Chickens, Babies and Goodbyes

BFGO has experienced much in the past year... great things and hard ones.

We struggled as an organization through some fundraisers. We bit our nails and gritted our teeth as our Zimbabwe Poultry Project kept getting more and more expensive. We celebrated the great news that Marlena, from Zimbabwe, gets to remain in high school here in the USA - but still without funding, and then most recently, our Zimbabwe orphanage is going through two major changes: 1) Many of the older children are completing school and aging out. A hard reality! 2) Social Welfare in Zimbabwe continues to bring babies and toddlers into the orphanage...lots of them.

Our Zim Chicken Project has finally opened for business and we are so grateful. It will take a little while for it to turn a profit for the orphanage but we are well on our way.  To recap, because it has been a long while, BFGO established a water source and electricity, and then we provided all of the funds to construct a large building that includes 3 interior chicken coops. We purchased a generator and provided for various systems to be put into place to feed and water the chickens. Someone else outside of BFGO also donated some funds and they finally have chickens. The photos below are from the day that the chickens were delivered. Please rejoice with us - this has been a long and difficult but amazing project to be part of. We owe so much gratitude to the various people who contributed approximately $16,000 of the $20,000 to complete it.

Our next big thing happening in Zimbabwe is LOTS OF BABIES!
Our orphanage partner has been flooded with babies and toddlers. Social Welfare takes in children that have been abandoned and they find placements for them in orphanages. Our older kiddos are moving out due to age and those spots are filled with precious little ones. Several of these kiddos were abandoned roadside and others found in the brush. Our youngest was placed at just 7 days old. As a result, our board member, Elaine Smith, went to Zimbabwe and spent 9 weeks caring for them around the clock and to develop a baby/toddler program. A caregiver was hired and also trained. We currently have more kiddos than the homes have room for, but that is often the African way. There is not enough money to fund their formula and diaper needs, so this is an emergent need. We've established a baby fund at our website for donations. The photos below are a few of our newest residents.

Finally, a large number of our Zim orphans are completing school this Christmas and it will be time for them to exit the program. Our orphanage director has already worked tirelessly to help find many of them jobs and placements. In fact, several of those kids are already working at markets during the night and still going to school all day, while maintaining their studies and their chores. They earn very little money, but with a 95% unemployment rate in Zimbabwe, we believe that any opportunity is valuable.  This is one of the hardest aspects to this type of work - having to let kids go, but it's mandatory per social welfare. A few of the kiddos have achieved academic excellence, and for those, we desperately want to help them go on to higher learning opportunities in Zim or abroad. 

Please consider partnering with BFGO in one of the following ways:

1). Sponsor a specific child. You can research our kiddos over at the website.

2). Don't want to sponsor a specific kiddo? You may choose our Zimbabwe Orphanage partner via the website and set up a monthly donation of any amount. Your donation will be allocated directly to their greatest needs.

3). If you believe in the work of BFGO and want to offer your general financial support, you may set up a one-time or recurring monthly donation of any amount into our Greatest Need Fund.

4). If you feel compelled to help specifically with education costs for the kids who are aging out, you may make a one-time donation, or monthly recurring of any amount into our education fund.

All of these can be established at our website by clicking onto the donate tab, decide on the amount you want to give, and then choose the fund you desire by clicking the drop down menu. It's so simple and yet so impactful. You may visit our website HERE. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read our updates. We continue to be deeply grateful for every engaged heart. God bless your tenderness and generosity.

Melissa Irwin and the BFGO Team

A Diminished God?

(no time for editing/spellcheck) - deal with it. ;)

I was thinking about ministry. In general.

The Sunday before I left to come to Zim, my pastor asked my husband and I to come up and share a bit about our missions calling with the congregation. First of all – yay – what a sweet opportunity. Secondly, I kinda bombed it.

Sure, I shared 2 minutes worth of vision and hope and excitedly got to share that sweet Marlena is returning with me. But! At one point Darren asked me what we (BFGO) mostly do when we are with the kids at the orphanage.

My stupid response: “mostly just ministry”. Okay I shared a couple of brief specifics, but I woke up the next day thinking…

…GAW! JUST ministry?

Seriously, couldn’t the Holy Spirit have inspired me to recognize that ministry isn’t just a little thing – like maybe not even worth mentioning?  I didn’t even mention the chicken project BECAUSE MY BRAIN WAS DEAD.

What is ministry if it isn’t everything?

When you encourage a child – it is ministry.

When you teach and love and discipline your children – it is ministry.

When you forgive your spouse for being aloof – it is ministry.

When you hand out programs at church with a precious smile on your face – guess what? Ministry.

When you wrap your arms around someone who count their life’s hugs on one hand – yep – ministry.

Just ministry is Just Jesus and He is All in All. I cannot even fathom that I reduced the work He shaped for me as some small thing. Such a reduction makes Him a tiny man on a tiny cross shedding just a tiny bit of blood.

How could I?

I’m an ambassador of Christ, a Christian soldier, a child of God and a co-missioner with Jesus. I am a carrier of the Holy Spirit and with that I have the power in me that God used to raise Christ from the grave. I am small and He is large – but His ministry is huge.

Do you feel small in your ministry? Well stop it. You may be small – but the ministry He gave you can never be less than all that He is.

I remember this as I sit and talk with Misheck and learn of all the ways he has heard Jesus in the past year and the ways that the Holy Spirit has managed to remove greed and replace it with an earnest desire to love his neighbor. Yes, sweet Lord!! These kids want to serve as much or more as they are being served in their great love for the God that created them in His image.

I remember this as I speak with Eric about his great love and appreciation for his sponsors – the people who write letters and pour love and life in his otherwise sometimes lonely heart.

I remember this as I read (with permission) the diary of one girl who was raped at approximately the age of 8 and her continued desire to rid her own life and body from this earth.

This ministry carried out by you and by me – it delivers hope and love and healing into the lives of the hurting. It feeds a hunger for a greater understanding of who God is to the hurting world at large. Jesus – you show up in our “just ministries”. Jesus is, in fact, the minister through His Holy Spirit. If we reduce this in our minds and heart – we reduce the power to nothing and we fail to leave a trail of love.

It’s catastrophic. The hurting world cannot afford for us to diminish the value of the ministries He gives us.

I pray that I never do this again.

I tell you – Zim is a learning place. It is a microscope that I personally need to see through. So much is revealed. The eyes of my heart open to greater wisdom and insight and my heart is leveled to a new place of humility. I could never thank Zimbabwe enough for her precious people, her reception to the gospel and to the warm hugs that minister to me in a great big huge way.

Zim Baby - I've Lost Count

Home sweet home away from home sweet home.

I love being here. It helps that 70 degrees is my love termperature - (like a love language but different). The air is singing me super sweet love songs and I feel like a butterfly.

Sunday was landing day and also the day for groceries. I'm all stocked up on peanut butter, crackers, eggs and coffee. Thank sweet Jesus for Kind bars because it looks like my only supper will be rice and a small portion of vegetables. I must add this though - the cook prepared some kale 2 nights ago that was to-die-for. And no, this isn't some sort of manipulative mind game for Pastor Darren - it was actually awesome. I'm pretty sure that was one heck of a massage.

Yesterday was all about conversation. The house of teenage boys is swelling now with many many guys. It is heaven to me as I get to spend time with guys that I haven't really had the precious fortune to before. Blessing me down deep into my toes. I could dance. Again.

And there is the cook. Auntie Dorcas.

She came into the living room where I had been sitting alone for a few moments reading my devotionals for the day. So poised, as they all are, she folded her arms across her legs and smiled so big, as they all do, indicating hope for a talk. She began with all the pleasantries of how "heyappy" she is to finally meet me and a string of kind of words that it seemed she had delicately knitted to present as a gift to me. Warmer than a blanket. I could have cried.

Before I asked, I knew her story. I could feel it coming. Imagine walking into a library and every book on the shelf is exactly the same, only the names are changed. Her pages read like so many. Her husband left. She gave the baby to her momma. She came to the city to find work to pay for food and school fees for her little girl. She sees her daughter once per month when she can find time and money to travel to the rural areas. End of chapter 1. Chapter 2 is still being written.

The thing that she said over and over that is haunting my mind is how she is the bread winner for her family. Auntie Dorcas is 24 years of age, the 9th born of 11 children. Her mother is 66. Her baby girl is 7. Auntie cooks and cleans for a household of 10 boys and makes $200 per month. She is the bread winner.

You know, in our culture, the bread winner is the money-maker. Our bread winners win cars and houses, clothes, jewelry, internet access, vacuum cleaners, x-boxes, paint, facial cleansers, Clorox wipes, wine and Starbucks venti-mocha frappucinos (no whip please).  In this culture, the bread winner is the person who actually wins literal bread. The bread winner here wins fertizlizer and seed for the small maize crop just outside of the mud hut where 8 people sleep side by side on the floor. Bread is lunch and often, it is the whole of their lunch. Nothing else.

For Auntie Dorcas to be the bread winner she has had to forfeit a full-time life with her daughter.

I can't even…

I don't know.

The pain.

The people in Zim give me so much to chew on. So much to wrestle with. Right now my shoulders are pinned to the mat and I can barely move.

I love people. I love and hate their stories. I love that Jesus gives me tears for them. I know I'm alive.

I wish I could tell you that the Holy Spirit moved me with just the right words to speak into her. He does that sometimes and it rocks but for now He is working in me quietly. He's knitting a gift from Himself, in me for her and I will give it to her before I leave.

ZIM CHICKEN PROJECT : the details

We are Beautiful Feet Global Outreach, Inc.; a 501(c)3 Non-Profit. A faith-based organization committed to global orphan care. Our orphanage partnership located in Zimbabwe (Africa) involves 50+ children from age 3 - 19. International adoptions are not permitted for this country, therefore they will spend their entire childhood in an orphanage.

**To donate to the chicken project, follow this link and then choose "Zim Chicken Project".

THE ZIM CHICKEN PROJECT DETAILS

Goal:  To increase the monthly cashflow for our Zimbabwe orphanage partner in an effort to help them better help themselves!

Currently our Zim orphanage is able to harvest approx 100 chickens every 6-7 weeks. This has been a successful project going into its 3rd year. They have the knowledge and the space to operate a 1,000 chicken project, but they lack the water capacity, equipment and start-up capital. 

To establish this expanded project by April 2014 AUGUST 2014:
BFGO seeks 120 people to invest $28.00 per month for 6 months (beginning in October or November).
This will accomplish raising the necessary capital of approximately $20,000.
The benefit to the orphanage is 2-fold.
   (1) more protein for the children
   (2) approx $1,000 - $3,000 monthly profit from the sale of marketable chickens. 

To JOIN NOW in this poultry gift endeavor please click on this link and complete the online donation process.  Make sure that you select MONTHLY verses a one-time gift. Please set a reminder for yourself at the end of April August 2014 if you'd like for your donations to cease, or if you'd like to change the fund and/or amount. Anything not cancelled or changed will automatically be changed for you to go to the "Greatest Need" fund.  (Thank you!)

***All donations are tax deductible. 

**Skip to the end of this post for photos. 

Would you like more detailed details? This section is for you. 

The overseer of this project is a Zimbabwean native and the founder of the orphanage organization. Her name is Fatima. She is an accountant with a Masters Degree and has worked for the United Nations as well as a lecturer at a Zimbabwe University. She is well respected in her country and has completed thorough research and evaluations for the Chicken Project startup. 

This project will have 3 phases. 

Phase I:  Borehole Drilling & Accessories (this means local & continuous access to clean water).

Borehole installation, electric generator, 2000 liter tank, metal stand and pressure tank estimated $9,150.00  (Drilling $6,500; Generator $1,500; 2000 Litre tank $500; Metal Stand $300; Pressure Tank $350)

Phase II:  Fowl Run & Equipment

Broiler fowl run & equipment estimated $3,112.40

Phase III:  Chicks, Feed & Vaccines

Initial Chicks Purchase $3,650; Vaccines $30

MISC:  $4,000 for unexpected costs; fuel, transportation, driver, consultants, & donation transaction fees.

Are you interested in the story?  This section is for you.

These photos are of our kiddos in the Zim orphanage partnership as well as the "space" for the future chicken project and the man who will direct the full scope of the project in an ongoing basis. He lives in the little green house with his wife and children. See photographic footage of the current chicken project (100 chicks per every 6-7 weeks). The older children participate in every aspect of the harvesting (slaughter, defeathering, cleaning and packaging). 

Our chicken man (love him).

The field for the future chicken project.

Thank you for spending time to learn about BFGO and our current fundraising project to further aid our precious kiddos in Zimbabwe. We also have a child sponsorship program and an ongoing "greatest need" fund. You may learn more about us at our official website. 

Questions may be directed to melissa@beautifulfeetgo.org

Thank you and God bless you every day!

On Our Sleeves

He instructed Moses to teach them not to neglect the poor. To make a case while He had Moses's attention on the mountain, He specifically noted women who had lost their husbands and therefore lost their livelihood. Losing a husband meant losing his income, his potential. His promise.

When God relayed the importance of teaching the people (His people = the Israelites) He also used the example of the fatherless. A child without a father (or a mother ... eh'hem) was directionless and un-nurtured. In many cases, unloved. Alone. Without resources. Without help.

God loved poor people so much that He asked those near them to care for them and to make sure that they had food to eat.

God loved the fatherless so much that He instructed the Israelites to make sure that they were nurtured, fed and loved. That they would know they had value and worth in the eyes of the One true God.

When Jesus came, He taught God's children how to serve and love with their hands - hands that would represent the hands of God. He motivated them to move, love and serve with feet that would represent the feet of God. His own feet. The feet of Jesus.

Jesus modeled love for us. He carved it out in the shape of His big heart, placed it in our hands and then asked us to deliver it to the world. He wants us to walk around with His heart on our sleeves.

For the past two days I have personally worked via social media and email to try and raise money for a specific, special and urgent cause. Warm, heavy winter blankets for the Zim orphanages. Overwhelmingly and swiftly, people ran with the feet of Jesus and loosed the grip on money for them in order to give what was from Him - to meet this need. Sweetly.

It is incredibly beautiful and valuable that this happened - but if you played a part in that in any way I am asking that you look down at your palms and stare at them for a moment. And then look at your bare feet and try to see the journey that Jesus has walked with you. In your palm, I ask you to try and see what He has given you. My prayer for you, for your benefit and for His that you will always see that your hands and feet belong to the Lord of all and that He has great plans for the steps they will take, the work they will do and the for the things they will let go of.

You are dear.

You are treasure.

You are beautiful.

You are His.

He loves you.

Don't ever forget this.

Winter Blankets - a tremendous and immediate need

She gave up a comfortable life to rescue them and give them a home. Her story still blows my mind. She left her job. Her husband left her. She is the one on the ground doing it every single day - serving orphans with her fibers. She gives it all she's got. A remarkable and brave woman. She lives her life at the foot of the cross giving everything she has to the One who gave her life. Daily she worships. Daily she petitions. Daily she sacrifices. Daily she gives.

The kids need SO much! To run these orphanages she needs so much more money that she is currently earning and receiving. Top priorities are always food and school fees - meanwhile some of the structures are falling apart. Rents go unpaid. The truck breaks down and sits for a time unrepaired. There is no "credit". There are no food-stamps. I honestly don't understand, emotionally or literally, how she decides what to do and what to ignore. I cannot fathom that struggle.

But right now - truly right now......  winter is setting in and they NEED blankets. The blankets have not been prioritized over the past couple of years and as a result they deal with a lot of winter sickness. Without heat the children are so cold at night and most of them develop colds and flus. They have blankets now but they are lightweight. What they really need are heavy winter blankets. The orphanage director, Fatima, has made this a priority.

Winter in Zimbabwe is starting right now. Nights are cold and within the next 2 weeks it is going to get much worse. We cannot purchase blankets here and ship them because the cost is outrageous. Even though blankets are expensive in Zimbabwe - it is still far more cost effective to purchase them there. They have been priced at $30 each and we would love to purchase at least 50 blankets. When? Right now!  We need to raise $1,500 by Friday 5/18 so that we can wire the funds on Tuesday 5/22 and they will have the blankets by the end of next week and then can use them year after year during the winter seasons.

Please tweet this post, share it on Facebook, point to it on your blog! Do you know a business owner who might willing to be a great blessing to these kiddos?

We are offering BFGO t-shirts to anyone who can donate at least $30 for a blanket between now and Friday 5/18. Just go to our website, click on the Donate tab and follow instructions.

www.beautifulfeetgo.org

Below is a photo of the founder and director of the Zim orphanages. Her name is Fatima! She is an angel and she needs our support. Please keep her and this great work she is doing in your hearts and prayers.