It has been hard.
When the additional work we have taken on in building the house is added to the harder style of living we have chosen, it is overwhelming at times.
Truly all my energy is taken up by the tasks that need to be done each day.
I do not look forward. One day is as much as I can focus on.
I have not made any plans beyond completing the house.
I have nearly stopped reading, learning, processing. All my energy is caught up in surviving this day.
More than being "home" I long for my brain to be free to concentrate on something more important, more exciting, more fulfilling than simple survival. I long to dream, to plan, to relax, to listen.
For me, living in "survival mode" will be relatively short. There will be an end, and it is growing closer!
For many, survival mode is ALL there is. AND their survival mode is much more dramatic than my spoiled middle class American form. I am "roughing it" by choice - and in very comfortable form. I mean in no way to compare my minor discomfort with the day to day struggle of life in a Third World country. I do not even mean to compare my form of "survival mode" with the struggle of a single mom living in a shelter. I KNOW that my life is so much easier, even now, than the lives of MANY ever will be.
However, this season has given me a taste. I have tasted the brain drain that happens when all your focus is on survival. I have tasted the fatigue. I have tasted the feeling of being sucked down and wondering how I will pull myself up.
It is TERRIBLE.
I was reminded this weekend that this fight for survival is how many live each and every day, always and forever. There is no hope for it to get better. There are no dreams, just an endless struggle to survive. Children do not wish to be doctors or lawyers or teachers, they simply wish to survive to be adults.
Can you even imagine?
I can not.
I really, truly can not imagine.
In a crazy way, I am thankful for this time of "survival mode." It has given me a taste for what many live. It has given me more empathy.
It has also given me more resolve to do what I can to bring hope to the hopeless.
Over this past weekend, in the midst of the craziest, hardest time I have had, a project I have prayed over for almost three years was launched. It was a miracle. I am still in awe.
My church launched a partnership through Children's HopeChest to join our church with a church in the slum of Jemo in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Currently life in Jemo is nearly hopeless. The people are in TRUE survival mode ALL THE TIME. However, that can all change.
We can step along side the families and use our "much" to give them hope. The first step in igniting hope into this community is to help them move out of survival mode. This is done through child sponsorships.
Before God broke my heart for orphans, I did not know much about child sponsorships. I was not sure they had much impact. In the last 3 years I have done a TON of research, and I am convinced that child sponsorships (done through the right organization) can absolutely change the life of a child forever.
When a child is sponsored, they have access to medical care, food, clean water, school, and in this case the saving message of Jesus. HopeChest sees discipleship as something needed to survive. I could not agree more! Feeding a child will keep him alive longer. Only Jesus saves!
Not only does a child benefit from sponsorship, but his whole family is assisted. For many families school fees are their biggest expense (no free education in many parts of the world). Momma's have to choose whether to feed a child or educate him. Can you imagine? Medical care is not even an imaginable possibility.
When you sponsor a child, you lighten the load for his parents. With that lighter load all kinds of things become possible! Both parent and child begin to dream, to hope, to pursue - and thus the world is changed! Girls and boys go to school, rather than selling themselves or begging to feed their siblings. They graduate and go on to open businesses and serve their communities.
Beauty starts to break through the ashes. Communities are transformed.
I invite you,
I encourage you,
I implore you,
to sponsor one of "our" kids.
These kids, I will know. Our church will visit them every 9 to 12 months. We will personally make sure that they are doing well, that your sponsorship IS making a difference. I will personally be on every trip I possible can be on. (and if you like, you can join me as well!)
This is not your impersonal kind of sponsorship. One in which you will most likely never meet, or know anyone else who has met, your child. This sponsorship is built on relationship, not simply funds.
It makes me so exited I can hardly stand it!
We began with 150 children needing sponsors. 100 were quickly chosen. 50 remain.
50 remain.
That hurts my heart. 50 children still unchosen when we know of their need. 50 children still unchosen when all it takes to change their entire world is $34 a month. I KNOW that each one of us, regardless of our income, wastes $34 every month. I also KNOW that if I told you I was unable to feed my kids and $34 a month would make feeding them possible, almost all of you would quickly hand me $34.
These are "my" kids too. And I am asking you to please, please help me care for them.
To sponsor any of these children, or any of the other 47 that continue to wait please click here.
