Tuesday, January 19, 2021

THE NEXT PHASE FOR THE ORPHANAGE - PLEASE PRAY


Here is an email that I recently sent to Pastor Joel and the leadership of the church and orphanage in Kisii. Please read it and pray along with us about what we are considering.

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Dear Pastor Joel and leadership,

Greetings to you in the name of Jesus. I have some significant things to write about and for your consideration and prayer. These are good things, and we praise God for what he is doing and will do.

As we look ahead for the future years of the orphanage, we know that it is always in God’s hands and that we can only do what is given for today. However, I know that we agree when we say that we need to do what we can to prepare for future years. We need to do what we can now, so that the work of the orphanage can continue into the future years.

With that in mind, perhaps the time has come when we begin to think and to pray about beginning the next phase of the work in Kisii.

You know from my last visit that I think that beginning a hydroponic garden would be beneficial, since it would help in providing vegetables for the orphanage, besides being a source of learning for the children. They could be the ones in charge of caring for it and could learn some important ways of securing food with little space to grow.

I know that there are problems with beginning this, the source of water being one of the major ones. As we were talking when I was there, having a tank that could be filled with a water truck, and then using the water at least three times. It could be used for washing, then for the garden, and lastly used for flushing the toilets. If we have to pay for the water, we need to get all of the use out of it that we can.

Of course it would be easier to have a borehole, and that would be good if the Lord supplied. However, the disadvantage of having easy water access is that we tend to become wasteful. I think that beginning with a tank may even be preferable, since it would teach us all about wise water usage.

Another difficulty with a garden of this type is that it would require someone who had good knowledge on how to set it up. It also requires many different types of piping and some pumps, as well as other things. It would be a huge undertaking to do it in a big scale, but I think it would be good to begin with a small garden, and in that way we all could learn how to make it work on a small scale before trying anything extensive.

But a garden is only one idea and one of the needs of the orphanage. We had also talked about beginning a school, which of course would require an additional building. I do not know if we have the space for that, but you can advise. I think when we built the dormitory, it was built strong enough to provide for a second level, if that need should ever arise. It is a big expense, but it is something that we should talk about.

The chief mentioned a medical clinic. This is something that could benefit the entire village but seems to me like it would be too large of an undertaking for the present. However, you know the situation, including who we could get to staff it.

There are so many things to consider, and that is why I would like the leadership to pray and discuss this at length. We do not know what God will do in the future, but perhaps now is the time to begin to move ahead in faith.

It is very important that whatever we end up beginning, it is done in a manner that is sustainable. In my experiences in several countries of the world, I have seen too many projects that have been begun by well-meaning people but which had, after a few years, been simply abandoned or brought to ruin. We cannot allow this to happen. We are handling the Lord’s money given to us by people of good faith. We are stewards, and it is required of a steward that they be found trustworthy (1 Corinthians 4:2).

It is a lot to consider in this email, but kindly read through it slowly as a group and pray about each possibility. Perhaps there are others that I have not mentioned.

No doubt you are wondering how much money do we have to work with? The answer is “I don’t know.” It is not a huge amount and would not be enough to do any of these projects completely, but as we did with the dormitory, we first bought the bricks. That is all that we had to begin. The bricks sat in a pile for some months until we had enough money to begin construction. Then at each step, as God supplied the funds, He allowed us to complete a very nice dormitory.

It will be the same with this.

God’s blessings to you as you begin to consider these things with prayer and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Love and Prayers, Pastor Don


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