What does it take to change a life? As a missionary to Kenya, I have come to Africa to do just that. Having lived in the promised land of America for 40 years, I am no stranger to the appeals from various aid agencies and their promises that for just a dollar a day, you too can change the world. Only now, I live in Kenya and I see the needs of people every day and I can tell you, it takes more than a dollar a day. I know people in America have needs too, but here the needs are just so big, so obvious, so in your face. Like the glue boy Joseph who staggers over to greet me whenever I drive into town. He is missing several teeth, his eyes twitch back and forth, his clothes are in tatters and it looks like he has just crawled out of a muddy ditch because that is where he slept. He knows me well enough to know that I won’t give him cash because I know he will use it to buy shoe glue so he can huff it. I know this because he is never without his glue bottle. If the glue bottle is not dangling from his lip, it is stuffed up his sleeve. He says “Hi, I’m Joseph!” as if he hadn’t told me his name a hundred times before and thrusts out his filthy hand for me to shake. “Buy me bread,” he slurs and then he offers to watch my truck while I head off. The wheel wells in the bed make a handy seat and he jumps in.
As I walk on to do my errands for the day, in the back of my mind I’m having a debate with myself. Do I buy him any bread today? Do I have him pick some trash off the littered streets and deposit it in a waste bin? Or do I say as I usually do, “Sorry Joseph, not today.” I don’t want to continue to enable his choice to live on the street and panhandle, so sometimes I tell him about one of the ministries in Kitale for street kids. But Joseph has already heard about that and doesn’t want to give up his “freedom”. What about the other hundred plus kids living on the streets of Kitale? You see it doesn’t matter what you came here to do, there is always someone who is trying to make themselves your agenda. “But what are you going to do for me?” they plead.
What about the 50 kids at the Children’s Home I came to serve or the 28 staff of the Children’s Home and Bahati Academy? I have to focus on them. They each have their own story, their own needs. Felix, a senior in high school, wants to finish high school. He is struggling, but close to the finish line. He has made some mistakes, but a high school diploma is his best chance at a future. Lena didn’t qualify for high school so opted for a trade school and she is doing remarkably well. She is in beauty school and already earning money and excited about her future. She returns to Nairobi next month to attend additional courses in working with NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations). She hopes to be an advocate for orphans, especially those with HIV. I think she’ll do a great job.
High school is not free in Kenya. The average cost of sending a student to high school or trade school is $70-100 per month, depending on whether the student attends day school or boarding school, and the day school options are very limited in Kitale. We have 13 students in high school or trade school right now. That puts our need for next term secondary school fees at about $3900. I have to bank the fees in full by the end of April so kids can go back to school for second term. But according to the Children’s Home bank account, that just isn’t going to be possible.
As a comparison, the Children’s Home receives a total of $3500 per month in regular support that is meant to cover ALL our expenses. After paying our staff the required minimum wage (and believe me, they deserve MUCH more than what we are able to pay them!), we have approximately HALF of our total income left to take care of 50 children. This means we have about $35 per child which is supposed to provide food, water, clothes, shoes, school uniforms and supplies, an education, and medical care. If you do the math, it doesn’t add up. And next February, we will have five more kids starting high school or trade school. I pray that the kids we are helping at the Children’s Home can get a good education so they can eventually find work to sustain themselves. I don’t want to drive into town and see the faces of kids from my own Home begging on the streets because they didn’t get to finish school.
One of my favorite quotes that has followed me from my childhood says,
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” ~Dr. Suess, The Lorax
I’m thankful that I know somebody who cares “a whole awful lot”. His name is Jesus. He cares about you enough to die for you and He also cares about how you care for others. He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: even as I have loved you, so you also are to love one another.” John 11:34
I’m hoping there are a whole lot of someone’s out there who will be touched by this urgent need. But don’t wait for someone else or some other day. You can be the one today. Thanks for your help. Thanks for being someone who cares.
For the love of God and His children,
Jason Beagle, Administrator
Kenya Church of Christ Children’s Home
Bravo, Jason. Wonderful comments.
ReplyDeleteI love watching through CRF how God continues to take five loaves and two small fish and feed thousands. Or bring water from a rock. I pray that many more contributors will help with the school and Children's Home facility and staff.
Isaiah 41:17 "The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. 18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. 19 I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, 20 so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
You and Amy are His instruments. What an honor!!