{"id":206,"date":"2009-04-22T18:56:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-22T18:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/2009\/04\/the-poorest-of-the-poor.html"},"modified":"2009-04-22T18:56:00","modified_gmt":"2009-04-22T18:56:00","slug":"the-poorest-of-the-poor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/04\/the-poorest-of-the-poor.html","title":{"rendered":"The Poorest of the Poor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today our team had the privilege of being with some of the poorest people in
\nAddis Ababa. Mother Teresa used to say that by serving the poor she could be with Jesus all the time. That's what today felt like.
\"1\"<\/a>
The first orphan care point was called "Gospel for all
\nNations." 42 children are helped by this ministry, but the help is
\nextremely scarce. They don't have any sponsorship or funding coming in. The
\nlittle they do have is money the pastor takes from his own pocket. Just like Walter in Swaziland…\n<\/p>\n

The children are orphans–sons and daughters of prostitutes. <\/p>\n

We went to their
\nhomes. We touched their faces. We hugged them as if they were our own. <\/p>\n

The
\nplace was filthy and filled with stench but we knew God had us there for a
\nreason, to see what Jesus looks like is the worst of circumstances.\n<\/p>\n

\"4\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

I met an 18 year old sex worker with a baby. She was really a beautiful girl
\nand one of our team members asked why she sold her body. <\/p>\n

"So I can have food to eat," she replied. <\/strong> <\/p>\n

Nobody should be forced to sell themselves so
\nthey don't starve. <\/span><\/p>\n

The second home we visited is called Shalom, it is a place for street kids.  These
\nkids have been abused in the most horrible ways. The boys and girls have
\nbeen raped and most of them have HIV\/AIDS. One boy had TB so bad he coughed
\nthe entire afternoon. <\/p>\n

They slept on the hard wood floor of this run down
\nbuilding trying to stay safe from the evil that waited for them outside the
\ndoor.\n<\/p>\n

One saint of a lady named Telagne has given her life to serve these kids.
\nThey have absolutely no support. I asked her where they got money for the
\nlittle food they had. She said, "from my wages." I was awed by her
\nsacrifice.\n<\/p>\n

We canceled the rest of our plans for the evening and decided to have a
\nHUGE pizza party complete with Coke, Fanta, and bananas! <\/p>\n

\"2\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

The kids said to
\nus, "we've never had a Coke before."<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Tomorrow we're buying them mattresses,
\nblankets, shoes, and food. Oh, my heart is broken for these kids. They are
\njust children, 7, 9, 12 years being the oldest.\n<\/p>\n

\"3\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

At the end they asked if they could pray for us. Are you kidding? <\/p>\n

We stood
\nin a circle and they stretched out their hands toward us, blessed us, and prayed
\nfor us. <\/p>\n

I'<\/span>ve never been so humbled.
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I saw the Kingdom of God in
\na new light today. I long for Christ to come back not so I can have a
\nmansion in the sky or to get my eternal reward, instead I want him to come
\nback so these children don't have to suffer anymore. No more pain, no evil
\nperpetrated on them day and night, no tears, ever again.<\/p>\n

If you want to help with the expenses for the shoes, food, blankets, and mattresses (we're buying these things out of pocket right now in Ethiopia), just give online<\/a> at put "Shalom Ethiopia" in your note.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today our team had the privilege of being with some of the poorest people in Addis Ababa. Mother Teresa used to say that by serving the poor she could be with Jesus all the time. That's what today felt like. The first orphan care point was called "Gospel for all Nations." 42 children are helped…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-swaziland"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Poorest of the Poor - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/04\/the-poorest-of-the-poor.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Poorest of the Poor - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today our team had the privilege of being with some of the poorest people in Addis Ababa. Mother Teresa used to say that by serving the poor she could be with Jesus all the time. That's what today felt like. The first orphan care point was called "Gospel for all Nations." 42 children are helped…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/04\/the-poorest-of-the-poor.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-22T18:56:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/tomdavis.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d83451b7fa69e201156f432758970c-400wi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Davis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Poorest of the Poor - Red Letters","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/04\/the-poorest-of-the-poor.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Poorest of the Poor - Red Letters","og_description":"Today our team had the privilege of being with some of the poorest people in Addis Ababa. Mother Teresa used to say that by serving the poor she could be with Jesus all the time. That's what today felt like. The first orphan care point was called "Gospel for all Nations." 42 children are helped…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/04\/the-poorest-of-the-poor.html","og_site_name":"Red Letters","article_published_time":"2009-04-22T18:56:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/tomdavis.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d83451b7fa69e201156f432758970c-400wi"}],"author":"Tom Davis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/04\/the-poorest-of-the-poor.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/04\/the-poorest-of-the-poor.html","name":"The Poorest of the Poor - Red Letters","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/04\/the-poorest-of-the-poor.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/04\/the-poorest-of-the-poor.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/tomdavis.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d83451b7fa69e201156f432758970c-400wi","datePublished":"2009-04-22T18:56:00+00:00","dateModified":"2009-04-22T18:56:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#\/schema\/person\/c78d22af30aa2e0860a621fadf855b92"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/04\/the-poorest-of-the-poor.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/04\/the-poorest-of-the-poor.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/04\/the-poorest-of-the-poor.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/tomdavis.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d83451b7fa69e201156f432758970c-400wi","contentUrl":"http:\/\/tomdavis.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d83451b7fa69e201156f432758970c-400wi"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/04\/the-poorest-of-the-poor.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Poorest of the Poor"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/","name":"Red Letters","description":"Christian, Christian Inspiration, Christian News, Christian Activism News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#\/schema\/person\/c78d22af30aa2e0860a621fadf855b92","name":"Tom Davis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b5c\/b5c5842c5b6dd6c51062873d0bb1dfafx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b5c\/b5c5842c5b6dd6c51062873d0bb1dfafx96.jpg","caption":"Tom Davis"},"description":"Tom Davis currently serves as CEO of Children's HopeChest (www.hopechest.org), a global orphan care ministry headquartered in Colorado Springs. A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}