Abandoned-Orphaned

World Orphans Weekly! - Birth and Renewal

Dear Friend of the Fatherless,

The holiday season from Christmas to New Years brings about thoughts of birth and renewal. We reflect upon the new covenant, plus look ahead to the changes and promises that the next twelve months might offer.

The time is punctuated with resolutions and hope. For many of us, that means drastic changes or commitments. For some of us, it means picking our lives and spirits up from the rubble of circumstances and tragedies that temporarily got the best of us.

In that vein, I’d like to share some reflections that I’ve had over this season.

The first set refers to the third anniversary of the South Asian Tsunami. I’d like to introduce you to one child and show you how one of our church-based homes stood ready to not only take him in, but expand to give other orphaned children hope for a new future.

The second set is more personal. It shares further on the progress of my dear friends, the Ochoa family. David and Rhonda Ochoa lost their daughter, Talitha, to cerebral malaria earlier this year while serving children’s ministries in Uganda. They now have a new baby and have moved to Colorado to join World Orphans. It’s certainly a time of new birth and new purpose for them. I think their story will serve as a good example and inspiration to you.

The third set gives you a pictorial update on the opening of the World Orphans’ Iraq office. This serves as yet another illustration of fantastic new beginnings filled with great hope and possibility. Please rejoice with us as we pioneer the work for orphans in this conflict-torn country...giving them new families, new legacies.

THREE YEARS LATER

Part One – Death on the shores; Hope across the street

Part Two – Fire and water, one boy becomes a full orphan

Part Three – A new home and a new future

PERSEVERANCE & FAITHFULNESS

Part One – A time of healing and transition

Part Two – Of Christmas delayed

Part Three – Words of wisdom born by pain

WORLD ORPHANS IN IRAQ

Spirit of 1776 – Now tangible: A new hope for Iraq’s orphans

More from Iraq – A trinity of languages to introduce The Trinity of love

From all of us here at World Orphans, we wish you a very blessed 2008, filled with new purpose and promise.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Until They All Have Homes,

Paul Myhill
President/CEO

World Orphans
1840 Woodmoor Dr., Suite 100
Monument, CO 80132
1-888-ORPHANS
719-487-1700
Facebook Profile

All contributions are tax deductible and eternally significant.

Three Years Later (part three)

Pastor Jacob and his wife adopted six needy orphans many years ago. That was the beginning.

God had favor on Pastor Jacob’s heart and saw to it that Jacob now oversees twenty five churches in this tsunami-stricken region. He had prepared Jacob for this appointed time. Over 2,500 orphans have now been rescued by Jacob’s churches.

(THE OLD HOME. Paul and Scott during their visit 18 months ago)

Abejeeth is one of those lives that has been radically touched by the loving hand of this kind pastor and his expanding ministry. He and 39 other boys were in the care of the home sitting across the highway from the point of devastation that we visited. It was a rented facility. But because of your faithful support and prayers Abejeeth was moved down the street to a new church-based home that we helped to fund. There, he and the other boys were joined by another 30 more who were desperately waiting for a new home and a new hope.

(BLUE SKIES AHEAD. The new home as it appeared 18 months ago)

And that’s just the start. A second floor that can accommodate more boys and families is planned to be added shortly after the completion of the first phase of the project.

Abejeeth can still look across the road and see the reminders of a past life of pain and loss, but he is doing it hand-in-hand with those who comfort him and teach him about the Ultimate Comforter.

Three Years Later (part two)

Abejeeth is 5 years old. One year before the Tsunami hit his village, his mother was cooking the family meal over an open fire. An errant flame licked her highly-combustible Sari dress and she was soon engulfed. The shock and burns were too severe and she was quickly lost. Even the most commonplace of daily activities in India can instantly turn into life-threatening, life-taking situations. Life and death there are often separated by extremely thin margins of error.

On that dreadful day after Christmas, Abejeeth’s father was going about his normal routine of delivering tea to thirsty fisherman on the shore. It was a simple task, but one that supported the family and brought refreshment and joy to many who tended the nets for a living.

I can imagine the tea kettle and cups briefly floating on the surface before succumbing to the heaving, churning waters.

Fire and water...Abejeeth was now a full orphan.

(TSUNAMI ORPHANS. Aberjeeth (left) stands with other boys who lost parents on December 26, 2004)

The body of Abejeeth’s father was found three days later washed up down the coastline. He was just one of almost 300,000 lives extinguished in a moment, resulting in Abejeeth being one of thousands upon thousands of orphans left in the wake.

To be continued...

Three Years Later (part one)

Tragedy in India comes in many forms.

During my visit last year to this populous Asian sub-continent, seven terrorist bombs ripped through packed train cars in Mumbai, instantly taking lives through shredded metal containers. The carnage was unimaginable. Over 180 people were literally blown to bits, unveiling yet another gruesome chapter in the powder keg of Muslim/Hindu relations that has plagued Northern India for far too long.

I thought to myself, every person on that train fully expected to get to their destination that day. It was the evening rush hour and most would have been heading home to their families. Instead, those families waited anxiously for loved ones that were never to arrive. Empty seats at evening dinner tables. Empty hearts beating in the chests of those left behind.

Having a member of the family die as a result of a natural death is hard enough. Having one taken unexpectedly due to violence or catastrophe, is more than many souls can bear.

The southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu is no stranger to instantaneous calamity and devastation. As a cataclysmic wave pounded shorelines and fishing villages three years ago today, many startled people were swept to a watery grave. The stories and numbers are now well known the globe over. Stories of tragedy and triumph, of loss and recovery. But forgotten are the stories that continue to unfold, the daily lives of countless children whose parents were snapped away in a blink of an eye.

To these children, the South Asian Tsunami of December 26, 2004, was not just a single point in history, not just a sensational news moment to occupy headlines for a brief period of time. For them, the disaster continues to play out daily in their lives.

Eighteen months after the Indian Ocean swelled and wreaked havoc in Tamil Nadu, we drove the coastline where fishing village after fishing village ceased to exist. In the stead of flourishing communities sat rows upon rows of flimsy reed huts erected by a plethora of relief agencies and other non-governmental organizations. A few hundred yards away new concrete buildings were springing up from the rubble of former lives and foundations.

And just across the ocean highway of one of the villages, perched on the northern boundary of the devastation, sat one of our church partners and one of their homes for orphans.

To be continued...