Naomi’s Village – Left Out in the Cold

On a recent winter morning in the lakeside town of Naivasha, Kenya, two sputtering lives almost ground to an early halt before ever reaching a greater significance to a world oblivious to their existence.

Tiny Moses, still covered in placenta, lay in a charcoal dump at 4am, exposed to the harsh elements with only hours to spare. Unaware of the departure of his recently detached lifeline, his birthmother, he struggled for warmth.

Tiny Moses

Barely a mile away on the steps of Naivasha Girls School, a desperate mother reached the end of her trying and dropped a well wrapped package on the steps, 15 month-old Mercy, malnourished and suffering from a life marked only by lack.  She weighed just 13 pounds. Life had not been kind to her.

Mercy and Flo, the NV social worker, at the safe house in Naivasha.

Moses and Mercy, two children whose stories are sadly emblematic of the larger narrative of an orphan crisis that plagues Kenya, were fortunately discovered and rescued within hours of their abandonments.

Like the biblical character who was jettisoned in a river basket by his frightened mother, this orphan Moses may too grow up to change the world because of the sovereign plan of God that he be found and brought to Naomi’s Village at just 11 days old. And Mercy, who surely has received mercy beyond measure, bounced briefly through a Naivasha safe house after her rescue before landing in the baby room at NV alongside her new siblings, Hannah and Naomi (and now Moses).

Mercy and Flo, the NV social worker, at the safe house in Naivasha.

What next?  Grace now awaits these two lives, like nearly empty canvases on which God will paint his glory.  Redemption will play out in color again where bleak death once threatened to breed cynicism and hopelessness.

Come and listen to what He has done.  Come and see for yourself.  All our trying battles will not be lost after all.  These two victories should remind us that one day everything broken will be made right again. Everything.

To learn more about what you can do help, or how to get involved please visit Naomi’s Village

Read more empowering stories from Naomi’s Village, It Takes A Village