Although we have special CBN or Orphan’s Promise Project Directors in the field, there are special occasions when I personally travel to different sites for a “look see” and to videotape the stories we find so we can share them with you.
Say “cheese”, our little group in Mongolia.
And so it was recently when our little Virginia Beach team left for China and Mongolia – what a trip it was!
We saw children at a home in Beijing who have Brittle Bone disease. Their arms & legs tend to have unusual curves where their bones were broken. One of the children we met is a 9 year old boy named Steven who is musically gifted. If he lived in the States he would probably attend Julliard! We had him play the piano for us, and we watched as he became transfixed by the music. While he was playing, he transcended all the negative aspects of his situation, including his wheelchair.
Chinese child with brittle bone disease.
Our next port of call was Ulanbataar, Mongolia where we visited several of the projects we support. One of the stories we captured was in a far-flung area called Sangshen and required a side trip, by train, into the remote reaches of Mongolia. Do you remember the old Trans Siberian Railway? This was our mode of transport (translation, old train!)
It was here that we visited and videotaped a story about a girl named Ayushima and her mom. Her story is such an amazing one and had to see her and meet her for ourselves.
When Ayushima first when to the development center we support at age 2, she couldn’t sit up and was just starting to roll over. She had cerebral palsy affecting her legs. At the center the parents and the children receive therapy and instruction in how to do the therapy at home. Before each therapy session, the therapist would pray with Ayushima and her mom that God would bless the therapy and bring healing to her body. When they went back to their home, Ayushima insisted on praying as she was taught at the center. Gradually through her daughter’s faith and through the continued spiritual support at the center (where they returned every three months), the mother became a Christian, as well.
Now Ayushima is walking and will start school in September for the first time! This is truly a miracle and would have been impossible without the spiritual help and the physical therapy.
A child outside a typical yurt home in the country.
We also visited a place that is a living replication of an actual village from the Thirteenth Century, much like our Williamsburg is a replica of a time and place in our past history. These are an ancient people group.
I wish I could describe to you the vastness and the remote beauty of this country. We traveled on the train for hours and saw nothing but the occasional yurt (Mongolian tent/home) with a few goats and sheep outside. This is a country where winter brings minus 40 degrees – not including the wind chill! Many times, these nomad farmers lose their animals after a severe winter, and they head for the city for some type of job or way to earn a living. The result is many people living in desperate poverty with no education or skills. As in many countries, the children wind up living on the streets.
Handing out backpacks and school supplies.
Returning to Ulanbataar, we visited the orphanage we support there and were blessed to see how happy and healthy the children are. The dollars spent here go far to ensuring a quality of life for these children. We also visited a street kids’ ministry… They just recently had a camp outing for these teens and four people were saved.
Also, we did a dedication on a new development center located in south Mongolia near the border of China… It’s the first satellite center. There is a map at the Development Center in Ulaanbataar showing the medical outreaches across all of Mongolia. This is how people are able to connect for the help they need. This has resulted in kids coming from all over the country to receive help. One boy, Bonolov, made such progress in just 4 months that the people in the village were asking how it happened and the mom said, “you have to contact the center where they make children walk.” So the center started getting calls asking, “are you the place that makes children walk?” and referrals started coming in.
A little girl peeking out from her bed at the orphanage.
This is such a poor, remote place with very little in what we would consider social services to help those in need. What a blessing to be able to reach out to them with the love of Christ in action. Thank you for caring for all of God’s children in far-flung places around the world. What does God see when He looks at us? Not our nice clothes and new cars, He sees our heart. Thank you for having a heart that cares about the needs of others.
