On Thursday, August 5th and Monday, August 9th, we were fortunate to visit the Sanctuary of Hope (SOH) orphanages. Currently, there are 2 SOH's, and they are building a third. Their goal is 10 orphanages!
A short background: Pastor and Mrs. Karau from Kenya opened up the first SOH in 2006 with the help of Hope's Promise, an adoption and orphan care organization in Colorado (www.hopespromise.com). The idea of SOH is to create a family-based orphanage, where they adopt about 10 children from the Mathare valley, and the Karau's live with the children in the home. Each child has sponsors to help pay for healthcare, housing, food, clothing, education, etc. They opened up SOH 2 in 2008 and were able to take in another 10 children.
When we visited SOH2, Mama Karau was sharing stories with us about some of the children they adopted. One example was Esther, who is in the video below. Esther's mother already had 3 other children, and couldn't feed Esther when she was born. Everyday, her mother would leave her in front of the Mathare
Worship Center. It took almost 5 years to finally be able to get all the paperwork finished to adopt Esther into SOH. Now, she is finally gaining weight (she is about 20 pounds), her color has changed and she no longer has silver skin, she is growing a little muscle and is starting to stand (she can't walk), she is taking medications now for de-worming, but she does not talk at all. When I saw her, I totally thought she was maybe a year and a half old... it was REALLY hard to believe that she was five years old.Another example was hearing about two twin boys, Laden and Michael. Their mom used to find free black tea or coffee from stores and she would pour the liquids into plastic bottles for the boys to drink. That would be the only thing they ate all day. Their mom was also HIV-positive, however, because she did not breast feed the boys, they didn't get her nutrients. Instead, they were immediately given medicine and after a little while, they were not HIV-positive anymore! That's a miracle!
Mama Karau also told us what it was like to help new kids adjust to living in SOH. They would have to teach the children how to use the bathroom and the toilet, because some kids never had seen one before. For example, they would ask to use the washroom, but would go on the floor next to the toilet. Or when learning how to brush their teeth, some children would use the water from the toilet because ... to them water is water. Everything was new to these kids... even learning how to use a spoon, or a sink, or sleep in a bed!
The Karaus are amazing people!!! Mama and Pastor Karau live in SOH, as well as their children, and have a full-time commitment to these children. I truly believe in this type of family-based orphanage. They are being raised correctly now, and they are being surrounded by love.
Click below to watch a short video of highlights from SOH! Or go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucCSpBk_E10
Next post... Murang'a VBS!
Grace
thanks for sharing, grace! i miss them so much!
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