Sometimes it is necessary. In the
world which we live, good thoughts are not enough. It take Dollars and Shillings
to feed the children, to enroll them and school, and as we know at the present,
to build a dormitory so that they have a safe and healthy place to sleep.
When I visited the orphanage in
January, the building was up and looking good, but we still lacked several
components to bring it to completion. Here is the list that we came up with in
conjunction with the Kenyan national health and sanitation department:
Plastering inside, outside, floor, valandar and labour
Ksh.200,000=$2,083
Ceiling, fiscal board
and labour ksh.150, 000 =$1,562
Septic tank, piping
and labour. Ksh.80, 500=$838
Water tank and
installation ksh.12, 000=$1,250
Glass for windows,
doors and labour ksh.70, 000=$729
Painting and labour
ksh.85, 000=$886
Electricity wiring
and labour Ksh.65, 000=$677
Total
=Ksh.770400 =$8,025.
During this entire project, with
each step I have been a bit taken aback by the cost of each portion. But the
costs are real. They are not inflated.
Nevertheless, I have also been taken
aback (in a positive sense) to see how God has supplied for each step. We have
looked only to God for provision, and he has put in the hearts of his people to
help. This has been heartening to me, because although I write about what is
happening at the orphanage, I make no appeals for funding. It has been the Lord
who has inspired people to give.
Still, even with all of this, these
final expenses seemed difficult since I knew that the rains would soon be
starting in Kenya. In addition, for a period of about three weeks after I had
returned from Kenya, I received no money to send, and Vivian and I had been
tapped out of resources. I don’t know if I would go so far as to say I was
beginning to doubt if it could be done, but I should admit that I was not far from
doubting.
But of course, none of this was
difficult for God. Shortly after this brief financial drought, a friend of mine sent me a
check for $200 and told me that at the beginning of April, he would send
another $800. Another gave me a check for $250, and another $500. There are two
couples who regularly send me $50 per month, another individual who does the same, and one couple who puts $20 in the
offering plate almost every Sunday for the children. Then, I received another
word from someone else that they will soon be giving $1000. It is beginning to
add up.
Then, in the ways of God, he is
bringing about a heretofore unknown and unplanned life change for Vivian and
me. If all goes as it seems it will, very soon (within the next few months),
our son Matthew, his wife Sarah and their two little daughters will be selling
their house in eastern Wisconsin and moving into our home here. Although Vivian
and I still have some things to arrange, we will be moving into a smaller
place.
This move will free up some money
for us, money enough that I feel that I can commit to paying the remaining
portion of the needs for the dormitory, plus pay the $3000 school bill for the
children for this term, plus resupply their food pantry with another healthy
stock of food.
I am troubled no more about
finishing the dormitory. Just yesterday I sent $2500 so that they can begin,
and I am pretty sure we can keep them supplied with funding so that the work
can go on steadily until completion.
We still should have a couple of
weeks before the rains, and we will pray that God will hold them off until the
children have moved safely into their new dormitory.