House of Hope Opens!

I am so happy to tell you that the House of Hope in Lodwar, Kenya opened a couple of months ago with our first 15 children!

A little background...most of you know, I partnered with SERV Ministries International out of Woodstock, Georgia in the mission of creating the House of Hope. SERV was going to this drought-ridden area with relief food for the people suffering there. At the same time, I was going to help the women who make beautiful baskets. Together, we partnered with SHARE International, a Kenyan group based in Lodwar. Their leader, John Nakara, grew up as an orphan there and always had a vision to help other orphaned children. For the last year, we have been looking for a proper site and making plans for construction.

But, thank goodness, God had other plans and in April SERV found a boarding school that had been in use only one year and the owner wanted to sell. It gave us the ability to start the home right away! Many of you know I have been visiting the children that would be helped by the home over the last year. It is so good to see the children out of some of the situations they were in and happy and thriving in this home.

I made another trip to Lodwar in September after the kids and staff had been in place for about 3 weeks. Here are a few pics from that trip.

Click on the picture to go to Picasa and view as a slideshow.
(Thanks to my friend in Kenya, Laura Dickerson for some of these pics.)



Below is an aerial shot of the House of Hope.
It is set in the middle of 34 acres.


I went up to Lodwar from Nairobi on this last trip with two of my friends who are both missionaries living in Kenya. They are also both nurses and used their expertise to train the new staff in several different areas. In order to allow the teacher, Agnes, to be a part of the staff training, I took the children during their school hours. Wow! I have a whole new appreciation for Agnes and all teachers! Of course the children didn't speak English so that complicated things. Many of the children have never been in school so we worked on the basics: ABC's and numbers, 1 to 20. And, I'm pretty sure they learned at least two words in English, "sit down!"

NEXT STEPS:
When you have children's lives in your hands, it is a good idea to grow slowly and that is our plan. There are so many orphaned children in the Turkana area, that it is tempting to add more to the home - and fast. But it is important to do things right. With the existing structures, the home can handle between 50-60 children and there is plenty of room to build more over the coming years.
For now, the goal is to continue raising donations for the following:
- remaining installments for the purchase of the property
- daily expenses of food, staff pay, etc.
- short term needs including clothes, electricity, repairs to the property, etc.
- long term needs including a water bore hole, worship center, secondary school education, etc.

I know this is a tough time for so many, but if you would like to be a part of helping children who would not otherwise have a chance, this could be very rewarding for you. Your donation is made directly to SERV and they have NO administrative fees - 100% of your donation goes directly to the fund for the orphanage. Your donation is completely tax deductible. Click here to go to my website to donate.

Thank you for your support and prayers for these children!