First blog entry, and first visit to Children's Home

Wow! Our first blog entry, and what a great time to get started. There's so much going on at ALF these days!

Discovery! - February was another great month at Discovery! of the nearly 120 trainees in D1, ALF provided 12 scholarships. For D2, ALF sponsored 10 partial scholarships, and 7 scholarships for D3. One email we received recently was from an ALF scholarship recipient's sister:

"My brother attended Discovery! in February on an ALF scholarship. He has been in and out of trouble since he was 16 years old. What the training did for him was incredible. He came out a changed man. He is 49 years old and has been living with my parents. He is trying for the first time ever, to turn his life around. I just wanted to tell you thank you! If it was not for ALF, he never would of been able to attend the training. Thank you so much for all that you do. I know you often do not get the rewards, but I want you to know you change lives every month. Thank you for following your hearts and the Lord!"

Woodville-We are scheduling our next trip to Woodville, TX for early April. We hope to meet more folks on this trip, but will also meet with the committee for some "shop talk", get caught up on how things are progressing in finding a site location for the LIFE Center, and talk about how to start getting the community more involved. It's been slow progress, but at least it's progress!

Roatán - Majken Broby Children’s Home - We just got back from Roatan and our first trip to the children's home on the island. We are considering how we can help the beautiful children of this island and are looking at adding it to our foundation’s mission. Since it’s the newest addition, I have the most to say in this area. Here's how our visit went...

David and I, along with my father and a dear friend went to visit the home while there on vacation. In researching the home before going, I found that 3 of the 21 kids at the home hadn’t gained weight in a year, and their biggest need at the moment was for food. So we rented a taxi cab to go to the grocery store first and just about emptied the place! When we got to the home, we were warmly welcomed by the two workers and 5 kids who were home (the other 16 were still at school). After unloading the groceries, the 3 boys immediately got a soccer game going. My 76 year old father and I played goalies… and we stunk! My husband bragged about making a goal against one of the kids…who was 5! But they were all great players. We took a tour of the facility and spoke in length with the two workers and the pastor’s wife who lives next door and works with the kids. She said the greatest need of the children, so long as they can keep the groceries coming, is the time and attention of people who care. Particularly the kids need the time and attention of good male role models, as 16 of the children are boys.

The home itself is functional, but run-down and in need of repairs. The pastor’s wife, Aminta, said they would like to repair the screening around the main areas of the home to keep the mosquitoes out but can't afford it without help. (The mosquitos on the island are relentless and I can’t imagine not having a place for the kids to get away from them.) We are already planning our next trip down for late April and are working on finding a place on the island to buy materials and put together a work party. But we don’t want to simply do the work for them. We want the children – the older boys in particular – to help do the work and create in them a sense of pride and ownership in their home, as we can see that it is lacking.

On the drive home, the cab driver, Rey, was moved almost to tears and expressed his deepest thanks and appreciation for what we did. (Was that another changed heart? Would he now be moved to go make a difference – either there or elsewhere - in his own way?) He mentioned that he had dated a girl that was raised in that home. I asked for her number and wanted to chat with her to get more info on the place. Honestly, I wanted to check it out and make sure the place was truly ‘legit’ before getting involved with them.

Sandra was her name. I called her once we got home to Texas. She was delightful and I enjoyed her immensely. She was raised in the home, along with her 2 sisters, from the age of 11 months to 18 years when she graduated school and got married, almost 5 years ago. The same pastor and his wife, Pastor Glen and Aminta, were still there then and she had nothing but positive things to say about them (which was important for me to know). There were also 21 kids at the home while she was there (must be their physical and/or financial capacity, but how many more kids need a safe place to live?) She goes to visit the home regularly and said it’s sad how the place has deteriorated, because it used to be very nice. She said they used to have nice sheets for their bed and the home was well cared for. She said the children all took pride and ownership of their home and their personal belongings. The difference seems to be that, during the years she was living there, there was an American couple who lived there and took care of the children as their “calling”, whereas the two women that currently work there, although I’m sure they’re very nice, are doing it solely as a “job”. She said with the American couple, even with 21 kids, that there was never a shortage of love, support and guidance. What she sees now is that the kids have too much down time when they’re not in school. And down time leads to trouble. I can only imagine what kind of trouble. I hope to learn more about this and how we might be able to help in the future.

Before hanging up, Sandra said she would love to meet with us on our next visit, take us to the home and talk some more. She seemed to be a genuinely kind and caring young woman. The Majken Broby Children’s Home, by this one example anyway, has certainly done well in their mission to take children who would otherwise be ‘forgotten’ and give them a healthy start to life. I look forward to learning how we can best help these children in the future. Right now it’s their physical needs, but as we get to know them, we hope to make an impact in helping them at a heart level.