Faces of the Orphans

I met five other children at the house where I met Sarah.

They were all staying with Sarah at Rebecca’s (a police woman in Lira) house.  The police had gotten calls concerning these children and had the option to:
a) Put the children in jail (for lack of a better facility).
b) Take the children into their own homes.
c) Ignore them.

Rebecca as a single African woman who makes under 80US$/month has chosen option b.

When I met these children, they were all hanging around the house, sitting on the front porch, cleaning inside, waiting for something to happen.  Rebecca is gone at work all day, so these children must learn to take care of themselves.  They cannot go to school because Rebecca can’t afford to send them.

We sat on the front porch of Rebecca’s house, and these children told me their stories.  I would like you to hear them.

(Beginning at the top left and moving clockwise) First is Innocent.  Innocent is five years old.  When he was a baby, he was abandoned by his parents.  I don’t think he actually knows who his mother and father are.

Next is Gloria.  Her parents were killed by the LRA.  She couldn’t tell me one sentence about her mom and dad without big tears rolling down her cheeks.

On the top right is Dennis.  He is around the age of ten, and his father is in prison for killing his brother.  His mother is dead.  Dennis has an amazing smile.

On the bottom left is Moren.  Moren is four years old.  She was found abandoned on the streets when she was only a few months old.  She doesn’t know who her parents are.

Last is Irene.  Irene is 12 years old.  A mob killed her father for stealing.  Her mother couldn’t handle it and simply abandoned her kids.  Irene is the oldest of the six children, so I imagine she is more or less in charge of the others while Rebecca is gone.  Would you leave your 12-year old in charge of five other children all day while you went to work?

When we prayed together at the end of our visit, Irene prayed, and this is what she said.  “I thank You for keeping us alive not because we are good but because You are righteous.”  This is very close to a prayer Daniel prayed in Daniel 9.  Irene may be an orphan.  She may not be able to go to school.  She may be in charge of five other children, remembering all the while that her mother who ought to be there was in too much pain to care for her own children.  But Irene is thankful to God for His goodness.

Do you see the goodness of God in the faces of these children?

There ought to have been two more boys at this house when I came.  Moses and Bennett used to live at Rebecca’s house too, but they decided life was too difficult here and went back to living on the streets.

Both boys are six years old.