What I Go Home With

As my portion of this trip comes to a close I am reflecting on all the events of the past two weeks. I think about the mission that we were sent here to do and I think about the actual mission that God has called us all to do. I have had my eyes opened to a country that has corruption and evil intentions, there is no doubt. The saddest part is that we see the children are the most vulnerable victims.

But I have also seen people come together in this country to stand on the Word of God and join together to believe for something that they themselves have never even experienced. We have joined as one with local Sierra Leonians and believed God for the redemption of these children. We stand and believe for truth to prevail. We stand and believe for justice in a country where injustice comes from the top and trickles down. But still.....in all of the chaos, there is that still small voice. It is the same voice that each of us christians whether American, or Sierra Leonian have heard on this trip. It is the voice that gives us hope to keep going when all seems hopeless. It is the voice that reminds us that we are all made in the image of Christ. We are reminded of the sufferings that He endured while on this earth. But we are also reminded of the end of the story. He was not defeated by the enemy. Therefore we have victory over the enemy no matter what his schemes may be.

In the midst of all the craziness that I have encountered, there is the presence of Jesus everywhere I turn. Maybe that is why the enemy tries so hard over here because he sees Jesus everywhere he goes. I see Jesus on the walls, on the shirts of the poor, in the music in the marketplace, on the radio as I drive down the bumpy pot hole filled road, and out of the mouths of all of our employees that God has brought to the new center to stand strong and believe for these kids. There is no doubt....God is here. Yes everything here, compared to America, is very hard. It is a struggle to do just about everything here once you have lived in America and had everything at your convenience. But I do believe that makes their faith here all the more strong.

I wanted to leave with some of the beautiful images that I captured while here in Sierra Leone.

You have no idea how highly they think of America. It is most African's dream to say "by God's grace they will one day visit America."

The below pictures show the home of Tina's adopted son's home. No kidding, the American flag is the front door to their home.

Once you walk in their home there are two pictures of Jesus on the walls with Tina and her famil right in the middle of Jesus. They think very highly of them to say the least. They view us as very blessed......and we are.

We went down to a place called Crew Bay. It is such a poor village with make shift houses and 16,000 people who survive the best they can. It is a life that most of us can't even imagine. We met up with one of the locals and he guided us through this place as we walked in the rain with our rain boots on, trying to avoid what these people live in everyday, passing children playing in the same river as pigs. It was very sad to witness. He told us there are many, many orphaned children among this group as well.

Even among their circumstances, some of them give us the biggest smiles to show us their sweet spirits as they live in poverty which most of them have known their entire lives.

Our eyes have really been opened to the reality of the Rebel war that lasted for 10years in this country. We have heard many stories of survival from many of our staff. One of our sweet cooks told me the story of the rebels invading and she watched her mother get shot in the head and then they burnt the house to the ground that had her body in it. She said she went back later and collected her bones which is all that she could find of her mother. Her father died a short time later and she said she identifies with the orphans because she is one. But this woman has faith that you can't imagine. God has brought her through a lot in her life. The war ended here in 2002. You still see the effects of it everywhere.

This woman below was attacked during the war. She escaped with her life...but not her face. She so sweetly said she would love for me to take her picture. She is beautiful.

We left there changed once again. Our eyes were opened to a world that we didn't even know existed.

I caught the children below digging through the trash on the side of the road.

But once again, I am brought back to the beauty of Sierra Leone. The beauty is found in the children....in their sweet looks of curiosity and innocense. Their beautiful faces and their beautiful spirits.

I leave with these children in my heart. I have witnessed more God moments on this trip. I have seen one boy stir up the man inside of him and step out on his own to come find us and ask us for help because he knew that we were his only hope. Because of him many children will get set free because he so bravely spoke truth and wants with all his heart to see his family taken care of. He is the hero on this trip. God still has a work in progress. I ask that you continue to pray for the relinquishment of these children. We definitely stepped into more than we bargained for but God's ways are always the right ways even when we don't see His plan in the middle of it. We will see it in the end.

I will continue to give updates on this special trip and we will all together pray it through to the end and pray for those that will remain in Sierra Leone to make sure that we don't give up on these kids.

The Reality

Below you will find very troubling pictures of the reality that these children face each day. It is now time to get it out there and tell it like it is. The time has come for these children to be rescued from this. As precious and cute as these children are, they face a reality that none of us can imagine. Most all of them are malnurished and many of them need surgery for hernias and cream for scabies and so on.

Now let me show you.

This little one below can barely function on her own. She sits and stares and most everyone leaves her to tend for herself except an occasional child who will say something to her.

They pulled water from this well that they had just explained was not sanitary.....
And then drank from it.

Some of them have open sores all over them.

Many have belly buttons and stomachs that protrude due to malnutrition.

Then there are some that are just skin and bones.

This little girl, below, we fear could be pregnant. She is 12 years old.

My heart is about to burst with so much to say that I'm not sure I can put it all in this blog. I had many pictures to post but now can't get the rest of them so I will post with what I have on here so far. Again, I am going to put this story out there for the sheer purpose for you to pray for everything going on here in order to get these kids out of their current, horrible situation.

The first time we went to visit them, I just can't put it into words. I have a video to show if I can ever get it loaded. We pull in and you just hear all these little voices start screaming with joy. They all start running out with great big grins on their faces, jumping up and down with excitement and race towards us, wrapping their arms around us as if we are super stars and as if they hadn't seen anyone in months. I asked one of the older boys how often they get visitors and he told me never. And I can honestly say that by the looks of these children and the circumstances they live in I don't think anyone with a heart has ever found them or they would not still be living in this situation. It was by pure chance of the Lord's direction that Erica and Tina found them several months ago and all roads since then have led to this hour of relinquishment.

After word got out that we were trying to get something done for the children in order to help them get out of their current living situation, things changed. The next time we went by there it was just eery. We saw the children peering at us from inside but they looked scared this time instead of happy we were there. No one would approach us, in fact, they were running from us. We later found out by one of them that they had been threatened that if they talked to us at all that they would get beaten.

To just give you an idea of these sweet souls I will tell you some instances from the past couple of days....

the first day we arrive to visit the children a young boy about 10 years old comes up to me and tugs on my arm. He is saying something to me but i can't hear him so I lean down to listen. He was saying "I need your help." I said, "What can I do for you, sweetie?" He looked right into my eyes and his little eyes filled with tears and he said, "My father is dead, my mother is dead, I have lived here my whole life and I need your help." Well of course, my heart just broke for him. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him and told him that I would help him. The look on his face as he stared at me and trusted me, a complete stranger, enough to tell me that, will lay on my heart forever.

I can't explain how love starved these children are. They just want a touch from us and it makes their faces light up. There are so many and they cling to you so much that it makes it difficult to interact with all of them. So I would just reach out and touch their cheek in a loving manner and they would get the biggest grin on their face and always turn to their friend as if to see if their friend saw that they had been touched.

The older children especially are the ones that break my heart because they are old enough to dream but yet understand their reality. One little boy age 13 was so smart and would speak to me with such gratitude and had so many questions about America. His eyes would light up as he would ask...."Do they really have lots of games in America?" "I have heard that they have chocolate factorys in America. Do you think you could bring us some chocolate?" He then asked me if he could be my friend and then told me I was like a mother. He would just hold my arm as he would speak as a son would do with his mother for security. He has dreams of being an accountant he told me and of coming to America one day. The whole time he talked with his other arm draped around one of the younger boys as if he was his protector. They both stood there with thier eyes as big as quarters as they left their reality for a moment in order to dream and talk with me about America. They then asked if we would be back tomorrow. They all sang songs as dusk was approaching which echoed so sweetly all through the village, into the air. The more we applauded, the more they sang....and their songs are always about Jesus. Jesus is the only hope they have here and I have found that scripture is correct by saying He is a father to the fatherless. These kids know nothing of hope but Jesus. And now God has sent us to be the hands and feet of Jesus. God loves these children and does not want to see them suffer any longer. We ask, "God how can you let this happen? " We get so mad at seeing it and want it changed for these kids so bad......which is exactly why we are here. God is using that passion that lies deep within every woman on this trip and has called us for such a time as this. It is these children's hour and now is the time to fight in the spirit for them from your end while we struggle to get them set free on our end.

There is one little girl that only sat as if crippled and mentally challenged with a blank stare when we first arrived. By the second day of just us interacting with her she was walking with assistance and smiling and trying to sway when the kids were singing. These kids need love and interaction. They need to be treated like humans and not animals. They need to know that they are a treasure and not a burden. They need a chance to live their dreams.

Below are some pictures that I was able to get loaded There are so many wonderful pictures of these children that capture their personalities, the deep stare that they all stare right through you, the joy of them while they are with us and many other amazing shots. But then there are also the ones that show the harsh reality of the situation in which they live. I have chosen to post some of those on this post in order to show you how bad they need prayer. The amazing thing about today is that these little ones who have been lost in the darkness for so long will now be lifted up all over the world because of this blog and the others on our trip and prayer will go up and literally change their destiny.

There are so many children that your mind just can't take them all in as you try to see their little personalities try to break through the realities of their lives.

The children here,above, are eating their meal of rice for the day. They have no spoons therefore they eat with their hands as best they can. We have been told by one of the children there that they sometimes go days without eating. We were also told that sometimes the son of the woman caring for them who is an older boy will put a plate of rice out in front of them and then make them fight over it for kicks to see who would end up with something to eat for the day.
The way they are treated is unthinkable. It is literally like animals as you will witness in the pictures below.

You will find the above picture and the ones below so heartwrenching that it is beyond words. This is yet another example of how these children are only living just above animals. Out back in their play area is a broken down hut of some sort that houses bowls that the children use the bathroom in. All of the children are made to use the bathroom here while the indoor plumbing in the house with at least 2 bathrooms is left for the adults and they lock it and hide the key. The smell is just horrible, not to mention the condition the children are left in when they tend to themselves like this on their own. There is no toilet paper at all nor running water for them to use. Then when they run out of bowls to eat in because they don't have enough, guess which bowls they go and fetch and rinse out to eat out of.

Rather than let them go in to the bathroom the adults willingly let them live in filth. She came over and thought she was doing it justice by rinsing it with water while I took the picture.




No child should have to live this way. They don't even realize the horror of their situation judging by the sweet girl below who poses so sweetly in front of the bowls filled with diarrhea.


They have been stripped of their decency as human beings.

What do you say after witnessing something like that? I am speechless and so sad for this precious child that she doesn't know that she is worth more than this.

This face above is just one of the images I am left with each night that I leave those children in a place that seems to have no love in sight. These are faces that you just can't get out of your mind as you lay down each night in a bed with a pillow and blanket. I end with her story below.

This was one night after we had been with the children and it had gotten dark. This was right before I had to hand her over after we had bonded for at least 30 minutes. She was about to go to sleep on me after I had been rocking and singing to her when I had to hand her back to the care taker who immediately put her tiny little exhausted body down on the ground and told her to go upstairs in the house. She didn't say a word, just rubbed her tired eyes and started to walk up the stairs alone. It was pitch black dark out but I saw a little boy that looked no older than 5 come up to her and grab her hand and led her inside the pitch black dark house with no electricity in order for her to lay her sweet little head down on a cold floor with no blanket or anything to sleep for the night. I looked in the rooms earlier and there is just nothing but some occasional foam on the floor which smells of urine that they pick up from outside.

A sweet friend just sent me a comment with this scripture on my last post that I shared with our group last night while we prayed. It sums up and confirms what this is all about. "I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name." (Isaiah 45:3)

God.....help us help them!!!! We need your prayers. This is their reality, this is what we have witnessed. Now we are held accountable for what we know and then what we do about it.

We have a center ready and waiting for them with food, beds, blankets, clothes, bathrooms, and everything they need, with the most important being, LOVE. There are also those in this country who aren't taking the necessary steps in order to free them of this misery.

Now the rest is up to God. Thank you for your prayers.

Proverbs 24:12

Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act.