hands of hope.

the last day that shan and i were in harare, we finally were able to carve out a bit of time to serve at an orphanage. it was something that i had set aside to do, but with christmas and victoria falls and days and days of travel, it just got put off. there are many in the city, and with a couple of inside connections and the kindness of shan's parents, we were able to make an appointment to pop in. that's why, on a humid, rainy afternoon we made our way to the Hands of Hope orphanage, only a couple minutes away from her home. 

all of the children, nine girls and two little boys, were abandoned on the streets of harare, zimbabwe. due to widespread ignorance birth control and the violent oppression of women bred by the shona culture, it has become increasingly difficult for families to support the excessive influx of children. many try to self-abort, which results either in the mother's death or retardation of the child, and babies are abandoned as early as minutes after birth in many different places around the city. as heartbreaking as it is to find a little one, it's just as difficult to think of the painful choices that mother's are forced to make to keep their large families afloat. 

in all honesty? i wish that we had been able to come to this special place much earlier. i would have loved to spend more time with those sweet little baby faces, to make the guarded looks of the older girls melt into smiles and give more than i received. while we were there, the girls put on a barbie cartoon entitled, "Barbie as the Island Princess" {you can see them watching above}. they were so excited. they sang along to the whole of the pirated dvd's soundtrack, lyrics twisting around the theme of a lost home, and a quest for family. the irony of video, and their rapt attention, piqued a sense of understanding and hope that i didn't expect to find. 

these are little girls, little boys, that have big dreams. i asked them each their names, what they wanted to be when they grew up. one, blessing, wanted to be a "big manager". leona dreamt of being a lawyer, another of a teaching profession and one simply desires to be a mom. hands of hope truly does breed home within the hearts of their children, they give each the leg up that they need and attempt to provide them with a home and sense of community that would have otherwise been lacking. God has a plan for this teeny orphanage, and each of the precious lives within.

"Give justice to the weak and fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute"

 Psalm 82:3