Women of Love

Psalms 91 is my grandma Missy's favorite passage.  Many times she has read this to me and when I read it, I see her face and hear her precious and assuring voice that knows and belives that God is her shelter where she finds ultimate healing, peace and rest.



Amelie feeding some street boys.

Jackson is the smaller one and now

has joined the home.

  This past month I have literally seen God's refuge and fortress for children who are in dire need of love and in need of a Saviour whom they can call "Father".   These fatherless are the outcast and orphaned who live on the streets starving for food and for affection.  One street boy, Kenny, who I met with my dear friend Amelie, had layers of dirt all over him and carried a worn-out holey bag with just a few of his belongings in it.  He had dried glue on his face from sniffing which is something ALL of the street kids do to take away the hunger pains they have from going days and days without food. An old rope held up his dirty, holey pants that were made for a grown man. His shoes were barely shoes and I noticed two or three shirts layered on him to act as warmth for when he slept on the streets at night. I held back tears from the sight I was witnessing thinking, "there are soo many God, there are so many of them, how can a difference be made?"  Then the most beautiful thing happened.... after Amelie and I had talked to him asking him if he wanted to come with us and start a new life away from the life on the streets that he has lived in for so long,  he agrees to come to Amelie's boy's home, Life 4 Kids. http://www.life4kids.net/  The boy understands that this is a choice to come, but if he chooses to go now, then he can't go back to where he came from to say his goodbyes to friends (cuz the peer-pressure to stay on the streets is strong); he must come with us immediately and not look back.  He agrees to go forward and join this new chance in life.  Within minutes, he walked with us to the home and was taken up to be showered and clothed with "new" clothes and "new" shoes.  (i'm sure you're thoughts are as mine and are just sensing stories from scripture unfold as you read this.. aww... it's soo good!).  As I was eating lunch with the 16 boys at the shelter, Amelie and her social workers, Kenny comes down the stairs not looking like the old Kenny!  He was clean, bright eyed and about to partake of the good feast (chipati and a bean dish) that waited for him. The boys clapped as he came down to join them and my heart leaped for joy at what I had just witnessed... and Amelie smiled and looked at me and said, "And then there were 17."  17 boys now fill this home!  The home is small (it's temporary until more funding comes through), but it is a home.  It is filled with laughter and love. Of course there are disagreements at times as is expected with 17 young boys, but it is a family and it is Christ-centered.  The boys learn about Jesus and go to school also.  They learn how to clean and become responsible. This home is a refuge for the kids and it is a beautiful reflection of Psalm 91.. for He is our refuge! 

Watching the talent show!






   





      





Everyone helps clean-up

Kenny juggling for the talent show!



The stories of these young boys are something you only hear or see from a movie.  One 11 yr old boy, John, watched his mother kill his 3 younger siblings and tried to kill him as he escaped.  Before coming to the Home, he was sodomized on the streets.  He had stayed with the Home for a few months but his pain seems too deep for him and he feels that he can't be helped. He decided to leave the Home this week and won't say why.  Please Please pray for his return and his protection.  Amelie and others are going to find him, but ultimately, it is his choice to come back.  He doesn't know how to accept this love and a new chance at life.  He is so wounded from what he has experienced. Can you even imagine?

 Another boy, Jackson, watched his mother get burned alive from the 2007 post-election violence - his father died also. Jackson is now living at the Home after being on the streets for three years since he was 7 yrs old.  I could go on and on with more stories about these boys, but know that they are all as heartbreaking as the others.  But God is a God who heals and whose love has power to change us! He loves them and they are experiencing a new chance at life.  I saw it before my very eyes the transformation that happens in these little ones' life -it was Heaven on Earth.  This is the desire of our Father that when we decide to join His family, that we not look back at what we have left, but we look ahead to new things to come!  (Phil. 3:13)

 

Thorunn and I with the new students
of Star of Hope Academy

 Another friend of mine from Iceland, named Thorunn, has a school and homestead (for 160 kids) called Star of Hope Academy located in one of the biggest slums in Nairobi.  Last Sunday she asked me to speak to the kids. Mind you, she asked the day I showed up there actually (nothing like being asked to speak on the spot!).  I am not one who likes to speak (surprised, I know) in front of people I don't know, but I really sense that God is bringing me out of that and is wanting me to be more available to minister what He has put into my heart. So I did, and it was awesome!  We also  prayed for these kids' needs and for the start of the new school year. One boy, Felix, who had been at the home for a year, had gotten lost one day when he was coming home from school.  Thorunn's people found him wandering around in a school uniform.  They weren't sure what happened but he was lost and scared.  There were endless months of searching for this boy and the school he came from (noone knew where he was from) so his parents could be located. But to no avail, nothing came of it.  So on Sunday, Thorunn and and the children all prayed again that his parents would be found. After we finished praying, one young orphan boy came up and felt that he needed to lay hands on Felix again and pray for the return of his parents.  I witnessed the Holy Spirit fall on this young boy as he prayed for Felix.  Compassion overcame this young boy and he wept for Felix aloud which is so not like their culture (they do not show emotion much). The boy had to leave the room because he was so overcome with compassion.. I wept and felt the power of the Holy Spirit right there. Do you know the next day, Monday, I get an excited call from Thorunn that  Felix's parents had been found!!  A year that boy has been without his parents and the parents had been looking all over for Felix for a year... now they were found and these kids witnessed that prayers work! What a witness it was to these precious children.  Isn't God good?  I am seeing more and more everyday that His love is BIG and His love is POWERFUL!  I am blessed to be around women here who pour out their lives for the Kingdom and am inspired and daily challenged to be one that does so as well. 
Blessings and All my LOVE!
~kami

 



Felix on Sunday :(



Felix on Monday with Daddy
and little brother :)