At Risk Children
Baby Samuel
Baby Samuel came to the orphanage courtesy of the police when he was one day old. He was found discarded at a trash site, obviously battered and still attached to the placenta. Upon closer scrutiny it was discovered that he had been strangled and was bruised all over his body and face. We arrived the morning after he was brought to St. Paul's. He could not cry and had not eaten anything. He was short of breath, weak and dehydrated. Really except for breathing he showed little sign of being alive and barely moved arms or legs. We were able to take him for medical care though it consisted mainly of a shot of penicillin. In America he would have been put in ICU and placed on respiratory assistance. Andy and I feared he would not live through the night and called back to the prayer cells to ask for prayer for him. The teams responded and when we went in the next day he was improved, then better each day. As of two days ago he was a growing 8 week old, happy and healthy. St. Paul's has four infants that have been rescued from similar types of abadonment.
Baby Moses
Moses was found in the trash on the outskirts of Nairobi and brought to one of our orphanages. Surprisingly, he was in good shape but was only 2 days old and needed immediate care. Today, more than two years later, he is a happy, active little boy.
Ardith, Margaret, and Moses.
Tabitha
Tabitha's parents both died of AIDS, her mother just about 18 months ago. Tabitha had been too much for her ill parents so they locked her in a closet and fed her occasionally through a small hole in the door. When she was four, after her mother was found dead, she was brought to St. Paul's. She still has not spoken, but sometimes she looks up, connects and smiles and we all melt. Miraculously, Tabitha does not have HIV.
Naomi
Last year Naomi was recovering from a fourth operation to correct her bi-lateral club feet. Pictured above you can see from her radiant face how those operations have improved the quality of her life.
She now does almost everything the other children her age can do, wears shoes and walks with only the faintest limp; she can even run. She no longer hides or keeps to herself but has an active social life, does well in grade two at the local school and engages both children and adults in conversation.
The School
Here is a story from Cathie Schmelzenbach, a woman that has been involved in African ministry and with CCI. She sent us an email with this story:
We went to the Nazarene Church School in Kibera. Kibera is one of the largest temporary housing areas in Africa (slum). In an area of about 5 miles long and � miles wide, over one million people live, all without electricity, water or sanitation.
The school is in the church, they put up sheets to make classrooms, and the sound carries through to each class. There are about 125 students in a room 15 by 24 feet. They have pre-school and 1st grade in the main room.
They also have 5 more classrooms with one window, no electric lights and 35 to 45 students. As you can see from the pictures the students do not have desks, they all sit on a bench and have a long board about 12 inches wide to write on.
The students are very lucky to be able to go to school. Kibera, even with what we think of as a very bad learning environment, has a waiting list. The Nazarene school has books and teachers, which a lot of the public schools do not have. I did visit a public school last year and went into a 6th grade class being taught English. There were about 85 students, about 50 desks, and 7 text books. So when you look at the big picture Kibera Nazarene School has more then some schools. There are many children that cannot even go to school, the parents have to have money for books, paper, pens and a uniform.
Kevin and David
This is the story of Kevin and David, two brothers whose parents died of AIDS. Simply put, when the last of their parents to die was buried, the rest of their family took them to the cemetery for the funeral, and then abandoned them there. In the cemetery. At the funeral that made them orphans. The police found them wandering around the gravesite and brought them to Margaret, where, from the photo above, they are obviously thriving. Kevin, unfortunately, contracted AIDS from his mother and is HIV positive. But, through your support, he is on an antiretroviral protocol and is doing very well, playing with the other children and doing well in school.