Orphan Care
One of the more interesting things today was going to the orphanage that Esther runs. She has become a squatter in buildings abandoned by the military. She’s in a tug of war with them, but the government and social services doesn’t get around to removing the children either, so she stays. She has somehow acquired funding from various sources in the US and Europe to care for 150 children. Much has been given to create a working facility. Yet, what I see makes me wonder whether they really know what goes on here… I don’t think her compassionate funders have checked things out well enough to know what’s behind the scenes. She talks of microenterprise, but there are none; talks of health care but she doesn’t have time to take a chronically sick boy to the clinic to be tested for HIV. Esther seems more embroiled in the battle to hold on to the ground, which limits her attention to the kids. No one holds the children, they just wander around. Strangers are on the campus, teens hang out in each others sleeping quarters…
This is hard to see, my host comments that I will see better.
3.07.08
Today, we go visit Bakewie, a tenacious ordained pastor who keeps Good Hope Feeding Station running. We fill the back seat with fresh vegetables and pray that God will show us where to find this little ministry tucked away in the village of Clau Clau . Arriving in the neighborhood, Bakewie is finally reached by cell phone for directions. In spite of her many abilities to guide others spiritually and her compassionate care for children, her world view clashes with ours when it comes to providing adequate directions. We laugh together. Left and right are vague concepts. Turn right after the big tree, go past the vegetable stand, up the hill, then down and around the dry corn patch. Eventually we found her!
Arriving early afternoon, we find several school age children who aren’t in school and a handful of toddlers. Some days there are 50, at the moment we see about 20. They are hungry and come to Bakewie. Some live with family members but come to eat since there is so little at home, some just come out of nowhere, but Bakewie comes to know them somehow. We suspect others have no family and have come out of the bush for food and a bath. This is her ministry: food, a bath, bible stories, and love. Day to day, she doesn’t know where the food will come from or what it will be. A local ministry does it’s best to give what they can. Janice and I carry in vegetables and fruit today. We talk with the children, hold the little ones. The kitchen is clean but very small. She cooks on a small home style stove and washes up in a small plastic tub. Janice offers to search out other equipment; Bakewie expresses her gratitude.
We leave in the late afternoon, waving to the little ones. This is not a place to find yourself after dark…
