The other day I was talking to some of my co-workers about Tascha and I working in Kenya. One of them asked “What exactly will you be doing over there?” I told them we would be working with youth, orphans and street children. “How long will you be there?” “Two years” I responded. Then she said “I’m not trying to be rude or critical or anything, but why are you going to Kenya for two years to work with orphans and youth when we have tons of orphans and youth here that need care?” That’s a very good question. There are a lot of orphans and youth here in the states that need care. I was one of them.
I grew up in a broken home. My parents divorced when I was only 2 months old and my mother never remarried. I didn't have any siblings and grew up basically by myself. My mom lived a very structured life. I was the complete opposite. I am an out of the box thinker and very spontaneous. We had a mother-son relationship, but it wasn't as strong as I would have liked it to be. I went to a Christian school, where I was introduced to the Lord, but I didn't really have a relationship with Him until college. Mom and I never went to church and my mom claimed to be a Christian, but there wasn't really any fruit of a relationship with Him.
In March of 2004 I was on my way home from Maine after a spring break mission trip. My mom called me and informed me that her brother had died from a heart attack. It was hard on all of us, but it hit mom the hardest. Chuck was her best friend and life without him was going to be hard. That July, I received word that my father had passed on. I never knew my dad, never got to hear his voice and now I never would. In December 2004, mom was diagnosed with Pancoast Syndrome, a very rare form of lung cancer. Two years later, on September 16, 2006, she lost her battle. I was 21.
I can’t really explain what I felt. I was devastated, mad, sad, frustrated, confused. The next January, I was in the financial aid office at ETSU and was told I had a new grant. I was excited and asked what it was for. They told me what it was and that it was for orphans. “Excuse me?” They then informed me that in the state of Tennessee, if you are under 25, still in school and have lost both parents, you are considered an orphan. My heart sank. I felt like I was all alone in the world, no family, no one to go to and that I had absolutely nothing. “I’m an orphan?” I said to myself over and over and over. When I thought of orphans, I typically thought little kids in Africa or Asia. God was shaping me and molding me. I didn't know it at the time, but hindsight is 20/20.
My good friend James and the staff at the Well Ministries on campus became Christ to me. They reminded me that God does love me, that He does care for me and that He has an awesome plan for my life! They showed me that I was not alone, but in fact part of a huge family in Christ! They invested in me, discipled me, cared for me and loved me. God used them to breathe life back into these dry bones. While in college I have had the opportunity to go to East Asia and Kenya to work with children and students. It was in Kenya that I felt the call to ministry. After I got back from Kenya, I started volunteering with the youth at my church. My final senior year at ETSU I became a youth and college intern. After graduation, Tascha and I got married and I became a Youth Director in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 2012, we moved to Alabama where I was a Worship Director and we both volunteered in the youth department. It was that year that we went to Uganda to work with orphans. In Uganda, God revealed to both Tascha and I that He wanted us to love on orphans. After much prayer, we felt that Kenya was the place He was calling us to.
In Sub-Sahara Africa, there are 43.4 million orphans. 3 million of them reside in Kenya. To put that in Jeff terms, there are more orphans in Kenya than there is total number of children in the state of Tennessee! Currently in Kenya, 700 children are orphaned every day, 1/3 due to HIV/AIDS.
Yes, there are orphans and youth in America that need love and care. God has a plan for each and every one as He did and still does for me. God also has a plan for the youth and orphans of Kenya and Tascha and I are apart of that plan. We are excited for what God has in store for us! Please let us know if you would like more information about this ministry or would like to be a part of it! To financially support this ministry, please visit www.wgm.org/fyke
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:18
