The Girls' Orphanage .... Our Greatest Prayer

The site of the future girls' orphanage.
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At the orphanage, the boys are divided into the older boys and the younger boys. Each have a small space where shoes are kept neatly in a row, clothes are located in a cabinet, and the bathrooms are kept neat. Every morning, they take the mattresses outside to "air out". I don't quite understand that, but they probably don't understand why I am a girl and dress like a boy (shorts and t-shirts) and my name is a boy's name (there Joel masculine is pronounced like my name here Joelle).
We all came back with a clear understanding of one thing. The need to pray for the girls' orphanage.
One week prior to our departure, Globe Works and Mat Whatley of the newly formed Orphanage Builders hosted breakfast to share the vision for the orphanage in Puerta Plata for the girls. By law, the girls may not share the building with the boys. Some girls have been under the care of the orphanage, by way of meal provision, school, general care during the day. But at night they must leave. A few stay in the neighboring slum. One little girl's mother died recently of AIDS, so she is staying temporarily with distant relatives. Brad said he has never seen her in anything other than this white dress. Miya lives in the village with her father, but he gave up the boys to live at the orphanage. She eats with them and plays with them, then goes home at night to stay. She is quite smart, and enjoyed looking at our youngest Ellie on the iPhone. She is a natural with the iPhone. Samria, Sudie's friend, who saved pizza at the party, lives in the home on the grounds with Antonio and nine others.
The saddest situation we saw was at the market the last day when we met the 15 yr old pregnant Haitian girl, alone in this world. Her face haunts my thoughts. Right at that moment, something changed. I remember it as though it were yesterday although days have passed adn we have re-entered the Tiny Kingdom. She is the orphan, the fatherless, the oppressed, the stranger. All that God cares about. Search any of those words in a Bible concordance. She is waiting. And she does not even know it. In our broken attempt to communicate in French to Creole, I pray that the Holy Spirit touches her. And that we will soon be able to care for her, or the many "hers", that we did not physically see. That the orphans that God loves will see justice, that we will use our temporal resources for eternal reward. For kingdom purposes.

I love how God is in the details. It happens that Mat Whatley, of Orphanage Builders, lives less than a mile from my house. That an email sent my a sweet friend asking for baseball and sports paraphenalia lands on a man who was at the presentation by Mat, and comes full circle. What an awesome connection! To check out the project, watch the video! God Bless ....

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