Tom Davis' Blog

A Woman Left for Dead on the Side of the Road - A tear-jerker

From our team in Uganda: 

Ngariam

Today we went to a village called Ngariam. Ngariam is made up of people who have been traumatized by a nomadic tribe of people called the Karamajong. The Karamajong over the past 50 years have burned their huts and fields, raped their women, abducted some of their children, stolen their cattle and killed anyone who got in their way. To add to that, this area is in the middle of a food crisis. (For those of you who participated in our fund drive for Feed the Forgotten…this is one of the sites where we were able to send food back in June, although there were people who died one day before the food was delivered).

This was the first UNSPONSORED site we visited on this trip and the difference was astounding. These children showed visible signs of malnutrition – yellow eyes, discolored skin and hair, distended bellies. They were literally in dirty rags and they were a kind of dirty you have likely never seen. There was absolutely no sign of hygiene. They had open sores on their bodies that were oozing with infection. They had to walk FAR to find water (although they had a water pump nearby that had been broken for months…we were able to give them $80 to fix the part so that the 5,000 people in the camp could have water again - $80!!). To say that sponsorship makes a difference is a gross understatement.

Children were shaking our hands while kneeling on the ground. It felt so strange to have someone literally bowing to me. They were shy at first…some ran away from us crying. I’m sure for some of them it was the first time they’d ever seen a white person, so I can only imagine what must have been going through their mind. There was a major language barrier since no one knew English. We had several people with us who translated and I have to say that as cheesy as it might sound I found that love truly transcends any barrier. I was able to give smiles, hugs, back rubs and sing with the kids. We taught the kids to sing “Jesus Loves Me”…Sarah and I led the song and hand motions while they repeated the words. Rita then translated to the children what they were singing. That was SO important to me. More than anything on this trip I have just wanted to communicate and show these children that their Father in Heaven loves THEM…He knows their names. While I might have encouraged them momentarily ultimately they need to know that there is a God in heaven who cares for them and walks with them always. I want them desperately to know the truth of that. People come and go and will disappoint them, but as Lamentations says “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to end”.

So, I left them praying for that truth to be planted deeply in their heart. But now that I have seen their situation I am responsible for more than that. These people are in DIRE circumstances and situations. The fact that there were children running around with gaping wounds in their head with no means to care for it just devastated me. I pictured my little girls running around in pain and with festering sores and infection while I stood by helpless to do anything. I cannot imagine that being the norm like it is in Ngariam.

So, as I was taking all of this in, one of our team leaders asked my friend Sarah and I if we would be willing to go help an older woman they encountered. Of course we went. I had no idea what we were walking into. This woman’s name was Mary Ida and she was elderly. We were told that as some of our team members had been walking through the village they encountered this woman lying literally face down in the dirt. They actually thought she was dead until they saw her head move. There were other village women walking by her yelling at her to pull her dress down because parts of her body were exposed. This woman was not able to move and was receiving no compassion from the people around her. Since the guys didn’t know if it would be appropriate to help her they went and got Sarah and I.

As Sarah and I approached her my heart just broke. There she was lying in the dirt – literally a pile of skin and bones. Her bones were protruding from her skin. Part of her toes were gone. She had gaping holes where her toes met her foot. Her legs and hands were swollen. Her hands had wounds and sores on them. She laid there blinking at us. Our travel partner, Rita, asked the women around her what her story was. Apparently she suffers from jiggers which are worms that make their way into her feet. They have left her with infection which has made it almost impossible for her to walk because of the pain. Her hands suffer from something similar. Her husband is dead as all are all her children. Her son’s widow tries to care for her as she can but has no resources to give her what she really needs. She said Mary was traumatized by all the loss in her life and the fact she is alone.

The first thing we did was pray for her… we asked for God to be present with her and to bring her comfort and peace. We then asked if we could move her into her hut so we could care for her. Apparently her hut was in disarray so they led us to another hut that literally had nothing in it. It had a thatched roof and a dirt floor. Two women from the village picked her up and carried her into the hut for us. We only had one pair of gloves so Sarah said that she would be the one to actually tend to her wounds. We only had a first aid kit with us so we laid Mary on the floor while she groaned in pain. We had a bottle of water which we gave her to drink. I’ve never seen someone gulp water down like that – she was SO thirsty. We had a bowl with water to lift her feet into. Sarah gently washed her feet which were bleeding and covered in flies…the whole time Mary was crying out in pain. It was probably the most heart wrenching thing I have ever been a part of in my life. Sarah kept saying, “I know, Mary…I’m sorry it hurts…I’m just trying to help…God help Mary”. After Sarah washed her feet we treated them with anti-bacterial ointment and wrapped them in gauze to protect them as best we could. It was just a bandaid on a much larger problem but it was all we could do. We did the same for her hand which had open, festering sores.

I wanted to cry through the whole thing. I wanted to turn and run. But I knew that Jesus would be right there where we were doing what we were doing. He was using us to wash her feet, to hold her hand, to bandage her wounds, to whisper words of comfort, to say her name, to pray for her. I felt God’s presence in that little mud hut – it was palpable.

And you know what? When we finished Mary looked up at us and actually smiled then laughed. She laughed. Here was this lady that literally could have been left for dead in the dirt with the African sun beating down on her LAUGHING! The way that she looked up at us when we were finished is something I will NEVER, EVER forget. I think I saw Jesus looking back at me.

One of the things I wanted most of all from this trip was to glimpse God in a new way. I glimpsed Him today in Mary. We probably spent 30 minutes with Mary today and they may have been some of the most important minutes of my life. As badly as my heart hurt for Mary I know God’s heart hurt for her so much more than mine. He felt her pain and loved her so much He sent us to her on this day to love her, to touch her, to BE Jesus to her.

I really can’t put words to what I feel in my heart right now…it’s simply overwhelming – overwhelming that God allowed me to be a part of Mary’s life today…overwhelming that there is such suffering in the world while this would be unthinkable in America. But I’ll save that as well as what I saw with the children in Ngariam for another post. For now, I just want to be in this moment. 

Thanks to Amy Savage for this post.

An Orphan's Faith

We have a great team in Uganda right now, led by Greg McElheny and Vince Giordano.  I just received an email from one of our team members, Ben Savage, from Cincinnati Ohio. I had to share it with you.  Please join me in prayer for this team as they visit carepoints throughout the Teso Region over the next few days. I hope to update you with more stories as they come to me.

"Today I walked into a world unlike any other that I have experienced.
I arrived two days ago with a team from Children’s HopeChest to visit
orphan communities in the hopes of creating connections between our
world of plenty and their world of want.   As we drove through the
towns, I witnessed a bizarre mixture of beauty, despair and hope.  The
landscape was truly astounding.  There were many imaginative and
hardworking people who had used what little resources that could
muster to create businesses that were showing signs of success.  The
next sight I would see would be a child naked, in a ramshackle mud hut
with no one to care for them.

In this strange stew of images we pulled into Rapha Community School,
a community that is sponsored by a church in Florida through
Children’s HopeChest.  We were greeted by 150 children in white shirts
and orange smocks.  The children were not exactly what I expected.
True, their situation was more dire than any I’ve seen, but the
children shone like the sun.  Their smiles were bright and filled with
pride and dignity.  The children greeted us individually and thanked
us for coming.  I only wish my children acted this respectfully.
After we toured the community, we were escorted to their schoolroom.
The room consisted of a small map of the world, a few old posters and
rough hewn benches.

The children sang a welcome to us.  They danced and recited Gods words
to us.  I was challenged and changed by all of this.   And then there
was Sarah, who read Matthew 6 aloud.  Sarah, who, from all earthly
perspectives should be disabled with despair for her future spoke of
faith.  She is an orphan who has depended on God to deliver food,
shelter and all other earthly needs.  She had suffered loss and pain
that people in my community would have spent countless dollars on
therapy to recover from, but today Sarah spoke to me of faith.  She
read

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will

eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more
important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at
the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more
valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to
his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field
grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon
in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God
clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is
thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of
little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What
shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all
these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But
seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things
will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of
its own.”  Matthew 6:25-34

To hear a lovely child of God with a gleaming face recite those words
to me was the high point and most devastating moment for me.  The
thought that Sarah, who has good reason to worry about tomorrow would
unassumingly speak those challenging words to us fairly contented and
well fed Americans destroyed me.  That we worry more about the news
from Hollywood than the desperation found around the world was nothing
short of life changing.  While our culture is so consumed with anxiety
and fear, here was little Sarah exemplifying faith and courage.  She
read the words but I could see that she felt them too and that she
felt them deeply.

I have always loved that passage and thought about it as a cute
phrasing of my simple faith. But today I heard it as a life mantra
that was spoken from the core of this small framed girl.  It was the
throwing down of the gauntlet.  And the question that confronts me now
as I sit in my Ugandan hotel and Sarah sleeps in her mud hut is “What
will I do to respond?”  I have been blessed - not so much that I am
rich in my own community necessarily, but I am insanely rich in a
global context.  I have also been exposed to enough of the
difficulties that these communities face that I can no longer hide
behind ignorance.    Do I truly believe that these children are more
valuable than my cable television?   I am the “I want my MTV”
generation.  As Africa burns I live in comfort and ease while I CAN
make a difference in the lives of others but will I choose to? What
sacrifice have I been willing to make to help fulfill God’s promise of
care to others?  I will live differently from this day forward.
Have mercy on me God, though I truly don’t deserve it.  I have for too
long ignored your call to love those who are broken and abused.  Help
me capture and hold onto the conviction, sorrow, and joy reflected in
Sarah’s eyes today.  And thank you for showing me a picture of your
heart through these broken but not forgotten children in Rapha.  I am
devastated and changed.  Thank you, sweet Lord."

Swaziland Food Update

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."  Hebrews 11:1. This picture reminds me of this verse. This is one of those moments where our faith becomes visible in the form of a hungry child eating an nutritious meal. But we didn't have this photo when we started the February Food drive back in early 2009.

All we had was faith.

Back in February, you contributed over $13,000 to provide food for our kids in Swaziland. I just recieved this report from our partner, Kids Against Hunger about that shipment:

Our shipment of (3) 40' containers arrived in Durban, South Africa after a month at sea. Over 840,000 Kids Against Hunger meals were then transported by train to Matsapha, Swaziland. Our mission partners feed 2700 children a day at 30 care points throughout the country.

Thank you again for your generosity and faith. Kids Against Hunger is considering another shipment of food toward the end of the year. You can support this by donating online at the link below. Please note "Swaziland Food" in the notes.

We are also drilling wells, developing carepoints, and advancing discipleship. We now have nearly 1,000 children with committed sponsors. Thank you for being part of an amazing journey with Children's HopeChest. I hope to bring you more and more photos of how your faith turns into God's love for the orphan.

DONATE ONLINE

Help feed our kids in Swaziland.

Ethiopian Orphanages and Itinerary

Some of you have asked how you can prayer for our team that leaves today for Ethiopia. You can download a copy of our schedule here: Download EthiopiaItinerary. We will be visiting new orphanages and looking for needy places and people that need our help. I can't thank you enough for your faithful friendship and commitment to what Children's HopeChest is doing in Africa and Russia. I'll post updates here and on my Twitter as often as possible. 

Here's a portion of the schedule:

April 18^th             Sat            Team goes to Gebre guracha to celebrate the Easter Holiday with 95 children Ebenezer Orphanage – 2 hour drive

                                                            Traditional lunch @ Ebenezer

                                                            Easter Celebration

April 19^th             Sun            Team will go to Church at Holy Trinity Cathedral. The burial place for many famous people and once the largest Ethiopian Orthodox Cathedral. Built to commemorate the country's liberation from the Italians           

                                                            Lunch at restaurant

                                                            Possible Cultural Options: Museums at Addis Ababa University, drive to Entoto (highest peak),Ethiopian National Museum &

April 20^th             Mon             Moses Orphanage

                                                            Lunch at restaurant 

                                                            New Orphanage Ministry Site

Ethiopian Orphans Face Life of Hardship

Times Online:

The Ethiopian peasant farmer and his wife shuffled painfully into the orphanage. They were in the last stages of Aids and had only weeks to live. However, they were happy. They had heard the Franciscan nuns had found a home for their three children and had come to say farewell.

“I am so happy, they are going to stay together,” the father, Solomon, whispered as he embraced a middle-aged Mormon couple from Salt Lake City, Utah. “Now, I can die peacefully. They will go to school in America and have a future. It is good they leave here.” As they embraced their two daughters, aged 8 and 6, for the last time the tears ran freely. Their four-year-old son did not appreciate the significance of the moment and ran off to play with friends.

Sister Luthgarder, a seasoned veteran of such heart-rending adoptions, explained: “It is sad, but it is so rare they are kept together and so I am happy.” Only a week previously a brother and sister were separated: one going to Norway, the other to Canada. “The new parents said they would take them to see each other every year, but inevitably they will grow apart,” she said.

Only a fraction of Ethiopia’s burgeoning population of orphaned children, now put at five million, find their way to Kidane Meheret Children’s Home. Even fewer leave and they are certainly the lucky ones.

The Ethiopian peasant farmer and his wife shuffled painfully into the orphanage. They were in the last stages of Aids and had only weeks to live. However, they were happy. They had heard the Franciscan nuns had found a home for their three children and had come to say farewell.

“I am so happy, they are going to stay together,” the father, Solomon, whispered as he embraced a middle-aged Mormon couple from Salt Lake City, Utah. “Now, I can die peacefully. They will go to school in America and have a future. It is good they leave here.” As they embraced their two daughters, aged 8 and 6, for the last time the tears ran freely. Their four-year-old son did not appreciate the significance of the moment and ran off to play with friends.

Sister Luthgarder, a seasoned veteran of such heart-rending adoptions, explained: “It is sad, but it is so rare they are kept together and so I am happy.” Only a week previously a brother and sister were separated: one going to Norway, the other to Canada. “The new parents said they would take them to see each other every year, but inevitably they will grow apart,” she said.

Only a fraction of Ethiopia’s burgeoning population of orphaned children, now put at five million, find their way to Kidane Meheret Children’s Home. Even fewer leave and they are certainly the lucky ones.

Read the rest of the article here.

Heartbreaking Day

Today we visited a place close to the mountains that isn't receiving any help whatsoever. Again, it's an area plagued with AIDS so children are left caring for themselves. They are in a bitter struggle just to stay alive.

We came unannounced to see what was happening and these kids showed up to see what we were doing. Many of them were malnourished and sick. Two of them were dressed in nothing but a loin cloth. This one little girl with the most beautiful smile you've ever seen, walked up with a naked baby on her back. She couldn't have been older than seven. You can see this pictures in the photo section to the right here, or on my Facebook page. They are titled, "Swaziland Day 4."

The hardest thing on all of us was the fact that they were starving right before our eyes. I can tell you the touching and hugging little children who are severely malnourished is a very painful thing to do. I don't even know how to give words to something like that. The team is going out again on Wednesday with food. We are hoping to find a sponsor here because it's in such desperate need.

Another lady came out of a trail yelling about the pain she was in, asking us to help her. She was obviously infected with the HIV/AIDS virus. She was anguishing, we felt horrible, but there was nothing we could do. And, she was one of the main teachers here.

Sometimes I feel like such a bearer of bad news on these things. This is just what we run into everyday. The good news is that we are doing something about these situations. With the help of people like you, we are feeding these precious children. Thousands of kids in Swaziland are being sponsored and our programs are working. We are drilling wells to provide clean water, we are providing funds to help kids with their education, we're feeding, discipling, providing medical care, everything that can be done. 

Thanks your for your part in this. We already have 3 people express high interest in sponsoring carepoints, including folks who are doing this through their blogs. I'm so excited about this I can't even tell you. We have 4 more that need sponsorship so please, let me hear for you. 

You guys (and girls!) are fantastic. This could never be done without you.

All my love to you. Sahle Kahale (Stay well!)

First Day in Africa

Just back from our first day at carepoints in Swaziland. A day filled with many highs and lows. Highs because the first orphan village we visited is sponsored by our church, Vanguard, in Colorado Springs. So many great things are happening there. A playground has just been put up, the kitchen is finished and operating, the building is up serving as a church and community center, the school is running, and the kids are doing great! Hope is evident everywhere in the eyes of the children, the staff, and the teachers. The kids all keep talking about their futures and how they get to go to school. Amazing!

The low was the second place we visited called Bobokhazi. It's not sponsored by any church, or online community, and is suffering. I heard story after story about how there's no food and little hope. A little 13 year old girl told me her tragic story. Both of her parents are dead from AIDS and she's all alone taking care of her 4 year old brother. Her father just passed away December 5th. They literally have nothing. My heart breaks for her. There's not a penny for her to go to school when only $80 covers her costs for the entire year. We are feeding them some with what we can so they aren't starving, but this place desperately needs people to come to their rescue. If you're one of the answers, please let me know.

Pictures won't load here, so have put them up from both carepoints on Facebook for you to see: Click here to see the Pictures if you have a Facebook account.

Please continue to remember us. We're off to two more places tomorrow and the local AIDS hospital. Miss you all!

Want to Sponsor Kebebetsehay Orphanage in Ethiopia?

After the conference call I just hung up from, nothing is impossible. My friends, Josh and Amy Bottomly, have sponsored an entire orphanage through their online blogging community. You can do it too!

Kebebetsehay, was one of my favorite orphanages in Ethiopia. It is the home to 120 children including 20 of the cutest babies you've ever seen in your life! Any infant that is abandoned in Addis is supposed to come here first to prevent orphanages from paying people to receive children. 85 of these kids fall between the ages of 3 and 14. Sopia, the director, is on the most honest and well respected leaders in Addis Ababa. The needs here are food, clothing, diapers, milk, formula, and funding to pay school fees. I love, love, this place and it will a tremendous blessing to the community that sponsors it. Email me if you're interested!

Sponsorship of Kolfe Orphanage in Ethiopia

Kolfe orphanage is an incredible place filled with 130 boys outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. After spendingt just a few hours with the young men there, I was struck by how polite, engaging and smart they are. They are so conversational I almost didn't realize that this orphanage is situated on a dumping ground.  Every window is broken out of every building except the office and the only thing more prominent than garbage and glass on the ground is the red dust that covers every square inch of this horrible place. I see two possible roads for these boys. Down the first I see future husbands, fathers, and leaders of Ethiopia. Down the second I see death. I will occasionally use hyperbole to make a point but be clear that this not one of those times.  

What They Need

Family. The boys of Kolfe need a church family with a heart for seeing boys become men. They need role models and mentors. They need someone to see their potential and walk with them through life to help them realize it. Here's an overview of Children's HopeChest's  orphanage sponsorship program. Thanks to Sam Henry at Red Letters Campaign for the post.

The Basics. Serving these boys begins with meeting their basic needs for survival. Today and tonight they are exposed to the elements living in dormitories that are in shambles. Their food is meager and mean non-existent. Children's Hopechest needs to raise $25K immediately to repair housing facilities, provide beds, and buy books while we find a church sponsor. If you would like to GIVE click here and mark Kolfe orphanage as the recipient.

Help. We are hiring in-country staff to oversee and manage these Sponsorship programs and to identify additional sponsorship opportunities. The field teams' role is threefold: 1) Point of continuity, trust, and fun to the kids throughout the year. 2) Point of financial accountability for orphanage leadership. 3) Facilitate connections between the sponsoring church and children in the orphanage. 

If you are interested in recruiting a church or community to sponsor Kolfe, please contact me immediately at tdavis@hopechest.org. We already have 3 sponsorships in process since returning last week!

Pictures from Ethiopia

When I'm home, I'll upload an album. Until then, I wanted you to see a few.