Day 1 - The right way

How do you break the cycle of hopelessness?

Today our Visiting Orphans team arose full of energy, fresh off a jet-lag-fighting long night's sleep, and ready to tackle a full day. We headed to the community of Korah to spend time with two different ministries.

The morning was spent with Embracing Hope (EH), and in the afternoon we were with Out of the Ashes (OA). There are so many people out there who are addressing the hopelessness created by the cycle of poverty, and more and more we see organizations doing it the right way. These are definitely two of them.

How? Well, briefly, EH works with single-parent families (usually mothers) to help the family move beyond the point where their only concern is survival. By providing day care, school, food, and some basic medical care for the children, they can free the parent to make a living and give the family a future. And OA - whose name is based on Psalm 113:7 - works with children who have been mired in the same cycle of hopelessness to provide education and the knowledge that they are loved by people all over the world. In both cases, they are helping those who need it most not by creating more dependency, but creating a process where dignity is a priority and the benefits can be replicated - all while sharing the love of Jesus.

It is our privilege to be a small part of the process for a very short time. And we were blessed to be with the children today. So....

We played.

We laughed.

We loved.

You can't ask for a better day than that.