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Wanting to Expand and Finding Opportunities
Betikara has
more than twenty beds still sitting empty. We have fifteen lambs
who are growing in stature and, we hope, in wisdom. We’ve been at
the new home for almost a year now. Our caregivers are settled in and are
serving wonderfully. Daily routine goes so smoothly. We want
to share Betikara with other little needy lambs. For some reason
we don’t yet see clearly, God seems to be asking us to wait, even as we
itch to serve. Paperwork is the big hurdle these days.
In the last
year, we have heard of two separate instances when ex-patriot orphanage
directors were arrested for questionable practices (buying children, shipping
them out of the country). We have no idea how true the allegations
are, but we must be extra careful, extra transparent, and extra tedious
about adhering to the letter of the Malagasy law. As a result, we
watch lambs suffer while we wait for the endless paper trail.
We’ve followed
the paper trail for almost nine months with a little Comorian girl who
was left in Madagascar at birth, eleven years ago, with a Malagasy woman
who agreed to care for her but who is now dying and wants to see her little
charge taken care of properly. The local police are asking for bribes
amounting to $5.00 US, but we don’t dare offer a cent to the child’s guardian.
We would be accused of buying children. Meanwhile, the little girl
is not in school and both the child and the guardian suffer with worry,
hoping the guardian will not die before the paperwork is finished.
We can only stand by and watch.
Another extended
family has come asking for refuge for seven siblings whose parents are
both dead. Paperwork again. Only three of the siblings qualify
under our present registration, We are willing to apply for a change in
registration to take in more of these needy children if only the family
can finish the legal work. Again we wait, and again we wonder why
God seems to be asking us to wait.
About a month
ago, a set of grandparents in Georgia donated a very generous sum to enable
us to go south in Madagascar to the twins orphanage to take some of their
overflow. This week we received news that the Malagasy couple who
started and run the orphanage are in dire straits. The man has died
and the woman is barely able to hang on. It seems they need us more
than ever to come and help by taking on some of their children. Paperwork
yet again, and trying to finish paperwork within a province over 15 hours
away via very bad roads seems more of a hurdle than ever.
The Sisters
of Mercy (Mother Teresa’s order) run an orphanage right here in Antananarivo.
They house 70 children from birth to age 7. I met with their Mother
Superior recently. She asked if some of their seven year olds could
be taken on by Betikara because the Sisters of Mercy have no means of educating
the children and must find new homes for them by age seven. Seems
like a very workable opportunity, but none of the children in that orphanage
have any paperwork at all. The sisters take them in and ask no questions.
No one would dare question a Catholic organization in this country.
We don’t have that kind of status. We are a small independent organization
and we must be careful, very very careful.
The opportunities are crying out to us. We want to serve, and
just recently, God seems to be opening a door. Please pray with us
for patience and for our expansion to happen in God’s good time.
Please don’t forget to pray about volunteer housing
Recently, we
found a company in Madagascar who will construct within a three month time
period, a neat, little, well-built cottage. They do everything from
the foundation to the roof. They bring in the supplies, they do the
construction, they do the finish work and supply all the bathroom and kitchen
plumbing features. We would only be responsible for installing the
electricity and running water and that would be a natural extension of
the electric and water system we already have at the Betikara. We’ve
seen the little cottages this company produces and they are just the thing
for Betikara volunteer housing. Each cottage contains two very small
bedrooms, an even smaller common room, a teeny kitchen, and a combined
shower and toilet room. The floor size of the entire cottage is 22
feet by 22 feet. They are raw brick inside and out. We are
dreaming again.
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One cottage would
house two Betikara volunteers comfortably and four volunteers in a pinch.
We are dreaming about putting up 4 of these little cottages on the Betikara
land. We’ve already begun asking the Father for His guidance and
help. Two cottages would become Betikara Volunteer Housing and house
a maximum of eight volunteers. A third cottage would be perfect for
the little medical clinic that is Phase IV of the Betikara project, and
the fourth cottage would provide for a need that many of you have already
asked about. A fourth cottage would very nicely house a director
of the whole Betikara project. The director could live right on the
premises and oversee the orphanage, the farm, the medical clinic, and the
volunteer workers. We are dreaming again and we are not forgetting
to pray.
Phase I of Betikara is complete. Phase II will be completed
soon. If we start right away, Phases III, IV, and V could be completed
within three months to a year. It’s been a long project and a ton
of work to complete what we have already completed. Finishing three
more phases in one more year seems heaven sent. The cost of each
cottage is $16,000.00 at the current exchange rate. Four cottages
and the completion of the entire Betikara project would be $64,000.00.
We are dreaming again and praying. Please pray with us.
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