LIBERIA
Ruthfina Johnson, an orphan girl put out of an orphanage because turned sixteen and was no longer internationally adoptable, is a resident of Precious Life Home of Hope (a Wordsower sponsored home for orphan teen-age girls) in Monrovia Liberia. Three months ago she gave birth to Gabriel, a bright eyed little boy born into a sad and troubled land. In the sadness and heartache that is life in Liberia Gabriel died Wednesday April 22nd. Oh that she would know the comfort and consolation of her heavenly Father.
Poor little Gabriel didn't have much of a chance. He was the child of rape born into a country where children die in infancy at an extremely high rate. His mother, had she not found Precious Life Home would not have been able to feed him. She would have had to live with a man not her husband or turn to prostitution just to eat. The plight of the orphan teen-age girls is desperate. Most people in Liberia live on fifty cents a day. Gabriel would have never gone to school and there are no jobs even for the educated. Ruthfina, had she lived an average Liberian women's life, could have counted on dying in her forties.
But God has provided for Ruthfina and sixty other girls (forty-seven babies) a home and a refuge. We have three homes in Monrovia, by the grace of God, and are providing food, roof, clothes, education and medical care for any orphan girl who comes and is willing to live according to the house rule. It truly is a Home of Hope for these girls. But even here the reality of life and death in Liberia intrudes and breaks the heart. Please pray for these girls and their babies and their growth in Christ.
Please pray, as well, for the sixty plus boys in My Father's House Liberia and the Discipleship Training Center. All are orphans and all are going to school to become productive hard working men building Liberia for Christ.
GHANTA
Pastor Zoku and his staff continue to house about forty-five children of all ages. Recently rumors have become rampant that the city of Ghanta is going to attacked and the non Mandingo residents killed. (This happened during the fighting of 2003, with Elder Zoku himself being wounded and evacuated to Guinea. He came back after the war and has continued his work with orphans and the church.) Zoku and the other folks in town consider the threats and rumors credible and have evacuated our children to a safer location. So for now, there is no orphan work in the city and we all await the final outcome of the current crisis. Please pray for Liberia.
PAULA IN UKUNDA, KENYA
By the mercies of God we have been enabled to construct a house for Paula. Oh praise His Name! This house is large and should meet the demands of the Government. The house has been built by God's people (our thanks to Lee Hearst, Brenda Blair King and Larry Felmet for their weeks of labor in the heat of coastal Kenya) and is usable now but not totally complete. Paula has moved into it and conducts her clinic there now. Some of her children come by everyday to visit and eat but the government has not given final approval for them to move home yet. Please pray for the physical and spiritual safety of these children. Pray too that we will be able to complete the house quickly. Paula is now in a new neighborhood that is overwhelmingly Muslim. Her persecution continues but the Lord is with her and He will cover her. Pray that the Kenyan Government will stop keeping Paula's children from their home and holding her to a too high standard.
