We returned from our trip to Rwanda and Ethiopia a few days ago. I know I need to start talking about, blogging about our trip, but I don’t know exactly what to say. I want it to be profound, compelling, with words floating around in your heads long after you have left this blog, but I feel so inadequate. I could spend hours delicately telling stories, gently implying or loudly demanding your help, but I won’t. I just want you all to know that they are real, the children are real. They aren’t numbers on a statistician’s page. They aren’t pretend. They are real and they are our responsibility. On our trip, we saw with our own eyes over 1,000 little ones desperate for someone to hold them. I spent hours wishing that I could grow more arms to wrap around them. Together, we have to do more, more to love them, more to reach them, more to feed them, more to keep them healthy, more, more, more.
God knows each of these little ones by name, just as He knows us. They are His children and we are His hands and feet. It is our responsibility. It isn’t for someone else. It is for you and for me. Taking care of orphans is not a suggestion, it is a command. We all have to do something. Donate, sponsor, adopt, support someone who is adopting, go, hold, love. Do something.
“Rescue the perishing; don’t hesitate to step in and help. If you say, “Hey, that’s none of my business,” [i.e. "that's not for me"] will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know— Someone not impressed with weak excuses.” -Proverbs 24:12 (The Message)
There is a song by Brooke Fraser that I have loved for a long time, but now, having actually been there, having seen with my own eyes, it resonates even more. Just this morning, with the face of a beautiful Rwandan boy on my heart, I realized that this song I had been so in love with, is about Rwanda…and I lost it, completely. My heart is broken for these children, absolutely shattered. Every chance I get, I will tell the world what I have seen. In the next few posts, I will tell you ways that you can help some of the children that I have seen.
Now that I have seen, I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
Now that I have held you in my own arms, I cannot let go till you are
I am on a plane across a distant sea
But I carry you in me
and the dust on, the dust on, the dust on my feet
Rwanda
I will tell the world, I will tell them where I’ve been
I will keep my word, I will tell them
-Jenn
by Jenn
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