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Grass Roots Ministries Newsletter September 2011

We are now posting Grass Roots Ministries’ newsletters on line.  Please click on the link above to access the newsletter.  If you are receiving a newsletter through the U.S. mail, please consider providing your email address.    The ministry can be contacted at general@grassrootsministry.org.

 

1.  From Heaven (Toka Mbinguni)

From up in heaven God looked to see If there was one

That was seeking the Lord, but there was none,

All were busy with their own affairs leaving the God aside who created them.

Gold and silver are all God’s wealth

Even you and I are God’s wealth

I have no chance,

What should I give back for God’s mercy?

I have no opportunities; shall I use this song to find the Lord?

The righteous of the world are the best

Pleasing God represents perfection (X 2)

We’re still on earth Lord, help us to do good

From heaven Lord is pleased with our truth

Your eyes are on both sides watching all the time

Your eyes see everything

2. Hard Time  (Tuko Wakatimgumu)

We are in a hard time (X 2)

Look, where is the world going? (x2)

Look, where the church going? (X2)

World, world where does it go? (X 2)

Church, church where does it go? (X 2)

World, world where does it go? (X 2)

We had love, where did it go?

We had peace, where did it go?

We had joy, where did it go?

Our God is a loving God

Our God is of peace.

Our God is of unity

Our God is joy forever.

Let’s not mixing worldly pleasures with the church.

We found faith when we called out in with Jesus

3. Fountain Rock (Kimbilio Letu)

Our fountain is the Lord and our aid is unto the Lord,

We have no any other God to take care of our needs

To our Lord all things are possible

We defeat the evil with your strength

Our support comes from the Lord.

Thank you my Lord for sympathizing with my life

As a Good Shepherd, the Lord, takes cares of his flock.

On the grasslands he protects me,

He took care of us, and we are safe.

He sent the Word, for people look after us.

I will raise my eyes to look for where my help comes from

I have not found comfort, my heart stirs,

I’ve found no one to comfort me

Problems and persecution all around me and I lose my desire

Lord hear my trials.

My Lord, Jesus is coming, He needs you

Show me my wants and needs

The value of my heart is onto you

Wherever I go all my days I will walk with you

4. Seek the Lord (Kesheni ndugu)

Seek the Lord for he is listening

Call, for his ears are not deaf

He created you from dust

But you hardened your heart to go back to him

Think, know your God, surrender and time is yours (X 2)

Therefore our brother we keep praying

Be awake that we can tell others

The Lord is coming as a traveler

Be ready don’t forget the journey is long

Yea, yea, yea, yea be awake

Yea, yea, yea, yea, try a little harder (X 2)

5. A Brother Who Is A Christian (Ndugu Lliye Mkristo)

A brother who is a Christian is a light onto the world

Good examples don’t rely on worldly pleasure

Serving the Lord is a source of knowledge

Be salt to the world, be a Christian

Hold onto education for it is your life.(X 2)

Writing for the youth for the youth has strength

Don’t rely on worldly pleasures,

For those who rely on worldly pleasures are no longer in Him

The world is a wilderness run away from it

The world is a dry tree don’t lean on it.

6. Great Day (Siku Kuu)

Oh great day, great day, the Lord is coming from the throne

The day of great darkness is near (X 2)

He who calls on the Lord’s will survive his wrath,

crying and mourning come to me says the Lord

I will hear and forgive you your sins

Right, right raises a nation

We pray to heal our nation

War, hunger epidemics

Put them all aside we need your peace

Father rule our nation and our district we pray Father

7. Sing to the Lord (Mwimbieni Bwana)

Sing unto the Lord a new song for he has done great things

We praise the rock of ages, our salvation for he has done great things.

When you become tired, tell Jesus

When you become tired, tell Jesus

You are the Father to the orphans

And you the husband to the widows

In serving you, you are worthy

Sing onto the Lord, praise his name,

Spread his word to all

They praise the Lord by dancing and singing to all the tribes

Come and praise the Lord

Oh! God created in me a clean heart

Make my heart be new inside

Don’t leave me from your sight, Father

Holy, don’t let it out of me

8. Why (Watoto wa Mitaani)

Why! Why! Are we starving?

Why! Why! Are we bothered?

Why! Why! Are we stressed?

Why! Why! Are we discriminated against?

What have we done wrong to the world?

Have mercy upon us

Dad and Mom where are you?

Our brother also discriminates against us, we remain alone

They eat happily with their children

We are starving help us

We are called street children, they lower our dignity

All our rights have been taken away from us

We are oppressed, we are mistreated, we need help. Aah!

Hard work we are given because we are orphans

Even our sleep is with persecution have mercy on us good Samaritans.

Jesus, Jesus, help us, Jesus fight for us

Those with mercy help us, we need help

We need help not to be called street children

We need a good life.

9. Good Samaritan (Msamaria Mwema)

We read the story of the Good Samaritan

Who was on his way to Jericho

Found a person who was beaten near death by robbers

Have mercy on him and help.

Look a servant passed (X 2)

Look the Levites passes he didn’t help when he passed

We need to love those in trouble and help them with the problems

We need not to run away

An example of the Samaritan will be blessed

Good Christian values are appreciated before the Lord that cares for orphans, widows, poor and starving

We need to have mercy on those who can’t afford.

10. Good Friends (Rafiki Mwema)

I met a good friend in my life with the love of Jesus is a good friend to me.

You are good (X 4) to me

You are good (X 4) to me

Thank you (X3) it’s great love

He unites this love

All are amazed at the great love

Thank you my Lord is great

It’s you Lord, it’s you Lord

You are worthy to be praised

11. Let’s Run to Jesus (Tuikimbie Dunia)

Let’s run, let’s run, the whole world let’s run to Jesus

He is writing, he is calling, we need not be late

Let’s not hesitate; he is calling father, sister, brother

The choice is yours brother choose today

Decision is yours, mother decide today

Make a decision today, receive Jesus

You’ll have joy for every

It’s a wonderful joy in heaven

If we try we’ll reach heaven

Heaven is dancing and praising for every more

You are worthy!  You are worthy Lord

Life shall sing when we reach our Father, it is joy

In the last two weeks we have added eight new children. I am going to give you a brief insight into their lives and their experiences as new Angels. Cha Cha was the first child we added. We have already blogged about our initial encounter with him. However, now that he is adjusted we call him the female Nossi. He can be destructive and no one understands him because he does not speak Swahili. At other times he is the sweetest little child and all he wants is a hug or to be held. He is also extremely photogenic!

Second was Frenk Cha Cha. He is Bhoke Mwita’s cousin. Bhoke is one of our Junior Staff members who just graduated last year from boarding school. We call Frenk the “busy body” because he likes to get into everything…seriously! He tries to help with Derrick but ends up making him cry instead. Frenk is a good kid though. He tries to help you out and never forgets to come and get a hug in the morning or at night before bed.

Derrick was our third child to receive. You already know about him. He is the smallest and if he does not get a nap he gets whiny. But Eric and I are in love with him none-the-less. Eric can put his hands together and they wrap around his waste. He weighs 13 kg and we cannot find clothes small enough for him here. I found little VANS in town for 3,000 tshs (equivalent to about $2.75) and he absolutely will not let you take them off!

Rhobi and Bahati are sisters. They have been cared for by their grandparents. When we first encountered them, they were terrified of men. They would not respond to anything Mwita or Eric would say and cringe if they dared touch them. However, today Bahati will run into Eric’s arms wanting to be spun around in circles. They are both hard workers and willing to do anything to help out. Bahati wants nothing more than someone to hold her hand and walk around with her.

Siza has adapted better than all the rest. There are many other girls her age at Angel House, so they were able to give her clothes, shoes, toys, etc. She always has a smile on her face. Sometimes I wonder what she is getting in to…other times I know it is mischief.

Nyanokwe and Mwita are our newest members. They came to us from the Gamasara village (the village Angel House resides). Mwita is 5 years old and is still a little shy. He worries about not having what he needs to. He cried this morning because he did not have school shoes like all the other children. However, it is only the second day of school for him. Nyanokwe is going to be the next Prime Minister or President. On his first day of school he made all A’s on the work the school tested him on and then came home and studied all night, even during dinner time. Nyanokwe impresses me more everyday.

Having new children is fun but challenging. They all have their scaring pasts and a bright future ahead of them. They all eat way too much because they are afraid of not having enough later. They all hide everything we give them because they are afraid of it being taken away or not lasting long enough. Our prayer is that they realize that we will never abandon them. The will have what they need and much much more.  Authors: Eric & Liz Soard

Unlike many of our children he has a father still, however his father lost most of his arm in a mining accident. In our part of Tanzania once a person is disabled to that extent their only viable option the majority of the time is to beg for a living. When I first met Chacha’s father he had two sons a 3 yr. old and a 5 yr. old. When I saw him again three weeks later he only had a 3 yr. old. The older son had died from malnourishment and medical problems, both things his father didn’t have enough money to do anything about. The day he brought Chacha to us he stayed for Sunday morning worship and then left. Chacha screamed and cried for hours and the father looked like he wanted to. It was a loving relationship of father and son, but the father realized that the only way for his son to have a future was for him to stay at Angel House.

This is how things work in Tanzania. In the US he could have found a vocational retraining program that would have helped his learn a trade that only needed one arm. He could have found a job that was not as intensive on the manual labor side. He could have found assistance for his children for food, housing, and medical care. Here in the US there are options, in Tanzania there are not. Two worlds that exist on the same planet.  Authors: Eric & Liz Soard

Derrick is a little boy waiting for a second chance at life and I think Angel House is perfectly ready to be God’s second chance. Derrick is a true orphan in every sense of the word. His grandmother died last August leaving no known relatives alive. No one even knows his fathers name, which means in Tanzania that he has no last name. He was being taken care of by neighbors, or at least given a place to sleep at night. Derrick is the smallest three year old I have ever seen (we are pretty sure he is closer to two), and at least part of that lies with his last caretakers. They would put food out and then burn his stomach with a spoon from the fire when he dared to eat. His anxiety whenever he was around women was clear on his face and his heavily beating chest. This was Friday, the same day he won my heart forever.

I should preface the rest of this post with saying that I don’t get overly emotional (this is Eric writing). I certainly don’t get overly emotional about people under three feet tall, it just DOES NOT HAPPEN…until now. Derrick had my love the moment I heard about him, all the kids do. He had my heart the moment I picked him up and put him on my lap. Being the only adult male in the room, I was the only one he would look at or talk to. The day he came to stay at Angel House we had left and come back and Derrick came running up and into my arms. (embarrassing side note: I almost started crying). I was done for. And I started praying for Derrick’s redemption from the very early part of his life.

The physical redemption seems to come quickly at Angel House. Within two days we saw a smile and got a laugh. Sunday afternoon Derrick fell asleep in Liz’s arms which is quite a long way from not even looking at her his first day at Angel House. However, I hope this is not the end of his life’s redemption.

We have dreams for all the kids at Angel House. We pray continually for their lives to be full of God’s love and direction. We are not as fixated on creating the next President or research doctor (though that would be great and I think very possible), but to have children grow up under God’s care. The second part of Derrick’s redemption, like all the kids we work with, will come more slowly, but he will find a life of love, the discipline of older brothers and sisters, and the education needed to be able to make a life instead of living the one handed to him by chance. This is why I came, to help the kids, the community, or anyone that cares to take notice to see the redeeming love of God. A God of justice, mercy, and grace.  Author: Eric Soard

No one told me how hard it would be. When you think about gathering child sponsorships and inviting new kids to live with us at the Angel House, it sounds like a dream come true. And it truly is. Or at least it will be, in time. But for the first day or two, it’s pretty hard.

Friday at staff meeting, we approved the forms and information we’ll collect from the extended families of the new children we’re adding to our family in Gamasara. Directly after the meeting, we went to pick up the first little boy. ChaCha Yusuf is 6 years old, and from the village of Weigita. He lost his mother one week after birth, and his father 6 months later. He has been living with his grandparents and cousins since then, because AIDS has ravaged the family, leaving only one son and daughter-in-law of three alive to take care of the eight children that came from the family’s three sons. Their home village is far from much of anything, and ChaCha only speaks their tribal language at this point because he hasn’t needed to know Swahili until now. The reality is that he most likely would have continued to go hungry and probably never had the opportunity to attend school if he hadn’t come to Angel House. His father was one of Mwita’s best friends, and Mwita was exceedingly happy and grateful for ChaCha to have the opportunity to come live near he and his family, and to have a chance to be educated.

But…on Friday it was hard. His grandmother cried as we walked to the truck. I’m sure all of the emotions of loss and grief resurfaced about her sons as she watched the only child of one leaving. I realized that regardless of what was ahead for him, that in that moment we were literally taking him away from everything he had ever known.

And it convinced me, once again, to vow to trust God a little bit more with my life and my future. The very things that seem painful and difficult to understand in the present moment may actually be to my benefit somewhere down the road. Doesn’t mean it won’t be hard between now and then, but I have to trust that the One who can see the bigger picture has a future and plan for me. He has one for you, too.

Our newest blessing came to us unexpectedly last Wednesday; the police called us asking to take Matiko in because he had been badly abused. Apparently, after his mom and dad had both passed away, he went to live with a stepmother. One day, as he was serving himself some dinner, she got irritated at something, and held his hand to the fire for quite some time, burning off most of the flesh of the front half of his right hand. Luckily, a teacher at the nursery school he was studying at took him to the police. The stepmother has since run away, probably for fear of being put in jail, and so the police asked if we would mind adding him to our family of angels. One of the UMW circles at Woodlawn recently had a pajama party and raised over $700 for Angel House; it’s hard to not consider that impeccable kind of timing anything but a God-incidence; thank you for allowing us to not only welcome Matiko with open arms as our newest Angel House child but to also get him started into school.

Nyanokwe is 10 years old, and his younger brother Mwita is 7. Both are as happy and cheerful as they could possibly be, which is amazing considering they just lost their mother to AIDS a little over three months ago. We came across their need as we were down in Gamasara village to meet the village chairmen, much like the Native American chief. Our purpose as Angel House is to bless not only the children within our house, but the village that surrounds us, and we wanted to begin the year by building a relationship with the chairmen. He mentioned these children who had just lost their mother, and literally had nowhere to live…the huge amounts of extended family they had were unable or uninterested in taking care of them. Which amazes me. Their personalities match their smiles. I guess Angel House is the lucky one this go round. Today was their first day of school, and they came back to the house absolutely bright eyed and bushy tailed at the excitement of the first day.

Rhobi is 10 years old and came to live with us on Saturday with her younger sister Bahati. They were living with an elderly neighbor who could not afford to take care of them any longer. Rhobi has a giant wound on the inside of her right ankle, and apparently she was beaten pretty badly by her father before he passed away. Even so, she made the 1 1/2 hour trek out to Angel House in the hopes that she might be able to stay. She is a trooper…she swims with us at the river and walks all over Gamasara with us, though her leg must be so painful…today she will see the doctor for probably the first time, to get this fixed.

Today was another big graduation day for Angel House. Four of our students graduated from primary school. Of course we are proud of all of them, but imagine our delight when our William was named “Best-behaved Student”! William is 19 and wasn’t able to attend school before Angel House because he was busy providing for himself and his 4 siblings. His dad left the family, and not long afterwards his mother told her children she was going out to buy kerosene. They waited and waited, but she never came back. William cut wood to sell and later had his brother Richard sell mangoes to support the family. Their sister Lucy took care of household chores and watched their two younger siblings. This all changed in December 2004 when Angel House accepted William, Richard, Lucy, and Samson into their charge. I’ve never met four harder-working kids. We are hopeful Angel House might be able to welcome their younger sister Veronica into its fold in the future.

Vero is the sweetest, most adorable member of the Mwita family. Four of her siblings reside at the orphanage…William, Richard, Lucy, and Samson. She is 9 years old, and has just been able to finally start school since coming to Angel House. She joined St. Jude English Primary in January and is a stellar student in the Kindergarten class.

Winnie was terrified of us the first day she came to Angel House. I’m not sure what they told her about white people in the village she came from, but I mean literally terrified. Screaming and crying when any of the three of us would come near, hiding behind the staff or under the table…and these days all of that couldn’t be further from the truth. She is a lovebug, hanging on my arm everywhere I go, asking to be held, lovingly gazing at me with a big smile on her face.

She actually has a mother that is still alive, but she has what I’m assuming is severe diabetes…they called it sugar cancer…so seriously that she has lost all sensation in her fingers, has no teeth, and can’t move around well enough to take care of a growing child. So last month Winnie came to live with us. She’s a spitting image of Nossi, who used to be our youngest, in the craving attention category.

She started into school when she came, and is studying in Nursery class, which is the equivalent to Kindergarten. But…she is the teacher really, because lately she has taught me an important thing or two about going through life. Wherever we go, she wants to be holding my hand. Which is great, but she walks really slow. I’m constantly reminding myself that I have no reason to really be in a hurry, but after years of feeling a bit hurried, I can’t help it. There are times when I have wanted to just have my own hand back to itself, because the walking will be a bit easier. But I’m reminded that people are placed in our lives to teach us something or another, and with her, I feel blessed to have a continual reminder that, though life can seem less complicated if you’re doing it independently, it is actually more enjoyable in the long run to go through whatever comes on the path with someone else. Who would have thought a 5 year old could teach a 29 year old a thing or two about sharing?