Giving and Beyond

Like I promised from my last entry, I want to tell you of the story of Winndey... a patient that I admitted about a month ago here on the Anastasis...

Winndey was found by one of the crew actually at the Bong Mines train station that I have now been to since going there last week. I am unsure of exactly how they met, but I'm sure while waiting, because there are many people that linger around us, they may have started a conversation. The crew member found out about a problem he had and told him to come to the ship to see if we could help him.

So one day, as Kate and I were going through the admissions for that afternoon, Winndey's name struck me and stood out, and I couldn't wait to see this boy because he had a very unusual problem. One that may not be able to be fixed, so when it came time for his admission...
This is what we found out.
Winndey is an orphan, 15 years old... mother died about 4 years ago, father - well he was abandoned by his father. His mother told him that his father was an American soilder, so it's more than likely that this soilder doesn't even know he has a child here in Liberia. So growing up, Winndey did go to school as he could read and write and actually spoke very good english. But since his mother died about 4 years ago, he has been forced to live on the streets, and do whatever means he can to survive. This means begging, stealing and other nasty things to try and find his next meal. No more school for Winndey. He has a friend that lets him stay with him sometimes, but he mostly lives on the streets.
He said that after his mother died that his friends made him drink alcohol and take drugs to try and get his mind off everything... well he didn't like it and soon after found himself away from his friends... but not soon enough as there was an incident of Winndey falling down a well and causing an accident leaving him incontinent.... somehow... not sure how...
So with this unusual problem, it came with horrible consequences of incontinence... he leaks urine all the time. So imagine the shame of not being able to control your bladder continenece in adddition to living on the street and how he must feel. Well, he maybe sought out our crew because of the reputation of helping people.
So while Winndey was here on the ward, you could see his mood brighten and he smiled more. He is a very gentle, soft spoken boy, light skinned and the coolest afro!! But his gentle spirit and politeness got to me as he would come to the admissions room to say hi.

But as the plastic surgeon was assessing Winndey for possible surgery, he found that it would be too complicated or not possible for what he thought could happen, so we were unable to perform the surgery that he consented for. But we gave him another appointement card to come back for when another doctor would be coming in a few months so this doctor could have a look at what the problem was.
As he was leaving that day, he came into the admissions room and sat down wanting to ask me if I would be here in a few months when he would be returning. I said no, as it would be after I left. The disappointed look on his face will stay with me forever, but then he proceeded to say, "thank you for everything, may God bless you." I almost broke down in tears right there.

It was also becoming apparent that we could not just leave this boy on his own. We could not just let him walk off this ship to the life that he was living before. So, through a series of crew members that have different connections, we were able to hook up Winndey with an orphange who would accept him... complete with his problems and everything! The woman who ran the orphanage was aware of his problem and agreed to take him, also informing all the boys at the orphanage that they were not to poke fun at him.

I thought that this story would end there when Kate told me how Winndey would be able to live in an orphanage and get fed regularly and have a bed to sleep in. But when I found out how Winndey had also touched Kate's heart as well, we both felt like we needed to help somehow.
The crew member who found this orphanage informed us that she had been involved in helping out this orphanage by taking groups on the weekend to see the children and play with them, tell them stories etc. She saw Winndey and told us how he seemed to be fitting in as he was beginning to lead some activities and look after some of the younger children there. It was heartwarming to me... but still felt like there has to be something else.
Apparently, with many orphanages, the little ones get to go to school for free at the orphange, but as they get older, into jr. high and high school ages, they would have to go out to a public school to continue their education. Of course though, this never happens because along with the desire to go to school comes school fees and uniforms and books. So the children do not go because they have no money to go to school.

Story number 2

Remember way back when, when I first arrived to Africa, I had a strange and exciting layover in Freetown, Sierra Leone... well the friend I met there Matt, who is in a picture in that entry, plus in one of the pictures with all the staff at their house... well I would also like to tell you a bit of what he does with his organization Orphan Relief and Rescue with Sharing International. It is a new organisation, just underway as 4 ex-mercy shiper's have come together to go into orphanages and fix them up to a standard where they would be able to apply for aid from the Liberian Government. In order to get money they must meet some standards, but most of them do NOT meet the standards and everyday is a struggle to get food and supplies to keep the children healthy.

So what Matt did while on the ship was fix up an orphanage enough to the standard by building dorms for girls and boys, mosquito nets, showers, fences, proper cooking facilities, etc.... to a point where the government saw what they had done and invited them to do that to all the orphanages! Thus, Orphan Relief and Rescue was born!

So I have been to Fatu's orphanage... most of the pictures included here are from her orphanage. She started out just collecting children during the war that she found wandering in the forests and streets that had no home... now she has 84 children at her orphanage and has been blessed to receive aid from the government from the improvements that Matt and his team made. I have seen the before and after of this orphanage and it is AMAZING!! The best part of what they do isn't that they fix up the orphanages but that they holistically take care of that orphanage by giving supplies and providing health care as one of the team members, Maryelle, is a nurse. I have had the priviledge of going out with the team a couple of times to do assessments on the kids and then handing out pills and giving medical care and advice. So they are now waiting for funding from their organization to continue their work with other orphanages
After most of the work is done, they continue to monitor the progress of the children and provide whatever assistance that they can possibly give with whatever means they can... it's so cool how we have been able to meet in Freetown, and now being able to help them out with my nursing skills and go surfing together on the weekends!

I tell you all this about Orphan Relief and Rescue and Winndey's story not to discourage you of the many many people similar to Winndey that I have met, or the many others that live in silence out in the streets of Liberia. I do not tell you this to embarass or exploit Winndey's name because of his problem. Or the many who remain without family to care for them after the war.
But I do write this because of the leading that I have felt in my heart to help. I feel it's a bit of God's humor in how I met Matt from the Orphan Relief and Rescue team.

I dont' know how else to say it but say a big thankyou to all of you who have given of your resources to help me be here in Liberia to do what I have been able to do. God has been so faithful because not only have all my costs been covered for my time in Africa, but I have extra!
This extra is not mine to use lightly or for my own pleasure and I feel that it is my responsiblity to use it for the glory of God in whatever way He has chosen. So through much prayer and thought, I have decided to use some of this extra money to help support these children in the orphanage that cannot go to school because they have no money. Their future gets snuffed out only because the funds for the school fees have been denied to them because they have no parents. And the orphanages themselves who are so short on money to provide the most basic needs. For example, when I visited Fatu's orphanage, half of the children ate with their hands as they didn't have enough spoons... so I took 20 dollars and bought a whole bag full of spoons. Who'd a thought something so little would mean so much but they appreciated it so much.
I would like to give them a bit more money... straight into the hands of Matt and his team because they are with the children and the orphanage everyday and are able use the money right now for something very needed.
I realize that I cannot help them all, but together we can help some children have a better chance in this world because they have an education. There is a school that is close to the orphanage that the children can walk to. It is also a Baptist Missionary school that provides very good quality education that these children actually WANT to go to. They have requested to go to that school because of it's reputation.

So with all this, I am telling you that I am spending some of the extra money straight into the hands of these orphanages and school projects so that you may be encouraged. Encouraged that your prayers and donations that I have been blessed with can in turn, will bless someone else. I feel that this is the best way because you will KNOW in your heart because I KNOW IN MY HEART that this money is going straight to the faces that you see on this screen reading this entry. It is them that will benefit and it is these children that just may get a better chance in this world... all because you felt a calling to give. I have felt their touch, and hugged them and let them braid my hair over and over... and watched them wave with excited faces when we come and go out of the driveway. I hope that you can feel that love too. So I hope I have your permission, but I hope that these stories will encourage your hearts that when you give, you never know the capacity or limits of your heart's givings. So thank you. I thank you that I can even be a part of this whole plan that seems so much greater than you or I can imagine.
Again, thank you.

If you would like to check out more of Orphan Relief and Rescue.... check them out at www.orphanreliefandrescue.org

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