A Personal Truth and a Few New Residents

I am continuing to get updates from the group in SL. They are STILL standing in the gap for these kids and believing for justice to be served. I wanted to pass on Tina's latest post. I believe she speaks on behalf of all of us and some of the thoughts and feeling that we are left with from this journey.

I will let her tell you in her own words.......
From Tina.....
"I received this email today from a friend, Kelly Jo Yaksich who volunteers tirelessly for Kids Against Hunger in Nebraska. It spoke to me in so many ways that I had to share it…"


Kelly Jo writes…

“Now the heartbreaking reality that almost did me in.....I have to interject here, that after this today, I do not know if I would make it emotionally if I came to Sierra Leone with the delivery of this container of food....There was a man and his two boys that came to package food this weekend. I went to visit with them and found out that they came to America 7 years ago as refugees from Sudan. He and his wife and his 5 children who are now age 11 to 17 years old. They first lived in Texas but chose to come to Nebraska because it was cheaper to live here. When I stood up to share our education and training and told about this food going to Sierra Leone he got VERY excited. He bobbed his head up and down throughout my talk on the orphans and malnutrition and the rescue efforts of your group.

When the event was done, he came to me with his hand on his heart and with tears in his eyes he said "I understand this. I was where these people are in Sierra Leone when I lived in Sudan. I could not feed my family. I was watching my children die before my very eyes. I was helpless to help my family and my village. Today, today I helped my country. This food today is going to my country." Oh my Tina, I nearly crumbled into a ball and wept. This was a TANGIBLE and REALISTIC way for this incredible man and his children to reach out to Africa with help. “


"As I read Kelly Jo's message and the testimony from this man, I thought of the message The Raining Season has been sharing this past year…

”147,000,000 Orphans...They Know That We Know”

We share that there are 147 million orphans in the world who are suffering and yet we have the power to change it. The 147 million orphans know that we are aware of their suffering and yet we stand by and do nothing to save them. We know they are there...we hear their stories...see their faces...know how we can help and yet as a society we choose to just stand by and not respond.

There are over 25,000 mothers each day that watch their child die of something preventable knowing that there is someone out there that could stop it from happening. Sadly these children die because many of us choose to stand silent and do nothing simply in order to preserve our own personal wealth, status or whatever we hold to be higher than human life.

I see myself and others as no different than the government officials of Sierra Leone who stand by and do nothing to assist and rescue these children under the oppression and abuse of a single orphanage director and her staff. I will never again speak that message "They Know That We Know" in the same way again now that I have personally experienced how it feels to love a child so much only to have no choice but to stand by and watch them suffer...completely helpless and powerless to change it. I have to watch these precious children suffer and possibly die all while someone within reach has the power to change it with a simple act and save that child I love so dearly. The outrage, anger and frustration is exhausting and cuts deep into my soul. I now know first hand how the parents of children who suffer needlessly feel. It is beyond words.

Yet still, I hear from people, "I have my own children, it is not my problem." I have news...it is our problem...it our responsibility to ACT. These are the children of the world and we are the adults of the world that have been placed here to protect them. God has called each of us to serve the orphan. They only suffer if we choose to ignore the call God has commanded of each and every one of us. Once we all take responsibility, that is when the world will be changed. We each have that power to take a simple step...and change a life forever...it is the same step and power that I so desperately want the government of Sierra Leone to take to rescue these children. I am still hoping and praying for a miracle...God can move mountains when it comes to His precious orphans. I am trusting, learning and listening...as painful as these days can be."

I would joyfully like to introduce you to some of the newest residents of our new center. The Lord has brought these children to the center and He sees the destiny that each one of them have. These are just a couple of pics. They have 15 or so children and were supposed to get about 20 more although I haven't gotten the latest update. I will share with you what pictures I have been given.



From Tina: "I sat with Adamse (8 years old) and asked her what she likes to play and she said her favorite game is dodge ball (this tells me she is strong and brave because I always hated that game). I then asked her what she would like to be when she grows up and she responded, “I am going to be a laundress.” I was surprised and asked why she wants to be a laundress as most children in this country want to be doctors, teachers or lawyers. She shared with me that she already is a laundress to earn money and that is all she will ever be able to do. I then shared with her that she will now go to school and then I asked her again what she wanted to be when she grew up. As she sat with a smile that clearly surprised herself and seemed to make her feel embarrassed to show me, she replied, “If I go to school, I want to be a doctor.”





And this.....is where some of the children in our new center have come from. Kroo Bay….a “town” of 16,000 people and thousands are orphans…




Praise God.....He sets the lonely in families and takes up the cause of the needy :)