Trip To Korah

I am late on posting due to not having internet service here in Addis- and Blogger is giving me crazy problems posting pictures. I was able to get a few, but please click the link at the bottom of the post to see the pics from this amazing day....

To sit and try to describe our day in Korah seems impossible, but I will share my heart along with the pictures as best I can, even though it will not do it justice. We had all heard wonderful, sad, heart wrenching things about Korah and I believe nothing could have prepared us for such heart break and yet such amazing love we saw in the children.

First I must tell you that Korah is a district of Addis. It has 130,000 people that live there, so I have been told. Korah is a landfill....a trash dump....

and a place that women and children call home as they reside in the dump,

dig through the dump for anything they can sell to survive,

and raise their children in the dump.

We met up with Sumer on our way to Korah. First of all, I need to tell you about this amazing woman of God. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined what I would witness in her life when she and I met about 6 weeks ago in Brentwood, sitting at the Puffy Muffin, sharing our hearts over chicken salad sandwiches. She told me that she was leaving within a week to move her whole entire family to Ethiopia. She was selling everything they owned and moving herself, her husband and their three small children to a place called Korah to serve the VERY least of these. She was introduced to Korah only last December while on a mission trip to Ethiopia. They took a tour through the dump and she left with a changed heart and a calling laid on her life so strong that when she approached her husband about moving there, he didn't call her crazy, he just told her that he knew and had a peace from God that they had been called to missions. He said that God told him to go and he told Sumer where. So now here they are laying down their lives for the children who get forgotten. As soon as I heard she would be here while our group was here, I immediately knew we would be making a trip to Korah.

So off we went to a place we couldn't even imagine if we had tried, to meet my friend, Sumer and to take a trip to Korah.

We start out looking for sheep to buy. We have decided on this trip that we want to provide lunches for the children we visit each day. Well.....a real treat here in Africa is....sheep! So we pulled over on the side of the road and purchased four lucky sheep. Two would be lunch and two would escape the slaughter, only for a later date of their choosing. We drew an immediate crowd. First there was all 22 of us looking in horror at these poor sheep, knowing their destiny as they are chosen and loaded up on the top of our bus (alive), and then there is the crowd gathered all around us just to look at the Americans, grossed out, and horrified over the sheep. Yes, they got a big kick out of that.

We made our way to Korah where the roads turn to dirt, the children have no shoes, their clothes are torn, the smell of sewage increases, and little eyes filled with such love and wonder look to see who is coming.

As we drive in, I see little faces peeking through the mud huts.

Some wave and wonder who could be coming to visit them. Up until Sumer started her ministry, they never had visitors. They are a very poor, leprous, community that is forgotten and never given any aid.

We pull up to find hundreds of excited children waiting for us to arrive. We all get out of the van and are immediately drowned by children on each side of us. They were the most excited little dirty faces I had ever seen. Everyone in our travel group was so taken back by these kids. I think it is seeing the unbelievable circumstances contrasted with such love and joy of heart pouring out of these kids.

Sumer took us inside what she calls the shelter that they have set up for the sponsored kids. It was a modest place made out of mud walls but had separate rooms for the kids. You should have seen the pride and joy on the faces of the kids who showed us around their new home. YOu would have thought it was a castle. Well, compared to what some of them have witnessed it was. I noticed I kept hearing the same word a lot by all the children.....SPONSOR. They all are very aware of the ones who are sponsored and will be attending the boarding school in the fall and those who get a hot meal a day. As the children would play with you, they would ask if you would sponsor them. They call Sumer their mother, they see what she is doing for the first time in that community to make a difference and they are grasping at the thought of taking part in that dream.

We first split our group and part of us walked through the actual trash dump and part of us went to visit some homes in the community of Korah. I was in the group that walked through the dump. When you approach the dump you see beautiful scenery start to become scarred by the reality of their lives scattered everywhere with the trash of the city. We made our way down a narrow windy path and ended up at a family's house in the dump. They invited us in and told us how thankful they were that we came. One of their sons is sponsored and they could not be happier. They are very poor and told us of their need. But regardless of their need they fixed us coffee. I was asked to stand up and share the gospel before we left in order to tell them who it was who sent us to them to help. It was a very humbling and amazing experience to watch the eyes of this African family stare at mine and take in every word as another man translated. We left their house and made our way all the way up through the dump. It all just looked like a landfill until we topped this hill. Then I saw movement in the distance and was horrified to discover it was hundreds of people digging through the trash for whatever they could find. As we walked through I could feel their shame. I could feel the heaviness of the place and yet I turned around to see Sumer embracing these women who were digging through the trash. They grasped her face and kissed it and what I was told was that she had their children in her summer program and had gotten them sponsored which kept them from digging through the trash with their mothers. As I left I ran across a young girl in purple who gave me such a sweet grin that I almost couldn't believe it. I felt shamed of the things that we take for granted in America. I thought of how upset we get when we as much as spill a drop of coffee on our nice, crisp, white shirt.....and yet I see this little angel smiling and laughing with all her heart while standing on and surrounded by trash. These people literally live among the pigs and yet you feel the spirit of God working through them.

As we walked back I watched as one young girl just held onto Sumer as they walked. She caught me looking at them and smiled and told me that Sumer was her mother. You see, Sumer has brought this young girl into her own home along with 6 other children from the dump to give them somewhere to sleep at night when they have nothing.

Shane's group who split off from ours went to visit houses in the dump area. When I caught back up to them later, they all just looked shell shocked. I described the dump and they said it could not have been any worse than they conditions they saw these people in. They said the went into a home that was so small that the 14 children that lived there (most having HIV) had to take turns going inside to sleep on the mud floor. Shane prayed over the family and the whole group said that when they got up to leave that there were puddles all over the mud floor from all of their tears.....

We were also blessed to be able to feed these kids lunch. This was a special lunch that we had planned ahead to provide for not only the sponsored kids but for the children in the area who don't have a sponsor but just need food. Sheep is a delicacy in Africa and something that most only get on holidays. Before we left for our trip we had lunch with our friends Jeff and Sharon, who gave us some donation money that they wanted to be used to bless the children on this trip. We decided at that lunch that day that we would provide the sheep with that money. Now you can see the fruit of something that started as a plan thousands of miles away given by a couple living in Ky who wanted to do something to help. They fed about 150 children on this one day in Korah and I will tell about the next day in my next post but they provided the sheep for that group as well.

I have to admit I was a bit nervous at the thought of watching an animal be killed, even if it was for food. I won't go into detail about how they did it but I included some of the not so graphic shots to give you an idea. The best is watching the groups face in the background as they watch this slaughtering. They prepared the sheep into a stew, we also bought bread for all the children to have with it. It was so neat to watch our group get to serve these children what they like to call a feast of a meal. As I sat and watched these kids lick every bite, right down to knawing on the bones of that sheep, it made it all worth it. As gross as it was to watch, the joy that I saw on their faces as I watched them eating and laughing, all the while knowing that they didn't have to dig a meal out of the trash, made my heart sing. I looked around and watched love pouring out of my group into these children and back at them. I looked and saw Collin, my 14 year old, playing with a little boy, teaching him how to do a cool handshake. That particular little boy had holes in the bottoms of his shoes that made me sick to see. I saw another little boy that clung to Lauren, my daughter, and stole her heart to the point that she decided on her own that she wanted to use her own money she had gotten from babysitting to sponsor this child. She couldn't quit talking about him for the rest of the day. I saw almost everyone's hearts on our trip just melt over these kids. They had nothing and yet they had so much. We came to give and yet they gave to us so much more. There was one boy in particular that followed us the whole day. He said the word "Sponsor?" every time we got close enough to hear him and he always followed it with a great big smile. Well his determination and desperation for a sponsor won us over. We told him that we would sponsor him and you had never seen a more excited little boy. He is about 10 years old but acts 20. He said he would call us mother and father and he has white sister and brother. He ran up to the little boy that Lauren said she would sponsor and said "You, Lauren, sponsor....Me, mother, sponsor.....WE BROTHERS!!" and then they just gave each other the biggest hugs, they were so excited. None of the kids get jealous when they hear another one is sponsored. They congratulate them and are so happy that their dream has come true and that they will now get food and an education. Well, little Ceasar, our new sponsored child, immediately picked up my backpack and started carrying it around on his back. He immediately took ownership and pride in his new sponsor family, it was so cute. Then he just told everyone he saw that we were his sponsors.

Also as we moved down the hill into this amazing open space, the soccer began and I met up with the most amazing little girls. This little girl who couldn't be more than 4 attached herself to me and had the cutest little spunky spirit. She hugged me and she kissed me as tight as she could. I would set her down to take a picture and then she would run right back when i was done. She had a sweet sister that stuck by her side and an older sister that I saw as well. These little girls stole my heart, totally. I have to admit I was thinking of how they might fit in the fam,, they were so precious.

I left that day determined to help these kids. Sumer told me she has room in this particular boarding school in the fall for about 75 more kids to be sponsored. Ok, that has to happen. Then I'm thinking, what school are you picking next because we are getting more than 75 sponsored. We are planning an Ordinary Hero trip to ET every summer. I plan on building relationships and watching these sponsored children flourish and watching my different travel groups be heart changed just for taking part in it. I also now have two little guys to check on who now know that we think of them and consider them family. Since my daughter has fallen in love with one little one and sponsors him now, does that make me a Grandmother?? :)

We sat in one of the small rooms at the shelter and heard the heart of all the leaders involved there. We asked them their vision and their dream for their community and they told us. They would love to pull out of the cursed land of the dump area and purchase land, put in a well, build a school, an orphanage, a care center, a day care, etc. There is hope to re build that community and raise those people out of mud and mire if we all join together. Our hearts will be forever changed. I will have more information soon if you are interested in sponsoring a child yourself. I want to check with Sumer first and make sure I am giving out the right info. But I'm telling you, people, this is the real deal.

I will have to wait on my next post since I am so tired and about to fall out, it is so late here. Yesterday was an interesting day. It was a completely different experience than Korah. It was much more oppressed and hard and heavy spirited. It was good, though to see the contrast. Had we not, then we would think that all of Africa was as sweet as the kids we had encountered so far. But there is another side that is quite a bit different. There is not a starvation for love, there is a need for survival mixed with the environment and the people that breeds hardness. I know without a doubt that we came in letting our light shine in this place, probably even brighter than Korah because of the heaviness there. We brought hope to some who had none. We were used by God to show that hope still exists, even in the places where it looks like it does not exist. This was a completely different experience that I will tell more in my next post.

For those of you reading who are checking in on family on our trip, just know that we are all being used by God. We have an amazing group. I could not have asked for better. I feel so totally blessed by this trip.

More later......

To view the online album of all the pictures from this day CLICK HERE.

Day 2 - El Olam Orphanage

We had an amazing first day on the ground in ET. We all went over to El Olam orphanage where we were greeted by 40-50 very excited and loving children. They were all just adorable and sweet and SO glad to see us. They had a whole room full of babies and many toddlers up to age 12. We walked in and immediately the guys struck up a game of soccer with all the older boys. I was so impressed with how Collin and Robby, our two 14 year olds on the trip, jumped right in and became great friends with all these boys.

I made my way up stairs where I walked into the baby room. There were several babies just laying in their bed crying with not enough room mothers to help them so I immediately went over and picked one up and she immediately stopped crying and just stared at me. I noticed how many others were crying so I walked out on the balcony holding the one little treasure yelled down to the group and asked "who would like to come up and help with the babies" and they all looked up at me and then bee lined it right up. Several of them started crying. I have to admit that I got a little teary eyed myself. These babies were just so precious and to think that they are orphaned is just too much.

After we said our hellos we divided up and Dana and some others took the toddler bunch and headed up some great crafts. Clay and Blake and the guys headed up an older boys soccer group and Lauren and Terri and some others headed up some soccer fun with the girls. We also had some face painting, fingernail painting, and we passed out some adorable flip flops from the vacation bible school kids in America among others. We gave them new clothes and shoes and soccer balls and toys. We also arranged to feed them a special lunch. So we paid for their staff to cook them a lunch that would be a special blessing to them. They had so much food, like injera with a special meat sauce, fruit, some kind of vegetable, bananas, and cookies from us at the end. One little boy looked shocked as they handed him the plate and looked up at Ashli and asked her if it would be ok to eat it. She said it was heart breaking that he didn't even know what to do with so much food. When I asked what they normally would have had to eat they said BREAD......that's it!

Are you kidding me?

I also wanted to leave them with something beneficial for them once we are gone. When I asked them what they needed most they said a washing machine for their clothes. So.....a guy named Takebeh, along with the orphanage director and myself and Carol jumped in the bus and headed downtown to find and purchase a washing machine. We battled the traffic (and the goats) and found the perfect washer for their orphanage. We loaded it up and took it back to the orphanage. They were so thrilled and thankful.

Once it was time to leave they all wanted us to gather in a circle so that they could thank us in prayer. We all held hands and shane prayed and thanked God for them and the children and us being privileged to meet them and then the orphanage director prayed along with the children quoting something with him which was precious. Then he prayed in English and thanked God for sending all of us to them and for giving them such a wonderful day. He ended by saying that they had NEVER had a group show up to help them before. Well.....as the little 12 year old girl squeezed my hand standing beside me in prayer, while wiping her tears, I couldn't hold back my own. They squeezed us soooo tight and gave us the biggest, longest kisses you have ever seen when we were saying our goodbyes. These kids were so thankful and they were so sad to see us go, not knowing if they would ever see us again. Of course we left with them heavy on our hearts and minds and now I am determined to not only see them again but help get those that are available.....adopted :) Sue with Celebrate Children met us there and helped me target the ones that were adoptable and she told me their stories. They are absolutely precious and I can't blog about them specifically on the blog and point out their pictures but you are welcome to email me and ask about them and you can bet we will be posting up some Speak Up emails when I get back. There is a precious sibling group of 2 absolutely sweet girls ages 10 and 7, and there is a sibling group of 4 with the oldest being a girl around the age of 15 with three brothers all younger. There are two other single little boys as well, that are just precious!! You can bet that I will be advocating for them very soon.

Tomorrow will probably be the most emotional day for all of us as we head down to the Korah dump and see the children who live there and also visit my friend, Sumer's amazing ministry down there as we watch her pull these kids literally out of the trash and get them sponsored and send them to school for the first time. She actually just moved her whole family with her husband and three children to Ethiopia to live indefinitely until God tells them otherwise. She is amazing and we will all see it first hand tomorrow as we wade through the trash to get to these kids and then hold a soccer camp and lunch and love on them.

Stay tuned. God is Good!!

Made it safely!

Hey Everyone!

We made it safely after 24 hours of travel. We have a great group as you can see for yourself. I will do my best to update the blog, but internet is SLOW. We have our first day in the morning to head to El Olam orphanage where we will love on some kids and have some soccer fun as well. Hope to post some pics soon... Stay tuned!

We Are off To Africa!!!

I am super excited about our first ever overseas mission trip. We leave today and are currently in our first day of travel and haven't even left America yet. We are enjoying our 8 hour layover in Washington Dulles Airport at the moment, waiting on two more team members to arrive :) Above pictured is 14 of the 22 team members of this travel group. The above group is from the Nashville area. I can't tell you how great this travel group is. We not only have this group from the Nashville area but we have others meeting us from Virginia, Utah, Illinois, and Texas. That is amazing to me!! Also, check out our great new tshirts, modeled by my cutie son in the middle of the above pic. And of course they say "Change The World For One" across the front. If you are interested in purchasing one contact Charlene at info@ordinaryhero.org. We will totally be sporting these cute t's on this trip.
I'm am thrilled to be traveling with my hubby, my daughter and one of my sons on this trip.
Above is Kelly and Lydia from Clarkesville, TN and Melissa from Nashville.
Here we have Ashli joined by her Dad who happened to be traveling abroad to a different destination at the same time.
Clay, Caitlyn, and Blake are three Nashvillians......
This happened to be Collin's first plane trip.
Also, this happened to be Caitlyn's first plane ride. Wow!! She picks Africa as her first plane ride :)

I am waiting on two more team members to arrive and will then post a pic of all of us. Stay tuned because I will be posting throughout the trip as much as I have internet connection. We are all anxious to love on some precious children.

Big Time House Project!!

We have come a long way with our Project Restore homes that were damaged by the great Nashville flood in May. We are putting the finishing touches on one home and have another in progress. One home was determined to be in a flood zone and will be rebuilt somewhere else.

I must say that my biggest project yet is restoring the home of Miss Clemmie Greenlee's mother and father. This is where I will step up and ask for your help. Did I totally have a heart for this family and jump in way over my head?? Yes. But is God big enough to provide all the needs....YES! I am blown away by some of the great people who have stepped up to help and have donated their furniture, money, and time to this project. The house was in such bad shape from years and years of neglect that the family and myself decided to get rid of everything and start over with the help of Ordinary Hero. We are really getting close to completion but our budget has about run dry for this project. Yes, I quickly learned there is way more involved than just pulling everything out and then putting it back in. We repaired the roof and replaced it with a much needed new one. The house was overrun by creepy crawlers so I had the place treated for termites among other things which created a hefty bill. We had to hang new drywall over the old walls due to the wallpaper coming off in uncontrollable layers and layers :) We have put in new carpet and flooring, will replace all the appliances, furniture, tub, toilets, sinks, etc. I also just learned that we need an electrician to fix some electrical problems, due to the home being so old.

There are many things we must still pay for, yes, but I do not get discouraged because this whole project has had such great, God appointed, moments that are undeniable. God shows up, and that is why we do what we do. I would like you to take a moment to watch this video I just put together which documents the progress of this house project. You will quickly see why I had such a heart for this family as I recap the first moments with them before I show the progress. We have had some pretty exceptional moments, from the neighbor next door getting saved, to one of our volunteers singing for us after she explained she is trying out for American Idol. She sang so great that she brought the neighbor out next door and gave her hope to get through her day. God shows up in all kinds of ways when you step up.(You can see all this on the video) I must give a great big Thank You to Samaritan's Purse for clearing out the place, Atkins and Associates for help with contracting needs, Cayce Mill Supply for supplying some of our much needed bathroom items, and so many more of you Ordinary Heroes for donating your time and resources on this with us. BUT WE ARE NOT DONE YET!! We must still complete it and I am racing the clock to get as much done before I leave the country on Wed. Please watch this video, which recaps the need and then shows the progress, and if you feel led to give toward this project you can donate through Paypal or send your tax deductible gift to

PO Box 1945 Brentwood, TN 37024. If you would like a list of our specific needs we still have remaining, please email me at Kelly@ordinaryhero.org.

Also, our Ethiopia trip is NEXT WEEK!! I will have more info on that in the next couple days. I am real excited. Great things are gonna come from this trip. I believe many people will find their children as a result, either from being with us or us coming back and advocating for them.

God Bless!

Kelly

(silence the music below if you would like to watch this video, or you can click on links above in the script)

Work Has Officially Begun

I can't tell you how blessed I was to see this crew from Samaritan's Purse show up to help at Mrs Mary's house a couple of days ago. I have mentioned this big project we are doing to try to get Mrs Mary's house back in suitable living condition. I honestly am trusting God on this one because it is bigger than any other project I have taken on. It amazes me how all the needs get met at just the right time. I thought I was meeting one man at the house to walk through and discuss how it would all work and I showed up to an eager crew ready to start working. Little Mrs Mary was sitting in her living room with furniture passing right by her. She and her husband are now moved out and the work has begun. It is time to kick into overdrive. I am trying to get the basics done so we can get in there with some crews and re paint and fix it up.
This was such a hard working crew. They came in and flat stripped this house bare exactly like it needed to be. There were people working on this house from Michigan, Raleigh, NC, and Alabama to Tennessee. What an amazing group effort to bless this family.
Just since Samaritan's Purse came in and began, two of the neighbors right next door gave their lives to the Lord and prayed with the chaplain. They were inspired by all of the people serving and asked what was going on. I also got to know and hear the story of another neighbor. We even had one of the volunteers sing to us on a break. She is trying out for American Idol.
I will have a video soon of everything I mentioned above. I have some great stuff captured. Lives are being changed one at a time and it is all because some Ordinary Heroes came together to bless a blind woman and her husband and their daughter who loves them and wants to give them their life back. There is such a ripple effect in giving and serving.

Thank you, Thank you, to the Samaritan's Purse team for helping us help them. What a huge blessing you were to this family and to our project.

Time To Restore.....Jump on Board.

I wanted to fill everyone in on the progress we are making with restoring some of the homes of the flood victims. I also want to give you an opportunity to jump on board with one of our biggest project restores, so make sure you read to the end of this post :). You may have seen the video that I posted a few days ago which showed several different families that we are currently helping. These first couple of pictures show the progress being made on the Grandmother's home. She raises her 4 grandchildren alone and I found her just after the flood when she had no help. Several have jumped on board to help her. I am excited to see her home start to come back together. Her grandsons are excited about their new rooms that they will be getting with decor to their liking :)

Pictured below is a sweet woman and her two daughters and their friend. I met them when they came into our donation center. She happens to be a widow and is a working single mom with not much help. I discovered that she only had air mattresses in their temporary apartment.....AND THAT WAS IT. I went and saw it for myself. So I am pleased to say that a few of us got together this weekend and delivered a couch, chair, bed, dresser, pictures, kitchen table and chairs to her apartment thanks to all of your donations to our center.
Also, while I was out I dropped by her home that was flooded to see the damage for myself and it is totally wiped. I have put her in touch with a contractor to start repairs. Once the repairs are made and she is put back together she will be in need of furniture items for her home and decor for any of you creative minds out there.
I wanted to show you how blessed we have been with the donation center. You see how we started out in the picture below. We thought that was a blessing.....

I had some great gals show up to help sort through it all and try to create some kind of order :)
Then, before we knew it.....word got out and our warehouse was packed!!
We have given away all of the furniture and items you see pictured below.
We still have lots of clothes and shoes left if you know of any flood victims in need. After the flood victims are covered we will start giving these to organizations that can use them.
Throughout this process we have met some wonderful people and made some great friends.....even our kids, as you see my son on the right making his goofy face with some of his new friends.
How bout a game of kick ball???
We have sorted......
Loaded......
AND NOW THE REAL WORK BEGINS..........

This is where I call out to all of you. You may have seen the video I posted about Miss Clemmie and her mother. If you didn't, I encourage you to watch it. You will then see why I am driven to find them some help with her mother's home that was damaged by the flood but just needs a little love on top of that.

We are currently starting the repairs to the roof and the great big hole in the ceiling due to the flood. I am now looking for people, church groups, bible study groups, or just a group of friends, that have a creative eye and can come in and take a whole room and transform it into a beautiful room that they would be proud of. That will include you painting, finding furniture to fill it, adding the finishing touches, etc. I really think this could be awesome!! It would be a great way to give back to a woman who has given soooooo much. Both of these women, Miss Clemmie, and her mother, have given and helped so many. Let's take this opportunity to bless them. This home has been in their family for 20 years and will be a blessing to the next generation of all of Miss Clemmie's nieces and nephews that she mentions in the video.

SO PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN HELPING WITH THIS PROJECT RESTORE. kelly@ordinaryhero.org
As you can see in the pictures, there is lots to do but with the right people it can all be amazing in the end. If you are an out of towner and can't be here but would like to give toward this project just click on the donate tab to the right and put Miss Clemmie in the memo line. You may also send a check to Ordinary Hero, PO Box 1945, Brentwood, TN 37024. 100% of all donations will go toward making this home beautiful!!

We will be fixing up the whole house which includes front living room, kitchen, sitting room, dining room, two bedrooms, back kitchen, two bathrooms. If you have anything you would like to donate to any of these rooms....PLEASE get in touch :)

Above you see the hole in the ceiling of the back kitchen which is getting fixed first.
Above you see Miss Mary, which is Miss Clemmie's blind mother. She has a heart of gold and spirt to match. She sits in a room surrounded by pictures and newspaper clippings that she has collected over the years. IT IS AMAZING TO SEE!! I am looking for someone who can create some sort of cork board to line her walls in this room in order for us to properly put her pictures on the walls.
This home CAN and WILL be amazing!!
CAN YOU HELP??????

Want to go to Africa?? How bout Ghana??

I had a special request from someone going on the Visiting Orphans, Ghana, trip to put the word out about this amazing trip. I confirmed with my friend, Amanda Lawrence, executive director of Visiting Orphans, that they are still in need of people to go on this trip in order to make the trip happen. The trip is at risk of being cancelled if people don't get signed up.

The trip is right up my ally. If I wasn't heading to ET in July, I may just jump on board. Here is a brief description.....

"In the mud huts of the Dagomba tribe, death is an unwelcome visitor way too often. There is little or no accessible healthcare and the nearest major health facility is four hours away by bus. Children whose mothers die in childbirth are many times seen as "evil" and are rejected by the father. Multiple births are seen as a bad omen and those children are usually shunned by their mothers and their villages. These are called "spirit children". Most of the orphanages in the Northern Region care for these "spirit children", but there are also orpha

ns living in remote mud hut villages. We will visit three of these villages as well.

This tribe is considered an "Unreached People" group, which means that 93% or more have never heard the Gospel. They are Muslim. We will be doing hut-to-hut evangelism, sports evangelism, and orpha

n care. We will also be helping to paint the local school and deliver school supplies to the children of the Dagomba trib

e.

This trip is ideal for individuals, families of older children, and for those interested in taking a small group of people from your

local church."

This is an amazing opportunity to help a region of people and

orphans that often times get forgotten about. There is not a "buzz" about Ghana right now like there is Ethiopia or Uganda. So all I can say is.....let's create one. Let's brin

g awareness to this country. There is no telling the impact that can be made from this trip. Ask yourself if you are supposed to go. There are many children waiting. Let's not let this trip get cancelled.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE VO SITE TO FIND OUT MORE OR SIGN UP.

Beyond The Flood...What now??

It amazes me how people press on beyond the hardships of life. This recent flood has certainly taken it's toll on sooooo many, here in the Nashville area. But what now?? We at Ordinary Hero, thanks to many of you who have donated your belongings, time and money, are striving to help the flood victims that we have come in contact with to try to put their lives back together. I say lives, and not just homes, because, as you will see by watching this video, so many have the storms of life to deal with and not just the flood. It is simply AMAZING to me to see how God has hand picked several Ordinary Heroes who have stepped up to help the victims, to not only help with their flood needs, but make lasting friendships that prove to help with their storms in life as well. Had it not been for the flood, I would not have been in East Nashville checking on one family, then look over and see a Grandmother with her grandsons by themselves trying to clear their house alone. I went over, met them, thus sent other Ordinary Heroes down to inquire about her and help her, and the next thing I know we are all meeting up at the park to play with her grandsons, they are now picking them up each week for youth group, have brought them to church, given one of them a birthday party, supplied clothes, meals, and we have seen to it that her home is getting the proper repairs. You see, one family decided to invest in the lives of these four children who are being cared for by their Grandmother alone with no one else in their lives right now. For the first time in years they have people telling them how valuable they are and taking time to spend with them. AND THIS IS JUST ONE STORY of how God has brought good out of the flood. I have personal testimony from the family that is helping that I will post soon.

My goal is to connect each flood victim with an Ordinary Hero who will walk beside them and see that their needs are met during this overwhelming time in their life. You will also see in the video a single mom who shows us her home that has been destroyed and she also lost her job. I have connected her with a family to help her. This family that decided to help her had a birthday party for their daughter. Their daughter decided she wanted to collect money for these flood victims they were now helping instead of getting presents. This 10 year old little girl, alone, collected $75 from her party to be able to give to this family. What a wonderful way to get their daughter involved by letting her feel like she has done something to help. This single mom will need a lot of help during this time.

You will also see another flood victim that I met when she came into our donation center. After talking with her I found out that she is a young widow who lost all the belongings she was saving for her children when they got older of their father. She said they are sleeping on an air mattress and that is it in their temporary apartment. We have some furniture items for her. We are taking donations for more. I currently have a family that I am going to connect her with to give her moral support right now. We are checking on her home as well to see what types of repairs are needed.

I ran into all these people as a result of the flood, but I never would have had any idea of their personal stories. Every person has their own story. Every person needs someone to walk beside them. God works ALL things together for good.

We are still taking donations of furniture items and money to be used on home repairs for all the victims that we have come across. Contact me at kelly@ordinaryhero.org if you feel led to help any of these families that have been affected by the flood.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO and go to the direct link.

(silence the music at the bottom of this page to watch the video here)

Ordinary Hero~Beyond the Nashville Flood from Kelly Putty on Vimeo.