It’s been ten years now…ten years since Orphan’s Lifeline’s co-founder Dave Board swept the dusty floors of his RV Barn and decided where the desks would go. Ten years since that first letter and phone call went out asking friends in the Church to support the brand new organization and mission for the orphan children of the world…ten years since the first very small but infinitely important amount of money was sent…and the first little life was changed forever. We still remember when news came that ten dollars worth of antibiotics had saved a child’s life…when we bought a pair of shoes for a few children whose toes were bent and gnarled from wearing shoes that were far too small…back then it was very personal…
Much has changed over the last decade…those few orphan children we were helping have grown into thousands of orphan children…and one country has turned into nine countries. Since we started some “generations” of orphans have graduated and new much younger children have taken their place in the homes…our programs have continued to grow in scale and in scope… the stories of children’s lives being saved and changed come to us every single day…and while we no longer operate from an RV Barn…it remains very personal…
I can picture the first Schwinn bicycle being made…I bet it was very personal. The design was one person’s vision of what a bicycle should be…the metal of the first prototype was formed, shaped and put together very carefully…very personally, with each and every component handcrafted to fit and perform effectively and efficiently…and that first bicycle was a work of art…and the builder intimately and personally knew everything there was to know about that bicycle.
But then, as the company grew, over time, engineering blueprints were made, machinery was created and put in place to automate the system until a time came in which just the finishing touches were put on by hand and they were inspected and sent out…and it was no longer personal. But here at Orphan’s Lifeline…it is much different…because our “product”…our unit of measure, is a living breathing, unique and precious child. Just because there are thousands and they share needs in common, each has their own story, their own personality, their own special needs, their very own dreams, goals…and worries.
Take the children of one of our homes in Uganda for instance…who recently wrote us a collective letter because they have a worry. They wonder how old they can be and still live there…and wonder what they will do when they do finally leave…and that becomes a need and a worry that we must address…at a personal level. Each one of them have individual talents…individual dreams and goals and it is our job to help them realize those dreams and achieve those goals.
For some it will be college…for some, learning a vocational trade, and for others turning a talent into a life skill in which they can sell the services or goods that they create or provide for themselves and their families in a self-sustaining environment.
For orphans, wondering where they will go when their time at the children’s home is “over” is a real, not imagined fear. Many of them have no family…so where will they go at Christmas time? Who will they turn to when the trials of life we all face rise up as obstacles in their path? Where is home?
It is our job to make sure that they know and understand that as they move on in life, they are always welcome to return to the children’s home for holidays…that they can always turn to Orphan Lifeline’s foreign entities for help when there are trials in their life…for those caregivers, the children still in the home and the building itself, for many of these children will always be the only home they have ever had…the only family they have ever had…and so it is personal.
It doesn’t stop there though…the relationships that have developed span the very globe. The children in these homes have and are developing relationships with Orphan’s Lifeline and its partners many thousands of mile away. Take this young boy from an Orphan Lifeline’s Home in Kenya…who was so excited about a Sports Day that he participated in that he had to write and tell us about it. His tone and excitement are more than just a boy writing an “essay”…it is a boy writing to his extended family, thousands of miles away. He wrote:
“It was on Thursday afternoon, when our gamesmaster reminded us that on Friday sports were going to be at Kamagambo primary school. I took my books and ran home as fast as a deer, leaving behind dust floating in the air. When I reached the orphanage I assisted the cooks to prepare the meal. After ten to twelve minutes, the meal was ready. One of the cooks told me to ring the bell and all of the children came by running with their plates. They were served. After a word of prayer, they tasted the meal and it was as delicious as honey. When we finished everybody was allowed to get out and go to the room to sleep. I and my friend Bonoface went to sleep in our cottage.
That night I didn’t sleep because I was dreaming how the game is going be on Friday. I tried very hard to sleep but I was finding myself awake. In the next day, I woke up very early in the morning, washed my face and didn’t even bother to bathe but I went to school straight away….”
Edwin goes on to tell us that his school was victorious…and that a goat was slaughtered for a feast in their honor…but when you read between the lines, you learn so much more…and not just about Edwin, but about this work in general. It’s the fact that he is a real little person, not a statistic, not a single digit in the number 163,000,000 orphans out there…but just a child, and individual who looks upon Orphan’s Lifeline and its partners as people he can trust, not just with his life…but with his story, his dreams, his memories…
When you are a partner…you are his family, and like the children he shares his residence with, you are important to him. He wants you to know how excited he was on his sports day because you have earned his trust through your love and support. He doesn’t know who you are…but he knows that you care.
Another young child, twleve year old Christine from an Orphan’s Lifeline home in Kenya writes to tell you: …Thank you for your support of food towards our Home. It has made me stronger than I was and a good looking girl.” If you have a daughter, I have no doubt that you are smiling right now…and if you don’t, then you can smile anyway because if you are involved in this work… to this child, you are family… their extended family that cares enough to share what you have with them…because they are important…because they matter to us and to God…and…because it’s personal.
