequences if we just went in to help the true Orphans and no one else.  As I continue to blog on this subject I will try to explain using Joe’s words (I hope you don’t mind) and my own words to convey the multitude of challenges ahead.

During our discussions in the next couple of weeks with Bishops Hezron and Moses I am going to pose the questions and I am going to tell them that this could get really ugly.  If we are not up to it we are not going to do it.  I believe their job is going to be much harder then mine and if they feel they cannot do it I will completely understand.  I have read the dangers that Joe presents on the There side and many would say only a fool would attempt to rescue the Ones.  My prayers are with you two Bishops as I prepare to make your lives more miserable then they are now.

To any of my friends on the Here side (First Worlders) (is Worlders a word?) that will be willing to help with prayers and/or support be forewarned that this could be a complete failure and many lives could be hurt in the process.  Getting into this our first goal was to cause no harm.  However we have already caused some harm and our intention will be to continue to cause no harm.  Going forward we will most likely cause some more harm.  I pray that it will not be intentionally done on any of our parts.  I ask all that are involved and those that aren’t.  Is this worth it?  Please respond to this blog, message on my facebook, or any of my multitude of emails with your comments.  I don’t want to move any further without at least a little more input.     

Our micro-finance venture is on hold as we review our successes and failures.  My belief is that the micro-finance venture is workable and will be successful in due time.  Right now it needs some more tweaking.  Any church based Orphan care project that we implement will need to have a micro-finance component to the equation. 

Thank you Joe for allowing Aaron and I to read your report before it is published.  The insight you have acquired is priceless.  You have stated that you are still miles away from perfecting Orphan care ministry.  In my realization I was hundreds of miles maybe light years away and I appreciate you bringing me closer to understanding what is really going on in the realm of Global Orphan Care.

Hezron is going to join me for lunch soon and he does not realize I am going to feed him a peanut butter and fluff sandwich.  If he likes it he can have another or two.  TSA left me a card right next to my fluff but did not take any.

Take care and God bless you all

Dave