The Nepali Orphanage Project

Greetings to you my friend, I trust that you and your family are doing well by the grace of God today.

This week, our blog is centered on a new mission venture that we embarked upon in Nepal, I trust that it is a blessing to you and your family. As always, we really enjoy hearing from you, so please feel free to drop us a line in our comment section at the end of the blog.

As I traveled from place to place in Nepal, I was daily confronted with the plight of survival for the Nepali people. Though life is a daily struggle for many Nepali, I was particularly struck by the plight of the Nepali children. From a Western perspective, one is daily accustomed to seeing children who are care free, un-anxious, and un-bothered. The joys of youth and innocence have a tendency to inoculate children from the cares and burdens that face their parents in societies. In Nepal however, it is not unusual to see children (some of them very young) working hard at many and various odd jobs, and jostling alongside adults to secure their daily bread in the un-ending battle for human survival.

I remember riding my 1st public bus to a village, and discovering that the conductor of the bus was a small boy who was probably no more than 12 years old. Though he was quite small in stature, he was required to lift large, and sometimes heavy loads onto the top of the bus, just as would be required of an adult. I remember visiting restaurants and seeing little girls and boys working as cooks, dish washers, and even waiters and waitresses. Some Nepali children were vendors on the street, and others were even servants in people’s homes.

As I have been blessed to travel from country to country, God is teaching me that it is not enough to simply lend my sympathy to those who I might see suffering. It is not enough to say to a fellow child of God” be warmed, be clothed, be fed” James 2:16. I am learning that as a Christian, I have a responsibility and an obligation to render aid and support to those whom I can help. In times past, as I saw such children, I would feel sympathy for them and would even give some money to those who were beggars. But, I had a radical shift in my thinking, as one day I heard the Holy Spirit asked me distinctly “what if this was your child,  is this all you would do?” I thought long and hard about that question for some moments. My children have more than an ample supply of food, and clothing, they are warm and well sheltered in the winter time, and they have the blessing of 2 God-fearing parents to guide them through life, while all around me, through no fault of their own, were children without mothers and fathers. My friend,  as Christians living in 2014, I believe that God is teaching me to be more engaged and concerned about the plight of my fellow men. I am learning that the work of a true Christian cannot be done by proxy, but I need to do practical things to ease the burdens of God’s children where ever whenever I can. In fact, the bible admonishes us that the Master will ask us to render an account as to what we have done, or failed to do unto those whom society may deem as the least of these. As it relates to the Gospel Commission, there are few who may have an interest to preach and teach, but there are even fewer still, who are willing to serve the orphans, the widows, the blind, and the lame. As a result of this present state of thinking in modern Christianity, our Gospel work in many places around the world has been incomplete as best.

In my visit to the Chitwan province Nepal, I met a young man who had begun an Orphanage several years prior to our meeting, in that same district. This brother was only 32 years old at the time of our meeting, but he was quite an enterprising young man indeed. He had started his own secondary school, his own college, and even a small orphanage, all with the intention of helping his poor Nepali country men. His plans were a good success in terms of providing help for local needy families, but, financially he was in trouble. This was manly because many of the local people, though they attended his school, they could hardly afford to pay any tuition. His small orphanage ended up bearing the brunt of his financial crises, so much so, that at the time of my visit, he could barely provide food and clothing for the 30 children that were in his care. The children were crammed into small, mildew covered, ill-ventilated rooms, with 2 children to a tiny bunk. To make matters worse, the rooms were extremely cold, as my visit was in the middle of the very cold Nepali winter, with no heating in the homes.

The owner of the orphanage made a tearful appeal to me for help, as he was without financial means to continue to provide for these forgotten children. Immediately, my heart was moved by his impassioned appeal, but I thought to myself, how could I provide for these 30 children on a continual basis? Especially since my monthly ministry responsibilities were already so much. I offered a prayer for the brother as I always do when confronted with such situations, but promised him that I would do something for the children in the very near future. Upon reading the biographies of the children, I was quite saddened by most of their former circumstances, many of them had been through large, and severe trials  in their few years of life. Some had been homeless, some had been child laborers, some had been scavengers who collected plastics to sell, some had fled from their native towns to escape religious persecution, and others had come from many and various other circumstances. Some of the children originated in the local Chitwan town, while others were from very distant and deep rural provinces many days away. Many of their homes could only be accessed by hiking on foot, and some could take as many as 8 days walking through the jungles to reach. They were a mixed group of children from various ethnic groups and backgrounds, but all were united by the common thread of suffering.

At present, the 3 Going Forward ministries, and our sister ministry the 11th Hour Missionaries, have accepted the charge of providing the financial support for this small Orphanage in Nepal. Please keep us, and this precious new project in your daily prayers. May God continue to bless you and your family, as we work together to hasten the Master’s coming. God bless you, Maranatha.

Orphanage cook

Orphanage cook

breakfast time

breakfast time

Founder Of The Orphanage

ready for school