
Shepherd's Staff Saves Swazi Kids
For twelve years, Grand Staff Ministries has been rescuing children in AIDS-ravaged Swaziland, Africa.
Many of them have been orphaned, abandoned, and left vulnerable as their parents contract the disease. Others end up caring for their ill parents, and no one takes care of them.
They're hungry, missing out on schooling, and homeless . . . and they're vulnerable to abuse and human trafficking.
Grand Staff Ministries opened a thrift boutique two and a half years ago, and it's doing very well. All of the staff volunteer, including the manager, so that all the profits can go directly to caring for the children. These proceeds have been a major resource as the ministry built the first care home, the feeding kitchen, and the preschool in the village of Sipete.
But what has happened is that when people hear or read the name of the ministry, they don't really understand what it means. The abandoned, orphaned, and vulnerable children in Swaziland are like little lost lambs. We believe that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has a staff "grand" enough to meet every need of every children in Swaziland. But He does it through us.
We've explained the name in conversations and on our brochures. But someone came up with the idea that if a picture paints a thousand words, how many more words can a statue paint?
I met a fantastic woodcraftsman in Swaziland, and he is quite capable of building us a statue of Jesus holding an African child. This would let visitors to the thrift boutique comprehend in one glance what our mission is all about.
So when I return to Swaziland next month, I'd love to commission this artist to build the statue. Then I can bring it back home with me and set it up immediately to help us clarify the call: to meet the practical needs of these precious Swazi children so they can have a brighter future and understand how valuable they are. So we have four weeks to raise the funds needed to get this project going.
When people "get it," they will be even more generous in their donations of items to the boutique, in the giving of their time, and in their shopping. And even in additional donations to help us build 11 more care homes and an elementary school.
We will change lives and even eternity for 144 children who will eventually live in one of the homes, plus hundreds of children who will have full bellies and attend school.
I'm the executive director and co-founder with my husband of this ministry. We are 100% committed to rescuing as many of these dear ones as possible.
Will you join us to clarify the cause?
Thank you!
http://www.grandstaffministries.com