This year for my birthday, I going to raise money for the orphanage in Malawi Africa! They are the children of Joan and Steward my aunt and uncle. It is very exciting that they are helping children like these! I love the children my age especially and seven and eight and all of them really!
I wish that I could visit them someday. The pictures made me feel like they were having fun and work. I love them any way they are. I really really hope that you love them too. I would like you to donate money for my birthday to help the orphanage.
I hope you enjoy my blog post as much as I enjoyed making it. I hope you donate money with a happy heart when you help the kids in the orphanage.
Some happy things.
They have pets! They have puppies and kittens! I LOVED them. They are so cute and tiny and well taken care of! I have seen animals that are not well taken care of in other countries but these puppies and kittens in Africa are well taken care of.
More pets!
KITTENS!!! They are so cute and well taken care of. I just hope they will take care of them for as long as they need.
What they need!
- They need a school! There are no private schools in the area. Imagine raising enough money to get them a school!
- Sponsors – the children need monthly sponsors.
- Prayer! They need prayer for their health and their bodies, and safety.
- Support for medical needs
Some school things
- The school did not look like mine. It didn’t have pictures on the walls. It didn’t it have a pretty whiteboard. Only a bench where the children sat. They looked like they were working hard!
- Right now there is no school in their area that teaches them. They only get 2 subjects.
- I wouldn’t feel very good if I couldn’t go to school !
Some weekend things!
The weekend things that they had a video night just like me.
Some sad things
Some of the children came from situations where they had really hard situations:
- A little 7-year-old was needing to carry 20-liter pails of water for the neighbors to earn money, so was not sending her to school!
- All of the children have lost their mammas and Pappas
- We learned that some of the children have aids. That is a disease that makes them sick. They were born with it. They need money to take them to tests in the city. God is healing some of them too! Please pray for them!
- Some of their homes before they came to the orphanage were squalid run down abandoned homes with basically no roof but a bit of straw and crumbling walls. They had no food and no soap even to wash with and the young Uncle left this little four yr old to run wild while he went to school.
- Another little 7-year-old girl came from a home where she was used as a slave. The first time we saw her she had a 5 gallon bucket brimming with water on her head.
tisunge (Medium)
Tisunge
tama (Medium)
Tama
rosemary (Medium)
Rosemary
promise and her wig (Medium)
Promise
prisca (Medium)
Prisca
precious (Medium)
Precious
mines (Medium)
Mines
lucy (Medium)
Lucy
ida (Medium)
Ida
hazel (Medium)
Hazel
esther (Medium)
Esther
deborah (Medium)
Deoborah
dalitso (Medium)
Dalitso
alice (Medium)
Alice
These are the children that live in the orphanage. Here is a story about how they found some of the children.
feel to start by telling you the names and ages of each child and a bit about each one we have twenty children in all, four who have grown and gone out from here but still our kids!
Stella is the oldest and is 22 she went back to the village a few years ago. She has a child and is a single Momma, he is our first Malawian grandchild his name is Kestings he is 2yrs old.
Ida is 22 and has finished high school and lives near us with her sister Vi, she is still working out what she might do with her future. She did a DTS at YWAM this past year with her sister, Ida is very much a David in her heart of worship so fine-tuned to the Lord when entering into worship. Her dream and desire is to take her gift to the world to see people delivered and set free as she has been.
Violet who is 20 and has graduated as well and did a DTS at YWAM. Violet works for us and plans to take a few courses in computer, book keeping and accounting. She has always had a vision for ministering and travelling with us. So we agreed the way to accomplish that is to work with us daily and as the Lord unfolds things ministry wise here, she will grow with us. She also interprets for us with much skill when we teach and preach as well as our business dealings. Vi is also very gifted in drama and has a gift to make up and execute dramas for our children when we minister.
Dalitso (in English that means Blessings we call her Dali) 20 a sister to Stella, has just graduated this year and is at ywam now for the next five months. Her dream is to become a nurse, her marks where too low to enter university so she may have to repeat form three and four ( grade 11 and 12) before she goes on. She is very gifted as well and has a servant heart, she will be a wonderful nurse bringing the love of God to people. Dalitso like Vi is a wonderful at interpreting for us when we preach and is also a gifted worship leader.
Alice 17 is in Form one (grade 9) the first year of high school here. She is a wonderful soft spoken girl who is the daughter of one of the Aunties who came to work for us with child care. Her Mommy passed away in 2011 so is now one of our children here as well. Alice loves to worship and has a gift, her dream is to become a nurse as well. Alice struggles somewhat with school so we pray for her and know with hard work and Gods’ grace and help she can accomplish her dream. Alice loves to cook and bake and she often helps me by baking bread and cakes.
Tisunge 16 is in form two and loves math and would love to take accounting when finished high school. She has wonderful humour and is good with the younger children, she loves to worship as well. Tis has been with us for a shorter time but is becoming proficient with English and is learning to interpret as well.
Esther (Essie ) is 15 and is in form one, she is a sister to Ida and Vi. Her dream since she was very small has been to become a teacher, we do believe she will accomplish that as she does well at school and seems to enjoy teaching Sunday school and is good with the children. Essie has joy and loves to joke and laugh and make people happy.
Esther is 13 and is standard (grade 5) she is a fun loving, creative, artistic girl who loves Jesus and people. She has not yet had a dream of her future ambitions as she lives for the moment but we know in time the Lord will show here what He has for her.
Tamandani (Tama) is 13 the oldest sister to Lucy Deborah and Hazel, she is a beautiful hearted girl who is old beyond her years yet soft and loving. She is in standard three and loves the chance she has to be at school full time. She has such joy and loves to sing and dance. Where Tama is there is much joy.
Mines is 11 and is in standard 5 and is a sister to Esther. She is a gentle girl who is creative, quiet, and loves to worship. She has a pitch perfect voice and we are eager to see her develop her gift as she loves to sing.
Lucy who is 11 is a sister of Tama, Deborah and Hazel and in standard 3, she is a fun loving girl and is friendly and loyal. She does well at school and is finding out her dreams and desires for her future..
Dorothy is 9 and is standard three. She is a quiet girl that feels deeply, yet loves to play and have fun with her family here. She can be melancholy but we see her beginning to bloom with joy and verve for life.
Precious is the only boy here, he is 8 years and is a special needs child, he was born with cerebral palsy and he is delayed in his learning development. He is in the second year of standard one and we are not sure how is schooling will go as there is little help for challenged children here. He is a very loving boy that is very emotionally intelligent and even socially does very well. He has bought a lot of joy and love to our place with his simple but profound love of Jesus and people.
Deborah who is 8 yrs and is in standard 3 is a sister to Tama, Lucy and Hazel. She is a joy filled girl, intelligent and fun loving, we look forward to seeing her discover and develop her gifts in the coming years. She has a fine tuned heart and is honest and kind.
Patricia is 8 yrs in standard 3, she is a strong girl full of fun yet willing to help out and well used to hard work. She is a loyal friend and has humor through the hard times. We also look forward to her discovering her gifts and call at a young age as she has a boldness that is surprising.
Rosie is 8 and in standard 3. Like her name, she has an inner beauty that comes out through her smile and the joy within. She is a girl who loves and does well at school, and has many friends. She has a quiet strength that lends strength to those around her.
Happy is 7 yrs old and in standard 3 and is a big sister to Promise, she so like her name is a happy child with a sunshine smile and like an oldest, quite mature for her years. When she came she had to learn to be little and play which she has and now works hard at school and yet can play with the rest. She is a joy to be around!
Hazel is 5 and the youngest sister to Tama Lucy and Deborah. Hazel is sweet and loving ready to please and a good friend she loves to be loved with cuddles and tickles. Hazel will start standard 1 next year.
Prisca is 4 yrs and will go to school next year with Hazel and Promise. She is a gentle child who loves to play hard, she is firmly attached to her friends and loves to do whatever they are involved in. We where told by her family that she has some difficulty with her learning ability from birth. We have not really seen that too much but may see it more when she is in school. Her sweet smile lights up a place
Promise is 4 and the younger sister of Happy, she will go to school next year with her two friends Hazel and Prisca. Promise is a determined independent little girl with a sweet spirit, easy to love and so far enjoying her part as the baby of the bunch. She will and does willingly lead singing and can carry a tune very well, she is also one who will develop her gifts at a young age with boldness.
Each child has come with their own story by family I would like to relate them as briefly as possible:
Ida Violet and Essie where the first children we brought in they where abandoned by their extended family left to fend for themselves at the ages of 11, 9, and 4 yrs in their little hut. They had little food and no hope for help for their future from family as there was no direct Grandmother alive and one Aunt who lived in the city. We met them only a week or so after their Momma passed away and it was through their Pastor a friend of ours at the time. Up to that point, we did not know for sure that we where to bring in young children, we had felt we where to work with girls but not sure how that was to look. Our hearts immediately opened to them and we bought them in, afraid and little and hopeless, soon to blend with our hearts and begin to live as a family in the best way possible we knew at the time.
A few days later after hearing of Ida and sisters we where reminded of Grandma Mary who had approached us a few times to take her two girls Dalitso and Stella 9 and 12 yrs old. She was getting old and was beginning to have problems with her hands with hoeing in the garden and chopping wood, not to mention with no way to provide for them with food and clothing. She was afraid she would soon not be able to care for the girls properly so we happily added the to the girls we already had agreed to bring in. The good thing too was they where friends and school mates with Ida Vi and Essie, so it made it somewhat easier to meld them as a family.
Alice came when she was 8 yrs with her Momma in 2009, she became one of our girls by heart and good friends with Essie right away. When her Momma passed in 2011 she went home to the village for a time then came back to be fully ours as her grandparents where also past the age and means to care for her.
Those where our first six girls that we had to leave for some years when we had problems with immigration here in 2010 and did not return until 2013 for a few months then full time 2014. The Lord was faithful and kept them well looked after and gave us the faith and means to keep them here and us believing one day to return despite what it looked like.
In 2015 we had a pastor approach us about a little boy Precious 4 yrs old that he found in the village. He had been kicked out of his Aunts house to live out in the field until his young Uncle left the same home to move back to his late sisters’ ( Precious’ mother) squalid run down abandoned home with basically no roof but a bit of straw and crumbling walls. They had no food and no soap even to wash with and the young Uncle left this little four yr old to run wild while he went to school. I went to see him just because we where asked to, but we both knew we where called to have girls here. So when I went home to tell Stew of this young grubby, wobbly legged, wonky eyed boy that went immediately into my heart,
We then heard of two little girls aged 7 and 9 living with a grandmother in a district far from here, that they where passing out in school from hunger. When we went to investigate the home we found a third girl a cousin of the others who was 12yrs who was also suffering in the home with the Grandma having no way to provide for her. So we then bought in Mines 7 Esther 9 and Tisunge 12. The youngest two of these children had not attended school much at all making them away behind in their age group to what standard they are in, although all three girls are very bright.
A year later or so we heard of little Dorothy 7yrs old in a nearby village, she was very undernourished and unschooled as well, not even able to count or print her name. We found out later the Grandmother was using her to carry big 20 litre pails of water for the neighbors to earn money, so was not sending her to school. The Grandma is a widow and Dorothys’ Mother was her only child and she had passed away some time before we met her.
Rosemary 7 yrs as well came from the same village came sometime later. She lived with a Grandma and a step grandfather that is not a good man. We believe the elderly Grandmas’ main concern was with her being in the home with him, although he left her sometime later, she too lives in abject poverty.
Patricia 7 yrs too is from our village and came from a home where she was used as a slave as well. The first time we saw her she had a 5 gallon bucket brimming with water on her head, being used by the Aunts in the home setting to be their servant. Again we saw the old Grandmas’ love and protection come into being through sending her to a place where she would have care, love and protection.
Happy 5 yrs and Promise 3yrs came to us via friends who knew the Grandma and again the same story repeated the Grandma with HIV and afraid when would happen to the children when she wasn’t around to provide for and protect them and although she is a younger Grandma we saw she knew what their near future would be and sent them happily to be here as apart of our family.
Tama, Lucy, Deborah and Hazel came very shortly after their Momma passed away, they where in the care of a ninety some year old Great Grandmother. One of our employees had gone to the funeral of their Mother and had come and told us about the four sad, lost and needy children. Tama although she was 12 when she came was still in standard two unable to read, write, or even count much or say the alphabet. the other two who where 10 and where also very behind in school. Little Hazel now five will start standard one in time next Sept.
Prisca 4 yrs came from a home with no Mom or Dad but two Grandmas one a great Grandma. She is a little slow in her learning capacity according to her family in the village, maybe slight cerebral palsy although so far we see little evidence of any problems. She lived in a very poor home and had little hope for her future and her Grandmas’ wanted to see her get the love and care she needed.
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I loved reading your blog about the fsmily at KARE Children’s Home!
You did a great job telling people About the children and I hope you gets lots of domations for your birthday!
Wow This is really amazing so well done.
I love that uourheart is to make a difference in this world by helping others.
The only thing I knew about you before was that you are a great dancer and love to dance.
That is me too…thankful such a precious girl is our great niece.Love,
Auntie Lucy and Uncle Adrie
Thanks so much guys for doing this. Joan and I along with all our children here at KARE Children’s Home appricate the hard work in putting this together and wanting to raise money for us. Have a great birthday and what a blessing you are.
Wow…good writing Kayla! Thank you for telling me about these wonderful children that Jesus loves.
it was not all me. It was my mamma too and my Aunty Joan and uncle Steward in Africa.
Dear Kayla, What a fantastic Birthday Project. I am so proud of you! Keep up the good work for the children of Africa.
Thank you Celeste for being a good teacher.
Kayla! Happy Birthday! Sorry this is a few days late but I love that your heart is to give so that others may know God’s love. It is hard for someone to learn and grow when they are lonely, hungry and cold. KARE home provides for those things we take for granted in Canada so their hearts can be free to hear and respond to Jesus. So thankful you gave me and Cy the opportunity to help on behalf of celebrating your beautiful life. May you continue to hear God’s heart for his children!
This is another step up from you sending donations yourself to encouraging and giving others the opportunity to give as well Kayla. It is a real blessing to KARE. Love you – Gram Phibbs