Light the Darkness
What can be done when darkness descends, threatening to overwhelm you and everyone around you? Shine a light.
Government responses to COVID-19 have disrupted many of the compassion projects that your gifts to ALO make possible, increasing costs, decreasing income, causing scarcities of resources, and dangerously isolating people. National borders were closed for long periods—some still have not fully reopened. This blocked workers and many forms of international assistance from arriving for programs that depended on them, such as in Vanuatu and Fiji. Programs in the Philippines were forced to lock down for 400 days—and it’s still illegal for kids to be out in public without a doctor’s note!
Ministries like Fiji’s Treasure House Christian Children’s Home (TH) and the Philippines’ Happy Horizons Children’s Ranch (HHCR), King’s Garden Children’s Home (KG), and Childcare Community Ministry Philippines (CCMP) have been pushed to the edge to secure sufficient food, water, and resources to sustain staff and children. “It has been a challenging year,” admits Ulamila Kaisau, director of Fiji’s Treasure House.
But she has seen God’s faithful and timely provision on behalf of the children in her care.
“There has never been a day that the children would go hungry. We could be on the last packet of milk, and a dozen more would arrive the very moment that we emptied a packet. I am always in awe.”
In addition to dealing with supply issues, uncertainties, and rising costs for their own needs, many ALO-assisted projects have been stretched and pressured by an explosion of needs and requests for assistance from their surrounding communities. “Our hearts ache to hear the cries of mothers struggling to feed their little ones,” wrote Ulamila Kaisau, director of Fiji’s Treasure House.
Were the resources and capacity sufficient, these projects would have almost endless opportunities to take in or help additional children and families in need. In spite of the limits, these programs do what they can:
Treasure House shares their precious food with others when God has abundantly blessed them.
King’s Garden is doing what the local community still struggles to do—educate the children through a successful home-school program.
Unable to open their usual feeding stations, CCMP is delivering food packs and Bibles directly to the neediest people in the community, many of whom have not worked or earned money for months or even years.
Although unable to leave campus due to restrictions, kids at Happy Horizons Children’s Ranch joyfully prepared large baskets of canned goods, rice, shampoo, soap, toothpaste, and other daily necessities for 11 local families. “This year was very difficult because of the pandemic. People don’t have work, and without work, they can’t eat,” explained Shine, a 15-year-old HHCR kid. “It’s important to have those baskets to feed their families.” The HHCR kids also made Christmas cards with notes to encourage these families. They soon discovered that you can’t shine a light for others without being warmed and blessed yourself. “It made me feel so happy because they can feed their family,” Shine continued. “I’m grateful that I can help them and watch the smiles on their faces.”
Rather than cursing the darkness while retreating self-protectively, these projects have chosen to be God’s light to the world around them. They are doing whatever they can to help others—even from their own place of need.
Whatever your circumstances, God has given you something with which to bless others. What can you do to help those still struggling in the darkness of need?
“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.” —Isaiah 9:2 (NLT)