Exponential Expansion...

"If you give a Giving HOpe kid a dollar, he makes it into ten. If you give any other kid a dollar, they go and buy sweets" - Jerry Savuto

The orphans were unusually quiet yesterday afternoon. Normally surrounded by the cacophony of daily life in Maua, fourteen orphans were sitting nervously on a small hill waiting for the last four to show. Each had a small suitcase or bag that would contain all the would need for the next four days as they headed for training at a bio-agricultural farm. Each is a representative from their working group and will learn for four days, earn a certificate, and then return to train all the other orphans in their working group.

Out of the fourteen orphans, I only recognized two. One was the secretary for the group who is a well spoken young man and a beautiful poet. He wrote a poem about Giving Hope that was performed by his thirty-member working group. The other orphan I recognized was a seamstress dressed in a beautiful turqoise suit that she had made. The day before, we had visited her shop and her home. Her smile when she recognized us as we walked up was only contrasted by my memory of her tears the day before as she remembered the pain in her past. While nothing can make up for the pain in her past, she is going to learn how to transform her small plot of land into a lush means of support for herself an her son. The next four days will not just transform her live and teach her how to be more successful, but the impact will be exponentially expanded as all those in her group learn when she gets back.

This is, in fact, the most amazing thing about Giving Hope. It is not a dollar-for-dollar enterprise. Jerry Savuto, a missionary from the General Board of Global Ministries from Grapevine Texas, talks about how proud she is of the Giving HOpe kids. She even joked that Dickens (See previous post) might out-earn all of us. When you give anything to these kids, they seem to make it worth exponentially more.

This group of orphans is going to the farm because a group from America took a few kids there last year and it was so successful that they are taking more this year. This group went back to visit one of those kids this year to see how he was doing. Moses, according to the team, has transformed his plot of land into a litttle piece of paradise. Moses turned his few days of learning into a lifetime of food and happiness. He even made a flower garden modeled after the flower garden at the farm. This orphan has the time to care for flowers merely because they are beautiful. Moses took what was given and then used it to exponentially grow what he had. As I stood looking at these orphans on the hill, I allowed myself to dream about the future that these kids may have. I allowed myself to dream their dreams and I told them that I would return. I know that I am coming back in January and when I introduced myself, I told them that I would see how they put what they learned to use. In that moment, I was transformed from a one-time visitor to someone that will be part of their future. I told them that I would be back and I cannot wait to see how they will take what is given and make it into something more.

That is such a Godly act. God takes the world of pain and redeems it. God takes our meager offerings and brings about good. God takes ourselves - as sinful and pathetic as we are - and allows us to offer hope to the hopeless. God can use our gifts and change the world.