Monday, February 1

This morning, Emmanuel and another pastor, Josephine, met us at 8:00 am. We went about 10 miles north out of town and stopped at an orphanage administered by Alice – the same lady who has the church where Doug spoke yesterday. The orphan home is rented and consists of two buildings. One is a one-room classroom that they use for study. The other is a four room building, plus two toilets, where the children live. They have eight boys in one room and 12 girls in the other bedroom. The third room is the kitchen and the fourth is where they eat. She needs about $200 per month to pay expenses for this home, which includes rent, electricity, food, and a small stipend for the house mother. The children were beautiful.

Then we drove about 20 miles further to the city of Kilifi. This area has had devastating loss of life because of AIDS, and the child sex trafficking trade that rose out of that. Therefore, the government places very strict controls on orphanages to help ensure they are legitimate. Seems that people were taking in children, receiving funding of some kind, and then turning the kids back on the street or to a parent. So now the government has a lot of regulations and provides almost zero funding to comply with the regs. This is the case in Josephine’s orphanage, Sarafina Children’s Home. She has 30 children living in this orphanage with no regular support. Sarafina was started out of love from a lady in the Netherlands, who had to end her support because of cancer. The orphanage ultimately was turned over to Josephine for free, but she didn’t have any ability to fund it. It was clear that she trusts the Lord for daily provision, knowing that our Father loves the fatherless.

Almost every child in Sarafina lost their mother and father to AIDS. Only one has tested positive themselves. Two of the children were found on the road abandoned, one when he was 3 months old. These are beautiful children, but some have deep emotional scarring because of the traumatic life they’ve had already. In order to fund the Sarafina, Josephine enlisted 10 trustees who commit to pay $30 per month, and most cannot make that payment but do when they have it. She pays rent, utilities, and salaries that the government requires and has to account for all income and expenses weekly. Government officials can come in at any time to make sure the home is legitimate and not being used for sex trafficking. Fascinating to discover that Josephine pays rent, utilities, salaries, and any other bill she owes on before food. Food is actually the last expense they cover since they can do without for a while. So on average they eat about every other day and frequently keep it to one meal a day.

I was deeply moved in my spirit on this visit to Sarafina, finding myself in tears as I listened and asked questions. Then they asked me to pray!! Very difficult. Sarafina could be completely funded, 30 children, for $575 per month. This will be a matter of prayer for me.

We are meeting with the Elders of Emmanuel's church in about 15 minutes so we have a chance to hear their story. We'll also discuss the format for the next three days.