This story is a serious one.
I have prayed for a couple of months about sharing it.
Because of the yukkiness of it, I just couldn’t bring myself to.
However, the circumstances are such that,
the time is now.
I would ask that you kindly read it in it’s entirety or
feel free to skip it altogether.
At this moment, I am sitting in the comfort of my home,
the kids are watching Despicable Me {one of my personal favorites}.
We picnicked on the floor for lunch {my littles favorite thing to do}.
Liberty made a yummy Mexican dish she found on Pinterest.
It wasn’t an expensive nor was it a fancy meal, but it was yummy.
This morning my treasures and I were talking about life.
One of them was sharing their heart about being an orphan
and their pre-family days.
It was a serious discussion.
And although their life was not-so-nice prior to coming home,
they are home.
Safe.
Protected.
Loved.
Cared for.
Wanted.
Snuggled.
No longer lonely.
No longer wondering.
“What’s wrong with me that I don’t have a family?”
Such a sharp contrast to a situation on the other side
of the world.
At this moment Dw, Graham, Savannah and the rest of the June 2013 GO Team
are speeding their way toward Uganda.
They will land in a few hours.
They have chosen to GO because of the needs they have either seen or heard about.
But this trip is different, on a level that is hard to describe.
Let me back up a speck.
A few years back Dw and I began a ministry {501c3} called
International Voice of the Orphan.
We felt that God would use it be the voice of the orphaned
and vulnerable children around the world.
Among many “arms”,
one of the most prominent is the our feeding program.
Many of you have graciously given to it.
Shopping at Orphan Wares or donating something handmade
for others to buy,
provides food for Front Lines + feeding program.
International Voice of the Orphan’s Front Lines+ Feeding program feeds
both the street orphans of Kampala and an orphanage where we have served.
Which brings me to the yukky part of the story….
A couple of months ago we received a Facebook message.
It was from our “daughter” Praise who runs the orphanage, House of Praise,
where we serve and where we feed the children there..
Praise wrote that the day before, one of the little treasures in
House of Praise had had an accident outside, his finger had been cut pretty badly
and they had wrapped it up.
However, in the night a rat had come, smelling the blood,
had gnawed on his finger and had eaten a good portion of it off.
His finger now had the bone largely exposed.
He was taken to the hospital where they attempted to fix the finger.
Friends,
What are we doing?
We {me included} live in a beautiful home,
where laughter, joy, friendship,
food, commodities, perks and goodness flow freely.
Yet on the other side of the world,
a little boy in an orphanage has a good portion of his finger eaten off
by a rat in the night as he sleeps?
I can barely talk about it.
This just shouldn’t be so.
We must do something!
Little ones who already feel rejected by life,
having a rat gnaw their finger off as they sleep?
We cannot sit back!
We must do more!
Trust me, I hate asking for anything.
But I promised the Lord I would spend the rest of my
life being the Voice of the Orphan.
Which brings me to now….a few days ago
we received a message from a friend of IVO.
They wondered if they could talk to Dw.
Dw called and spoke to the husband.
This generous couple had been praying and had
wondered if we would be willing to take their very generous donation
and use it for
Matching Grants?
We were overjoyed.
The team that is speeding their way toward Uganda is going to work
on several projects.
One of their projects will be to begin building a rat free dorm for House of Praise.
They will build as much as we can afford.
That’s where the matching grant comes in.
Trust me, I hate asking for anything.
But I promised the Lord I would spend the rest of my
life being the Voice of the Orphan.
Every dollar donated will have
a dollar matched
from this generous donor.
As you look around your home,
open your fridge, peek in your pantry,
glance in your closet, gander into your garage…
Is there a chance that you give a generous gift
to build this dorm for House of Praise?
The thought of rats running freely as the little ones sleep
is something that is
beyond our comprehension.
These are the projects that the team will be doing,
{and gifts, no matter the project, will be donor matched}:
~ dorm for House of Praise
~ building a rabbit hutch for API
~ a secret project {that will be shared before too long}
~ a Legacy Pastor’s Conference where local Ugandan pastors will be
challenged and encouraged to live lives
that leave a Legacy for future generations.
If there a chance you can help with one of these?
There are two places to donate:
IVO’s website here.
or
IVO’s Facebook page has a donate button here.
{please like our page while you are there,
it encourages the heart so much}
Or if you prefer to mail a check:
International Voice of the Orphan
3820 West Happy Valley Road
Suite141 – #510
Glendale, AZ 85310
3820 West Happy Valley Road
Suite141 – #510
Glendale, AZ 85310
As always,
100% of the money donated to the projects will be used for the projects.
Thank you, in advance for your gift ~
no matter how big or small, we commit to steward it well.
I can't count the time that our E (home from Uganda for 2.5 years) has told us the reason you sleep wrapped up in your sheet at night is so the mice won't come and eat your skin. Just breaks my heart that at that young age he knew what he had to do to survive and keep himself safe at night.
Bless your family, and IVO, for what they are doing in my son's home country.
Thank you for sharing your son's words. So real for so many. Such heartache. How can we ignore it all?
Dear Linnie – I am a regular reader of your blog (not a 'stalker"). I would like to donate via a cheque to the mailing address in Glendale, AZ. Before doing so, earlier- I had mailed a check towards the support of your daughter, Emma. The check was mailed end of May/early June. Would you happen to know when the cheque will clear? Many thanks in advance.
I do not handle any of the financial end at all. {Spelling is my thing, numbers is definitely not.} I will have to ask the person who handles this. Do you have an email I can reach you at? Thank you for your patience.
Dear Linnie – No worries. Thanks much for the quick response. My e-mail is jennielfur@gmail.com Thank you for checking.
Awful to hear! We saw so much poverty while living in the Philippines but never heard stories like this. We are so rich…..we all can give something and God blesses what we give!
Thank you for this post. Even with a house full of "orphans no more," even with all the time we spend communicating with others who have adopted, we still forget almost daily just how harsh and terrible the world can be for children and adults alike when their lives are framed in poverty.
Our family made a donation through the donate button on the website. Hoping you can make sure we get the matching grant as it was not an option. We will be praying that enough funds come it to complete the dorm and other team projects. Sisters in Christ, Elisa Peters and Family
I am so happy to donate! It was super easy to just click to donate button on the website and use paypal. I didn't have a lot to give, but I figure if we all chip in, we can make a huge impact! Blessings to the Go Team!
I would love to help! I bought a sewing machine and the Lord willing, look forward to making something for Orphanwares! I totally agree with a rat-free cage for the orphanage!!!!! Right now we are nearly ready to leave to go to California for a vacation so when we get back, I'll get to work on it 🙂
My parents live on Table Rock Lake in Branson, mo.
They come across 2 or 3 man tents all the time and very cheap. Is this something they can use. Dad would make sure there are no holes in them and they have all th poles for easy set-up.
Would you be interested in them has they come across them?
Awful! Truly awful! However, that is great news about the matching grant. You can count on us to help!