Mrs Moyo and Ryan, a year ago. She has since passed away.
I have seen so much pain, yet hope, in the eyes of mothers about to slip away from this life. There is a powerful silence that comes over a dying mother when she is asked what she worries about as life slips from this earth. Her consistent answer, “that my children will be alone” is haunting.
It doesn’t haunt us because we doubt God’s love for them. Scripture is clear about God’s love for them and through God’s love, an army of church based volunteers and relatives are embracing these children to provide a home. When this caregiver or pastor tells a dying mother they will care for her kids, this is the moment – the response – that gives Forgotten Voices’ work life, energy and devotion to much more love than my words can articulate well. You can feel the heaviness of that love commitment.
You and I get to provide affirmation to their faith when we say yes.
“That my children will be alone” haunts me because I meet so many people in the USA who want to be part of something bigger than themselves, but say “no” too quickly out of fear, selfishness or apathy. More importantly, the no’s haunt me because this is an opportunity God has placed before our lives to make sure the dying mother’s dream is not in vain. You and I, not anyone else, uniquely hear this mother or child’s story through Forgotten Voices. Who will answer with YES?
The longer we do this work the more we see the hardest part is setting the pain at the foot of the cross of God, then returning to tell a story to an audience that is likely to say, “no, we will not look after orphans and widows” far more than those who say, “yes, I’ll help.” But we must all keep sharing.
I want to be clear. I’m so immensely thankful for those who have joined us. I’m grateful for your gifts, your hearts, your love, and devotion. But as God stokes the flames of hope in my heart, I am yearning for far more to know what it means to give of themselves to invest in the life of a child who was alone. To invest in the heart of a caregiver who bravely takes in a child, without the resources to do so.
In joining these brave children and caregivers in Africa, we find rest in our inadequacies and learn to embrace the awesome, wholeness of God’s love spreading across the world. His love, not ours, becomes front and center stirring the seemingly dying embers of hope in each of our hearts. Slowly, with each breath, they are stirred back to life again – restored into a raging flame of light, hope, and love against all odds.
That reality I see and envision for the Church here and there is what we hope for at Forgotten Voices. This hopeful reality is the reason why we must take on the hardest parts again and again. None of this is about me or you. It’s about faith, humility, trust, and an unyielding love.
The hardest part is worth it, as another mother passes on, hoping someone new steps up. So, we keep sharing the stories to invest in the churches who help these children find a forever home. Even when – especially when – it hurts.
With you in love,
Ryan Keith, President