Grace Global Outreach
Grace Global Outreach extends a helping hand to a hurting world by partnering with people like you in life-changing international and domestic projects.
| Eye Witness Visit |
|
We left the city this morning to visit, at long last, the blessed orphans of Home of Hope. Seeing them in person and monitoring the progress of the construction has been my biggest motivation for this trip. We stopped at some roadside markets to buy extra toys for the kids (barbies, trucks) to add to the soccer balls Zac brilliantly thought to bring from home. He has lit up tiny faces from Africa to Asia passing out these balls and instigated sudden mini world cup matches with hundreds of kids who instantly go from shy to ronaldino in 2.3 seconds. He loves the children. I think in his mind he's playing this single cross continental game in which the little players keep changing colors and languages but the toothy smiles reveal their unified goal: beating "Mista Zac!"One pastor told us of an orphan whose father fell to his death on a construction job (5-story buildings are scaled with bamboo scaffolding erected around them). Eventually, The child's mother simply died from starvation. It's a story repeated over and over and over in every city from Mumbai to Darjeeling. There is hope for some of these kids however. For instance, ten beautiful children (5 boys, 5 girls) with similarly horrific pasts have been rescued from the streets and now live safe and secure with a pastor and his family in the town of Birpara. Pastor Peter and his wife and son have opened their tiny home to these orphans. Construction is underway on a fantastic new orphanage down the road which will provide comfortable bedrooms, school rooms, kitchen, lounge, and restrooms for them. For now they squeeze into the family's home. Martha, his wife, feeds them healthy meals everyday. Peter has worked tirelessly to get whatever history is available on them. Usually, their stories of where they came from have been lost to unwritten records and the death of parents. When we asked each one questions about themselves, most did not even know how old they were. Their past is a sea of horrific images and forgotten details. They could tell us however, much happier things about their new found future. That Jesus is their savior. They wanted to be a doctor / mother / pastor / taxi driver when they grew up. That cricket or soccer was the best sport. They can't wait to finally go to school and toys are really, REALLY fun. They have smiles that never wipe off, the polite manners of kings and queens, and little voices that speak only Bengali but squeal "thank you uncle!" when Pastor Albert would give them something or pray for them. When we arrive each day, they run toward us hands together like a prayer, and bow their heads in front of us. The first time they did this, they stood still, their heads bowed, until Peter informed us they were waiting for us to touch their head in blessing. Each bows and wants a blessing from each of us visitors, but especially from Pastor. They do it when we leave too. I'm tearing up writing this. Toward the end of our stay, they huddled together around Dale, eyes tightly shut and all praying like warriors for him and his family. Pastor prayed for each child individually and blessed the home. Zac played one last soccer match and spun the boys above his head, them with smiles even wider. We all wanted to bring them home with us. We sat in the truck with dust rising behind us, just breathing. A great day! Being with those kids, we've done what we came here for. Please consider what you can do to help us help these precious ones -- Giving -- Praying -- Together, we DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE CLICK HERE |
Thanks to Scott Hale for the insightful eye witness account of the March 2011 visit with the orphans and work in India.
