Goodnight Kisses

For most of her young life, six-year-old Marie went to sleep each night in a Rwandan orphanage dormitory with more than 20 other girls, praying for a mother to tell her goodnight. Every morning she awoke without a mother to dress her in clean clothes, ate breakfast in a room with 100 other children, and had no one who cared if she had enough food to eat.

Not far from the orphanage lived a woman named Bellia, who would soon be the answer to Marie’s prayers. As a mother to four grown children, Bellia always had a heart for children. Through her church, Bellia was introduced to The PEACE Plan and discovered how ordinary people were working to overcome some of the biggest problems her country was facing. This included a commitment to empty Rwandan orphanages through a partnership between the local Rwanda church and Saddleback Orphan Care Initiative. When Bellia learned about God’s heart for orphans, she immediately felt Jesus calling her to care for them.

Bellia made the decision to become a Community PEACE Trainer – a volunteer who trains families from her church about healthcare. She also began assisting families who had been reunited with or adopted orphaned children by visiting their homes and giving parenting support. Most incredibly, she was able to adopt Marie and give her a family. “I decided God has done well for me, so I will do well for God’s kids,” Bellia says.

Now, for the first time, Marie knows what it is like to have someone who cares just for her. In her husky little voice, she babbles on with stories about her day, wonders aloud about everything she sees, and asks her mother serious and silly questions about what it means to be a six-year-old girl. And every night, Marie knows God answered her prayers by giving her a mother who not only says goodnight, but tucks her in and sweetly kisses her on the forehead as she drifts off to sleep.

“GETTING TO ZERO” UPDATE

We are excited to announce that Esperance, an orphanage in Western Rwanda that was using children to grow and harvest pineapples, is down to just two children left waiting for families!

When the Orphan Care Initiative began working with the local churches in that area in 2013, there were 130 children living and working in Esperance. Now, 128 of those children have left the orphanage forever! Each of them has been embraced by the care of a loving family in the community.

To learn how you can be part of Getting to Zero in Rwanda by connecting every child in an orphanage with a family, click here or go online to orphancareinitiative.com.