Dare to Dream

I know I have been HORRIBLE about updating my blog these past few months. I have concentrated my communication efforts into keeping a journal to write my monthly reports--hence the length of them all. So, if you are not on my mailing list and would like to receive them, just post a note here.

And even though I am blogging right now, I am going to cheat. Can you cheat at blogging? Yes, you can. I am going to copy Melissa. We work side by side daily and experience many of the same events, emotions, and desires. And, let's face it...she is a much better writer than me. :) So, here are some words she wrote about a future project that needs a great deal of time and prayer.



As many of you know The Manna Project is celebrating its six month anniversary. I can't believe it. It seems like yesterday that I was trying to feed hungry children out of the back of the truck with bananas and juice. The Manna Project started with a dream and a prayer and here we are…feeding hungry little ones. As much as they get physical food they are a source of spiritual food. God truly has blessed us to be in these children's lives and he continues to answer our prayers everyday as our needs arise.

Once again my heartstrings are being pulled. Do you know what I am talking about? That feeling inside of you that doesn't ever go away, the way your attention repeatedly goes back to something, where everything you see is a reminder of that nagging feeling. I think that is a spirit thing. That tugging of your mind, heart and soul. It is really hard to explain. I just know that when something is pressing on my heart and mind that I had better take notice, that there is something I need to be paying attention to.

In this case it is the need for a safe place for children to go. This started out with a vision of a no-cost daycare center for the children of Mololoa. I cannot tell you what it does to me to see a young child standing in the road sobbing. The little guy is crying so hard he can only gulp air in, his little face is wet with tears, standing half dressed, barefooted in the middle of a dirt road, crying. His mother has left him alone. My first thought was, What?! How could she? The little guy can not be more than three or four years old, how dare she leave him alone, what kind of mother is she? She is the kind of mother that has no choice. She is the kind of mother that is so common here. She has to choose, stay home with the child or go to a job and make enough money to scrape by and to be able to feed the child. What a choice. No one should have to make such a choice, but they do everyday. I have also watched an older child stand in the middle of this same road watching as his friends all head out to school while he stands there with a younger sister pulling on his hand and a baby brother on his hip. It is so sad to see the look of disappointment as he is left behind. But what choice? Leave the baby alone and go to school, or stay home and take care of the family while mom tries to sell gum on the street corner to make enough money for dinner. Once again a choice no one should have to make, but they do everyday. It is simply survival, they are not bad mothers, most are very loving and caring mothers and it breaks their hearts to leave their children alone or in the care of an older brother or sister, but when it comes down to it they have to eat and buy water or they cannot live.

Well this is why my heartstrings are being tugged. We used to own and run a state licensed preschool in the states for 42 children. I know that we can do something so that children are not crying in the streets and so that children are not missing out on the chance for a better life through education. So we need a daycare...the mothers and the children need a daycare.

My prayers began. One prayer was answered immediately; we were able to purchase the perfect piece of land for the daycare. Prayers continued, but as we are planning this daycare another need comes to my attention. With the help of individuals and churches we have set up a scholarship program where for fifty dollars a year we can get a child into the public school system with the needed supplies (school here is not free, but that is a different subject and mission). Working with the parents and children as well as working with numerous children every Sunday I have noticed that the children are very far behind on the basic skills that you would expect any child getting ready for kindergarten to have. I have 8-year-old children who cannot hold a pencil, they are intimidated by being asked to make basic craft projects, and have never held a pair of scissors much less cut something out. These are all skills that our children pick up early because they are given the opportunity to develop fine motor skills such as coloring and cutting. Those opportunities are not available to young children here. So the second part of the dream came into being. A preschool, why can't we have a daycare for the little ones and a preschool for the young ones preparing for school? Well we can do that if God is willing...our heart is willing. So a daycare/preschool.

I have noticed lately a lot of children coming by the kitchen and asking Jennifer for home work help. They only have four hours of class per day and their parents are often not even able to write their name or read a preschool book, so there is no one to go to for help. So if we are already open and have the room why not add an after school program where kids can come to get help with their homework? Well we are already having English classes so we might as well open it up to the younger students, and you know that if the children could learn computer skills as well…………… That could change their lives. To be able to speak English and work a computer could open so many more doors to these guys. And then my friend Jennifer (a teacher and librarian) said, "What about a library for the children?" Okay why not. So our initial plans for a daycare have undergone a transformation. While I have been praying to get this daycare started and wondering when; God has been using this time to slow me down and open my eyes to other needs that can be met at the same time. My limited imagination thought A daycare, wow that is just what they need, God wanted me to imagine something far more needed. For lack of a better term for the moment a daycare/preschool/after school/English and computer class/library/? (The question mark is me not limiting God and being open to his will).

Well that's about it, my heartstrings are being pulled, my spirit nudged and I know that with prayer God can and will use us to do great things in his name and for his glory.

So please everyone pray and then pray some more. We are asking for prayer for guidance at this time. The need for the daycare/preschool/after school /English and computer class/library/? project is weighing heavenly on our hearts. To see such a great need everyday can be overwhelming. We are asking that everyone pray for God's will and timing and not our own. We also are asking that the right people be brought into our lives at this time to help us with the planning stages as well as with the long term operations. We know the talents of our fellow brothers and sisters; we know that the Lord has equipped us for every good work. Planners, teachers, childcare providers, fund raisers, prayer warriors, management, leaders, builders, mothers, fathers, anyone with a heart for God's work and children we need you, the children need you.

Jesus himself will enable us to produce a harvest--not of our own strength but in his. Please let me know if you have any questions or ideas. We would love to hear from you.