For a few years Nana and Esi had wanted to start their own foundation in Ghana to give aid to orphans and the underprivileged. Eventually they did begin their foundation calling it The Siblings Foundation (this was a few years before we met them), and were approved for it in Ghana. In the profile for their foundation it is easy to see the heart of their hope for their efforts – Looking at the sharp disparity in social situations in our country where some people have so much and others virtually nothing, gave reason for us to help the less privileged who through no fault of theirs find themselves in such unfortunate social circumstances. We wish to inspire a world of peace and brotherliness where everyone is their brother’s keeper. Eventually though, Nana & Esi’s professions and busy lives got in the way, and they weren’t able to keep up with all that they had intended to accomplish with their foundation. But the desire to do something more for their country had been born in their heart.
Fast forward to that day in this conference room as we sat around the table and talked through the need for a safe, loving, environment for children in-process for adoption to be housed in Ghana…..and all of a sudden I could see the wheels turning in Esi’s head. And she began sharing what she was thinking….they had a home that they had begun construction on which was supposed to be where their family would move into within the next year. But she noted that over the course of a few months it could easily be converted into a foster care home, and she and Nana had many people who could be hired for staff members….a housemother, cook, nurse, etc. On that day, our hearts all meshed together, and we decided that Nana & Esi, and Jake & I would begin the plans to open a foster care home together in Ghana. It just made sense that we should combine our efforts, because we each brought different resources, yet similar hearts to the table. It was clear that through Justice’s circumstances, God had really brought the four of us together and we needed take the cue and follow His lead.
Starting an orphanage/foster care home had always been in our vision of what Jake and I had wanted to do in Ghana. You can read about our initial vision by clicking here. A few years ago we had originally thought that the foster care home/orphanage would likely be alongside the basketball facility we had also hoped to construct and later on purchased the land for. But for now the basketball component in Ghana seems to be taking off on its own as the result of figuring out the international hosting process. Eventually it would be wonderful to have our own facility in Ghana to train the athletes, but we believe God will provide the building funds and guidance for that when the time is right now that we have the land. For now, God is giving clear direction for setting up the foster care home first and I will share the rest of those details tomorrow.
I should also note that the remaining children in Justice’s old foster care home have finished out their time there…..a few of the children’s adoptions were finished up this fall and they are now home with their forever families. A few of the other children were returned to their home villages by the authority of the village chief who decided against having the children in his village adopted. For now Kofi has found a new foster mother in the town in which he is a chief of outside of Accra, and he is also in the works of building a new orphanage by his own efforts.
More tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment