Host Student Switcheroo

Our college host students that had been home for the summer, Yaw and Ezekiel, headed back to college on August 17th. Ezekiel went back to Gillette College in Wyoming where he and Yaw attended school last year. Yaw started at Dordt College located in Sioux Center, Iowa. (http://www.dordt.edu/) This year we also decided to try and find a host family for Peprah (our high school host student) that was closer to his school, Des Moines Christian. It was a struggle all last year for Jake to get him to school every morning and pick him up every afternoon with that 45 minute drive! It also didn’t seem fair to Peprah that he had to be so far removed from school activities and friends since we live so far from his school. An awesome host family was found for Peprah, the Storts, and he now lives with them in Des Moines and is only 1 mile away from Des Moines Christian high school (the Storts also have 2 younger kids not pictured here)!

Jake and I were so bummed to see Peprah go…..he was a great role model for our kids, a huge help to me around the house, and brought such a joyful-lighthearted-spirit to our family. But, we know that he will enjoy his high school experience so much more now that he can be closer to his school and friends.

So, within one day Yaw, Ezekiel and Peprah were gone, and on that same day we welcomed in our new host students from the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Kiana, 8th grader (pictured left), and Victoria, 9th grader (pictured right), have now taken over our extra bedroom and will be hanging with us for the rest of the school year. The tables have turned folks! We now have more girls in the house than boys!

Here’s a map of the reservations in South Dakota…Rosebud is there at the bottom center….

We signed up to be a host family for this exchange program through our church, fully knowing that the Native American culture and community is something we have very little knowledge about. Since our initial sign up, Jake and I have slowly come to understand small tidbits of what life is like on ‘the rez’ (the reservation). Although we haven’t been to the rez, the descriptions of gang pressure, sexual assault, suicide, and drug and alcohol abuse give me pictures of darkness and hopelessness. There have been a handful of articles written which give quite a glimpse into the depravity of reservation life…..here is the link to those: http://www.argusleader.com/section/gui I found the following statistics written into the story of Neleigh, a little girl Jayla’s age, quite piercing….

- As a Native American girl and a member of what South Dakota’s U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson calls “the most victimized group in America,” Neleigh has a one in three chance of being sexually abused in her lifetime.

- The possibility of her dropping out of school is greater than her getting a diploma.

- She will know people in gangs, and maybe join one herself.

- She’ll have friends who are crammed into inadequate housing with 15 people or more, or who get ready for school with no running water or electricity in their homes.

- On a welfare diet of Ramen noodles and popsicles, she has a 50-50 shot at developing diabetes.

- She is twice as likely to be touched by thoughts or knowledge of suicide as other South Dakota teens.

- And like her mother, who was 15 when she gave birth, Neleigh is growing up in a place where the rate of teen pregnancy is 2 1/2 times the state average.

It appears that often times, the only future hope to escape becoming another statistic is to leave the reservation.

After having our girls with us for a little less than 2 weeks, I can tell you that hosting them is going to be a night and day difference from what we experienced in hosting our Ghanaian host students. But, we are seeing strikingly similar things as to when Sam lived with us. Namely, this is a major spiritual battle. Yaw, Peprah and Ezekiel each came to us with a professed faith in Jesus. They learned and grew in their faith while here, but they originally came to us with a base of a relationship in God. Reading their Bible was not foreign to them, going to church was not foreign to them, and praying was not foreign to them. This is not so with our girls. Everything that has to do with God is foreign to them, and rather uncomfortable. I know that Satan absolutely hates that they are here, and inviting these girls into our home has put us all in the line of fire for the devil’s attacks. But to me, that is the first sign that we are supposed to be doing this. It was the same with our adoption. We know God is in this, because Satan is desperately trying to stop it.

One of the things that I love about hosting students is sitting down a few times a week to do a family bible study. The discussions stay pretty interesting when you get to hear from teenagers on topics of faith and listen to their questions. I love even more that our own kids get to hear insights and thoughts and questions from those not too far off from them in age. During one of our family bible studies last week we went through these verses in Acts:

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ (Acts 17:24-28)

We talked about how these verses showcase God’s sovereignty in that He ordained for these girls to be sitting there in our living room from the beginning of their lives. And the same with Justice. We talked about how Justice was one of the millions of orphans in Africa, and yet, God literally picked him out from all the way across the world, and now he was here with us. From there the girls opened up and asked some great questions:

Why is God the most important spirit? Why should we worship him alone over all the other spirits?

How do you change when you’ve grown up your whole life believing something else?

Oh man, are they talking to the right people or what?!?!?! Jake and I had these same questions that we ourselves had to deal with just a few short years ago. Although I hate that I’ve spent more of my life as an enemy of God than a follower, I also now see how I can use my past to my advantage. I know where these girls are coming from. I know what it feels like to not have the Holy Spirit inside, and to not really give a care at all to your way of life, not to mention your Creator.

We got to talk to the girls about what beliefs they’ve grown up with. I asked them about their beliefs on death. “When the Sioux Indians die their spirits go to the wind caves,” they said.

“What about us, then?” Jake asked. “Where does the white man go when he dies according to your beliefs?”

“You go wherever you believe it is you go.”

I can see my old self in these girls. And although it is tempting for me to carry the burden of wanting so badly for them to know truth, I know that it is not up to me. Yes, we can open the scriptures with them. Yes, we can openly talk to them about our faith. Yes, we can pray for them. But, God is the one who will open their eyes and reveal His truths to them, just as He did for Jake and I not too long ago.

….so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. ~ 1 Peter 2:9 ~

Kingdom Hoops Hosting Program Update

We’ve had some successful student visas go through over the past week for our Kingdom Hoops Ghana players!!!! James Okine was approved for a visa last Tuesday, May 17th and he arrived in Iowa on Sunday!!! Here he is pictured with his host family, the Baugh’s from Pella.
James is SO EXCITED to finally be here! He has been waiting such a long time, but God is GOOD!

Also, Peprah was approved for his student visa yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, he will be back on Iowa soil soon! We are working out flights, thinking he may travel back to the U.S. with us during our August trip to Ghana. We’ve missed his cheerful presence in our family so much!

Mike Davies, coach of Kingdom Hoops Ghana, has a visa appointment scheduled for June 13th. Upon approval he will be attending DMACC in Ankeny and will volunteer coach for Jake’s teams.

Two other potential host students, Riyaz and Cyril will be having their visa interviews coming up on June 14th. They are projected to be hosted by the Vander Weide family once approved and will attend Iowa Christian Academy, and West Des Moines Dowling respectively.

McMartey Lawer has an I-20 for Des Moines Christian and will have a visa appointment scheduled soon. We are in need of a host family for McMartey.

A few other potential host students have been identified off the Kingdom Hoops Ghana team and will begin going through the academic screening process to assess where they will fit best.

If you are interested in finding out more about our Kingdom Hoops hosting program you can email Dawn at dawn@vanderweideadvisors.com

Peprah Update

At the end of December we received the news that the application for Peprah’s student visa was denied. Peprah had entered the United States in August on a visitor’s visa when he traveled here with the rest of his family for their 4 week visit. Since that time we had decided that our family could host Peprah as our next exchange student and tried to switch Peprah’s visitor’s visa to student visa status. To avoid the cost of flying him back home for Embassy appointments we had tried to do the switch on the United States side with the help of an immigrations laywer. However, the U.S. Embassy in Ghana did not allow this for Peprah and so he will have to start the process over in Ghana with face-to-face interviews at the Embassy. To make things more interesting SEVP (International Student and Exchange Visitor Program) is requiring that we go through a termination process of the first I-20 that was issued (an I-20 is the form issued by the school to start the student visa application – in Peprah’s case it was Des Moines Christian) before he can be issued a new I-20. So complicated. The down side is that none of this will be quick. The termination process itself takes some time, and we are very new at this so not exactly sure what all is involved.

Last week we had said goodbye to Sam on Monday evening. And then on Tuesday afternoon we said goodbye to Peprah as he boarded a flight back home to Ghana. With a visitor’s visa you can only be in the United States for 6 months. So, Peprah’s time on that visa would be up at the end of January which was why he had to return home for now. So, in a matter of two days our house had a completely different feel with the absence of Sam and Peprah. A friend texted me and said “no matter how big your family is, when even just one person is gone, you feel the emptiness”. Couldn’t have said it better myself. Last week the general routine of our days was so different. Everything felt strange and I felt so out of it. It’s going to take me some time to get used to 3 kids instead of 5.

As strange as everything felt last week I wasn’t fooled for a minute that this was some sort of coincidence that all this happened at once. I believe that one of the main ways God showcases His sovereignty is in the timing of events. I sure want to know what is coming next, but if I’ve learned anything over the past year it is that I can’t rush forward trying to stretch my glance to see what is ahead. I need to let God set the pace. All I can do is say “I trust you, Jesus. I give You my open mind and my open heart to infuse me with Your desires of what You want to do with my life. I am Yours. Lead me one step at a time as I learn to depend on You more and more.”

Big Sam Update

Well, you know that Yaw & Ezekiel have left for college, but I haven’t updated you on Big Sam! Here is Sam with his host family….The Gerlach’s:

Sam started school at Des Moines Christian as a sophomore this August. It’s funny because when we first started getting Sam’s student visa Jake and I had started calling him Big Sam so that we wouldn’t get him confused with Samuel, who we are adopting, and Sam who is living with us now. Well, Peprah tells us that at school this name has stuck and everyone calls him Big Sam! He even changed his profile name on his facebook to say Big Sam! Love it! I had Big Sam’s host mom send me some pictures of their summer fun, because they did so many cool things to introduce Big Sam to the mid-west life! I think you will agree once you see these….

Family vacation in Branson, MO......

Welcome to America right?!?!?! So fun! Big Sam traveled with us and the Kingdom Hoops teams this summer as well….

Here is Sam with his two American brothers….Nathan and Nick…..

Nathan is going into 8th grade at Des Moines Christian and Nick is in 10th, so he and Sam are in the same class.

Tami (Sam’s host mom) is a WONDERFUL cook, I can attest to that, but she has also wanted to learn how to cook some African dishes. And Sam knows how to cook some dishes off-hand, so he has been able to make a few things of his own!

Sam has also recently started the Kosama 10-week body training course to get prepared for the upcoming school basketball season. I believe DMC actually has a sort of partnership with one of the Kosama training facilities in Des Moines in which their athletes can participate. One thing that Jake has learned about basketball athletes in Ghana is that they are extremely athletic, but in the beginning they need a lot of skill development help. In fact, we found out a few months ago that Sam picked up a basketball for the first time only 2 years ago!!!!!! Prior to coming here, he has not had any skill instruction – everything he knows was self-taught on the Ghana courts. Due to the Iowa High School Basketball rules, Sam will have to sit out of sports for 90 school days, just as Yaw did. But, he will still be able to practice with the teams….he just won’t be able to play in games until January.

Other than that, Sam has been going to the DMC football games on Friday nights, attending fall skill development sessions at the Kingdom Hoops facility, and keeping up with school work. Per Sam’s host-dad, he has adapted very well to American food. So far he’s eating everything except broccoli, sausage, twice baked potatoes, and spicy chicken. He also apparently has a sweet tooth….loves chocolate malts and chocolate brownies. Don’t we all!

Prince's Student Visa Was Denied

From Esi, who was aiding in the Embassy appointment on Tuesday:

Hi Jake,

This is just to inform you that Prince was refused his visa for the second time today. I met Kofi, Prince and his mother at the Embassy today and I wanted to join for the interview but I was refused to enter. I guess his mother could not express herself. Her level of illiteracy and lack of knowledge is too high. We are all very sad today for Prince's calamity but we are still trusting God for a breakthrough one day.

Prince's story is not over. I believe there was a reason we met him that day at the courts.

I believe that Prince's story has tugged on Jake's heart for a reason.

And, I believe God has an awesome purpose for Prince's life.

Prince Update

So, the last I posted Prince had two appointments scheduled at the Embassy to complete the appeal of his student visa. At the first appointment we found out that Prince actually needed to schedule the second appointment online since his appointment was for an appeal. Well, when Kofi went to schedule the appointment online all of the appointments had already been booked through October! This was not going to work because on Prince’s I-20 (the form issued by DM Christian to begin the visa process) the date that he is supposed to be to the United States by is September 24th. If we would book his visa appointment in October, it would require starting completely over with all of the prior steps, including issuing a new I-20 form, redoing the previous appointments, etc. Thankfully, when this was all found out, Nana & Esi were still here visiting, and so we talked with them about it. And that’s when Esi said this, “You know, people do all sorts of crazy things in Ghana to make money. There is actually a man who goes online, and books up all the online Embassy appointments about 2 months out. Then he sells them. So, if you want to get Prince’s appointment sooner, all we have to do is buy the appointment.” Alright then.

Well, while Esi was here, Prince’s story had so touched her heart. She had met the Vanderweide’s, saw Prince’s room all set and ready for him, and talked with the Vanderweide’s about the awesome opportunities that they can provide for him. And Esi had said, “Anything we can do to help Prince, we will do it.” So, the week that Esi got back to Ghana, she quickly got in touch with this guy who books and sells the online appointments, and got Prince’s appointment scheduled. And so, his appointment is tomorrow. Which means, that we need to be lifting up Prince and his situation to our Almighty God today and tonight. Please pray for Prince’s mom who will be interviewed tomorrow. Please pray that God would give her the words to speak with clarity about their situation, and the opportunities available to Prince here in the U.S. Please pray that she would not be overcome with nerves, or feel inadequate to speak on behalf of her son. Please pray for the consular who will be doing the interviewing, that he or she would have compassion and kindness towards Prince and his mom. Please pray that God would just orchestrate this whole interview process, that His presence would be there at the Embassy in Ghana tomorrow, and that His justice would prevail. Pray for the Vanderweide’s – that they would be still, feel God’s peace tomorrow, and be anxious about nothing, but instead cast their worries on the Lord.

Now, back to that September 24th date. That’s the date that Prince needs to be to the U.S. by. So, if his student visa is granted, that means that Jake will likely be the one heading to Ghana for a very short trip to chaperone Prince home.

hmmmmm. Hmmmmmm. HMMMMMMM!

You know what I’m thinking don’t you?

I’m thinking, of a miracle. A miracle that I can so easily envision. There is a picture in my mind of Jake escorting Prince AND Samuel down those stairs at the Des Moines International airport. It’s a long shot. We haven’t heard from the Embassy regarding Samuel’s case in months. But even so, I wait expectantly for God to move this mountain. I am waiting for the One who is Mighty to Save. For the One who defends the cause of the weak and the fatherless. For the One who maintains the rights of the poor and oppressed. I am expecting great things from a Great, All-powerful, All-knowing, Faithful and Mighty Deliverer.

Over the next few days I am going to be praying that NOW is the time that the two boys left in this picture, get to join the rest of us in America!!!!!!

Pray for Prince

I mentioned a few posts ago that Prince’s visa denial has been appealed….YAY!!!! Over the past few months the Vander Weide family (which will be Prince’s host family once he gets here) has been working directly with Kofi to process the appeal. Tomorrow morning Prince and his mother have their Embassy appointment to move forward with the appeal. They also have another Embassy appointment next Wednesday, August 25th. Please join us in praying that Prince’s student visa is approved this time. Ghana time is 5 hours ahead of us, so please pray today and tonight.

I love the Vander Weide family. They have opened up their hearts to this boy that they haven’t even ever met. I pray that there are more Christians out there like them, that take Jesus at His word, and stand up and take action for the least of these….

When historians look back on us in one hundred years, what will they write about our nation of 340,000 Christian churches in the United States (by the way - that makes 155 million regular churchgoers)? What will they say of the Church’s response to the great challenges of our time – AIDS, poverty, hunger, terrorism, war? Will they say that these authentic Christians rose up courageously and responded to the tide of human suffering, that they rushed to the front lines to comfort the afflicted and to douse the flames of hatred? Will they write of an unprecedented outpouring of generosity to meet the urgent needs of the world’s poor? Will they speak of the moral leadership and compelling vision of our leaders? Will they write that this, the beginning of the twenty-first century, was the Church’s finest hour?

Or will they look back and see a Church too comfortable, insulated from the pain of the rest of the world, empty of compassion, and devoid of deeds? Will they write about a people who stood by and watched while a hundred million died of AIDS and fifty million children were orphaned, of Christians who lived in luxury and self-indulgence while millions died for lack of food and water? Will schoolchildren read in disgust about a Church that had the wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals, and clinics?

The gospel of Mark tells of a remarkable encounter between Jesus and a leper. In this brief story we get a glimpse of how God would have us approach the sick, the broken, and the downtrodden in our world. The leper was sick, and he was poor. He lived his life isolated from those who were whole. This man was marginalized, ostracized, devalued. Healthy people believed that those with leprosy were sinners, and their afflictions were a judgment from God. Yet, this man’s suffering and desperation compelled him. He came to Jesus “and begged him on his knees, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.’” (Mark 1:40) The disciples were undoubtedly horrified as this unclean man approached their master. Any other rabbi would have been unwilling to become ceremonially defiled by any contact with a leper. But Jesus did the unthinkable to the untouchable: “Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man” (Mark 1:41)

Did you catch that? Jesus’ heart was not filled with disgust, with fear, with hatred, with judgment, with indifference, with anger, or with condescension. Jesus was filled with compassion. “I am willing,” He answered the man. “Be clean!” (Mark 1:41) And the once-leprous man was cured.

If you are willing….This same petition hangs before every follower of Christ today.

Are we willing?

How will the Church of Jesus Christ respond to the “lepers” in our midst – the poor, the sick, and the oppressed, in our country and in our world? Are we, like Christ, willing to respond with compassion and urgency to those who suffer? Are we willing? Do we have the kind of faith, the moral courage, the depth of love, and the strength of will to rise up off of our padded pews to demonstrate the good news to the world?

(EXCERPT FROM THE HOLE IN OUR GOSPEL BY RICHARD STEARNS)

Big Sam, Prince & Ezekiel Update

Good News #1: Big Sam’s student visa was approved last week, and he will be flying to the U.S. along with us on our return flight home from picking up our Samuel! Yeahhhhh!

Good News #2: We were also able to coordinate Ezekiel’s travel with us on our return flight, so he will also be flying to the U.S. with us! Yeahhhhh!

The Bad News: Prince’s student visa was denied on account of the following (excerpt from email from Kofi):

I believe the consular was not satisfied with the answers that Prince’s mother provided to the questions. Due to illiteracy Prince’s mother could not express herself convincingly. An interpreter was later invited so that she could speak her local language but yet could not convince the consular. The consular then advised that we sponsor Prince in a good school in Ghana and re-apply when he attains the age of 16 when he can speak for himself.

This sounds unfair, but this is actually a legitimate reason for student visa denial as outlined below from the following source http://www.abroadeducation.com.np/visa-preparation/reasons-student-visa-denial.html

Impression to the Consular
Even though this applies to nations which organize student visa interviews, this is one of the major reasons for visa denial. To obtain a student visa you need to impress the consular - your words must be impressing and understandable. You need to prove to the consular that you are a genuine student and your reasons for studying abroad makes sense. Most of the time, the mood of the consular also plays a role in the student visa approval. When their mood isn't good they'll not award the student visa, however this is not the general reason for student visa denial.

At any rate, this was pretty devastating. Especially since I know just how the host family is feeling….how they’ve developed a spot in their heart for Prince and are ready in every way to invite him into their family. I just feel awful. If there is any good news in this, it is that it's legally possible to file a motion to reopen/reconsider and re-apply for the visa now and not have to wait until he is 16. However, before we do that we need to clearly be able to present the situation/facts/educational opportunity/host family situation to the consular through the communication of Prince’s mom. Kofi said that the consular was satisfied with all of his (Kofi’s) answers to the questions, but of course the consular was more interested in how Prince’s mother answered since she was speaking on her son’s behalf. I will keep you updated on how things progress with the re-application.

Since we are talking about travel arrangements, I also wanted to share about the awesome travel agency that we used to book our tickets. It is called Golden Rule Travel http://www.goldenruletravel.com/ They specialize in international adoption, humanitarian, and missionary travel. Here is an excerpt off the website detailing their expertise with adoption travel arrangements:

We have specialists at Golden Rule Travel who understand adoption travel. They have essential knowledge of the country to which you are traveling. They have special agreements with a number of airlines which offer favorable terms and conditions at great fares. As all adoptive parents know, the ability to change dates of travel without penalty is priceless when adopting. Perhaps most importantly, they understand how the road to finally bringing home the precious children is fraught with changes, dashed hopes and mixed emotions. Let Golden Rule Travel remove at least one of the uncertainties and stresses of adoption travel and rest assured that they will find the best possible option when the time comes to bring the new family member home.

There is no way we could have figured out how to coordinate all these tickets without their help!

Big Sam, Prince & Ezekiel

Do you remember me telling you about these two kids that we met in Ghana?

Big Sam.....

And, Prince.....

Well, I haven’t done a very good job on keeping you updated about them. And, in fact there hasn’t been too much to share, until now that is. If you remember back a few months ago, I had mentioned that Big Sam was going to be the next student from Ghana to take part in Jake’s hosting program. In fact, I had noted that he was supposed to be getting his student visa shortly after we returned home from our Ghana trip, and that he would be arriving to Iowa by the end of January. The coach that Jake has been working with in Ghana, Mark, was to be the one helping Big Sam get his passport and visa and get through the Embassy appointments. Well, it turns out that Mark is a great coach and a great help with coordinating all of the things we need help with regarding Project:Ghana, but his skills in working with the Ghana Embassy were a little rusty. So, after a few months went by, we decided to see if Kofi, our adoption rep would be able to help with the hosting program on the Ghana side….helping the students obtain their student visas, and getting through all of the steps required by the Embassy. It’s a lot of work, a lot of trips to the Embassy for various appointments, and it takes a lot of knowledge and expertise to know how to do it all. Kofi was the perfect man for the job, and he jumped on board and is now helping us with the hosting program!

For the past month or so, Kofi has been picking up Big Sam and Prince and taking them to their various appointments at the Embassy to complete the steps leading up to getting their student visa. A few weeks ago they received their passports, and now, they have their last appointment next Wednesday, May 19th, which is the approval for their student visas, God-willing.

Now, meanwhile, you also know that Kofi has been working with our adoption agency to coordinate the adoption of our Samuel (so many Samuels!). Well, it just so happened that Kofi had an Embassy appointment coordinated for all 3 of these boys last week on the same day! Kofi sent us a picture of these 3 together. Even though this picture is not clear at all, it’s more just the idea of having these 3 together that is so cool! I cannot stop smiling when I think about it! To me this picture says GOD IS WORKING!!!!!

The most exciting part of all of this is that we are trying very hard to coordinate it so that when we travel to bring our Samuel home, that Big Sam and Prince will also be visa ready, and can travel to the United States with us. I mean seriously, if that happens, we are going to be rockin’ down the house at the Des Moines Airport when we get in!

I previously had shared that we found a host family for Big Sam – he will stay with the Gerlach Family in Des Moines and attend Des Moines Christian High School as a junior. When we got back from Ghana, Jake already had a family in mind to host Prince, and when he shared Prince’s story with this family, they said yes without hesitation. Prince will be staying with the Vander Weide’s who also live in Des Moines and Prince will attend Des Moines Christian and will be in 7th grade.

Now, there is also one more youth basketball player that we met while we were in Ghana that will be taking part in Jake’s exchange program, but he will not stay with a host family as he is ready to head straight into college. This player’s name is Ezekiel….a funny story is that he was actually on the team playing against the Kingdom Hoops Ghana team on the game that was scheduled while we were there! Jake immediately noticed his talent and gave him his contact info. Ezekiel and his family were able to start working on his student visa shortly after our Ghana trip. They sent film of him playing in some games, and Jake was able to send it off to colleges that would be a good fit for Ezekiel. In early February Indian Hills Community College (a junior college in Ottumwa) offered Ezekiel a full ride scholarship and that is where he will be attending school! Ezekiel’s student visa was approved on Monday of this week and he is supposed to be picking it up at his last appointment with the Embassy today. So, he will be all set to book his flight to the U.S., and right now we are also waiting to see if we can coordinate his travel to Iowa with us on our trip back.

When I think of these kids I can’t help but be so excited for each of them individually, and how much their lives are going to change. Although the world may view situations in Africa as hopeless or helpless or ‘too far gone’, I know that God doesn’t see it that way at all. He sees individuals when the world sees too many. He sees personal situations when the world just throws them all into one. HE gives hope to the hopeless. HE defends the oppressed. HE is near to all who call on Him in truth. HE hears the cry of those who fear Him and saves them. HE determines the steps of every man from every nation. And HE will put a new song in the hearts of these kids. HE has a plan for them.

Psalm 40:1-3
I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.