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Forget Me Not : Children From Liberia by Tanya Pruitt
I thought I would first start off telling you that writing an article, raising lots of kids (18 at home adopted and ten grown), home schooling, and traveling to Africa are ALL out of my comfort zone! I have a tendency to be shy , have difficult traveling and am not terribly organized. Oh and lets not even talk about my lack of energy. But I serve a mighty God who has called me into some amazing ministries and I am trusting in HIS power. In July of 2006 I traveled to Liberia to pick up our four children we were adopting. We stayed with missionaries during that time that fostered special needs children. For a week they told me about the plight of the special needs children in Liberia, Africa. How the Liberian people consider them a curse and usually abandon them or worse, murder them. I first hand was able to witness the life changing results that had happened at the hand of these missionaries that took in special needs children, loving them, praying over them and believing for their future. When I left Liberia with my four precious children, I felt a huge tug on my heart to help the special needs children in Liberia, Africa. As I began to share my heart with Donna Barber (the stateside adoption coordinator from the organization I adopted from), she shared that her heart was being torn in the same direction. Shortly after that her attempt to adopt a special needs child failed when the child died. Her heart became even more determined to help Liberia’s special needs children. She quit her job and soon began the process of starting her own organization. Now she is the director of Global Orphan Outreach, the umbrella over Forget-Me-Not Children’s Homes. Unknown to me at the time God was tugging at other adoptive parents’ hearts including Christina Hoffman ( the director of Forget-Me-Not) to join the cause. In the process of adoption a baby from Liberia she was soon to find out that he had cerebral palsy. Her treatment of her own son in the coming year would open up the teaching program for our foster homes. At first we felt that God was leading us to open an orphanage but the doors continually closed. We now know that God was leading us in another direction. He knew that these special children needed so much more than an orphanage setting. They needed one on one care. A pastor in Liberia (who works with us now) had already established a ministry of Liberian foster parents taking care of their own. With his help, the idea started forming about training foster parents in Liberia for our special needs kids. Foster care could open up so many doors for the ministry. The Liberian people could see the value of handicapped children in their homes. And in turn, by loving the foster families we could show them the love of Christ for them and the children they were caring for. And last but not least, we could provide income for an impoverished family. After just two short months of our program we began to witness miracles. A two-year-old boy was found in a hospital, abandoned and alone. By looking at his picture he appeared to be dead. He just laid there without expression, movement or hope. Now he is laughing, affectionate and he lights up in the arms of his foster mother. A three-year-old little deaf boy, sad and withdrawn, looked isolated and alone. While visiting Liberia last April we attended a church that had a woman signing to the congregation. We were so amazed and quickly asked her if she could teach our little one. A two-year-old little girl in an orphanage dying of failure to thrive. In our program in a few short months she is gaining weight, laughing and playing. A little boy born in a village with sever deformities of his feet and hands. Rejected by everyone he was taken into our medical outreach program and is on his way to the U.S for medical treatment. A four-year-old who could not hold her head up or eat. When I weighed her she was only ten pounds. We bought her formula, cereal and vitamins and she has gained 6 pounds and is attempting to crawl. We are working on a medical visa for her to come to the United States. Holding these children in my arms, seeing them smiling and happy brought such joy to my soul. It also confirmed that Jesus had led the way.
"...For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future..." Jeremiah 29:11
Although many things have already been accomplished in the Forget-Me-Not program there is so much left to do. Many children still lay abandoned in feeding centers, hospitals and in villages with no hope of ever having a future. Many children will die without getting expensive medical treatment that can only be accomplished in the United States. Sponsored children in our outreach programs will simply die of starvation and disease. So my prayers is that Jesus will lay on your hearts the same desire to help “the least of these” as he has pressed on mine.
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
IN HIM, Forget-Me-Not Children’s Homes Tanya Pruitt |
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