"Isolated. Beaten. Victim of witchcraft. Stoic. Feels Unloved. Alone." These were the words I used to describe Chanda in my blog in 2008. After Camp Life 2008, my sister and brother-in-law started sponsoring Chanda at the Father's Heart level - $40/mo to provide discipleship, school fees, school clothes, and emergency food and shelter. They prayed for him often and became "pen pals" by writing letters back and forth.
In 2009, it was "Defiant. Distracted. Violent. Found wandering the Streets." At the end of Camp Life 2009, Chanda was chosen to move into the Tree of Life Children's Village. My parents split the $150/mo sponsorship of Chanda with Megan and Dave at Tree of Life which provides beautiful housing, 3 full meals a day, an exemplary education, discipleship and house parents to watch over the orphans. Megan and Dave continued to pray and write letters.
In 2010, Megan and Dave got to meet the boy they had been diligently praying for and sponsoring! John Chanda ran up to each of them at Camp every day with a beaming smile and gave them a bear hug. When we all visited the Tree of Life he showed us his room, his bed, his desk at school, introduced them to his teacher and showed us how well he could read.
"I was walking down the path holding John Chanda's hand. He told me he prayed to God one day because he was sad that he didn't have a mom. Then he said, "But God told me through a dream that I have a mom and my mom is Aunty Megan." - Megan
"John Chanda is our son now. By coming to Camp Life, God sealed the deal for us and told us he is our responsibility. Right now we get to support him and make sure his basic needs are met. And if anything were to happen to Megan and me, we're changing our wills to ensure that he will be provided for." - Dave
The love between them was sadly evident when it came time for the Americans to board the bus and leave the Tree of Life. John Chanda's face dropped. When Dave bent down to a knee he could see tears streaming down John Chanda's face. Dave said, "You are where you need to be. You're going to be a leader here. We've gotta leave now, but it will be only for a time before we see each other again."
You can see a video of the kids singing their welcome song to the Tree of Life here... http://vimeo.com/14907651 You can best view the Vimeo videos by clicking "Play", clicking "Pause" to let the video fully load, then click "Play" again to watch it uninterrupted.
0 comments:
Post a Comment