As some of you may know, I spent last year living in Ireland. While living there, I spent a lot of time hanging with the college students that I was 'in charge' of, but I also spent a lot of time building relationships with the people who call Eire home. Sarah-Jane Taylor quickly became a close friend. She was a youth worker for 6 multi-denominational churches in Greystones, the town where I lived, and for the past 4 years, SJ (as we know her) has been taking her youth clubs down to Lesotho, partnering with orphanages and mission groups to bring hope and truth to the children there. This past May, Sarah-Jane left once more for Lesotho, and she has committed to spending one year there, creating much needed training and education opportunities for children who have no future.
I have now been blessed with the opportunity to join SJ in Lesotho for 3 weeks. I will be leaving on November 21st, and I am so looking forward to serving God, serving these children, and serving the missionaries that are already in place in Lesotho. While I am there, I will be assisting Sarah-Jane in the projects that she has already begun, including starting a Montessori school for the younger orphans and initiating a skills training program for teen girls that will help them find jobs when they must leave the orphanage at age 18. I will also train the workers in these orphanages, as well as the local long-term missionaries, in how to deal with children who have experienced trauma/abuse. For the past year, as well as one year in graduate school, I have worked for the YWCA as a child/adolescent rape crisis counselor. The “Y” will be sending several resources and training materials with me, to give the workers at the orphanage some references in how to come alongside these children and help them begin to heal from some of the injustices that they have survived.
While training and educating these children and teens will give them the chance for a brighter future, I also want to use this ministry of love to show these children the hope that we find in Christ alone. I am excited to travel to Lesotho and love these kids. I look forward to helping Sarah-Jane with her projects, as well as training the workers there. My prayer and desire is for God to work through me to help these people. In a country that is so full of suffering, my first priority is to bring them Hope and Truth through Love.
Some quick facts about Lesotho, Africa, and the people that we hope to serve:
- Lesotho has the world’s 3rd highest incidence of HIV and AIDS.
- Lesotho ranks 7th from the bottom of the UN poverty list of countries.
- Life expectancy in Lesotho is 35 years of age.
- Only 8% of children will graduate high school.
- Many students have a one- or two-hour walk each way to school.
- Many have had nothing to eat and are unable to concentrate.
- Many come from homes where a parent or sibling is ill with HIV/AIDS.
- Child-headed households are quickly on the rise.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothed you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
~Matthew 25: 34-40
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