Sunday, August 2, 2009

I just can't stop thinking about them. . . .

There are 680 children on my heart currently. I know. . .seems a little much, huh?! Want to know a little about them? They fall into 3 groups of children.

The kids of Bukedea Town Council: this was a potential carepoint site we visited on my last day. The girls and I refer to it as "the Crying Day". Seriously, these children ripped our hearts out. This is the day we ran out of food. This is the day we heard the stories of the Child Headed Households. This is the day we visited Pauline's run down home. This is the day we gave away mosquito nets to children clearly struggling with AIDS. This the day we had to choose. . .would they get underwear or toothbrushes. I wrote a post titled "It could have been him" that day, which has since made my parents weep every time they read it. . .yeah, I wept that day. .a lot.

The kids of Adecar in Katakwi. This was a day where the malnourishment was evident in every one of their faces. This was the day we heard the horror stories of what had happened to their villages. This was the village we sent Joseph back to with food and he got mobbed. This was a place full of intense beauty and immense pain. This place had the little girl who has stolen my heart. . .I use her picture for everything. This place had "the crying girl" who God has used to move people's hearts to give.


This one will surprise you. . but the next group of children are waiting in a mountain carepoint in Swaziland. I've never seen them. I haven't held their little hands. I've not seen the beauty of their surroundings or looked into their eyes and seen the depths of their pain. But, I've heard their stories. Tom and Vince (HopeChest guys and my friends) talk often of their time in this special place. I think reading "Scared" has moved me for Swaziland in a way I didn't think possible.
All 3 of the groups of children share 2 things. . .they are waiting for sponsors and they are hungry. like really hungry. starving to death actually. Wait, they share one more thing. . .they are never far from my thoughts. . .or God's!

HopeChest is getting ready to launch some online community sponsorships with RLC, like we did with Ethiopia! There is still a church considering Adecar, so pray for direction for them. . if they are supposed to take on this carepoint or be a part of a larger, internet community to take them on. Either way, if we could even get half of these kids sponsored, we could begin feeding them! Feeding these hungry kids!!!!! Then, we can grow those online communities of sponsorship over the next year to get all of them sponsored.

So, here's what I'm looking for. . .advocates! I'm looking for people who want to approach their peeps about taking a group of these kids. This may be your church, maybe it's smaller and can't take on a whole carepoint or orphanage but COULD take on 20-50 kids! Maybe it's your extended family. . .I talked to my Aunt Shannon last night and we are pitching it to our extended families to try and get a group of 50 kids sponsored. . .maybe it's your homeschool group or your neighborhood or your co-workers. . .any way you look at it. . .if you want to be involved. If you want to ADVOCATE for these precious orphans, will you let me know?

We are going to open this up to individuals fairly soon (still setting it all up. . it'll be a month or 2) for sponsorship, but right now I'm looking for 5-10 people who want to "sign up" for a specific group of kiddos from any of these carepoints. Then, you can take this next month to gather together YOUR group of sponsors so we are ready to go when we launch!

If you want to be part of this, just leave a comment and tell me how many kids you want and which carepoint has grabbed your heart! Or email me for more details brandi @ kidslake .org (remove spaces) We'll even have an online group for everyone who sponsors kids in that carepoint!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Powerful post Brandi - I cried while at that
mountain carepoint in Swaziland. I kept thinking
to myself "how can this happen to innocent
children?"
The course of my life changed in the hope of
making a difference. Seems like yours did too.
Blessings your big bro,
Vince

Isabel said...

Hi Brandi,
God has given me a huge burden for the orphans in Africa.
I am looking at getting my church involved.
How much $$ are you looking at for sponsorships - per month?
We are in New Zealand but that won't stop us from helping.
Please keep me informed and I will see what I can do.
would defnitely love to help in some way!

Blessings,
Isabel

Anonymous said...

I also would like info on how much $ the sponsorships are.

Brandi said...

Sponsorships are $34/month through HopeChest!

Would you like more info???

Brandi