Fanning into Flames

Kate Dibbern writes about the team's final day at Eden Children's Village. 

I’ve been avoiding writing a blog because I had no idea how to put
down in words the experience I had yet to fully process. Each day has
been a lifetime of lessons.  We just came back from our final time at the orphanage village.  We had the privilege to deliver one full set of hand crafted furniture to a cottage, a couch, a love seat, and an end table. As we entered the village, the kids came out of the houses in droves and surrounded us.

They jumped around wanting to play and have our undivided attention.
With smiling faces and broken English they seem so innocent.  My heart became theirs. Yet, behind each and every one of their eyes there is a
past, a very sad past. They are all orphans and whether they have
parents alive or dead, they have been abandoned. Some as babies in a
sewer or dumped on the side of the road.  Some as toddlers left to
starve or beg.  And some as teenagers raped, beaten, abused, and
tossed out to fend for themselves.  Their past in the last few years
of their life has 10 times the sorrow and despair of mine.

This morning we travelled with another missionary living in the bush outside of the orphanage. The stark opposition of life outside the orphanage was breathtaking. The reality of starvation, the turmoil of the AIDS epidemic, and the utter hopelessness made any National Geographic photo of a third world country come to life. Avoiding the reality of the presence of starvation in our world amongst brothers and sisters lost from faith has become blindingly present and real to me. Starvation was staring at me through a man named Joseph with sunken eyes and a body so fragile from AIDS, standing next to his barefooted wife and little boy with a belly swollen from malnutrition.

The problem seems so big, and the need for creating disciples seems so real. This country is withering from hopelessness. Their physical life is not what matters, but helping the Holy Spirit in His work spreading the unrelenting love of God and teaching those that the gift from God is for all and meant to be spread through us, is where all hope lies. My prayers for their lives and souls has become more then just spoken words, it’s an utter plea to God that the word of life take hold of these people and spread like wildfires across these golden savannas.  The bubble that the orphanage provides protects and creates a family environment where the children learn God’s word and feel His love through those that work and live here. Yet the difference between the two is vast and the reality of what is to come or the steps needed to
be taken is still unknown. I find myself pondering this, how are these children going to re-enter society and not be sucked back into the surrounding culture. The first generation of graduates are soon to take this step. As they arrive at the top of the cliff not knowing if the next step is a couple of feet down or a few hundred feet down the need for prayer and faith in God’s strength and wonder is necessary.

Through obedience in God, He will secure a bridge connecting society
and the positive environment the orphanage has provided. May this be
the strong burning embers of Gods glory awaiting to engulf this place
in a fire for him.