As a ministry a few months ago we started to re- evaluate what we were doing and who we were serving , as we had grown rapidly over the last few years.
We discovered that many of the children have some family and we also looked into those who had been delivered from Occultic practices for several years to see whether they could be reconciled back into their communities. We realise it is far better in this culture if a child grows up with its family as the family and extended family unit is very strong here. As a part of this process we sent home for Christmas about 100 of our boys, and the staff visited them to assess their situations .
Many families stated that they had seen such changes in their children , their behaviour and their abilities had greatly improved and they were pleased to have them back. Of course for some we discovered they need to be with us. We want to exist as a ministry to help those children who have no one to help them and to train and disciple them so they can function well in their society. Some of the older ones we realise need to learn a trade alongside their education , so they can start to be independent when they leave school, and so we have sent some to a Technical Boarding school and they will come back to us or family in the holidays. As a ministry we are committed to help with school fees as long as we can so the children's education does not stop but this as ever is reliant on money being brought in by God.
So this week has been an amazing time for all of us in the ministryas we have been travelling around taking some of our boys back to their families. On Tuesday we took 10 to boarding school as you can see from the picture this was quite an undertaking as they have to go with lots of stuff.... they were excited and nervous at the same time and we were all quite emotional as we left them. We pray they will settle well and make good friends and that God protects them.
Then on Wednesday and Thursday we drove around several villages reconciling boys back to family members. We caused quite a stir turning up in small communities with two jeeps a car and a minibus loaded with mattresses etc..but we took all the boys in the area going home to see where each other lived and we greeted the families and prayed with them as we left their children with them. Mothers were crying, along with us Aunties as we gave back boys ...it was awesome to see the reason why the ministry exists happening before your very own eyes...boys whose lives had been turned around by God and who could now go home....We hope many more will follow in these first ones footsteps.
Here is a picture of Ayuba and Solomon re united with their Dad. He was so happy to see his boys back after being with us for 5 years after their mother died. He has built new rooms for them and has got farm land ready for them to be able to grow food.
This is Bala ( in yellow) with his Mum and two sisters and younger brother re- united in the village. He was greeted by his family who are excited to have him home, after being a changed boy delivered from Occultic behaviour and he can now be a real help to his Mum and older Brother. I was sad to see him leave as I have grown very close to him over my time here but know it is best for him.
As we leave these precious children in school or in their communities we have to Trust that God will look after them and that he knows the plans for their future. They were his children before they were ever ours and he knows them all by name......please pray for them as they adjust to new lifestyles.
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