Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Bus Ticket for Christmas




Isn't he stunning?  Well, just let me answer that for you.  Yes, he is!  His name is Richman.  He has been the hardest for me to get to know mostly because he is shy and quiet.  But the more I come around the more he has opened up.  This past trip to Zim was the best for me in getting to know Richman.  I fall more in love with this boy every time.

Richman wants to be a farmer.  He has really really really loved the farming work that he has been learning with the older children.  He loves it.  He wants to be a full-time professional farmer.  He really doesn't desire to go to a higher level of education.  He will finish high school in November 2012.  But not only does he want to be a farmer with his own farm, he wants to teach others to farm.  Among them he wants to serve orphans.  I learned something interesting and lovely about Richman.  He has a mother. And he has several brothers and sisters.  2 of his siblings are also under the care of the orphanage.  We talked a lot about how he ended up there.  He and his younger siblings had not been able to be afforded an education.  They didn't have proper clothing or shoes.  He told me a very sweet story about how his young school mates (when he was a little boy) would all pitch money into a little box to save money for his school fees.  They were giving their own money to try and help him.  Sometimes there was enough and sometimes there wasn't.  Ultimately someone eventually reached out to our fabulous Fatima and asked if she could take he and 2 of his siblings in and she agreed.  Sadly, his family lives very far away and at most he only gets to see them once per year for just a few days.  When he goes back to his rural village he teaches his family about Jesus.  He has personally seen everyone in his family come to know Christ and accept Him as their personal savior.  He has reported to me that they are all attending church now and one of his older brothers is becoming a pastor.  I know that this blesses Richman greatly.  To just think it may have been the separation of his family due to poverty that delivered them all to the riches of Glory!  Richman was so happy telling me this story.  I asked if he was going to get to see his family soon and he said no... it was a very soft "no" hushed in sadness.  I did some further investigating and found out that he couldn't go visit because there wasn't enough money for the bus tickets.  It would cost approx $50 round trip.  I asked Fatima if I could give Richman the money for a ticket as a Christmas gift and she agreed.  SO - BFGO sent Richman home to see his momma and his older brothers and sisters.  His two younger siblings did not get to go...but I am planning on seeing to it that they all get to go next Christmas.

As you can imagine, Richman was stunned and speechless.  He was fighting back tears and he was searching for words that he just simply couldn't find.  I didn't want him to make a big deal about "thank yous" so I just begged him to go and enjoy and not search for ways to thank me and BFGO.  I can't wait to hear from him though to see how his visit was.

Thank you to our donors for making sweet little surprises like this possible.

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