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We are EXCITED to share this story with you!
Last
December, as we were preparing to return to Kenya, the Oasis board asked Rick
to do two things - to find land for the next Oasis project and, if possible, to
find an existing children’s home, with a school, near a city to step into. God
provided both!
We
returned to Kenya in January and began a journey seeking where to grow Oasis
and where to land personally. We thought we’d be moving west, so we put
Julia and Caleb in boarding school and started our search.
The first several months were exploratory, taking us to areas primarily in southwest Kenya. Property listings are not a ‘thing’ here, so we relied on word of mouth. We drove over 6300 km on paved and unpaved paths, met with government officials, made new friends, waited in land offices, routed around riots and earthquakes, and became buddies with Google Earth.
We gained clarity on what Oasis
needed and honed in on the ‘Big Five’ – road access, water, electricity,
buildable surface, and community need. It has been exciting to find space for
Oasis expansion! Oasis in the process of taking steps forward on a
beautiful piece of land in a needy area of the Trans Mara.
Through
all our searching, nothing materialized as a personal landing place and
every day our hearts ached to be with our kids. The weight of boarding
school sat heavily on us after only a few days. We prayed for peace and
comfort, but as the weeks wore on, instead of easing, it became
increasingly difficult for all of us. On our worst night, Ann was sobbing and
we both lay down on our faces with our palms outstretched and asked God, “Do
You have a solution for us?"
THE.
NEXT. MORNING. Rick received a phone call from some friends and fellow orphan
advocates. This couple has been assisting with a Kenyan owned and run
children’s home over the last 12 years. They are leaving Kenya to work in
another country. The Kenyan director of the home wants to retire and move into
other work and is looking to sell the entire project. Our friends woke up that
morning feeling overwhelmed by God to call us. They asked outright if Oasis
might consider buying the children’s home and taking on the care of the
children there. God brought this unexpected situation into our path the next day. We were intrigued.
We
visited the following day and realized the children’s home is a 35-minute drive
from Julia and Caleb’s school. This would allow us to remain together as a
family AND for us to increase our reach, caring for more orphaned children.
The site itself is also exactly what the Oasis board had prayed for and
requested Rick to find, an existing children’s home, with a school, near a
city. Isn’t God amazing?!
Oasis is calling the site, The Well. We love the name for multiple reasons but the
story in John 4 of Jesus reaching into the life of the Samaritan woman and offering living water for her needy soul amid her brokenness sits in
our minds. May The Well be such an Oasis for needy children.
