Today we went to visit the children of Wendano Village that we are currently ministering to. There are 20 in all, but not all of them could be excused from the classroom to meet with us.
The little girl in this photo (John is working on compiling a file for me that will include name, bio and photo for each child) is in Form 1 (first grade). The school term began just this month.
For some reason, this girl reminded me of my mother. For that reason, I'm particularly fond of her.
The purpose of today's gathering was two fold; to introduce me to the kids and to measure them for new school uniforms.
Our children go to school in worn out uniforms and often without shoes because their guardains simply can't afford any better. Sadly, I learned that some of the children also don't have textbooks because they are not provided free of charge.
Now before you go to thinking that these children are neglected or abused, let me simply say that they are all twice orphaned and live in a village where the residents live on $1 to $2 a day. They are the blessed ones because they have a guardian and haven't ended up on the streets.
John and Susan had determined that one of our first projects should be to provide one new uniform and a new pair of shoes for each child. This will be a tremendous boost to their egos when they join their fellow students in the classroom.
We are employing one of the women in the village to make the uniforms, so that the economic benefits of the project will be realized in the village as well.
There are more projects in the pipeline. There will be more about that in a later blog.
It is hard for me to imagine my mother growing up in such circumstances or going to school in a tattered uniform without shoes and hard for me to accept that the little girl that reminds me of my mother does.
Praise be to God, soon she will be smiling big when she has a new set of clothes for school!
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