I hosted, 8 teenage/young adult orphans and an intern from the orphanage. (ages 12-19) Two of my Cameroonian friends, Sophie and Enih helped me facilitate the weekend.
We started the weekend discussing the hopes and dreams of all the girls and getting to know them a bit better. It's been a while since I have spent time with them and they were meeting my new "staff" for the first time.
Our topics of discussion for the weekend were: Identity in Christ, love, forgiveness and we spent a great deal of time discussing what it means to truly have a relationship with the Lord. I taught about having a servants heart and how servant-hood starts in our homes. This is an interesting concept when you live in an "institution" and are used to "fighting" for just about everything. We did some practical things as well. We used team-work to make all of our meals and clean up, they were taught the proper way to set a table, they learned how to use cutting boards and a garlic press! The garlic press was a HUGE hit. Most people chop vegetables in their hands here. It was comical to see the girls attempting to cut on the cutting board. Their comments were hysterical.
In between our lessons, we played games, I had one on one conversations with the girls and we danced. They were so surprised that Auntie Yaya knew how to dance with the beat. They told me that they didn't know American's could do that! :-)
On Sunday morning I thought I was coming to wake them up to get ready for church. What a surprise I got, when they were all awake on mattresses in the living room having morning prayers. Such a blessing to my soul. I took them to a local church that is full of young people on fire for God and they had a GREAT time. They live, go to school and church all at the orphanage so it was good for them to experience church with others.
After church we prepared our last meal and discussed the Biblical Truths and Character development things.
When it was time for evaluating the weekend, I asked what did you learn? The first girls response, was, I learned what it means to have a real relationship with Christ. My heart burst. Out of all of the fun things we did and learned, this was the most important aspect of the weekend for me and she "got it."
While I had a fantastic time with the kids there were some things that left my heart broken:
- This was the FIRST time any of them had used a real toilet. They are used to using pit toilets or simply going outside.
- NONE of them had ever seen/used a shower. They take baths in buckets. sometimes outside as well.
- This was the FIRST time any of them had sat at a table for a "family" meal. The orphanage where they live has 150 children and they cook outside over firewood and eat outside sitting on the ground. They commented over and over how special it was to have "family dinner."
These girls have not become discouraged with the fact that they are orphans. Their is such a stigma attached to being an orphan in this country. Orphans are not treated well in this country and are often ostracized. We reminded them that they are children of the Most High King which means that they are princesses and royalty.
They have dreams of becoming Doctors, Nurses, Journalists, Electricians and Builders! We will do all we can to help them achieve their goals.
It is such a blessing to be able to watch the kids learn and grow. We will be having another retreat with another set of girls from the orphanage in a few weeks. Additionally, Sophie and I will be teaching Bible and Life Skills weekly at the orphanage. I look forward to seeing what God does with each and every one of them in the future.
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