Restoring What’s Been Ravaged
Restoring the soul of a wounded, violated child takes a miracle that only the Spirit of God can accomplish, and the process takes endless supplies of skillfully applied love and patience from His people.
Every month, Heaven’s Family helps far more people than we could ever highlight in our bi-monthly newsletter. For that reason, this page contains additional photos and stories of some of the “least of these” among our spiritual family whom we’ve recently been blessed to serve.
Restoring the soul of a wounded, violated child takes a miracle that only the Spirit of God can accomplish, and the process takes endless supplies of skillfully applied love and patience from His people.
I simply cannot leave Kenya without telling you about a bright spot for me in the partnership of Heaven's Family with Cindi's Hope. Cindi's Hope cares for more than 100 children who have been abused, severely neglected or abandoned in the savage slums of Nairobi. But as director of the Christian Refugees Fund, I came first and foremost to meet 13 very precious Sudanese orphans, also in Cindi's care.
We said our goodbyes to the wonderful ladies in Goma, DR Congo, and traveled to the city of Nakuru in neighboring Kenya, where the Christian Refugees Fund has been helping Sudanese refugees for the last few years. Traveling to Nakuru from the capital, Nairobi, is always exciting! We almost always get to see zebra and baboons on the roadside along the way. It is amazing to see these animals in the wild and up close!
Diane and I were quite taken back as we disembarked from our car. Women and children were greeting us with singing and dancing! It was so humbling, as we knew we were undeserving of such an honor, but it helped us realize how grateful all of them are for the help they've been receiving from Heaven's Family. I know that we only represent the many donors who have loved and cared for them. I want you to know that they are so thankful for you! So please keep reading!
Yesterday our motorcycles took us along more jungle paths to find two villages that have never welcomed white-skinned people: Upper Chai and Lower Chai, both in the middle of nowhere, consisting of 40 and 60 families respectively. These are some of the poorest villages which I've yet visited. Talking to the elders of Upper Chai, I learned that there are 10 village children living in orphanages hundreds of miles away, and 9 of those 10 have one living parent; the remaining child's parents are both alive.
A recently-cut dirt road made it possible for us to travel 3 hours to Upper Saidu, another remote village in Southern Chin State of about 35 families. But Stephen had not been feeling well since the night before, so he spent our first full day in Upper Saidu sleeping and recovering.