God is so creative and amazing the way He intertwines us with other people. We were about 2 months from leaving the States to come to Burundi and a friend from church said, “we met someone whose mom lives in Burundi. He would love to meet you before you leave.” His name is Tewen and it just so happened that he was living at OMS also, so we met at the top of the hill in Greenwood, Indiana on the OMS campus. We had no idea what God would have in store.

Tewen is from Congo originally, but has lived in a few different countries including Burundi for a few years. We talked about what we will be doing in Burundi and Tewen shared with us his heart for orphans. Fast forward to a few weeks ago I received a text from Tewen saying he was coming to Burundi to visit his mom and family. We were so excited to see him and we decided to do ministry together while he was here. Friday he visited widows with us and Saturday we visited an orphanage with him. He knows poverty and he knows the struggle so many Africans face, especially the orphans who have a very difficult life.

I have never been to an orphanage in Burundi before. I have met many orphans, in Burundi you’re an orphan if you do not have a dad and I have met many orphans who do not have either parent, but someone else is helping take care of them usually. This however, was an orphanage, a building with 40 children ages 1-23 with no parents and no one to take care of them. The director often finds the children on the streets and asks if they would like to come stay.

The hardest part of this experience was that this orphanage has no consistent outside help. They are completely reliant on local churches or good Samaritans that would volunteer and/or donate items. The directors name is Capitoline and she was incredible. She has no idea where their next meal is coming from or if it will, but she is there everyday to care for 40 children.

She said their most difficult problem is water. There is no running water, which is usual in Burundi but she has 40 mouths to feed and is reliant on the rains to bring enough water to cook, clean, bathe children, and give children water to drink. A well would be roughly $5,000 she said, but that is quite honestly their wildest dream. Here is our experience through photos….

As Tewen heads back to the U.S. soon we are thanking God for orchestrating our meeting him a few months ago. We are feeling filled by the time we had with him to minister to widows and orphans. We are thankful for his generous spirit and his deep heart to serve God and serve others. Please, pray Tewen would find a job quickly when he goes back to Indianapolis this month.

We will continue to visit this orphanage and continue to bless them with donations as much as we possibly can. We were talking about going shopping as a family the next few months to collect items to take to them for Christmas. One of those items will definitely be mattresses and pillows. We will also be reaching out and trying to connect people and organizations we know in the States to bring assistance to this orphanage. We will love them while we’re here and we will pray God brings others alongside to continue loving them when we depart physically.

I’m thankful for this opportunity we had to have our hearts ripped and broken for these precious children living 2 hours away from us. I’m thankful for the pain we feel after seeing their pain and their struggle. There is nothing easy about it, but the best part by far was being there with Burundians, Congolese and us-the Americans and we all said, “we don’t come in the name of a country or ethnicity, we come in the name of Jesus Christ who loves you and cares for each and everyone of you!”