When You Get There Too Late
Many of the stories are very hard to hear. And they don't all have happy ever after endings.
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
By working with children in need, Aslan can have a generational and long-term effect on a community.
Many who go overseas to work with the poor and those who are most in need quickly become discouraged when their work is either poorly received or they see few results from the hard work they’ve been performing.
This can lead to either deep discouragement and a return home, but for many it leads them toward working with children. Even though it takes longer to see the effects of this work, it’s easier to have a profound impact on a life’s trajectory.
This is one of the reasons why Aslan is so focused on reaching children. By working with children in need, Aslan can have a generational and long-term effect on a community. These children who learn about the love of God through Aslan can become champions of that love in their communities as they grow older.
John Ramey said, “When Aslan first started, the first big project we did—about 30 years ago now—I met a missionary from Switzerland that was working with Somali people in Ethiopia.”
The Somali people are one of the most disengaged groups of people from the church. This group includes people in Somalia as well as Somalis who reside in other countries. Because this was a group that needed to see God’s love, Aslan was particularly interested in this partnership.
So Aslan raised the support necessary to open an orphanage in Ethiopia specifically serving Somalian children.
Although this project started 30 years ago, John Ramey is soon flying to Ethiopia to meet a man who grew up in that same home as a boy. He’s still invested in the community where he grew up and is now reaching children and other Somalians with the same love that he received as a child.
John said, “This guy that I’m going to meet in Ethiopia grew up in that orphan home as a little boy. He remembers me when he was growing up because they made the children at this home pray for me every night before they would give them their meals.”
This man grew up calling John his dad because of the work of Aslan, and it’s clear that this relationship has only grown stronger over the years.
“This guy and several others who grew up in the home are just outstanding servants of Christ now,” John said. “And really God is doing amazing things with a few of them in Ethiopia. So that’s pretty cool. That’s a long term thing.”
But the work doesn’t end when the children grow up. A new job begins as they work to better their communities and serve the next generation. What started as a partnership with a Swiss missionary has become a partnership with the next generation of Somalians.
“We still help these guys in a lot of practical ways. One guy we’re helping build a house. We help them with stuff for their kids.”
“When I visited the orphanage a long time ago, I saw these children, and it weighed on my heart.” John thought often about Psalm 27:10, which reads, “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.”
John said about these orphans, “There’s a specific promise for you, and God’s going to take care of you and take you up and give you wonderful lives. And that’s exactly what God has done.”
Aslan’s work is impossible without the support of donors like you. Every dollar that’s given goes directly to support local projects and leaders as all administrative costs are covered by Aslan’s board.
Aslan’s work has had a lasting effect in countries around the world, and your financial support can help Aslan show God’s love in tangible ways to those who are most in need.
We keep our administrative costs to a bare minimum so that your gifts go toward impacting the people we serve.†