The Abundance of God

No one can celebrate

a genuine Christmas

without being truly poor.

The self-sufficient, the proud,

those who, because they have

everything, look down on others,

those who have no need

even of God – for them there

will be no Christmas.

Only the poor, the hungry,

those who need someone

to come on their behalf,

will have that someone.

That someone is God.

Emmanuel, God-with-us.

Without poverty of spirit

there can be no abundance of God.

Oscar Romero

On recent visits to one of our children, our workers Abdulai and Paul came across a little girl who was tied to a pole in front of a simple home. Her legs were withered and she could not speak, but she giggled as Abdulai carefully assessed her. Her mother told her story, of how she was a healthy girl until she was four years old and a serious disease caused multiple seizures and severely damaged her brain. Her mother loves her, but cannot always be around to supervise her and prevent her from wandering off and running into problems in the community – hence the rope on her leg. We have learned to hold off our judgment – in a place without social services, daycare centers or a church that cares, mothers have few options as they care for their child with disabilities. But we are so grateful that God brought us to this precious girl and can’t wait to see the joy of this family as we share our annual Christmas gifts of rice and oil with them. May they also know the “abundance of God”, the love of the Giver of these gifts, who was born in poverty, in a stable that would not look far out of place in the village this girl was found.

Joseph learning to sew

Economic Empowerment

Completion of the Water Well

Training for Health Workers on Microcephaly

2023 has gone by fast! We are so grateful for all the things that have happened since our last blog. To name just a few:

• Our friends Rev. Elmer & Joann Reifel, who have been missionaries in Sierra Leone for many years, helped us dig a well on our new property. We now have high-quality water in abundance!
• More recently we completed a fence around our property. It will protect our building site and in the future our office, school, daycare and children.

A big thank you to everyone who helped make these two projects possible!

• In October, the Yoders were accompanied by high school graduate Kayden Sauder from Birmingham. Kayden had a great time interacting with the team and the children. On the picture you can see that Aminata was quite happy to receive a visit from him! Let us know if you want to join us on a trip! We are looking for physical and occupational therapists, teachers, nurses, handymen, anyone with experience working with children with disabilities, or just anyone who wants to come to serve!
• At the beginning of the new school year, our school-going children received a school bag or cash for a school uniform.
• One of our deaf children, Joseph, enrolled in a tailoring course at a local vocational training center.
• We were accepted as a Global Partner with Accessible Hope International and are excited about connecting with other Christians in the field of disability. Check out their website: https://accessiblehope.org/.
• As we are writing this blog, our nurse and health liaison Abdulai is visiting remote health clinics to teach them about microcephaly, a condition we unfortunately see all too often in our children. We provide the clinics with measuring tapes and head circumference charts and are hoping that we’ll find these children earlier, so we can provide them with therapeutic services.
• Eight women taking care of children with disabilities received a small grant to start small businesses that will allow them to take care of some of their family’s needs while staying closer to home.
• The staff has been learning many things through our new WhatsApp Training program. They watch videos on their phones, answer questions to test their knowledge, or display their newly gained skill in a video. The topics vary from cerebral palsy and epilepsy to English vocabulary and children’s action songs.

Thank you for your interest in our work! We value your support and prayers!

From Nyandengoh! we wish you a joyful Christmas and a Happy New Year!