Light in Their Eyes
Sharon Caughill is in Kenya on her second visit to the Mulango Children’s Home. In this blog she is sharing her thoughts on the children, the home, and the God we serve.
In 2012 “our” van pulled into the driveway of Mulango Children’s Home. With no way to know what to expect I stepped out of the van into a tangle of children reaching out to touch my hand. Pressed in on all sides I looked into their eyes one by one. Hand shake, empty eyes. Fancy shake, sad eyes. Fist bump, longing eyes. You get my point. Their eyes haunted me. Too much hard had already happened in just a few years.
I had to remind myself to see God. He had seen their plight and heard the heart cry of an orphan. Now there was hope. They had a place to sleep, clothes to wear, food to eat, house-parents to love them. They could go to school, they had a church just down the road and a pastor who cared because he, too, was an orphan.
Fast forward to April 2016. Again “our” van rumbles down the dusty road. It’s the rainy season this time and I cannot help but notice beauty that had been missing in the dry season before. But more beautiful than blooming flowers is the blossoming hope I see in their eyes.
One by one they greet us. I take their hands and notice their eyes! Their heads are held a bit higher, their gaze more direct. Confidence and hope are growing in their hearts!
“We are winners, we are conquerors”, the orphans sing. And they are.
I am so grateful they are not taught to be victims but rather victors. Victors in Christ.
Satan whispers ‘you are alone’. God says, ‘I see you, each one, and in Christ stand tall.’
I ponder, we are all a child of the King! The orphan in Africa. The pastor’s wife from Pennsylvania. We belong. Christ is King. His eyes are on us every one, and because of his freely given grace we can gaze back with hope, joy, gratitude, and praise.
Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10