Great Loss and Great Gain
The following was written by Cindy who serves Nyaatha Ray of Hope as Secretary.
In November of 2018, we drove for what seemed like hours on the long road leading west out of Eldoret. It was only one of the few paved roads in this area of Kenya and people and animals streamed along both edges. Minibuses, scooters, heavy trucks, cars and bicycles carrying everything imaginable competed for space on the two-lane road through the hot, dusty countryside.
At last it appeared, an unremarkable road in a desolate area leading north to Kakuma Refugee Camp. I was filled with a strange sense of wonder at what God had done. My mind flashed back to the year 2000 when we first meant our three foster children. It was up this road at Kakuma where our foster children had spent much of their childhood.
Forced to flee from their villages in South Sudan by warring peoples from North Sudan, thousands of children, sometimes accompanied by adult family members, fled on foot hundreds of miles south to this Kenyan refuge. Although the camp provided some protection and rations, it was also a place of hunger, sickness, violence and loss. With their country still in chaos and little hope for peace, the UN began moving the children to host families in Western nations where they could receive food, medical care and an education. Ours was one of those families.
On a snowy December evening in 2000, we got our first glimpse of the three children, two boys and a girl, all in their teens, who were to be ours. Clothed only in the gray, UN Refugee Program sweat suit and canvas tennis shoes, they looked frightened, cold and painfully thin, almost skeletal. We opened our hearts and our home that day and knew God was with us.
Many wonderful years have passed since then. It wasn’t always easy, but it was always rewarding. Seeing them grow into confidant, responsible adults with families of their own has given us remarkable joy.
When I meant Sister Angela in 2015, here in the U.S. for a visit, and heard about the life changing children’s ministry she and the Assumption Sisters of Eldoret were carrying out in the streets of Kenya, our hearts were captured again. Our children were grown and independent, but their stories of suffering and loss were still with us. My husband and I jumped in with both feet, ready to support this ministry that saves and educates the poorest of the poor.
Little did I dream that in 2018, I’d travel to Kenya to meet these wonderful Sisters and the beautiful children and teens they serve; that one day I would see the road to Kakuma and be reminded that God can turn great loss into great gain. I know God is with us, all of us, as we again open our hearts to the poor, hungry and lost children of Africa and He once again turns great loss into great gain.
Cindy Kogut
Nyaatha Ray of Hope Secretary