There is this orphanage that my team and I have been privileged to visit and work at this month. One of many ministries we’ve been tasked with, it has been the place that has hit all of us the hardest.
The owner, Milli, began this orphanage three years ago, when she looked around her and began to feel overwhelming pity and compassion on the orphans of her village, particularly the “girl child” as they were the most vulnerable and the most easily lost to prostitution. She welcomed 11 young girls into the home where she lived with her own three children and husband.
Her husband left her for another woman soon after, and she had to leave her home. She took her three children, and the 11 orphans, and found a place in town. A local pastor found them, welcomed them into his church, and began to support the growing ministry. More and more children were rescued from the streets as a safer place became available.
Finally feeling some weight lifted, Milli and her girls began volunteering in the nearby slums, working with the elderly and the young who had succumbed to jiggers, a nasty parasite that burrows into the flesh and eats away at the tissue, causing intense pain as the flesh begins to rot. This is apparently a huge problem in this area of Kenya, and Milli and her girls wanted to give back. They also worked around the village, helping to clean houses, garden, and cook for neighbors- anything they could do to make a difference.
Things seemed to be going great but… as things go in desperate situations… the pastor who was supporting the orphanage, paying rent and electricity and so on, began asking some of the older girls to come to his home and “help out.”
You know where this is going.
He began seducing the girls, telling them if they didn’t sleep with him, he would stop supporting the orphanage and they would once again be homeless and without protection or provision. Four of the girls gave in- ages 13, 14, 16, and 17. Milli finally found out about what was happening when the 17-year-old became pregnant.
She confronted the pastor immediately and he answered arrogantly, saying it was the girls’ fault, and he was going to withdraw his support of them. Milli and the girls left his church, and began to pray for God’s support. A lot of the girls became very angry with God, with “Godly men” and with church.
All Milli could do was cry out to God.
They have been struggling ever since.
No one has stepped up to help support this ministry. No church, no local families, no international ministry. Milli continues to raise, home school, love, and nudge toward Christ the now-32-in-number children. They pray daily for God to provide supernatural miracles. They have twice been threatened with eviction from their home for not being able to pay rent. They’re hoping to make enough money to pay for a small piece of land to buy a mudhut for the children- something rent-free and that they can call their own.
Oftentimes they don’t have electricity. The older girls who are enrolled in public school don’t have shoes. They’re ostracized. They have two bunkbeds, two regular beds, and lots of space on the concrete floor to share while sleeping. They have few blankets. Each child has 1-2 sets of clothing, often bearing broken zippers, missing buttons, and none have underwear. In the “winter” months, when clothes don’t dry, the children run around in wet clothes. Health care is nearly non-existent. Sanitary towels are non-existent which, for the older girls, is the worst part of their poverty. None have toothbrushes. They struggle for soap to wash, or oil for their skin.
Some days they don’t eat.
At all.
This was a day we brought food for them.
This is daily living for the children of the Havilah Family- the name of the orphanage. Milli’s birth children live with their grandparents and she sees them once every other day, so that she can stay in the orphanage and help provide for the babies.
Every day Milli and her orphans- all of whom call her “Mama”- cling to each other for love and support. Every day they pray to God, and worship Him for His abundance- even when they don’t experience the physical aspect of it. Every day they awake and attempt to make it through one more day.
And to see these babies… to see these children and young ladies… each has a smile on his or her face. Every time we drive up to their home, they run outside and jump into our arms, hugging us and cheering. They sit in our laps, they play games with us, they show us new dance moves they’ve been working on.
We have dance parties.
These children who have literally nothing have joy.
Precious, precious faces
Yes, the younger ones cry all day when there is no food.
Yes, the older ones cry when they are attacked at school for being poor.
But every day they get back up, and they begin again.
And to experience the love they have for each other- to watch the twelve-year-olds holding and feeding the two-year-olds… to experience the love they so freely give to us… is to experience a little piece of heaven.
And here is my plea to you, my knitters, my crocheters, my compassionate hearts:
While Milli is setting up an Sponsor-A-Child monthly program, there are other ways you can help out. If you have been touched by this story, if your little heart strings have been pulled, I’d like to invite you to consider partnering with Milli’s orphanage, the Havilah Family.
I know you all love to make things. It’s what we knitters do! I would like to invite you to start working on a Love-The-Havilah-Family Project: making hats, socks, sweaters, and (most importantly) blankets for all ages- 3 months to 17 years- and sending them to Milli. You can get together with some of your yarn-working friends and split the cost of sending a box overseas.
Sometimes, if you’re like me, you have excess yarn and no real idea what to do with it. Maybe you’re in-between projects, or you just don’t know what to do with those four skeins of neon orange yarn you got at the office party last Christmas. I don’t know.
But what I do know is that here is an opportunity- a real need- for some love. It gets awfully cold in Kitale, Kenya in the evenings and especially during the wet season. These kids need blankets. They need clothes. They need to feel like they aren’t alone.
And you and I can help! Get out those knitting needles, grab that crochet hook, or even clean out your closets! Send your Love-The-Havilah-Family projects to Milli, and feel love increase around the world.
a little something like this, perhaps
If you have a further desire to be involved, leave me a blog comment with your email address and as soon as Milli has her Sponsor-A-Child monthly project available, I will let you know. It’ll be an opportunity to sponsor a child, similar to Compassion International- a monthly donation will provide food, clothing, books for school, soap for bathing, and other essentials. I’ll make sure to write another blog with more information about it as soon as I have it.
Thanks in advance for the loving work you’re already preparing to do on behalf of the children of the Havilah Orphanage. I know when your gifts of love arrive, the lives of these young girls and boys will be changed forever. Because beyond the money you might put into buying yarn or mailing clothes, you are sending hope, support, encouragement, and courage to the orphans of Kitale, Kenya.
And for that, I bless you.
All Love Projects can be sent to:
Hearts of Mercy
Havilah Family
c/o Milli Dindi
P.O. Box 2503
30200 Kitale, Kenya
