Faith

During this trip I realized how important both faith and hope are.

"Faith is being sure of what we HOPE for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

"Let us hold unswervingly to the HOPE we profess, for he who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10: 23 

Without faith we could not continue to hope for an outcome that may seem impossible in the beginning. The people a had the privilege of meeting and hearing their stories showed me that with faith and hope even what seems impossible can be achieved. 

On the second to last day of our trip we were introduced to Quame and the story how he and three others began building the orphanage during the war. The war in Sierra Leone reached every part of the country and went on for about 10 years, finally ending in 2002. But during the war violence was everywhere. Quame lost his father in the beginning and began to workout to be able to better protect himself from the rebels. The rebels for fighting a war for no reason (at least they never gave a reason for starting it.) 

Around this time Chris and Debbie Clark from Seattle Washington decided that an orphanage needed to built in Freetown (the capital of Sierra Leone.) So Chris went to Freetown to visit churches to get people to begin building the church and Quame was one of the men who volunteered. At this point he was only around 17 years of age. He and three other men began to build the orphanage. But as the war came closer to Freetown it became harder and harder to build without parts of it being destroyed or supplies being taken. But they still had hope and believed in the cause and persevered. 

The men would take turns guarding the supplies to the best of their ability but one night Quame and another man were stripped down, and tied up with a number of other men by a man known as the "evil spirit"; the evil spirit was a man known for walking down the street and killing a man for no reason. One by one he went down the row of men shooting them in the head. Quame and his friend took turns praying and asking for their lives to be spared and then the other would pray while the other explained that they were not rebels and that they were building an orphanage for the children of Sierra Leone. As the evil spirit went down the row shooting each man he stopped and Quame and his friend and said "go and pray for our children"...and let them go!! 

What is even more unbelievable to me is that when Chris Clark heard about what had happened he told the men to leave Freetown and return when the war was finished and complete the orphanage then. But the men refused, they said that they were looking at it as if kids were already living their and they had faith that God was with them as they built the orphanage. 

These men risked their lives because they had hope in what was to come and faith in the God who would help them overcome all obstacles, as long as they kept their eyes on him in the process. And when you sit with Quame and look into his eyes you see Jesus. You see the amazing faith this man has. You see happiness for being able to use the building he built to house children who, he would later go out and get for the home. Children who have witnessed both of the parents murdered. Children who have been beaten and raped on the street. Children who have been left to die from starvation because no one will care from him. He sought them out, found them, loved them, and have them a their life. 

Mother Theresea once said "It is the greatest poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live how you wish." Quame gave his life for God and when he did that he served God in a way that would honor only him. He served him by worrying for others more then himself. Living a life with the risk of death at any moment is not ideal for anyone but he knew that if he didn't children would be faced with that reality...

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us". Romans 5:3-4