Home of Hope

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work. -Mother Teresa

I was recently asked the question: if I could have dinner with any three people, who would they be? The first woman who came to mind was Mother Teresa. It was obvious. She has always been such a fascinating person to me. That response holds much more meaning after my morning at Mother Teresa's Home of Hope Orphanage in Kigali.

I first heard about Home of Hope when I met Gloria, a five year old girl in my P1 class at Sonrise. Gloria spent the first four years of her life in Home of Hope being cared for by nuns-the only family she knew. Shortly after her birth, she lost her parents to HIV. Gloria is also infected. Two years ago, she was taken in by her brother, a friend of ours, who had just found out about his little sister. God has brought this little girl the family she never expected.

My amazing friends, Brett and Keli Shreck, adopted their two boys from Home of Hope. The boys are Nicholas and Benjamin and I have to say, I just adore these kids! When they were adopted, Nicholas was 5 months and Benjamin was 17 months. Now, Nicholas is 4 years old and Benjamin is 5 years old. Today, Keli and I were wondering if Gloria and Benjamin may have been there at the same time as babies. Check out their blog: http://immeasurablymoreinrwanda.blogspot.com/

Keli and Jamie, my roommate, go every Wednesday morning to love on the sweet little angels at Home of Hope. They usually work with the children in the special needs area. I have heard so many beautiful stories from Jamie about these precious kiddos. I was so excited to meet them for myself!

As I walked in the orphanage I noticed that a few of the "aunties" were outside cleaning about two dozen baby cribs. A few kids were helping out with the cleaning while enjoying the sunshine. We went into the special needs room and my heart was immediately filled with passion and love. There were about a dozen children under the age of 8 and soon more, older kids joined us outside. I met a sweet new friend who could not talk or walk: his feet and hands were clubbed. I picked him up and held his hands as he walked around the room. He was beaming with joy and pride! We took the kids outside and played with some bouncy balls and on a merry-go-round piece of equipment. They had a blast while we pushed them around and around for about 30 minutes. We clapped and sang a lot songs: If You're Happy and You Know It, Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children, and Imana Nziza. One boy who was about 12 years old kept singing Jesus Loves Me and I couldn't help but smile at the words coming out of his sweet mouth. Right before we left, I took a little boy who was sitting in the wheelchair outside and wheeled him around. His name was Dameon and he was smiling and so happy as we walked along the sidewalk. I fed him a few bites of a biscuit before it was time to leave. As we were leaving, I was talking to one of the nuns. I asked her if there is a special needs school in Rwanda. There is a school for the deaf and a school for the blind but not one specifically for special needs. She said some brothers who come and work the children three times a week have been thinking about starting a school for special needs in Rwanda. It is needed.

This afternoon I have been thinking a lot about those kids. My mind kept going back to high school when I was involved in Partners Club, an organization that worked with special needs kids in the Fort Smith area. Dianne Baer, former special ed teacher, was there in the beginning when God planted the seed to help children. I have learned so much about loving individuals as they are and that every child, young or old, deserves to be loved.

Each one of them is Jesus in disguise. -Mother Teresa