girls orphanage

we spent the day with a great group of girls ranging from 12-22 years old at an orphanage, the house of ruth, outside of tourou.  there were several different means as to how they ended up at the orphanage, one someone could witness them in an abusive situation and tell the orphanage and they would go and get them, two the girls could check themselves in if they were in an abusive situation, trafficking, whatever, third their parents could bring them there and drop them off, none better than the other, all horrible ways to live part of your life.  once at the orphanage they are educated in french and taught a trade.  once they graduate from the program they are given  the machine they have learned their trade on so that they can start their on business.  

on the way to house of ruth we had a flat tire, we were running late, and a bit frustrated, but as we drove up the place seemed desolate.  we parked and unloaded our things and were taken to the chapel where everyone was waiting for us.  there are 50 girls in their program and as we walked in the all stood up and began singing and clapping as we walked down the isle to the front.  it was one of the most humbling things that i have ever experienced and one of the biggest honors given to me.  as we set down they continued singing welcoming us to their place.  as they sung i looked out over them and was overwhelmed with the fact that they all had horrible things take place in their lives but the joy and potential was overflowing.  the admininstration had set up a service with worship and speakers to express thanks.  as we were in worship i realized that is the way heaven will be like, different races, cultures, types of worship, all together with one purpose.  they also invited me to speak to the girls which was also a huge honor.  i spoke on forgiveness and joseph.  after the bible study we presented them with the gifts that we had brought for them. thanks to people here in the states we were able to present them with shampoos, colored pencils, sharpeners, femine products, rice, oil, and soap.  they were very grateful and excited about the gifts.  they are in need of so many items, everything from mattresses to school supplies to machines for the girls to work on.  hopefully this year we will be able to provide for some of their needs.  next we gave the girls snacks and drinks while we set up different stations for their "party."  at first we were a little nervous because we did not realize the girls were as old as they were and what we had planned was geared toward the younger ones.  it did not matter though, they girls had a blast.  we had fingernail and toenail painting station.  to all those who donated fingernail stickers, they were a hit! we gave each girl a gift bag with lip gloss and tooth brushes and tooth paste in them and set up a station for them to decorate their bags.  another station was a bead station for them to make bracelets and necklaces.  some of the girls spent the whole time at this station working so hard on their jewelry.  the last station was face painting, by the end of the day everyone was painted up.  this was a great outreach, it turned out so much better than we could ever imagine.

village outreach with the kids

we did very simple outreach within the village and it was so much fun.  because the kids are left to raise themselves once they start walking they are starved for personal attention and love, so they just want to play.  thanks to many donations of stickers, beach balls, jump ropes, and bracelets the outreaches were great.  we would arrive in the village of tourou each day and as we would drive in the kids would yell out, wave, and run after the car ready to play.  the stickers were a big hit with the young mothers and the kids, you would have thought you were giving them big gifts, but because they have nothing anything was a huge deal.  we tried teaching them how to jump rope, which was humorous and not too successful, but fun to watch.  tish and drake, jace's sister and nephew, made bracelets to hand out to the girls, we even had boys asking for them.  they loved them.  the beach balls went over great, they were running all over the place trying to catch them.  we taught them duck duck goose, which became an interesting game of just duck duck and a hard slap on the head.  it was just loving on the kids, letting them enjoy being a kid, and having them forget for just a little bit their situations.  it did not matter that there was a language barrier or that we lived in a completely different world than them, we were there for them and only them at that moment they were our focus and they understood that.  it was amazing, each time we were there it seemed to get better.  

soccer and beanie baby outreach

the soccer outreach is different from the tournament.  kyle from nc coaches his daughter's soccer team and had a wonderful idea.  when he heard we were doing a tournament in africa he decided to begin to collect soccer cleats and soccer balls from his team to donate, but once he began he did not stop there.  he then went to his soccer association and asked them to go to their teams and gather cleats and balls.  when all was said and done he had soccer balls, cleats, shin guards, and goalie gloves.  he and his daughter rounded up her beanie baby and stuffed animal collection and boxed them and the soccer equipment up to send to benin.  see kyle works at a wonderful company named tandemloc and tandemloc really got behind our trip to benin in an amazing kind of way.  they sent the boxes there for us, in addition, their employes donated all kinds of items for the village outreach, the orphanage, and the ladies.  we are so thankful for their giving spirits and hearts.  

most of the kids in tourou do not have shoes, so soccer cleats is out of the question for them.  we lined the boys up and had a lottery for the equipment.  when they were lined up they had no idea what they were getting or doing, but as soon as we dumped the cleats on the ground cheers and claps erupted.  they were so excited.  after they received their shoes we divided them up into groups and handed out the soccer balls, it was so much fun to see the kids play games within their groups.  it was a huge success.

next, we lined up the girls for the stuffed animals.  this was great because the girls there never get any gifts, so they were excited.  mary and i handed out the gifts and then as we took their pictures with the animals they started jumping up and down and yelling, it was so overwhelming because they were so thankful and excited.  after their celebration they took their new "babies" and tied them on their backs like the women do when they carry their babies, it was so cute.  for the rest of our time their you would see different girls around the village with their new "babies."  thanks kyle and tandemloc!

soccer tournament

like most places in the world soccer or futbol is a huge passion for people and benin in no different.  serge planned a tournament with 8 local teams.  we arrived for the first game late which meant the trophy arrived late.  at the beginning the teams were playing their 'b' team more like a friendly game, but when we broke out our $20 trophy from the US they went crazy.  they were calling the better players for the second half and word spread that more was at stake.  hundreds of people came out to the games, it was a great way to see and spend time with those in the village.  on the day of the semi finals we were going to organize a team of us and play the kids, but the elders of the village found out and challenged us to a match.  this is completely out of the norm for the elders and it was a huge honor for us, plus  it was so much fun.  we were completely schooled by these ripped up 70 year old men.  the village loved it, we loved it, and the elders loved it.  it was such a symbolic action of the bonding  that was taking place between us and the village.  each night we would go sit with the elders and the children, watch the match, and enjoy something that transcending the language barrier, difference of culture, and age.

the prostitute outreach

we had the chance to meet with a few ladies that are in the prostitution business at our office in benin. it was a small group of four and we were meeting to talk about a new project we were implementing that would help them get off of the street. the next day we planned a bible study with them, they all four came and brought 2 more girls with them. jace and andrew decorated the office with balloons and streamers while mary, marc, and myself gathered all the items for the gift bags. thanks to many people we were able to put together awesome gift bags that the ladies loved. we put in lip gloss, lotion, shampoo, feminine products, underwear, and candy in them. so once the ladies arrived, i did a bible study with them on the woman at the well, we talked more about the project and answered any of their questions, we gave them their bags, and then had snacks and sodas for them. they had to fill out a form for the program talking about any trade they had, their goals, dreams, why they were wanting to be a part of the project. all six brought their form back the following day and while we were there three more girls joined the project, bringing us to nine women. as we read through them over the next few days i was amazed, not in a good way, but in my heart became so heavy kind of way. one of the questions asked what they were proud of and none of them had anything they had done in their lives they were proud of, except one. the one thing she was proud of...bringing other girls to our program. several had dreams, but several did not even have dreams or goals. as i have thought about this program, i find it very overwhelming. they are looking to us to help change their lives around because they want out, but feel so trapped and beaten down. they know they can not do it on their own. most of them have children or a child, so it is not just them we are impacting, but the development and opportunities of their children. right now, we are looking over their forms and trying to develop individual plans for each woman and we will begin to implement them. for example, two or three of them want to work in hair boutiques, so we will work on finding an apprentice program with an existing shop to get them training and then into a shop to work. For those who need training on a trade we will begin to place them in training programs and work from there. all of these programs cost money to register for, so we begin gathering funding for them. the hope that those ladies left the office with was an awesome thing to see, one in particular wanted to know how soon we could get the program going and when we were going to meet again. that is the hard thing about being there and leaving, knowing that we wont be there on the day to day, spending time with those we are helping. please keep these ladies in your prayers because everything else is weighing against them.

update

so we are gearing up for our trip to africa next week, we have been so blessed to receive all the donations from everyone, you guys rock!  we have gotten everything from soccer equipment for the kids in tourou, jump ropes, stickers, shampoo, etc, it is awesome!  we are gathering everything up and seeing what we need to get and we are going to start packing it all up.  we have begun to finalize our itinerary and it is shaping up to be a busy 9 days.  to give a quick run down, here are some of the things we will be doing...

• all day at girls orphanage
• hygiene kits and bible study with prostitutes
• well dedication
• soccer tournament
• meat market project
• time in village with kids-soccer outreach

if you have any questions about any of them let me know and i will give you more detail.  fun times here we come!!!