Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220004A
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00:01 As you're well aware we are living in unprecedented times.
00:04 Join us 00:06 now for today's special program. 00:10 ♪I want to spend my life mending broken people♪ 00:23 ♪I want to spend my life removing pain♪ 00:31 ♪Lord let my words in a heart that hurts♪ 00:44 ♪I want to spend my life mending broken people♪ 01:04 ♪ ♪ 01:16 Hello I'm Shelley Quinn and we are so glad that you are joining 01:19 us today for 3ABN Today. We have some exciting guests and I just 01:25 have to read a quick scripture. This is Hebrews chapter 10 01:29 verse 38: It says: The just shall live by faith but if 01:34 anyone draws back My soul has no pleasure in him. 01:38 I'm going to tell you, our guests today live by faith. 01:41 and we're going to get an update on a wonderful ministry. It is 01:46 called Saving Orphans Through Health and Outreach (SOHO) and 01:53 many of you will know our special guest. We have Cynthia 01:56 Prime and you are the founder and CEO of SOHO. So glad to have 02:02 Thank you, thank you, cofounder. 02:04 Cofounder. 02:05 I do have a partner, God's crime. 02:07 Amen, praise the Lord. We're glad. And then Dr. Shalundra 02:16 Sherrod. Isn't that...just rolls off your tongue. I love that. 02:20 You are the chair of the Department of Social Work at 02:25 Oakwood. Tell me, what does that mean? 02:28 Ooo. Well one of the things... You know the mission of Oakwood 02:32 is we enter, to learn, we depart to serve. So the goal is to 02:37 train our students to come in and learn from us, but to go out 02:42 and to serve others. So that's a goal for us. 02:45 You know, Oakwood has turned out so many wonderful, wonderful 02:52 graduates. We're very blessed by that school and ministry there, 02:55 because it's more than education it is ministry. Then we've got 03:00 Lionel Johnson with us. We were just saying that he looks a 03:04 little bit like Dr. Carlton Byrd's younger brother. 03:10 Now I'm going to have to read your title. You are the 03:14 Associate Professor of Professional Practice at Andrews 03:18 University, the School of Architecture and Interior Design 03:23 How long have you been at Andrews? 03:24 I've been at Andrews full time for a year now. 03:28 For a year. Yes. That's wonderful. Well we're just 03:30 excited to have each and every one and we're going to get to 03:33 know these folk a little bit better, get a little of their 03:35 personal story. But we know how much you love music and we have 03:42 Paulo Torres who's wonderful on the violin and E.T. Everett who 03:47 is going to accompany him on the piano and the title of the song 03:51 is one of my favorites, Amazing Grace. 03:56 ♪ ♪ Piano alone 04:08 ♪ ♪ 05:41 ♪ ♪ piano alone 05:59 ♪ ♪ Violin joins 06:31 Oh that's beautiful. One of these days, I'm going to learn 06:35 to play the piano and the violin Well, if you're joining us just 06:40 a little late, we have an exciting interview today with 06:44 Cynthia Prime who is the founder cofounder and CEO of SOHO. That 06:50 is Saving Orphans Through Health and Outreach. And we have 06:58 Doctor, and that's important, but I'm not going to call you 07:00 doctor here on the program, Shalunda Sherrod and here with 07:06 Oakwood. We're glad to have you you here. And Lionel Johnson. 07:08 We're so excited that you're here from Andrews. So what we're 07:13 going to do is just get into these people's amazing stories 07:18 Cynthia tell us just briefly how the Lord called you to this work 07:23 Well you know, I think sometimes the Lord just says there is the 07:31 Red Sea or there is the rising Jordan, Move. And that 07:36 was the way He 07:37 called, because there was no support, no anything. It's just 07:41 being in southern Africa in the country with the highest HIV and 07:44 AIDS prevalence in the entire world. Called to do camp meeting 07:50 there and encountering just, it was at that time 150,000 orphans 07:54 because they had a 32 percent HIV prevalence in the country at 07:58 that time. And 3ABN was very helpful because they raised 08:03 enough to help us feed and begin... And it's while they're 08:06 watching those children the Lord said, Hey you. It was 15 years 08:11 ago. This is now 15... Can you imagine that? No. I'm telling 08:16 you the time just went by 15 years ago with nothing but put 08:22 your foot into the ocean or put your foot into the Jordan and 08:27 that was all. Quit the job; and I can honestly say not a 08:33 paycheck since then, but watch God work in such amazing ways. 08:38 It has been amazing because I know you've had some obstacles. 08:42 But you know what God does? He turns our obstacles into 08:46 stepping stones. We don't always see that but He does. But God 08:52 has partnered you with some amazing people. May I call you 08:56 Shalunda. Yes. Shalunda. Okay. Tell us just a little...You do 09:01 such an amazing work through Oakwood but tell us when did 09:07 your relationship with the Lord really get personal? 09:09 You know it's really interesting I can really talk about a couple 09:14 of times when I really knew the God was 09:16 calling me into a closer relationship with Him and one 09:20 was when I was a teenager kind of going through some challenges 09:23 at my church with my friends and I remember my mother saying to 09:27 me that you know it's not about them, it's about God. Nobody 09:35 has anything to save you, they can't save you. That's right. 09:37 They have no heaven or hell for you. And she really helped me to 09:42 that it was about me and God. But secondly having opportunity 09:48 to attend Oakwood University and really connect with like-minded 09:53 individuals my age and my time really helped me to grow my 09:59 relationship with God and I think it was there at Oakwood 10:02 University ironically I'm now working there but ironically 10:06 that's another place where God really spoke to me and I heard 10:11 His voice and my relationship with Him began to really blossom 10:15 from there. 10:17 Praise God. It is important that who we associate with 10:19 can influence and 10:22 impact our lives. And how about you Lionel. 10:25 Sure. Well I grew up in a Seventh-day Adventist family 10:28 I'm the youngest of three siblings. My older sisters were 10:32 you know very focused and very driven. I always found myself 10:36 kind of just floating at that early stage in my life, not 10:39 really engaged in the Adventist way. 10:42 Were you the spoiled baby boy of the family? 10:44 I was the distracted one. And you know I went to camp meeting 10:50 one summer at a local church and for some reason that kind of 10:53 sparked a turning point in my life. Praise God! I got more 10:57 intentional about spending time with God and I put myself on a 11:00 new path where the trajectory was always begin able to walk 11:03 with Christ. I'm still walking with Christ now. Amen. So after 11:08 graduating from Andrews University I went into the 11:10 professional practice of architecture and I received 11:13 a call to come 11:14 back and teach at Andrews University and here I am. 11:17 That's wonderful. How exciting. Well I know that you have some 11:21 very dedicated partners. Tell us just a little about SOHO. You 11:28 brought a video. Do you want to show that now or...you introduce 11:31 the video when you want to. 11:32 Yeah. Let me just share a little bit first. You know that we 11:36 started out there. It was Swazi ...It was Swaziland at that time 11:40 Now, what is it? 11:42 And it's called eSwatini. eSwatini. Yes, yes. The king 11:47 decided to change the name. Okay So I mean his prerogative I 11:53 guess. Anyway we began just doing what we could as you know. 11:58 You know, container loads of supplies and what not and then 12:01 God enabled us to form an organization there, a nonprofit 12:05 there, so you have a _ for SOHO in eSwatini and we began 12:10 building. We have a school. We have...We've been serving these 12:13 15 years, children from child- headed households, orphans and 12:18 vulnerable children just doing.. But Shelly, I would tell you 12:22 that there has been a gap. There has been a gap. There have been 12:26 to many children who would come and who would be brought to our 12:29 attention, abused or homeless, and we had nowhere. But we 12:33 wanted, we were praying for years for a place that we could 12:39 have possession of, not tribal land that could be taken away 12:42 from you, yes, where God could do something. Where we can build 12:47 housing, where we could begin to impact their lives because you 12:51 know they come to get food, they get clothes, they get medical 12:55 care and then they go back. I've seen them go back to situations 12:58 where they were being raped and what not. You could do nothing 13:01 about it. And then God decided, can you imagine, after, it was 13:06 about 14 years, just before our 14th year, God decided, Okay I'm 13:14 ready. Amazing grace. Here's a little nonprofit organization 13:18 He finds us one of the most difficult to find things, right, 13:23 one of the best farms in the entire country when there are so 13:27 few available and enabled the farm at a half a million dollar 13:32 investment to be paid off with no...I mean, how is it done? 13:39 Only God can do that. So where we are right now, we've been 13:44 feeding, we've been clothing, but then COVID hit and when 13:50 COVID hit schools were closed. More abuse, more underage 13:55 pregnancies as a result and more children starving and we've been 14:01 giving, giving to almost depletion and God says the time 14:04 is now. So what we are doing right now in addition, by the 14:10 way, to COVID there was an uprising, there had been an 14:13 uprising because 60, 67 percent of the population live on like 14:18 a dollar 25 a day. And a lot of children are having to pay for 14:21 schooling. It becomes an issue. So riots, schools closed and a 14:27 lot of disruption. But that created more for hunger, for 14:33 hope and a hunger for Christ. So where we are right now I'm want 14:36 to start with that video that says, okay, so we've been doing 14:39 that but we have to take it to the next level. And we're ready 14:44 to do that. So take a look at that video and it will let you 14:47 know what is happening at the farm. 14:49 Okay and we'll look at that video now. 14:52 God has provided Intsaba with its rolling hills and pristine 14:58 environment. It's a farm where vegetables and fruits can grow 15:04 year round. Our partner in agriculture is Dr. Tom Chetick, 15:09 a retired dean of the School of Agriculture at Andrews 15:14 University. To date, a reservoir has been built and an irrigation 15:18 system to water the crops. Five hundred new macadamia nut trees 15:24 have been added to the orchard. Vegetables are planted and the 15:29 crops are growing that will feed hungry bellies. But the farm has 15:35 an even greater role. It is to help sustain the children's 15:40 village that is planned. The farm needs produce storage, 15:45 processing equipment and transportation because it has to 15:50 do more than feed. It has to produce resources as well. This 15:56 means there'll be more skills training, more jobs for local 16:00 families to support themselves and more resources for the 16:05 orphans and vulnerable children we'll be caring for. 16:08 So right now we're 16:10 looking for sponsorship for the children, donors to help us 16:14 build homes, build housing, build staff housing as well as 16:18 homes for the children, missionaries to help us with 16:22 their expertise. Our partners in this project currently are 16:27 Andrews University School of Architecture and Interior Design 16:31 and Andrews University School of Business, Oakwood University 16:36 as an institution is fully pledged as a partner in this 16:41 project. The Schools of Social Work, Psychology and 16:45 Communications are already actively involved as well as the 16:50 Chaplaincy Department. The prospect of what God can do is 16:56 exciting but it takes all of us working together. Together we 17:00 can beef up the existing program to serve more children at our 17:06 schools, at our center. And Intsaba, the mountain farm, can 17:11 become a beacon of light to the entire country. It all depends 17:18 on us. So let us work towards this. Let us pray for this. Let 17:24 us seize this divine opportunity to change the future for 17:30 children who have so little hope. 17:34 ♪ ♪ 17:41 There is such a great need to reach these children and they're 17:48 pretty much steeped in witch craft. Tell us about their 17:54 lifestyles. I mean, other than we know they're living below the 17:59 poverty level. We know that they're being traumatized. Tell 18:02 us about their religious backgrounds. 18:06 Right, and below the poverty line for us means not having 18:10 brand name tennis shoes and what not. Below the poverty line for 18:14 them means do I get one meal a day? You know, one of the 18:19 challenges that we have and have had in teaching Christ, it's a 18:23 Christian environment, it's a Christian society, it's a 18:28 Christian country predominantly. There are other religions, okay, 18:32 but the Christianity is married to, they call it, traditional 18:36 beliefs which is the worship of the dead, the communication with 18:41 the dead and what have you. So the healing and all of that, it 18:44 is really a contemporized version of witchcraft, really. And so the 18:50 children even in their religious experience sometimes experience 18:55 abuse, you know what I'm saying. We have children who come to our 19:03 class and we know that there is a spiritual thing there, the 19:06 behavior of the child and you have to try to pray and you have 19:10 to try to bring them together. There's a lot of depression. 19:14 A very, very high juvenile suicide rate because hope, and 19:19 that is what we're all about. Hope is health, it's opportunity 19:22 its purpose, it's empowerment and is all has to come through 19:28 Christ. So yes, Shelley, we've been working on the feeding and 19:32 all of that but the Lord has said, You know, talk about the 19:35 Divine Moment, and this time in the history of the planet it's 19:39 like you know what, if those children don't get a chance to 19:43 understand, not just sing about, Our God is a God of power and 19:47 then you know that the ancestors you have to watch out for. But 19:52 to teach them the power of the real God and that is what this 19:56 village is for. We need them to live where we can be sure that 20:01 they're safe from abuse. But we need them to be able to have 20:05 skills but we need them to get to know to be immersed in 20:09 Christianity as it really is. Not just go sing about it and 20:15 say about it and then be terrified because somebody's 20:18 going to put mootie on you. 20:20 Yes, and you know to me this is what's so exciting is this is 20:25 the multifaceted ministry of SOHO. This is how you Dr. 20:32 Shalunda Sherrod, you became involved is to...Tell us about 20:36 your part of the mission because it's so wonderful that Oakwood 20:41 is partnering with SOHO. 20:43 She mentions it in the video that there's several partners on 20:47 Oakwood's campus and social work is my department of course and 20:50 there's chaplaincy, Chaplain Palegie who's leading out in 20:54 spiritual life and various departments. Um, one of the 20:58 things that we want to do is offer training to the caregivers 21:03 and that training will involve just helping them to understand 21:07 that these children have been traumatized and we're coming 21:10 from a trauma informed perspective where we want to 21:14 address trauma. And what I like about trauma informed care is 21:18 it really asks the question what happened to you, not what's 21:22 wrong with you? So we want to go from a perspective really trains 21:27 the caregivers to ask that question; what happened to you? 21:31 And then how do they then help them. One of the things I really 21:37 like about this trauma informed care perspective is that it 21:41 focuses on one, providing safety for the kids, safety physically 21:47 safety emotionally. It focuses on trustworthiness, being able 21:51 to trust the people that are coming in and really the kids 21:55 have to get to a place where they trust what you're doing for 21:58 them, right? But they also have to have some level of control in 22:03 their life. So the kids need to be able to choose some of the 22:07 things that you're going to do for them and have some control 22:10 over it. It's not like just coming in and we're doing this, 22:13 this and that, but they have some control. We need 22:17 collaboration. 22:19 And these are kids that have probably never had any control 22:21 in their life. 22:22 Exactly and so that will even be new to them. But that's what the 22:25 training will do when we train the caregivers on this trauma 22:29 informed perspective and lastly it will help them to be 22:34 empowered. When we leave the caregivers are empowered to 22:39 carry on with the skills and the training that we have taught 22:44 them, that we've you know brought to them and allow them 22:46 to continue to ask the question, What happened to you? Not what's 22:52 wrong with you? 22:56 Amen. So you are ministering as Jesus ministered and that is 23:00 first you're meeting the physical needs. Secondly you're 23:04 meeting their emotional and spiritual needs. But now we have 23:11 a place to put these children and you have no idea unless 23:17 you've been to a country like this and I have been, not in 23:21 this particular area. But it's jarring; that's the only word I 23:27 can think of to say. When you go to a country where there are so 23:32 many orphans, where there are children who have been abused, 23:35 traumatized perhaps, and violated, let's just put it that 23:41 way. They're violated. And you see these precious little eyes 23:45 even when you first start feeding them. You've probably 23:49 experienced this; they're going to hold on to that food. They 23:52 don't trust that there's going to be another meal coming. But 23:56 they don't know how to trust a human being. How can they trust 24:00 God if their caretakers aren't reflecting that love and that 24:06 light, the life of God. But having a place where children 24:11 who have no home can come is critical so Tah Dah. Now here's 24:18 where Andrews Department of Architecture comes in. 24:21 Sure. So we're one of two schools that have been engaged 24:25 in this project, the first being the School of Agriculture and 24:28 the second, like you said, is the School of Architecture and 24:30 Interior Design. This is actually our second engagement 24:33 in the project. Initially it was started with Andrew Lamar, 24:37 Professor Andrew Lamar and Christopher Perry. They led an 24:40 exercise the previous year to go down in person to eSwatini, 24:43 scope the thousand acre land and create a master plan. The 24:47 following year our fifth year graduates which are in the 24:50 Masters of Architecture program became really excited about the 24:54 program, okay. And they got to be able to actually come up with 24:57 what would be the genesis of a shape of home for these students 25:01 for these children and OVCs So it started off with a very 25:06 intense two to three week research activity. I was 25:10 impressed with how engaged the students became. I mean they 25:14 just became engrossed in understanding the local 25:16 tradition, understanding the local architecture, 25:19 understanding some of the sensibilities of the culture and 25:22 the having that knowledge influence the design, okay. 25:25 I just have to say because I know you brought some pictures 25:30 so when you're ready for a picture you call for it because. 25:34 Okay. We can bring up one or two of the pictures now. Okay. So in 25:38 this particular instance four of the students: Mikhala Broa, 25:42 Sarah O'Connor, Ashley Randolph and Monalee Machado worked 25:50 intensely in a collaborative effort to create a housing 25:53 shelter situation for the students. They named it A Shape 25:56 of Home. Okay. So, there were a couple of things that had to be 25:59 taken care of. Well how do we house these children, how many 26:02 children, where does the caretaker live? Okay, so at the 26:06 end of it we had a collaborative exercise between professional 26:10 architects in America and eSwatini, even in Australia and 26:14 intense dialogues resulted in what you see on the screen. 26:17 Okay. We finally reached out to the local university in eSwatini 26:23 What I am seeing on the screen, is that three different homes? 26:24 It is. Okay. So let me unpack it for a little bit. Okay. So each 26:31 house houses eight OVCs with one caretaker. There's bathroom 26:37 facilities, there's a living room there's a kitchen and there's a 26:41 social gathering of these students and they create a bond 26:44 okay. However in the compound there are three other buildings. 26:47 So imagine each pod of three containing 24 OVCs. There's 26:53 spaces for social gathering, there's spaces for outdoor 26:57 activities, et cetera. And what was interesting with the 27:03 students is that students had such an involvement in this 27:07 program, in this exercise, that they actually created a lot of 27:11 locally resourced materials such as, you know, mud brick, thatch 27:16 which was available on the property so that it could be 27:21 local traditions that are actually built upon by people in 27:24 the community that could come and just use what's available. 27:27 That's wonderful. So we saw you're considering the roof, 27:32 you're considering the materials you're considering...you know 27:36 it's interesting about architecture and some people 27:38 don't realize this, but architecture has to consider the 27:43 way of life. I mean you are laying out a blueprint where 27:48 life is going to happen. Exactly And that's exciting that you 27:53 took into consideration all of these factors. 27:57 It was interesting because here it is at the end of the day we 28:00 ended up with architecture that is uniquely eSwatini. It's 28:03 reinforcing their culture. Creating a sense of place for 28:07 them. 28:08 And that's very, very important. So let's kind of go back to the 28:15 agriculture. Your plan right now is we're going to train up 28:20 people to care for these traumatized children. That's 28:24 where Oakwood comes in. We've got the agriculture department 28:27 of Andrews University and the architectural department trying 28:32 to put together a plan, as you said, not just to feed them but 28:40 to sustain them. This is that old saying, You give a person a 28:47 fish, you feed them one day. You teach them how to fish and then 28:53 they learn to feed themselves. So this is something that you're 28:56 looking at, sustainability. 28:58 It's absolutely, absolutely essential. You know you can go 29:03 to donors and say okay we're going to start up. Okay. There 29:07 is this incredible place that we want to build a children's 29:10 village. That's many years and millions of dollars. And you're 29:13 looking at God calling a teeny little nonprofit. Do you know 29:17 what I'm saying? Yes. And He's saying I'll do this and He 29:22 begins to build these partnerships. That's how it's 29:24 going to happen. He's going to build these partnerships but 29:29 right now what we have been doing over the past two COVID 29:33 years is really just growing food, growing food and feeding 29:37 them and depleting. That is not sustainable, because you have to 29:43 pay workers and you can't just be going and saying, Um Help. 29:47 So the objective is game one, two things, let us...you know 29:53 there's a team that is working together including the School of 29:56 Business at Andrews University too. Okay, let us put together a 30:02 development strategy. Let's make it sustainable. Agriculture is 30:06 key. So you've got 1083 acres literally, right? And the 30:10 beginning of 450 acres arable. You've got a macadamia nut 30:14 plantation, okay. What that will mean in the next three years 30:18 or so. Okay macadamia nuts, that could be expanded. You can grow 30:22 veggies, you can grow a lot and it will not only feed the 30:29 children, it will not only teach agricultural skills but it could 30:33 begin to generate revenue to help sustain. So agriculture is 30:38 very, very key. So right now what we're saying and number one 30:43 okay, two things, the two-fold first phase: The agriculture 30:48 program and beginning to house the children which takes in the 30:54 two departments here, yes, right We need, we are trying to raise 31:02 for start-up; it's $238.000. That includes $45,000 for a 31:09 tractor, that includes a 4 x 4, only way...and the processing 31:17 you know so food doesn't wilt, doesn't waste, a place to put 31:22 the whole structure. The startup is expensive because you have 31:25 to put all of these under labor. Okay. Once that gets going then 31:30 you can expand. That place can grow kiwi, it can grow tropical 31:33 fruits, it can grow stuff all year round in addition to fruits 31:37 and veggies. There are resources that could be developed that 31:42 will help sustain. Otherwise it will die. We struggle now, we 31:46 struggle because every time we have to come and say, Oh would 31:49 you please help us. That budget is a startup and then we have 31:54 the budget for the three houses you know the three bedroom 31:58 houses. It's $45,000 for each three bedroom house. But you 32:04 know we're having to put the infrastructure in place too. 32:06 So what we're saying we have people out there who said you 32:10 know what, we'll do a match. And I got a call before I came and 32:14 we'll do a matching. So I said okay I have a goal if I can get 32:18 a matching grant of $100,000 people put that, there'll be 32:22 others who would say, we will match that. Praise God. And you 32:25 see we've got all working together. Prayer. We need 32:29 churches to be praying. We need prayer groups. This is a 32:33 spiritualistic country and we've experienced some interesting 32:38 things. Prayer. We need prayer. Volunteers. Expertise in solar 32:42 energy, in renewable energy, in agriculture. You know, we need 32:49 volunteers. And we need corporate and church partners. 32:54 We need a partnership. Make this yours because God is going to 32:58 put a lighthouse on top of this hill in this country. 33:02 Amen. You know, I'm thinking of a scripture that says, Do not 33:05 despise the day of small beginnings. It's so amazing and 33:10 I'm saying this with all honesty if most of you are familiar with 33:15 Cynthia, she is a woman of faith she's a woman of the word and 33:20 when God called you to this project she was like a dog with 33:24 a bone. She wasn't going to let go through all the hardships 33:27 you've been through. 33:29 There's been some. 33:30 And there have been some, but it's amazing to me when God 33:37 calls you to something how your heart is so in it that you're 33:40 ready to make all these self sacrifices. I mean that's what 33:44 His love is all about, isn't it. Self-sacrificing. 33:48 At the end of the day what else matters? I mean why do you do? 33:52 Why do you do and then when you step out and you're doing... 33:57 It's not comfortable. You leave corporate America and suddenly 34:00 you're just living on a very limited income. You know 34:03 everything is going, everything is going to the kids, you know. 34:05 I'm not good at asking, Shelley. I'm a round peg in a square hole 34:10 When God says ask the people for money it hurts but I do need 34:15 two and three hundred thousand dollars plus, you know. You have 34:19 to, it's not me. But you know something. It's like you, when 34:24 you can't tell God it's not comfortable. No. And then when 34:29 you show up He shows off. Laughter 34:34 I love that. But this is something that what I so 34:39 appreciate about how God has brought Andrews in to help with 34:43 the agriculture...The whole development plan is God's trying 34:48 to get you to that point where not only can you survive, you 34:52 can thrive where it becomes a self-supporting ministry. 34:57 Absolutely. And that's exciting because that's what we need. 35:03 There is only so many pieces to the pie, people always say, but 35:07 God always knows how to take that pie like He took the little 35:12 fish and the loaves of bread and how He can expand that and 35:16 that's what He's doing. So right now let me make sure I 35:20 understand because we're going to, in a moment, we will put up 35:23 a way that you can contact SOHO and this is something that you 35:30 can either volunteer, you're looking for volunteers with 35:34 expertise in solar energy, renewable energy, people who can 35:39 actually go over there. Okay. You looking for...if you can't 35:46 maybe, if you don't have the funds for a tractor but you've 35:50 that you may be able to volunteer a tractor, who knows. 35:54 Or donate a tractor. 35:56 Or some company you know a company that could. The bottom 35:59 line is you know the tractor is needed and the 4 x 4 is needed. 36:03 Somebody over there has the connections. 36:05 Somebody had a connection with John Deere. Oh Yeah. And you see 36:13 that cuts back what we need so and the team that needs to go 36:18 there. And the housing, the housing for the kids. We plan to 36:23 make blocks, make our blocks, you know. There would be people 36:28 with skills, there'd be people with abilities so...We don't 36:31 have corporate partners like you know some ministries do. We need 36:36 corporate partners, we need church partners but we need the 36:39 person who can say you know all I can do is $38 a month to 36:44 sponsor a child. $38 a month to sponsor a child. So it would 36:49 either be there's education, special needs education stuff 36:53 that we do and it does cost us that, okay. But to sponsor a 36:57 child basic needs, the food, the basic clothing, the basic health 37:02 that's $38. Okay. Somebody can say, you know, people can do 37:07 that. I can give $50,000 towards the matching fund or I can give 37:11 $100,000. But you know God needs the big ones and at this time 37:15 where we have a window, I don't believe these windows last 37:20 forever. We have a window to change an entire country Shelley 37:23 We have the technology we've paid for, the access to the 37:32 tower so that we can have good access internet and what not 37:37 from there so we can do e learning and different things 37:40 It's all set. We just need partners and people to come on 37:44 and say you know let's take this mountain for Christ. I'm the 37:48 Joshua here. (laughter) 37:51 Too, Shelley, one of the things that we've talked about, 37:53 Cynthia, you know as educators not just with Oakwood but local 37:59 educators like you know we have you know, Adam Walker with The 38:02 Health of the Harvest in Huntsville community who has you 38:06 know volunteered to help and to donate, so local educators to 38:09 help with teaching the children is important. 38:13 And what about, you know, you're not just teaching the children 38:16 in changing the generation there but you intend to eventually 38:21 maybe employ people from the community teach them agriculture 38:28 skills. So you're looking for people with that kind of 38:32 expertise. 38:34 Oh yes. Poverty elevation. I'll tell you, it's poverty that 38:36 makes a girl use her body for food. If you are running a 38:39 household, you're 16 years old and you have four or five 38:44 children that are siblings and somebody brings in the groceries 38:46 and takes you behind the shed then you do what you need to do. 38:49 So you get the food on a regular basis. So poverty perpetuates 38:54 abuse. So the skills training. Andrews University has also put 38:58 together a virtual artisan village where they're hoping 39:01 that you know products could be sold and they're going to manage 39:05 it, the business school is going to manage it so we get some of 39:07 the, yeah, I mean creative ideas There are business people there 39:12 with creative ideas and with a passion. 39:14 I'm just amazed at how God has brought these associates, people 39:22 who are, you know, I mean, how did all of that come about? 39:27 Well you know it is like this. Number one we need this 39:30 to be able 39:32 to start. The organizer at 3ABN says hey let's talk about it a 39:35 bit. You get enough. You feed, You begin and you realize that 39:38 I remember I was on that interview. I can't believe it 39:43 was 15 years ago. 39:44 Yeah 15 years ago. It dates you doesn't it. But you know you 39:47 realize how small you are and how limited you are and you know 39:53 we've kept it going and then you realize, you know what, is Jesus 39:58 coming. He is coming, He's coming and I have watched. We've 40:04 lost kids. We've lost kids to suicide, we've lost kids to 40:09 trafficking. It's like, you know what, enough. We need to be able 40:14 to house or they go. They come and they learn some scripture 40:19 and they sing the songs and then they go and it's a different 40:24 life. We need an environment where these children can grow up 40:28 And as you said, you can change the entire country. Tell us what 40:35 your heart when you first heard about this. to think 40:38 that you can have a mission to teach how to not just minister 40:46 spiritually and don't please when I say just. Sometimes we go 40:52 out and we just want to I'm going to say it, don't write in. 41:00 But we just want to ram the truth down people's throats. 41:03 And if we don't meet their physical needs, meet their 41:09 emotional needs, help bind up their wounds, what we're 41:15 teaching them is not generally going to be really effective 41:21 because they go right back out into the arena of abuse or 41:29 trauma. So when you first heard about this, what was your 41:31 reaction Shalunda? 41:34 My first reaction was that just the amazing opportunity to, not 41:40 just for me to be involved or for the social work department 41:42 to be involved but for the students to be involved, for the 41:47 students in our department to go you know do internships or field 41:53 placements to go and be a part of the project but also you know 41:57 Oakwood has four hand ministry that Chaplain Paledgedly 42:04 organizes. Couldn't get the word out. But for the students to 42:07 actually, go and be a part of it. And I think that as you know 42:12 the young children, the orphans, look at others who are closer to 42:15 their age may be, seeing them, they see I can be that. You know 42:22 I can do that, I can go one day and help others, I can serve 42:27 others. And I think that the opportunity for the students to 42:29 be engaged in this opportunity is really what really stuck with 42:34 me and I've really been committed. Cynthia and I talk 42:38 often about really getting this partnership going and us really 42:41 getting involved. Ultimately to get our students there on the 42:47 ground, working, serving, learning and teaching the 42:51 students how to...like I said before, to empower them, to be 42:57 able to live once their gone, the students are gone. 42:59 You know it's neat because what you're doing is not only are you 43:04 affecting a generation in eSwatini eSwatini, Swaziland was 43:11 so much easier for me. But in eSwatini you are affecting a 43:16 generation here. You're teaching them how to fulfill the 43:19 great commission, how to go out and minister to all of these. 43:24 And I think it's exciting as well for your students, not just 43:30 learning technical skills but they're learning to identify 43:36 with the needs of people, you know what we're talking about 43:41 the design. 43:42 To serve globally. Right. So the students come and they get that 43:46 technical knowledge, but our school of architecture tries to 43:49 elevate the discourse, right? It's not just about engaging 43:52 professionally in the workplace, it's about taking that skill and 43:55 helping people that may not be able to even afford it or that 43:58 need it. So we encourage them to go and serve globally and this 44:04 project with Cynthia Prime is one of many that the school of 44:06 architecture is engaged with and to be quite honest, with the 44:10 amount of international students and students from America that 44:13 we have in our school, they relish the opportunity to get 44:17 involved and then they just go at it. When we say hey we have 44:21 a need, right? When this project was brought to us we really felt 44:27 heartfelt sorrow for what was happening to the young girls and 44:31 OVCs in eSwatini and we thought that hey, okay, here as 44:37 architects we can solve one of the basic needs for human 44:40 habitation. We can do that all right. And we can do something 44:42 in a way that doesn't feel foreign. We can do something in 44:45 way that feels loving and cherishing to the OVCs. Some 44:49 place that they can call their own. 44:50 What is an O-V-C? 44:52 It's an orphan or vulnerable child. 44:55 Okay. Orphan or vulnerable child We certainly have a lot there. 45:00 You know, I'm just thinking. Sometimes we hear of all the 45:07 needs in the world. And it's like, well what can I do? You 45:12 know, it's interesting to me, and we've seen this, because 45:15 when you first came here, it was Seeds of Hope, is that what we 45:19 were? We were Seeds of Hope. And it's interesting how when we 45:26 drop a pebble, our little small portion, we drop that pebble in 45:31 the pond and we think, I don't know how much difference my 45:35 contribution is making. But then we see how God has put into 45:44 place the physical dynamics that that one little pebble in the 45:49 pond has a ripple effect and it keeps growing. So from the point 45:55 where we were raising money for Seeds now you're looking at 46:02 School. We have...You know from there I mean we have school, 46:07 the first school helping children with disabilities. 46:09 We're there, care points, we're already serving. They're growing 46:14 seeds, yes, but they're also learning skills but now with 50 46:20 percent of the population under 20 years of age, with a young 46:23 population like that, ripe for either the positive or the 46:29 negative. What a window of opportunity we have together. 46:34 But if SOHO, if we had to go and let's pay for an architect, 46:40 let's pay for social...you know what I'm saying. Number one, it 46:43 just puts money in the professional's pocket. But we 46:47 get to help save a whole generation of youth, of 46:52 millennials that are leaving religious affiliations because 46:57 they want to change the world. They are giving them an 47:01 opportunity to change the world. See so it comes together 47:05 beautifully. And we need more, we need more. 47:10 Okay so let's go over one more time because we're coming to the 47:13 close of our time. We'll be taking a break in just a moment 47:17 and we will give you the contact information for SOHO. But tell 47:22 us once again what your needs are and about the matching fund. 47:26 Okay, we need the money for the startup of the agriculture 47:32 program is $238,000 which includes the $45,000 for a 47:38 tractor... 47:39 Which we're hoping somebody knows John Deere... 47:42 Thank you, thank you. We'll pray on that. And we need a 4 X 4. 47:46 There's no way around it. It's a mountain farm. We need a 4 x 4 47:50 That includes also a processing place so when vegetables and 47:54 fruits come, they don't wilt. You know, there's a place to... 47:59 So that's start up. Okay. That's startup so that we can begin to 48:03 build sustainability. Moving forward we wouldn't need to buy 48:07 a tractor, wouldn't need to... You know we just need to keep 48:10 that going. So we need that $238,000 first. We need, as far 48:15 as the housing for the children the three pods with three 48:19 bedrooms each, three living spaces each we need $45,000 each 48:24 with their infrastructure, to be able to put that first pod of 48:28 housing that will allow us to serve up to the first 24,000, 24 48:34 Wouldn't it be wonderful (indistinct) Oh that would be 48:37 Hallelujah time. But the first 24 children, even while we serve 48:41 the community. We would not be as we've been in the situation 48:44 where we see children with nowhere to go with risks knowing 48:50 what's going to happen to them and say, I'm sorry, we have no 48:52 place to put you. And you see that also allows organization. 48:58 We need people just to donate to say keep going, I mean, because 49:02 there are operational needs too. Keep going, keep going. And we 49:06 need hearts. 49:08 So you're looking for volunteers. Tell us what you're looking for. 49:10 Yeah, engineering skills would be lovely. I know we use solar 49:15 energy there. We have access to somebody mentioned wind and 49:18 water. People who know about energy conservation. If they're 49:22 alums from Andrews University School of Agriculture or 49:27 agriculture experts, wow. You've got a challenge because we've 49:31 got two climates there on that one farm. Tropical on the other 49:35 and being able to grow all year round. Being able to be creative 49:39 and be able to make it sustainable. We need that. We 49:42 need volunteers and we need prayer warriors. We want to have 49:46 a SOHO prayer team because we're fighting forces that we cannot 49:52 see. We need that too. So volunteers, sponsors, you know, 49:56 for children, $38 per month will keep things going. So it's wide 50:02 open. We've come this far by faith and the faith is extended 50:07 now. Yes, yes, yes. 50:09 This is what our theme here at 3ABN is look at what God has 50:16 done. That's our...And look at God, what He has done. I believe 50:22 that the Holy Spirit is stirring many people right now and you 50:29 may be saying I don't know what I could do. Well you can get in 50:32 touch with SOHO. Go to their website. You can look at the 50:37 information. If God is stirring your heart right now, we all 50:40 need to reach out and help so here is how you can get in touch 50:46 with SOHO. 50:48 If you would like to contact or know more about Saving Orphans 50:53 Through Healthcare and Outreach you can do so in the following 50:56 ways: You can write to them at 1100 West 42nd Street, Suite 51:02 223E, Indianapolis, IN 46208. You can call them at 51:11 (317) 779-0001. That's (317) 779-0001 You can visit 51:21 visit their website at Saving-Orphans.org. You can send 51:26 them an e-mail at Info@SavingOrphans.org |
Revised 2022-03-08