After reading today’s post below, check out the Summit Blog for a feature post on Forgotten Voices and our involvement with this phenomenal alliance of organizations committed to the cause of Orphan Care! We hope to see you there May 3-4!

This week our country celebrates National Volunteer Week, and Forgotten Voices is eager join the celebration. Volunteers are absolutely critical to fulfilling our mission both in the USA and in southern Africa. Visit our blog the next three days to learn about and honor our volunteers in southern Africa and the USA and to learn how you can join their ranks!

Matildah (left), Grace (right) and  18 other volunteers lead a crucial component of Ndeke ECZ’s ministry to the community – the home based care program.

Pictured here at their graduation ceremony and at work in the community, volunteer home-based care givers are striving to ensure that HIV/AIDS patients and the orphaned children are counseled and helped both socially and spiritually. They travel the community on foot and now on bicycles purchased in partnership with Forgotten Voices (see below). Their duties include in-home visitations, counseling and conducting workshops in the community. This valuable work helps the church to trace and respond to the very real needs of orphans in the community. These women have all graduated from a home based care seminar and attend periodic ongoing training.

Serving in this capacity often requires great sacrifice. Many of these women have a number of children in their care, many are widows and some struggle with health problems themselves, including HIV.

Their dedication is an inspiration. They have our prayers and our respect, and we celebrate their impact!

Ellen Shaffer, Director of Project Management

Tags: #FVVisit, community, counseling, home-based care, orphans, service, volunteerism, zambia
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Ryan with children in Zimbabwe (from 2006)

Sometimes I have this tension before sharing about the deep love of our God, poured out to our world through the ministry of Forgotten Voices. Our ministry is “demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ by equipping local churches to meet the physical & spiritual needs of children orphaned by AIDS in their communities.” Through serving this mission since we started, I have had incredible opportunities to see churches in Africa modeling so much of what Christians yearn to be part of of here on earth. When I share these stories in churches and in homes in the USA, people often note, “that is what churches should be doing.” People in the audience have written to me later to tell me their marriages have been healed, abuse in their homes has stopped, work/personal priorities have become more balanced, and most importantly, people have entered into a new or deeper relationship with the Lord.

Awesome!

When I get to share what God is doing through local churches in Africa, in part through your gifts to Forgotten Voices, there is no greater joy in ministry. To testify to God’s great love for us – the manifestation of the full gospel – warms my heart. It’s like God saying, “Just share about me and my heart for children, and for them. I’ll take care of Forgotten Voices.”

But what if you don’t give? What if hearts are changed, but the ministry can’t meet its needs? When I’m honest, as the leader of a Christian non-profit ministry, I am sometimes torn. What if people don’t see the clear opportunity we have, amidst the stories of God? You may not have heard, but some people turn off God talk quickly (sometimes even especially cool Christians). What if I don’t clearly ask them for money? Or enough of it? What would happen if I just testified to the work and the opportunity, focusing on the way faith is moving mountains in Africa and the USA, then inviting people to be part of that?

March 28, 2012: Hwange National Park

When I focus on sharing God’s love for us, not the work of Forgotten Voices alone, I know that brings God joy. But in churches that I speak in… when I focus on just Forgotten Voices as an extremely effective, scalable response to the orphan care crises, I sometimes feel bad about giving a sales pitch. Pastors have asked to come inspire their congregations, but not directly ask for Forgotten Voices. Is that ok? For me and for them, I think this fear of pitching comes from doubt and not trusting in God to provide for our needs. Sometimes I leave a speaking engagement and wonder why things did not work and why people did not give? Should I have made a more specific ask? Should I have told a more emotionally compelling story? Other times, it was a disaster, but a fruitful night, despite my talk.

This all helps me realize (again – over and over) that the work of orphan care and widow care – the ministry of Forgotten Voices – is part of God’s plan for us. There is one savior and it ain’t me or you. The ministry of Forgotten Voices is not a sales pitch, but an invitation to see and be part of God’s restoration of our still hurting world. James 4:8 says “Come near to God and He will come near to you.” The Bible is full of passages related to orphans and widows. When we draw near to the things of God, He will draw near to us.

Forgotten Voices has a long history of being able to meet the needs when we NEED to meet them, not when we want to meet them. We’ve said no more times than we like, but God continues to be faithful. Pray that we continue to have faith and trust, as we pray for you to do the same.

So, the next time you hear from Forgotten Voices, know that we are discerning carefully what the Lord would have us share for each place that we visit. Remmy, our Africa Director from Zambia, is touring the USA with his wife, Irene (her 1st time here). We are excited for you to meet him, hear about the opportunities, and the ways that people are coming to know our God.

In the end my battle about whether to “share the gospel” or simply talk about the business opportunity for Forgotten Voices is a matter of trust – or lack thereof. Somehow I believe foolishly that my ideas for how to tell the story of Forgotten Voices is sometimes more compelling than sharing what God has for us to learn through His word and its application in our ministry. I doubt that it will compell people enough to give and we need money to do the ministry.

But, as Remmy once told me, “I don’t know what people mean when they say they need to trust God more. I just trust.” Through our ministry and fellowship with leaders like Remmy, I’m learning to trust God more and the power of His work in and through us. He knows the needs of children we serve. It is our joy and privilege to share about those needs AND how God yearns for all of us to be part of this ministry to widows and orphans.

This has been a little window into my soul. My prayer for you today is that in your own work, you see it as a ministry no matter what you do. As you work, may you find joy in doing your jobs well, while also looking and praying without ceasing for opportunities to share (directly or indirectly) about the love of our God with all you meet.

Enjoy today!

-Ryan Keith, President

Follow Ryan on Twitter

Tags: forgotten voices, orphans, Ryan Keith, trust, zambia, zimbabwe
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Forgotten Voices is thrilled to welcome our
Africa Director, Pastor Remmy Hamapande, and his beautiful wife Irene to the USA!

Visiting the Air and Space Museum

Remmy & Irene arrived early this morning and are currently touring our nation’s capital with Forgotten Voices staff Ryan Keith and Nate Shaffer.

This is a long-prayed for, long-planned visit. This is big!

Remmy & Irene will in the USA through the beginning of May, sharing with audiences in the USA about the ministry of Forgotten Voices and the needs and opportunities in their home country of Zambia (as well as Zimbabwe), where we work.

Please pray for God’s hand of blessing and protection during the Hamapande’s time here. Pray for open hearts among those who hear from these faithful servants of God and of children. They’ll be speaking in churches, schools, colleges, homes and on the radio!  They’ll be participating in key meetings and events to raise funds and awareness for this ministry. They’ll also have fun, experiencing various aspects of US culture and getting to know our Forgotten Voices USA staff and supporters better.

For those in or near Central PA, we invite you come hear Remmy share about There will be a number of events open to the public and all are welcome! If you live in Indianapolis, Albany or New York City, we’re coming your way as well. Email info@forgottenvoices.org if you’d like to try to connect with Remmy while he’s in your area.

And of course we’ll be posting updates here on the blog, on our facebook page and via twitter @forgottenvoices #FVVisit

Join us in praying for God’s provision, leading and blessings during this unique opportunity to unite advocates from two sides of an ocean in the common cause of orphan care. 

Ellen Shaffer, Director of Project Management

Tags: #FVVisit, fundraising, orphan advocates, speaking engagements, zambia
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Ryan and Paul arrived safely back in the USA a few hours ago. As they, and hopefully all of us, rest and celebrate this Easter weekend, here is the last reflection Ryan wrote shortly before leaving Zambia. Happy Easter from all of us at Forgotten Voices. He is Risen! He is risen, indeed. Hallelujah!

In Zambia, like in Zimbabwe, we saw our in-country staff flourishing and really coming into their roles as country directors. They are leading by principles, with a clear understanding of our mission. 

There will be many stories to tell, children for you to meet, and caregivers who will inspire you to love more deeply.  But, as is always the case when I come here, time eludes me as we chose to spend more time with people, trusting in your patience and confident we could later tell the stories we are experiencing now. 

But I can’t leave without introducing you to Cecilia. She is the mother of 3, a widow, not by death but by desertion. Her husband left her years ago. We know it’s been a long time, since the partnering church (Mufulira BIC) has known her for a long time. Relationships matter when trying to figure out how to best help women like Cecilia. While we typically focus on children orphaned by AIDS, when we started partnering with this local church, they saw a key local need and responded in a way that helped a woman in need provide for her children and filled a gap in the market place.

This entrepreneurial woman is providing for her three children. Gregory (left, grade 9, wants to be a soldier), Ordeal (right, grade 9, pilot) and a baby Agnus (who doesn’t know what she wants to be yet.  But her success has implications on our whole portfolio, not just on our commitment to creating income generation, but affirming our model’s emphasis on listening to local  voices. Where else could you spend $100 so well? Our model needs you to help us provide for the needs of children orphaned now AND build long-term solutions for churches and caregivers to provide income and counseling for children in vulnerable situations.

Thanks for reading and following the trip. More soon.

-Ryan, P

Tags: church, income generation, school fees, widow, zambia
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Anyone out there attend a footwashing service last night??

I don’t know if it’s theologically sound to have a “favorite” day in Holy Week, but I have one, and it was yesterday – Maundy Thursday. Maundy Thursday remembers the Last Supper and Christ teaching His disciples on the very last night with them before His death. In churches and homes around the world, many Christians commemorate this day with two acts which Jesus introduced that night, acts setting an example for both our outward actions and in our inner relationship to Christ.

Communion: a remembrance of Christ sacrificing His very body and blood to take the punishment we deserved for our own sins.

Foot washing: a remembrance of Christ’s command to serve our fellow man.

In John 13:14-17, Jesus says, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

Christ’s example of foot washing was especially striking because it contradicted the social norms. No one would expect a Lord and Teacher to wash the dirt-covered feet of his followers. But Christ expects us to serve, to humble ourselves, to look beyond those we’re expected to care for or find it easy to love. Washing His disciples feet was a symbol of the new life Christ was bringing to all who choose to follow him – eternal life in Him. This new life also invites – even expects – us to extend ourselves in service to share new life with others.

In the kingdom of God, those others include kids we’ve never met an ocean away who are vulnerable and alone after diseases and poverty have stripped them of their parents. These kids desperately need a new life – both an eternal life found in Christ alone and also a new life in which someone will step into the void left empty by a mom and dad’s death to meet their physical and emotional needs. Jesus said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” And so, I believe, we will be blessed when we take our knowledge of kids like Aalon, Memory and Martin   and look for ways to “wash their feet” …  to sacrificially serve in some way to bring them new life.

You can do this. Many of you reading this already are, and we thank you! Long-time pastor and partner with Forgotten Voices, Fibion, recently wrote the following:

‘It takes a village to raise a child’ so goes the old African adage.   Africans are communal people.   When I was growing up as child, I knew that any parent who found me misbehaving was entitled to discipline me to help me be well mannered.   I also knew that as a child I would run to any parent for help when in need or when danger was coming.  Sadly the reality of the above old adage has now been weakened due to the disintegration of the social and communal ties in our communities.   Praise God that the church in America has come along side the church in Africa and is helping offer educational, spiritual, social, physical and mental support to many orphans in Africa.   We thank God to see you as part and parcel of the concerned village in our society.

In supporting the ministries of Forgotten Voices, you are joining the concerned village following Jesus’ example to serve those who are waiting for new life. Now that you know of these kids and their needs, will you do something about them?

Today is Good Friday – day we can call good because we know that our God has conquered sin and death, and Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on our behalf brought us new life in Him. May we each find a way to follow His example today.

Ellen Shaffer, Director of Project Management

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If you’ve been following @ForgottenVoices on twitter lately, you’ve probably noticed a lot of tweets with the hashtag #FVAfrica. These updates are coming directly from Ryan Keith and our team as they journey through Zimbabwe and Zambia to meet with our project partners. Here’s a few recent updates from their trip:

Goodnight dear friends. Powerful evening with our hosts. Our approach continues to be affirmed. Pray on. #FVAfrica — Forgotten Voices (@ForgottenVoices) March 25, 2012

Tonight we attended funeral for sister of a friend here in Zim. Always sad to say goodbye. Unexpected. Brain tumor. #FVAfrica — Forgotten Voices (@ForgottenVoices) March 26, 2012

We had another funeral today. Pastor Beki told me he attends 10-15 funerals a month now. His love only grows. #FVAfrica — Forgotten Voices (@ForgottenVoices) March 28, 2012

Met Mrs Moyo. She & husband are HIV+. Have 2 kids. FV helping her local church plan for kids’ future after she dies. #FVAfrica — Forgotten Voices (@ForgottenVoices) March 28, 2012

“our partnership with FV helps us reach out and rescue children.” Pastor at Nguboyenja BIC, new church partner. #FVAfrica — Forgotten Voices (@ForgottenVoices) March 31, 2012

Just drove on dirt runway in Mufulira, on way to visit kids in remote area. Only a church would bother to find these kids. #FVAfrica — Forgotten Voices (@ForgottenVoices) April 3, 2012

As you can see, our team has already been confronted with both joy and defeat during their fast paced journey. The daily hardships and realities of an AIDS ravaged country are such a sharp contrast to life here in the US. That being said, I’m personally encouraged to read these updates from Ryan because they reaffirm the urgency of our work in these communities.

There is much more work to do, and so many more children waiting to be found. Please consider joining in our work for ‘the least of these’ by making a monthly donation to Forgotten Voices. Please also keep our team in prayer as they are strectched both physically and emotionally over the course of their journey.

Blessings,

Brian Reilly
Volunteer Director of Marketing

Tags: #FVAfrica, Africa, travel, zambia, zimbabwe
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A few days ago I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs Moyo at her homestead in a remote area south of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Her first name is Nosithelo, which means “the fruitful one”. We spent less than an hour together, but it was a meaningful time. Just a week prior to our meeting, she had spent 2 weeks in the hospital fighting for her life. For that day, she was doing better. She is HIV+, now progressed to AIDS. Her husband Chester is also HIV+.

Here I was with Mrs Moyo, mother of 2. Her children are Christine, in grade 6, and Jonathan, grade 1. When I asked her what she hopes for her children, she told me, “they manage to go through school. Once educated they can decide for themselves.” She talked about hoping they have the freedom to choose a better life than the one they are living now.

Their maize (corn) crops had failed 100%, but they did have a good crop of melons. I know that I enjoyed melon far more this week, savoring the hope that can come from a fruit I often enjoy, but don’t think much of when eating.

Chester, the husband, was off fishing – hoping to provide food for the family. I don’t know for sure how this family came to be in such a situation. But I do know this. Mrs Moyo likely won’t be alive when I come next, though I hope this is not the case. I do know that I was visiting her with a pastor from a local church ministry. This pastor, Obert, was already making a plan for what to do about the 2 children. How to provide hope, encouragement and love after AIDS takes away their mom and dad.

While Chester was off fishing for hope and life, you and I are often doing the same. Looking for something of meaning to invest ourselves in, convinced that there is more to life than the insular self and the rigors of work and making money.

We have that opportunity to catch a great fish of hope. By giving to Forgotten Voices International, you help equip local churches, led by pastors like Obert, to see AND respond to the needs of children in vulnerable situations caused by AIDS. Please consider a gift today at http://www.forgottenvoices.org/blog.

When we were leaving, I had to ask Mrs Moyo one more question. I asked, “what do you like most about being a mom?” With a smile and a hint of future agony, she replied, “being with them.” Someday, hopefully not soon, this will no longer be possible. Please give so the church is ready to respond so the children are not forgotten.

Thank you! Pray on!

Ryan

Note from Ryan Keith, Forgotten Voices

Tags: church, death, education, farming, fishing, HIV, orphans, pastor, zimbabwe
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If you’re following our twitter feed @forgottenvoices, you know Ryan and Paul have arrived safely in Zambia. They’ll have  limited internet access to begin with, but were able to send the following reflection a few minutes before leaving Zimbabwe yesterday. Read on and pray on…

Hello from the airport in Zimbabwe. Some quick reflections before we leave.

Paul will remember from Zimbabwe: Hospitality, friendliness of the people, quality of the leadership on the ground for Forgotten Voices and our partners.

Ryan will remember the face of Rachel, the woman who passed away before he met her. He will remember Mrs Moyo, who likely will pass by the time Ryan returns, leaving her 2 children with their dying father, also with AIDS. He will remember the opportunity you and continue to have to equip Mrs Moyo’s church, as well as many more. He will remember the children waiting to see what we decide.

We both will remember the great love of our God, manifested through the deep love of those we met and those so willing to care for children who have lost their parents. You and I get to be part of that beautiful picture emerging from the darkness that we first saw. Our God is bigger than the pains we feel and the needs we see.

We both will remember far more, but those summaries will have to wait. We are boarding soon for South Africa, then up to Lusaka, Zambia for a day before going up to Ndola on Tuesday. We likely won’t blog until Tuesday.

Pray on!!

Ryan and Paul

Note from Ryan Keith, Forgotten Voices

Tags: #FVAfrica, equipping churches, hospitality, local leaders, waiting children, zimbabwe
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Each month we receive prayer and praise updates from the churches with whom we partner across Zimbabwe and Zambia. Below are just a few of those updates. We hope you’ll take some time to pray about these requests and praises, and remember the work of our church projects in Africa. You can learn more about the projects featured here by visiting www.forgottenvoices.org/our-projects/project-profiles

Free Methodist Church Project, Magwegwe North

Pray for the church as it counsels many young children who are discouraged with life, school, and difficult family situations.

Pray that God would miraculously provide the means of survival for many families who are without food due to drought.  Ask that God would empower the church to encourage those for whom hopelessness is not just a season, but a way of life.

Ask God to bestow His favor and peace upon the elderly, disabled, sick, and afflicted as they encounter daily challenges related to their condition.

Pray that sanity would prevail as parents grapple with the ever-rising cost of basic education.

Praise God that two vulnerable children, Senzelo and Prince, received training in appropriate agriculture and were immediately able to implement this education to improve the yield of their family garden!

Brethren in Christ Church Orphan Care Project, Copperbelt

Pray that the church would be filled with the power and peace of the Holy Spirit in the midst of a leadership transition.

Pray for a grade ten pupil named Luckson who cares for his convalescent mother by undertaking all of the household chores and family responsibilities.  Ask God to provide Luckson with courage and hope in the midst of an uncertain future.

Ask God to provide community leaders with Spiritual wisdom and discernment in their decision-making that transcends human ability and understanding.

Praise God that local leaders remain determined to carry on orphan care in the midst of significant financial, emotional, and logistical challenges!

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We then drove out of the park and headed back to Bulawayo, 3.5 hrs away. On our way back, Pastor Fibion received a phone call that he was needed to preach and share a short word at a funeral. A woman had died last week from a brain tumor. This was the same lady who we helped remember earlier this week, but today’s service was right before she was buried. It is cultural to wait until family has all gathered before traveling to the rural homestead to bury.  As they wait a preacher does a funeral service every day for the family.

Note from Ryan Keith, Forgotten Voices

Tags: #FVAfrica, community, death, education, love, orphans, partnership, pastors, Travels in Africa, zimbabwe
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