Serving His Children

Today I wanted to take a moment to tell you about an amazing ministry led by an incredible woman of God, Renee Bach.  http://www.servinghischildren.org  


At the age of 18, Renee went to Uganda on a calling to serve God there.  At the age of 19 or 20 she started the ministry Serving His Children.  In addition to a feeding program for children in the area, she has started a malnutrition rehabilitation program.  She takes the children that have been cast aside by hospitals and doctors and said to have no chance of survival.  Sometimes already given up on by their own mothers, she takes these little ones and loves them and tenderly nurses them back to health.  Sometimes this means getting up every hour, 24hrs a day, to feed the small amounts that their bellies can handle.  I was so excited to catch a glimpse of the day to day of the ministry while we were in Jinja.
Here is Renee (left) and a good friend, Shanna that comes whenever she can to help out.

The little boy they are holding was a child that had just come to their ministry a couple of days before we got there.  His name was Andrew and he was four years old.  Unfortunately, he got to their door too late and he passed away the day after we left.  This completely broke my heart.  To know that this little boy had to suffer and die in such a way.  Not from an incurable disease, but from starvation.  NO child should have to suffer like that.  I know he is with our Lord now, and in pain no longer.  Sweet, sweet rest Andrew.

I hope that Renee's story can be an inspiration to us all that we all have something we can offer these sweet children.  Whether it is to be extraordinarily brave like Renee and move to a foreign country at the age of 18 or to be one of the many people that God is calling to support people like Renee.  WE ALL HAVE A PART TO PLAY.  And I hope the images of these precious children will help you realize that we can't deny that any longer.  If you would like to support Renee's ministry, Serving His Children, you can find a link here  http://www.servinghischildren.org  

These three images are of 18 month olds that are the size of newborns.  They are improving daily under SHC's care.

This little boy is Robert.  He has an amazing story that you can read more about here http://servinghischildreninuganda.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html  He has come so far under Renee's care and is showing amazing signs of recovery.

And finally, this is Betty, who captured my heart while we were there.  Betty is 14yrs old and also suffers from CP.  She has done so well under the program that she is almost to a point where her mom can take her home.  The great thing about Renee's program is not only do they nurse the children back to health, but they also use the time with the mothers to teach them about nutrition and how to grow food so that the children will not end up back in these conditions.

Canaan Children's Home

So I have SO much that I want to share.  Trying to decide where to start I figured I should start with Canaan's just in case you only read this one entry and decide I am a terrible writer and give up on me.  I will forever be changed by the children that I met at Canaan's and by Pastor Isaac and his wife, Rebecca.

(the precious children of Canaan's)

Canaan Children's Home is a ministry started in 1996 by Pastor Isaac and his wife.  Isaac has the MOST incredible testimony and life story that I have ever heard.  There seriously could be a major Hollywood movie made of it, but they are the most humble couple you will meet.  He received a clear vision from God to father the fatherless and Canaan's is the result.  In total, they care for 120 children with the help of some incredible servants of God.  They feed them, shelter them and educate them.  They depend heavily on sponsorship for the children.

This is Frank.  He is the newest part of our family, by way of sponsorship.  He is 2yrs old and has been at CCH for about 6m.  I am amazed that my friend was able to get these smiley pictures of him because usually anytime he saw one of us Mzungu's (white people) he started crying and ran to one of the two people that he trusted in this world.  

At first I thought it was just us, because we were white, but he pretty much has the same reaction to all the staff.  He broke my heart.  To be so young and already so afraid of the world.  

I made it my mission for the week to earn his trust and I made big progress in the world of Frank.  When we were leaving he had Chris, a 13yr old boy that he constantly clung to, to find me so he could wave goodbye to me and shake my hand.  That little gesture meant the world to me.  

Of course, maybe he was smiling so much at me because I was finally going to be leaving him the heck alone, but I like to think it is because he truly began to like me.

Either way Frank will forever be a part of the Segner household and we will remember him daily in our prayers and support him the best that we can.  

There are still many children that need sponsorship.  I can vouch that your money will be going to an incredible ministry to support some amazing young kids.  For more information please visit their website at http://canaanchildrenshome.org/

Pastor Isaac truly does have an amazing story and I hope to find a way to share more of it, but you can see a short video about him and CCH here  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUHtADSpmF0&feature=player_embedded 

Back from Africa

There are a million things I would like to say, but my heart can't bring me to say any right now.  It has been hard to process all that has happened over these last two weeks.  Coming home has been the hardest because our children here need us 100%, and at the same time my heart is broken for the children we left in Uganda.  It aches especially for a little boy named Allan that I love like he was my own.

I promise that I will blog more soon.  I hope you will read the stories and I hope that you will be effected by what we experienced.

I feel like I am pretty recovered from my jet lag so I hopefully won't just want to crash after we get the kids to bed and will be able to write about our journey.  I have so much that I want to share with you all.  So many injustices that I want to scream from the rooftop in hopes of being able to make a change.  And all the while I hear the enemies little voice in the back of my head asking "What can one person do? What difference can you really make?"  But I see the enemies lies and I KNOW that a change can be made.  Even if it is just for one child.

I don't know the exact plans that God has for our family, but I know that Jason and I will never be the same.....and I don't want to be.  I want to ache for Allan.  I want to be broken over the little boy that we met one day and he died the next.  I want all these feelings so that I never become dull to the reality of this world again.  So that I will always be praying for and looking for my part in serving God and His children.  I have hope for them and I just pray that they have hope too.