Carine, a little girl in Haiti.

Carine is almost 5 years old.  She was found sitting in the rubble of the 2010 earthquake in  Haiti. No relatives were ever found for her.  Someone brought her to a children's home where her needs could be met.  Carine sleeps in a clean, safe place. She  goes to school. She hears of the Savior who loves her. But the children's home, like most of Haiti, struggles in deep poverty. The children have very little above the necessities and sometimes, they do not even have that. Carine has very little clothing.  There is not much food.Water  for drinking or bathing must be carried in.  In  February, 2014, I visited  Carine's children's home with my daughter in law. The home is coming into Allow The Children's program.  Life will be getting better for Carine and the other children soon.  This is what we do-- well, it is one of the things we do.  I am excited to see it unfold once again. We need  sponsors for 21 children-- people who have been blessed of God enough so that they can bless others in return.  As the support comes in, we can provide meat and fruit for meals.  We can buy shoes and medicines, school supplies and maybe even a few toys.  We pray that the children will grow up to become strong, committed believers, ready to serve the Lord and to be witnesses among their own people.

The school ministry program in Ghana

On the west coast of the continent of Africa, we found a  beautiful and gracious people,  a faithful pastor and a ministry of children in  need.  A local church provides basic education for children of any faith in their community.   These are children whose families cannot pay the fees for the government schools.   Many of the families cannot buy a  school uniform or basic consumable supplies.   Most of the children would go without lunch, if the school did not provide that as well.     AND—this project is bringing the gospel to many children who would not otherwise come into the church.  Now  Allow  The  Children has the privilege of joining this project.   We hope to get children sponsored and run projects for school uniforms and supplies.   We want to  help them to provide good nutritious lunches.  They need equipment for the kitchen, charts and maps for the classrooms. Pens and pencils and paper-- so many things. 

Christmas Trip to Nepal

 Our Christmas Trip to Nepal  has become a regularly scheduled event on the calendar now. I guess  we will do it every year.  It is the time that  we begin work on the annual updates on each child in the program-- both for our own records and  for the sponsors.  Beginning with Nepal, we travel to each country, taking the new photos, filling in the reports, distributing and receiving letters between the children and the sponsors. It is very time consuming and must be done very carefully.  The names of the children are often very similar and if they are new to the program,  I might not recognize them by face.  So, step one is to identify the correct child.   Step  2 is to get the proper identification on each item-- photo, report, letter. Step 3 is to make sure we have all the materials as we leave each place. The,  there are so many more little steps as we  update our data space, scan reports into folders, label and file the photos.  I am so grateful  for the  people who help with all of these necessary things.  I went to Nepal with a team of 4 women ( including me). We  packed    Christmas bags for more than 500 children.  We traveled to or from another area  in Nepal almost every day. When we returned to our guest house each night, it was time to pack bags for the next day.  But the reward was seeing the children get their bags.  These were poor children who would receive very little, if anything for  Christmas. Their bags contained  a Bible and song book, a Christmas craft, toothbrush,  hand knitted hat, letters from their sponsor,  T-shirt,  school supplies, candy.  They also heard the Christmas story from  Scripture. If the child was new to our program, s/he  might have been hearing the story for the very first time. What a privilege to be the one to share it with them.

Oct 13 Medical Ministry in Nepal

It is not too hard for  folks to imagine what we do in  the medical ministry.  We set up  tables. We sort out our medicines.  We organize the people to see the doctor in turn. What is difficult to describe is how we manage to get up a mountain  to reach a people who have little access to any kind of health care.  We were a group of 18 people and a mountain of  supplies  in  three trucks. I was the only  American in  what was most definitely a Nepali  project. Two of our trucks were four wheel drive, but still   became stuck in some of the deep  muddy ditches. The other truck was a  two wheel  drive and got stuck in  EVERY ditch. There is no way to get a tow truck up in this mountain. We had to rely on  man power to  keep progress moving. Fortunately, we had  a good group of young men with us.  I slept in a store (storage) building  literally hanging on the side of a mountain with six other women with me.The men slept in the church, which was closer to the toilets. Twas necessary to scale a rock face to get first to the store building and then on  up to the church where we held the clinics. During the day,  people sat on the rock as they waited their  turn to see the doctor. During the night,  I climbed the rock several times- in the dark--one handed  (mobile phone shedding light in the other hand)  and with full bladder  to reach the church and then the walk way to the toilets.  I love adventure.


During the day, we showed the Jesus video in   Nepali,  from the back of one of the trucks. The people gathered and watched it over and over. At night, the big screen was brought out and the  Jesus Video was the  social event of the year for a village without much ( any)  technology.  Now we are praying that the words they heard and the truths they learned will  take root in their hearts, that they will be drawn to the Lord and to the little church in their village.

We  have 6  children in  our sponsorship program  from  this village. The children  must walk for hours to get from their homes to the place to meet me for the annual  Allow gathering. I always feel badly about it, but there is nothing that can be done.  I need to meet every child at least once a year-- for accountability.  If they come, then  I know that they are getting their money. If  they are still in school, then we know how the great part of their sponsorship money is being spent. I need to get a new photo and progress report each year and we also give them each a  Christmas  bag. This year,  the bag will contain a new  T-shirt,  Bible, warm  hat,  school  notebooks, a  Christmas craft,  toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, candy   and hopefully   a letter from their sponsor.

Bangla Adventure

Bangladesh is always an adventure.   I needed to visit two children's homes and one  village where we have a sponsorship program and  a meeting with  children of pastors/evangelists from  many areas of the country who  are under our sponsorship.  Children in  the photo are in the tribal "hill tracts"  area.   It is  high  in altitude,  far to travel,  far from  city and civilization.  No  American would  question the  term if  I called it  "remote mountains,"   but  Asians call them "hills"   if there are no snow caps.  Each of these children  is from a difficult life situation  with  extreme poverty as only one aspect of it.  It is doubtful  that  any one of them even  heard   the name of   Jesus before coming to the home.  Missionary work of any kind is strictly prohibited. There is a difficult permit process even for me to make the visit. But we can  support and  encourage  Bangla believers as  they work with these people.  One little children's home is there, with  30+  children learning of the Savior and preparing to  return as witnesses to their own people.  The ministry of a children's home is so much more than just feeding  and caring for the orphan. I  must drive for hours over  some of the roughest road conditions that there is to reach this home. Then walking for a while, crossing the Sangu  River...  things were dry going in, but the rain poured on the way out. We must pass several check points before a certain time on the way out, so it was not possible to wait for the rain to stop.   The  slick mud underfoot was just as  difficult as what was coming from the sky.   There was no choice but to sit and slide down the mud embankment,  which was at least  30 feet.   When  I stepped into the river to  rinse off the  mud, the current was  stronger than it looked.  It "took"  me and  I was on  my way down river,  making my way slowly across without the boat--  and with the rain still beating down.   I was already soaked anyway.   If you  are a sponsor of an  LFH   child, know that your new photo and progress report is hard won.

Oct 2013 Building Project

Maranatha Children's Home is not just a place to house and feed children.  It is a training center  for those who will go out and witness among the unreached people of this area.  We have 25  children who  are preparing to  return to their villages-- able to read and write and with a  solid  Bible foundation.  Each one has led  praise and worship.    Each one is  fluent in the language and culture and ready to make an impact for the Lord in  whatever  walk of life He leads them.

The building team made the trip to Nepal to begin the next phase of the  Maranatha  Project. The second floor of the children's home is started.   When it is complete,  we can double the number of children and we can separate boys and girls on different floors.  This ministry is growing.    The next  building team  trip will be in  May 2014. 

Critical needs in Haiti

 I  think everyone knows that  Haiti is a poor country,   struggling in  every area of life, especially since the  earthquake of  2010.  The aid which poured in following the earthquake did not reach everyone.    Even those who were fortunate enough to   receive some help find it  winding down now.  These little ones were not  born at the time of the earthquake, though still it affects them.   The orphanage where they lived once had a modest building, but it  crumbled to the ground and has never been rebuilt.  Now the daily focus is on   finding and preparing food for the children. Clothing is minimal.  Medical care is minimal.  Schooling is minimal.  Survival is the goal of each day.