Filling the Storehouse

It amazes me how God sometimes works....Our trip was planned perfectly..everyday we had a certain project to complete and luckily we accomplished everything we set out to do...What is interesting is how God decides to make a bend in the road...a slight turn that leads us to a place we never thought we would be....For us that special place was the Orphanage in Calaba Town...

For those of you who don't know I have adopted a little girl from Sierra Leone. She came home to me 4 years ago...During that process...I met many families all trying to adopt from the orphanage my daughter lived in. Sadly a trafficking scandal halted adoptions and many children never made it to the states...A friend of mine asked us to visit a little girl she had tried to adopt in Calaba Town...I told her I would and honestly assumed she was living with a family somewhere...We had no idea the day we set off to visit her would be the day we found not only her, but 83 other orphaned children living under one roof....

At first glance the orphanage seemed great...the kids were all smiles and the staff was so pleasant...but as we began to take a loser look we noticed the children seemed severely malnourished....at one point, the young girl I went to visit, pulled me aside and whispered into my ear....

"Do you have any food? We have not eaten in 4 days....."

I was shocked and immediately began trying to determine how that could be possible....I went into the storehouse where the food should have been....empty....we went to the well....it was dry....the tanks were also empty....We quickly realized she was telling the truth...there was no food in sight....We sat down with the caretakers and they explained that they were unable to purchase rice or water...there were no funds....the food they did have had run out several days before.....

I cannot explain to you what it feels like to hear a child beg for food....I cannot describe the brokeness we felt as we left the orphanage that day....some of us sat stunned the whole way home...others cried....all of us were trying to figure out what we were to do next....

We arrived back at the hotel and I began counting money...distributing and redistributing funds...trying to figure out a way to purchase the rice and water for the children....We pulled together what we could and then God truly handled the rest...Before we knew it friends from back in the states started wiring money when they heard about our situation....By morning we had a plan....

We traveled into town and hired a transporter....went to a wholesale market and purchased 1400 pounds of rice...then we purchased a few thousand bags of purified water and began the long drive back to the orphanage....

When you watch the video below you will see what happened next...Im excited to say that the food we brought has lasted almost a month...I received word yesterday that they have 4 bags of rice left...My hope is that people continue to give so we can continue to help support these children.