Have you ever met an Orphan?

Have you ever met an orphan? I haven’t. I’ve met foster kids living tough lives. But even then, by the time I’ve met them, they were already in loving foster families who wanted to adopt them and often had biological family still in the picture too. I can’t empathize with or even imagine accurately the life of an orphan. I think I consider this term, orphan, like it’s a concept and use it in everyday writing all too frequently without thinking of the depth of what it means.

Orphan. Child. Alone. Without champion. Survivor. Someone who lacks Family, the very thing that enriches my life. Families torn into pieces by tragedy are heart-wrenching, but in many circumstances, the children have at least one adult still involved in their lives. I fail to realize just how dire the life of an orphan truly is. And yet God loves these children desperately, and He will find a way to care for them.

As we’ve started our new journey with Global Orphan Project, a few things have made me really ponder the life of an orphan.

One night Derek and I were looking at pictures on from the Eben Ezer Leogane orphan village. This was the 2^nd or 3^rd time through this set of pictures, but for some reason this view had captions, including the name of each kid. We both paused in silent realization of the magnitude of what we just saw. “These kids have NAMES”, Derek said aloud and we both almost cried. As much as we had become excited about the work God was asking us to do, we had missed the stark realization of the individuality of each kid until that moment.

Blansley, Age 7

Riana, Age 4

Adriano

Last week, we had the pleasure of meeting Adrien Lewis, our contact from Global Orphan Project, who came to dinner on his way back to Kansas City. As we were talking about the daily life in the orphan villages, Derek said “Man I bet those house mamas go to bed exhausted every night!” Their current ratio is 10 kids to 1 mama. Wow that hit home! I go to bed thinking I’m exhausted caring for my 3, well-adjusted kids with every modern convenience possible, not to mention a roof over my head.  Adrien reminded us that while the Global Orphan Project villages and the involvement of the local church in caring for these orphans is a huge improvement from them, the emotional wear and tear on these kids from all they’ve been through will take much to repair. He gestured to my kids and said something about them being “great kids” but reminded us that it’s the basics that we take for granted: knowing they are loved, that they will not be hungry, and that they will always have a place to live that is helping our kids to thrive.

This fall God began to use scripture and teaching from some passionate Christian leaders (Jen Hatmaker, Brandon Hatmaker, and Jeremy Plymale) to show me how “orphan” was more than just a concept. I used to read scripture like James 1: 27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” and translate it to mean “take care of the poor”. As we strive to embrace this verse and another, Isaiah 1:17 (NLT) “Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows”, we are learning that God is very specific about these 2 groups of people. Orphans and widows are so alone in this world, that I believe He is calling the church to be their champions for lack of any other.

Lord, please help me to pray for these orphans with the tenderness you have for them. Please help me to see them not as a cause, a concept, a group of people, but as individual beautiful children with names and personalities who are in the midst of the worst of circumstances, needing adult champions and most importantly your love. God please shower them with your love and raise up people to love them as you do. Amen.

An adventure to Haiti - from home

God is calling us on a new adventure and we’re excited to tell you about it. Well, a few adventures actually…As many of you know, we’ll be leaving St Louis and moving to Fort Walton Beach, Florida in July. Even in the midst of getting ready to move, He’s calling us to a bigger, more impactful adventure as well. He is calling us to ‘adopt’ a community of children in Léogâne, Haiti by becoming their advocates.

We have felt God changing our hearts and opening our eyes towards the truly poor and needy in many ways over the past year. Particularly He has grown our heart for children in need. God has been showing us how blessed we are to have a healthy, loving, intact family and our own passion for the importance of family has been growing as we enjoy the addition of each new child. But what are we supposed to do about it? How can we personally make a dent in what seems to be such a huge world problem? We didn’t and don’t feel God calling us towards adoption or foster parenting, particularly at this time in our lives when we’re moving so frequently.

We heard first-hand about the orphan crisis in Haiti when a couple came to our church in November for ‘Orphan Sunday’ to speak about how they had built an orphanage in Haiti for about 40 children. “That’s so cool, I didn’t know a couple could just ‘build an orphanage’ we thought!” It immediately sparked our imaginations. There was so much about building an orphanage that appealed to us: it was tangible, it was hugely impactful for current and future orphans, it was something we could do as a family and involve our kids in, it was sustainable (more about that later), it did not depend on where we lived, it was a place we could visit periodically to truly connect with the kids…and the list went on. Over the next couple of months God was working on us, because He sure didn’t let us forget it!  After the holiday festivities and illness slowed down, we came to the point where we contacted Global Orphan Project (GO for short) to express our interest in getting involved.  Global Orphan Project is the organization the couple had partnered with to build the orphanage they’d described to us. 

Global Orphan Project supports 22 orphan “villages” in Haiti. Each village consists of multiple children’s homes, a school, and essential facilities.  There are 3 key elements to a successful GO village. The village is partnered with a local church that owns all of the day-to-day orphan care. Praise God, these children are not just cared for but are taught and shown the grace of Jesus Christ daily. Secondly, the children’s home is not fancy but provides a base level of housing.  The result is an improved situation for the orphans, without making it so “nice” that a parent is tempted to give up their children just to get them a “spot at the orphanage”. Lastly, the villages become self-sufficient as GO works with each to develop a business.  These businesses ultimately fund the orphan care after the first 3 years. 100% of all funds raised go directly to orphan care, which is also quite amazing for a ministry. I could tell you more but I hope you’ll read about it at www.goproject.org.

As we began to speak with a leader at GO, we learned that, yes, there was a need and they were happy to have our help…but it wasn’t a need for a new orphanage right now. In many ways, it’s bigger. GO has been learning over the past few years of building orphanages in Haiti, that there is also a way to prevent the family breakdown that results in the orphaning of children.  Today there are many children in families on the brink of collapse.  If a family member cannot afford to feed a child or send him or her to school (most schools in Haiti are private), the family member sometimes gives up and orphans the child. GO has learned that by funding the school in a community they can provide one meal a day and schooling for at risk children, which in many cases is enough to keep them with their families. That’s exciting!  Not to mention the fact that the school also benefits the village orphans who already attend.   Giving these children a Christian education helps prepare them to be leaders for Haiti’s future.  We refer to this as orphan prevention, and that’s where we’ve been led to engage.

God doesn’t want us to be helping only at-risk children in Léogâne, however, He wants us to embrace all the kids in the community and the multiple types of needs they have. For the at-risk kids, the urgent need is food and education to keep them with their families. For the orphans living in the GO children’s homes, the current need is roof repairs for the homes so they can stay dry. 

Léogâne, 18 miles southwest of Port au Prince, was at the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake and has approximately 134,000 people in it.  The church that supports the orphans, Eben Ezer Evangelique Church, is the only one in the area. The school associated with the church is attended by children from the community and the 58 orphans from the GO village named Eben Ezer Léogâne. About 160 children attend the school now, but there is room for more in the school! The amount needed to fund the school is $3000 each month. A gift of about $20 per month can make the difference for a child in Léogâne to receive a meal and education consistently. In addition to the school need, the orphan village’s roof repair need is $3400 to fix previous hurricane damage.

Is it possible to go from knowing almost nothing about a country and people group to thinking about it daily? Is it possible to take on a new large family project just as all the work of moving is ramping up? Is it possible that we can raise the funds that this group of children desperately needs? “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God’”(Mark 10:27)

This is just the beginning of the story. There is so much more we’d like to tell you now and as we proceed. We’ll be making plans to go to Léogâne, Haiti, hopefully within the next year, but we have to get settled into a new job and location first. We’ve started a FB page at https://www.facebook.com/GilmansLovingLeoganeKids and this blog that will be populated with frequent updates on the fundraising and the children in the village. For now you can find information about the Eben Ezer Léogâne orphan village at https://goproject.org/village/eben-ezer-leogane/.

If you like email or mail better, let us know and we’ll send you updates that way too. We will be praying for you as you read and receive this. Who knows how many of you God will send on this journey to Haiti with us – to pray, to give, and maybe even to go with us when we go next year. These children’s lives are going to be changed because of God’s work through all of us; we truly believe it!

P.S. We’re still working out all the electronic communication and details but if you are stirred to give now, contact us directly by email or phone so we can help you. 

Here are just a few pictures to start with:

Many of the children living at the Eben Ezer Léogâne Orphan Village

The outside of the primary school at Eben Ezer Léogâne

The spacious inside of the primary school