Isaiah 1:17 Foundation Part 3 of 3

Have you looked up the Isaiah 1:17 verse yet? It reads:

Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

This name for our foundation came about because they would not allow us to use the word ‘kingdom’ in our foundation title when Esi went to register it in Ghana. We had wanted to use Kingdom Cares International since that is the name of our foundation here, but in Ghana they said there were too many foundations already started with the name ‘kingdom’ in them! From there Jake put me in charge of coming up with our new name for the Africa extension of Kingdom Cares International. As I prayed about it, I continued to be drawn back to that verse above….and now I think it perfectly embodies everything that we hope our foundation becomes to the people of Ghana.

So, the first project for the Isaiah 1:17 Foundation is going to be the completion of this foster care home that my last 2 posts have introduced. Originally we did play around with the idea of converting the home Esi and Nana had already begun constructing into the foster care home, but the general layout of the home didn’t seem to be fit for our purposes. Then on our last trip in September we viewed some land where we could start construction of the home from the ground up, but in the end this option fell through too. As Jake and the team headed out on this latest trip to Ghana, my main prayer was that God would really provide some guidance about this foster care home, and where it should be. And, He did. This will be our starting point:

Nana and Esi own this home and three other small identical homes next to it in a village far up in the Eastern region of Ghana. A village named Asikuma. This is the village that Nana is the chief of and the village that Jake and the team visited during their recent trip to Ghana.

Typical housing in Asikuma...

During Jake’s recent time in Ghana, it was decided that 3 of these 4 homes that Nana and Esi already own could be perfectly ‘fixed up’ into a functioning foster care home area. The next trip that Jake is planning to Ghana will consist of a team that will remodel these units. There is also a building behind the 4 homes that could be converted into a small medical clinic. The village has a traveling doctor that visits once every 7 days, and he needs a place to be able to see patients and house his medical supplies. When Jake talked with the elders of the village, the elders spoke of their need for a ‘library’ for their community. They said there is not a single book in their entire village. This has really intrigued me, because there is a school in this village that a few of the children attend. However, what I have gathered from Justice and other’s explanations is that school in Ghana is not what we view as school here. It is mostly instructional up on a chalkboard, and the children are to imitate what they are shown up on the board. In the small village schools, they learn a little math and a little English and are home from school by noon to do chores. All this to say, I can’t imagine sending my children to a school where there are no books. The library will be another great project for our foundation.

What this village does have is clean water.

The village sits right next to the Volta River which is their water source. They have 8 of these little wells throughout their village and make a profit off this water by selling it to neighboring villages who have no clean water.

So, as of right now, we really feel like God has clearly led us to this village of Asikuma for the housing of the foster care home. We have much planning and coordinating to do so that on our next trip to Ghana we can knock out some of the work to be done on these units to make them livable and functional. Of course there will be many updates to come as this all gets underway…

My personal hope is that the Isaiah 1:17 Foundation will also someday be able to also serve as a small adoption agency. I would love for our foundation to be able to identify the orphans in most need, and then place them with loving families. There is a lot that needs to be done to get headed into that direction, but I believe we’ve got a great start. We’ll see where God leads this all. And that is the scoop on the Isaiah 1:17 Foundation!