Ryan J Hale :

It is both exciting and somewhat daunting to see the work ahead of us with SeventyTwo. It is a new non-profit organization that I formed earlier this year to work with orphans around the world. It has been exciting, even now in the very early stages, to see how this work can be effective and help kids who have no families of their own.

We have been working with Jane Marcum over the last few weeks to understand more about our first opportunity in China. Jane has opened a home that is currently serving 38 kids in the town of XinMi, about an hour outside of Zhengzhou, China. Our intention is to come along side of her and provide resources including sponsorship of individual kids, resources for the ongoing operation of the home, and possibly expand out into neighboring towns and cities with work there. These kids have mostly come from the countryside where their parents may have been killed, maybe in mining accidents or other tragedies, or possibly they have been abandoned because of the economic pressures that many of the rural Chinese are feeling right now. Some of the kids have been found living in dirt caves cut out of the side of a hill or in homes where, like one story, a parent used to live but is now locked away because he is a danger to society. It is difficult to describe the horror of some of the stories of the individual kids and imagine that they would be able to recover from it, but as an extension of God's hand, Jane has worked with the authorities, found the kids, and brought them into the home in XinMi where they truly are thriving. The whole process reminds me of the picture of my wife in a garden where, if a plant has been failing in one place, it wilts to almost nothing. It has turned brown and has nearly died. She then takes it to a new place and provides nutrients and water, a new environment, and over time, the plant returns to strength, becomes green again, and is healthy. That is what I am seeing that Jane does with these kids and that is what we are going to be a part of and help out. To me, it is a picture of hope where there was no hope. It is a new life where there was no life.

We're going over to China in October to become oriented to the work happening there. Right now, Gina and I are going along with a couple of other ladies who we're excited to have with us! Genieve Grube and her sister Kaitlin have incredible hearts for God and are tender to what he has in store for them.

Meanwhile, Matt Grube, who is our lead pastor at the new Misseo Dei church where we have been going for the past few months, was at a seminary class in California where he met a lady named Heidi Lum from Hawaii. Heidi has a work called Advocates for Africa's Children which is an organization that works with kids caught in the AIDS crisis in Swaziland. They are a relatively new organization, working in Africa over the last year or thereabout. I have been in touch with Heidi who has been providing me information about how we can be involved with what they are doing. In Swaziland, they are not keen on opening orphanages but instead bringing abandoned children into homes in a fostering or adoptive situation. The problem is that the resources for individual families are scarce enough as it is that many families wouldn't be able to take care of any more children than what they already have.

One of the ways AFA has been addressing these problems is by working with the local Christian churches to start new micro-businesses that will provide funds to families who bring orphans into their homes. One example of the micro-business is starting a chicken farm where the chickens would be raised and sold in their local market. The churches are taking on the businesses to make the small money necessary to take care of the orphans in their area.

I really like this strategy because it partners with the local church to help solve the problems that the Church should be working to solve. It is also a strategy that provides renewable resources because after the initial investment of a few thousand dollars, the ongoing business will be able to provide for the needs of the kids being taken in by the community. There is other work going on here as well, but this is one of the strategies of the group.

I would like to plan a trip to also go to Swaziland some time soon. I'll need to work with Heidi and AFA to understand more about what this would look like, but that is definitely something that we'll plan to do.

At this point, I think it is time for us to begin raising money for the work that we'll be doing with these and other kids. We're pending 501(c)3 status, but I have reason to believe that we'll receive the full approval soon. I'll be posting more information over at the SeventyTwo website at http://www.seventytwo.org and showing you all the different types of work where we will be partnering. I've been providing some blog-style updates there as well, so be sure and watch that site if you're interested in seeing the ongoing details.

Posted by Ryan Hale on August 29, 2007; 6:47:43 AM