Quita's Story

Hello, my name is Quita. I'm 5 years old. The rebels came to our village during the disarmament time in our town and they took all the men and carried them to an unknown place. Since that time, my father never returned. We heard that my father and the other people from our town were taken to the bridge and they shot them and threw their bodies in the river.

My mother and the other women ran to Salala district where my mother later got sick and became paralyzed. My mother died last year and the people took me to the Lifesong Master's Home of Champions to take care of me. I'm in the K-1 class and when I grow up, I want to be a medical doctor to help children. 

Adoption Has Changed My Kids

We are so excited that Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, WI has created a solution to the financial barrier many adoptive families encounter!

Elmbrook has an amazing ministry for foster/adoptive families and takes the word community to a whole new level! They are currently holding classes for families interested in adopting, raising funds for a church adoption fund, raising awareness for local foster care children in need, having weekly prayer meetings, and easing the transition for families opening their homes to children.

Check out their ministry blog here. I love this recent post -

Lincoln and I were driving home from Joe's work. We take lovely country roads and always enjoy checking on our favorite animals. Pretty close to home we pass a great country home with 20 or so sheep in the front yard. At that house we have a choice to drive right by the home or turn down another street and miss the sheep altogether.

Today, we decided to take the way of the sheep. We were giggling about how chubby the sheep have become over the winter. We noticed two horses hanging out with the sheep, which is a bit unusual.

Lincoln wondered why the horses were in with the sheep.

I replied, 'I don't know, Bud.'

Lincoln thought for a while and then said, 'Mom. I think the horses adopted the sheep. The sheep needed a mommy and a daddy so the horses decided to adopt them.'

Beautiful."

Advocacy in action... awesome!

Your Church and the Orphan

You have been dreaming of ways your church could make a God-sized impact for the orphan. You have wanted to do something, but you didn’t know how to begin. 

Hope for Orphans will be hosting an event in Kankakee, IL on April 10th. The event will be a 1 day workshop for people AND churches who want to START or GROW their orphan ministry.

See what God can do through a mobilized Church!!! Join us!!! Click here to learn more and register.

Blessing the Unblessed

LIFESONG India, a report by Bob and Siromani Stoll, missionaries to India.

Lifesong for Orphans recently began its second year as administrators of a ministry to destitute children in India, a ministry founded in 1978 by Bob and Siromani Stoll. The focus of this ministry is evangelism, the heart of the ministry is blessing the unblessed, both physically and spiritually. Lifesong currently has in-country staff at 6 different homes for orphan and vulnerable children. These children are provided housing, daily Bible study classes, and 3 meals per day. They are being taught English and computer skills, in addition to the schooling they receive at their local public schools.

The need for such a ministry is evident; United Nations report 6 million children under the age of five died in India in 2006. In the face of such great need one might ask: Does a ministry caring for 585 children really matter? It surely does! By God’s grace it has meant that the thousands of truly needy children who have been cared for through the years in our six homes have entered their adult years as productive citizens with healthy bodies, an education and the knowledge of the one true God. 

Our Jyothi Nivas (Light) home is of a group of our girls of mixed ages from grade school to college students. They are from the “untouchable” caste (outcasts) and have known the many deprivations associated with that. Now they are among the very blessed and are very thankful for that. Their appreciation is shown in their smiles. Their hands are positioned to convey a greeting of great respect.

To Inspire and Equip Christians

With Haiti’s earthquake drawing global focus to the plight of orphans, Christians from across America and beyond will gather in Minneapolis, MN, for the Christian Alliance for Orphans’ Summit VI on April 29-30, 2010.  

The objective:  to inspire and equip Christians to “care for orphans in their distress” through adoption, foster care and global orphan care ministry rooted in the local church. 

 What you can look forward to:

• More than 50 workshops delivering nuts-and-bolts for adoption, foster care and global orphan programs – designed for both laypersons and leadership
• Orphan care resources for church ministries, as well as personal orphan care and adoption journeys
• Breakouts will also include 5 “Hague Hour” Credits for Adoptive Families.
• Q&A sessions and networking opportunities with respected adoption, global orphan and foster care organizations and veteran ministry leaders.
• For Christians stirred by the plight of orphans, Summit offers the biggest and best opportunity of the year to learn how to act upon conviction.  To learn more and register now, visit the Summit website here.

A taste of breakout topics:

• Haiti and the Local Church: What’s Next?
• Bridging the Great Divide:  Building Positive Relationships Between Church Ministries and Government
• Understanding Childhood Development of Overseas Orphans
• A Lifelong Love:  Keeping the Gospel at the Center of Orphan Ministry
• Church-Based Orphan Ministry 101
• Fundraising for Orphan Ministry
• Starting in the Right Direction:  Helping Pre-Adoptive Couples Make Sound Decisions
• Now What? Helping Children Age Out of Foster Care
• The Financial Challenge of Adoption and How the Local Church Can Respond
• Engaging Church Leadership
• A Child’s Journey Through the Foster Care System
• How Does It Work? Models of Global Orphan Ministry Based in US Churches
• Practical Ideas of Orphan-Focused Events
• Understanding HIV/AIDS and the Orphan 
• And many more…

And there’s more!  Five sessions will provide pre-adoptive families with needed Hague credits.

• Adoption and Orphans:  Becoming a Multicultural/Multiracial Family 
• Adoption and Orphans:  Attachment and Trauma (Part I and II)
• Adoption and Orphans:  Grief and Loss
• Adoption and Orphans:  Acclimating to a New Family Member

American Christians are stirring to the needs of orphans both at home and abroad as never before.  What’s thrilling is that even small ministries in local churches can make such significant impact.  There are millions of parentless children worldwide, but a single statistic matters more than any other:  it only takes one caring adult to make a lifelong difference in the life of an orphan.”

-         Jedd Medefind, President, Christian Alliance for Orphans