Mercy Home

Happy New Year!  I'm going to be making different posts for each of the homes we have visited the last two days, so please bear with me.

Yesterday we visited 3 different homes that were approximately an hour and 30 minutes' drive from our hotel.  Each was very unique - an expression of the words from James 1.  Take time to look up that chapter sometime after reading this.  I couldn't help thinking as we drove through the country (past plantations, factories, and especially brick kilns) if this area is where the family in the second chapter "Not For Sale" was from. 

Our route through town.

The first home we visited is one that is officially funded by the Boaz Project.  It is called "Mercy" home.  They run both a school and an orphanage.  Mr. John and his wife provide the oversight, but the real star of the show is Sheeba - yes, like the queen in the Bible.  She went to school to learn how to be a teacher, spent some time teaching, then some time working in a call center.  Then, as many of them would say, she got "the burden."  We call it a calling - a burden that is so strong on one's heart for an area of ministry that you can't ignore it.  She is wonderful with the children and you can tell that she is basically their mother.  Oh yeah, and there's 16 of them!  At each turn Sheeba was quick to remind us to speak in English to the children without using the translators.  "They understand English, please speak to them," she would say.  Why is she so adimate about it?  It's because she knows that education is everything.  If they understand English, they improve their chance of finding work SIGNIFICANTLY. 

You should have seen these children and the way they clung to Vanessa.  You know the children think you're something special when they choose you over and over again in "Duck, Duck, Goose."  Vanessa played that role today.  And many of the girls just could not stop holding on to her.  To have an American come to their home and sit with them as an equal is a huge deal.  Vanessa's time with them was so precious and it was such an encouragement to see the way these girls looked at her. 

Vanessa and her buddies.

There was one girl that really clung to me throughout the time there.  I didn't think much of it, but then Mrs. John (Mr. John's wife) told us some of her story.  She was completely abandoned - a daughter to a mother with AIDS.  They went to the doctor to see if this girl had contracted the disease and it was confirmed that she had.  She's had regular check-ups since then.  The orphanage cannot afford much medical care, so they decided to use Jesus instead.  Each time she needed to go for a check-up, the children and the staff prayed for her.  At her first check-up she had only 50% of the disease as compared to her first test.  The second time they went, she had 20% left.  The day before the third visit the whole family (including all the kids) fasted & stayed up praying for her until 1am. When the doctors ran the tests the next day they found the AIDS to be gone!  I counted it a blessing to be able to sit near people of such great faith!

Me with Mani and the girl in the previous paragraph.

The children of Mercy Home singing for us. It really touched Vanessa's heart when they sang "God is So Good," the same song we sing to Ellie every night when putting her to bed.

Waving Good Bye