Hard to describe this place...a swamp, a landfill, low cost housing. This is where our hunt for two children led us. We had heard about a boy and his little sister whose parents were killed in February. The parents were doing business in the Ivory Coast, and got caught in a village that experienced fighting between the rebels and the army. War is usually hardest on the young and the old, and here, too, both were affected. An aged grandma now had total responsibility for her two young grandchildren. She could not afford to care for them. This was the swamp where Grandma lived. The pictures say it all. There is no money for clothing, food, and school. There is a whole community out here, living in tin and thatch shacks on stilts. Amazing!
So we met the children: a boy five years old and a girl, three years old. They were sweet kids; polite and thin and hungry. Taking them for medical exams, we fed them. Bananas, eggs, and crackers disappeared quickly. Neither child had ever been to school, and the prospects of them attending school while living with Grandma were slim to none.
They came to the orphanage the week before Easter. The boy knew immediately that this place was better than the swamp. His sister was not so sure. But when she was bathed and dressed in a pretty dress and she received shoes and new underwear, things began looking better! She played with brightly colored blocks her first afternoon while her brother joined an impromptu soccer game. That first night, she snuggled in her clean bed with her own new baby doll. Yes, this might be O.K. after all!
Now, a week later, the boy is attending school. He is learning the alphabet and how to print letters. He is learning the words to songs and finger plays. His sister is learning that there will be food again in a few hours, so she does not need to scarf everything on her plate in two minutes flat! They both have energy to run, a sparkle in their eyes, and a joy in their faces that was missing that first time we met them.
These children now have hope for a future.
We think it is fitting that they arrived Easter week, as that is the time we celebrate the restoration of hope that has been made available to us also. We have been reminded that we were picked up out of our personal "swamp" of hopelessness and separation from the Father, and brought to a safe place of joy and security with a restored eternal relationship. Easter is officially over for another year, but we do wish you the peace and hope that Easter symbolizes every day.
Blessings to you all!
Dave & Babs
