About the Orphans

Where Did These Orphans Come From?

I made my first trip to this area of southern Sudan near the Darfur region in May of 2007. I was asked to bring a 3-day Pastor’s Conference to 135 leaders for 150 newly planted churches in that region. This area is like the wild west in many aspects, as only a make-shift type government has been set up in southern Sudan. The orphan compound is actually in a village in the corridor between north and south Sudan about an hour from Darfur. For security reasons, we are not allowed to give the village name.

On this first trip to Sudan, a leader from the village approached me to let me know that 150 children had been dumped outside their village. They were told to either care for them or watch them die. I wasn’t sure if there was much I could do, if anything, but I promised this leader that I would inform my friends and supporters of this urgent need, and we would do what we could.

I came to find out that these orphans were the offspring of Sudanese women from southern Sudan who had been taken as slaves by the men from northern Sudan. When these women gave birth, the offspring would be unwanted by the men from the north. Their solution? When the kids were old enough, they put them in the back of a dump truck to cart them down to southern Sudan to dispose of them.

I have made two more trips to this village since May of 2007, and God has graciously moved. With the help of many in the USA and England, we have established some important support structures: a make-shift medical clinic, 3 water wells with tanks and distribution system, a feeding center for the orphans, and even the beginning of the CrossWay Christian School..

Shortly after my second trip to Sudan, the Commissioner from this province gave us another 350 orphans which all had come from the violence in Darfur. We lost one little boy in November of 2008 to a deadly cholera outbreak. This leaves us now with 499 orphans between the ages of 3 to 12.

We just took on 50 more orphans from the Abyei region who showed up at our orphan compound in very bad shape.  They came to us as a result of the ongoing violence of the Arabs up north who are strafing communities with their war planes.  We hope to have their pictures up on our website soon.  This makes a total of 549 orphans that we are looking after.

What Is The Condition Of These Orphans?

In general, they are quite happy and oblivious to their deplorable plight. They are somewhat undernourished, and some suffer from respiratory problems and various forms of worms.

Right now, we are able to feed them sorghum twice a day and occasionally mix some goat meat into their diet (around $2500 a month). We have also taught them to use fishing nets in the river to supplement their diet, and we are also paying a man to train them in the area of growing crops now that they have water wells. In addition, some have given toward the purchase of milk cows (around $500 each), which the orphans care for themselves.

Their clothing is another issue. They wear mostly the same thing every day all the time. We do wash their clothes, but not often. When they do have their clothes washed, they put 30 boys or girls in a hut, have them throw their clothes out for washing, and they sit there naked until the washing is done. We could desperately use more clothes. However, the shipping of clothes from the USA is not really feasible, as this location is very remote, and it is very costly to ship anything there. We can, however, purchase the needed clothes in the market of a larger town for around $10 a child.

Their shelter is now being provided mostly by the villagers of this town and the surrounding area. Only 30 to 50 of the orphans live on our 1 acre compound. We are grateful for these families who have taken in orphans, as many of these families cannot even feed themselves adequately. We have agreed to provide the food for these orphans if they will provide some shelter and allow them to live in their family structure. So far, this seems to work well, and is far better than 499 orphans all huddled together in a compound situation. So our Orphan Compound has morphed into more of a feeding and caring center for the orphans, which is far better than an actual conventional orphanage.

We also have an agreement with the only semi-trained medical person in the village that if we provide medicine free of charge, he will see to this need. But the possibility of disease is high, including threats of malaria, cholera outbreak, and most recently an outbreak of menengitis nearby.

The CrossWay Christian School has right now 10 teachers. They face severe challenges as well. Right now they have 5 blackboards, 425 paperback New Testaments in English, and no other books or school supplies. The School has been up and running for only a few months now and has a long way to go.

Again, the cost of shipping books is prohibitive, but we can buy books in a nearby town. These books will run about $10 a student for the most basic primary books.

Our hope is that within 3 to 5 years, the orphans, with the help of their caretakers, will be self-sufficient, as we do not want to create a syndrome of dependency or welfare situation. But this will take time to put in place. Until then, they have some great needs, and we invite others to stand in the gap with us as God leads and uses us to rescue these precious souls. Our long term goal is to win them to Christ, train them up, and then send them out as His little army of evangelists. Please prayerfully consider how God might lead you to support and look after these orphans.

James 1:27 – “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after the orphans and widows in their distress…”

Matt 19:14 – “Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

How Can You Help?

Please pray for these orphans and those who care for them. Moses Bol and Pastor Samuel Kur are our two paid managers over the orphans. They need your prayers, as they and their families often face severe hardships and health concerns. The 5-month-old son of Moses was recently operated on for a double hernia, and Moses suffers from screw worms and will face surgery soon to have them removed.

To support these orphans, simply go to the Support the Orphans tab and follow the directions.

For more information on CrossWay International and our wider ministry, go to: www.gocrossway.org