Canaan Children's Home

In the afternoon, we went to another orphanage called Canaan Children’s Home. It was started by an African pastor named Isaac (his wife’s name is Rebekah – by the way).

He shared his testimony with us. The short version is this:

He was a young pastor in the 1970’s when Idi Amin came to power in Uganda. Persecution followed as Amin desired to rid the country of all white people, foreigners, and then missionaries/Christians (kind of Hitleresque). He, being a Christian pastor, was rounded up together with some other pastors and arrested. He was taken to a facility where he was beaten and tortured. He was asked to renounce his Christianity. He refused. He, along with about 30 others were taken out to be shot. Through a series of “circumstances” he ended up only being shot in the arm, but since he was so covered in blood from his previous beatings, they did not recognize this. He, along with the others that were shot, was piled in to a truck. They were driven out to a big hole in the ground and dumped. Providentially, he ended up on top of the heap. He said he heard God tell him, “Arise and get up. You will become a father to the fatherless.” He survived and was eventually reunited with his family. The first orphans that were brought to him he accepted reluctantly, but since then, God has grown that orphanage so that now there are over 100 children there. He has become the father to the fatherless, an example of our Heavenly Father.

Several months ago, the girls’ dorm house at Canaan was suspiciously set on fire. No one was hurt, and the Lord has provided financially so they could rebuild. However, they were in need of new mattresses and sheets for the dorm. Our team purchased these. It was especially satisfying for me to be able to be a part of this. This last year has been a tiring year. I can’t tell you how many times I have climbed in to bed and told God “thank you” for my bed. It has been such a place of comfort, rest and security and I have truly been thankful for it. Recently (in the months before going on the trip), however, my prayer has changed from just a prayer of gratitude for my own blessings, to asking God to help me help others have similar blessings/privileges. In other words, being grateful isn’t enough. My gratitude needs to spur me to action to bless others. The opportunity to purchase these beds was a fulfillment of this prayer.

As we did with Katie’s kids, we had enough shoes to provide all of the kids at Canaan’s with shoes as well. So we went through the same routine: size, wash, fit with shoes. By the end of the day, there were new pink and blue flip-flops running around all over the place.

One in our group (Daniel) had made soccer goals out of PVC pipe and brought a set for us to leave at Canaan’s. As a result, the men in the group set those up and played soccer with the boys. Interestingly, we had brought some clothing (that had been donated from Birmingham) the day before and distributed to the kids. There was a boy there with a Briarwood soccer T-shirt on playing soccer there at Canaan’s. It was a cool sight and reminded me that kids are not so different. They like the same kinds of things – even on opposite sides of the globe.

The rest of the day was spent sharing lunch with the kids and staff at Canaan’s, doing some crafts with them, sharing some music together, and taking a tour of their facilities. A lot of good things are going on there. The thing that impressed me the most, I think, was that when you talked to the children, they all had such great aspirations for their lives. Every child I talked to told me they wanted to do something like be a lawyer, an accountant, a teacher, or some other type of professional job. The kids had hopes and dreams and the leadership at Canaan’s had managed to fuel those dreams and make those kids believe that they could fulfill them. That is indeed a great work!