A little adventure

Well, some days I (Juliet) get to do some "Social Work" stuff.  Last week Tuesday we visited one of our children on a farm about 40 minutes drive from Windhoek.  We left Windhoek early, because I wanted to be at the school during break time. We were well on our way, when we had to cross a dry river bed.  Seeing that I usually undertake these kinds of trips with an experienced driver in the form of my husband, I was caught totally unaware, lacking the skill to drive a vehicle through very thick river sand.  As you can guess, we got stuck!  Gone is my plan to be at th school during their first break.  Fortunately a few men staying almost just next to the river bed came to our rescue. 

We visited a boy named Donovan, and he was very amused when he heard about our misfortune, I wish you could hear his chuckles when told about what happened to us!  Donovan is an orphan and used to live in one of our Residential Child Care Facilities.  The visit was primarily to assess his well-being.  Again I was confronted with a child who just have the very basic means to survive, yet he chooses to stay where he feels he belongs.  He lives with his maternal grandmother, aunt and two cousins in a shack.  I challenged him on every angle to make sure that this is where he would like to stay.  He stuck to his guns in saying that yes, he wants to stay with his grandmother even though he misses the Ark and his friends.

I also had a lenghty discussion with his grandmother and am truly humbled by her tenacity to take care of her own.  She was sitting under a tree and in front of her stood a container with milk and some sugar, it was lunch for the boys coming from school.  She has a broken hip and are not mobile, guarded the meager meal like a hawk, very afraid that someone consume before the boys came home.  I just realized how much we need to be thankful for. 

Many times we think a child needs a brick home and three nutritious meals a day and that is sufficient to create a happy "home", yet they only want to feel loved and have a sense of belonging.  This boy feels he belongs, this is where he wants to stay.  We as an organization will now try to get him the necesary resources in the form of regular food parcels.

Do pray with us for this boy and his family, may the Lord keep him safe and provide in their needs as well as their wants.  His wish is to own a bicycle.  Well, I am trusting the Lord to grant him his heart's desire.