God's Big Wiggly Family

What would it be like to have a special needs child that you love with all your heart but have no means to care for?  What if you were a poor father of five children whose wife died shortly after giving birth?  How does a fifteen-year-old girl care for a newborn when her family already lives in abject poverty?  Can you imagine being a street child taken in by a rich family only to become a slave, living with constant physical abuse?  What if you were an elderly grandmother suddenly left with the responsibility of providing for your ten grandchildren?

These are just some of the scenarios we encountered while working with Iris Ministries in Antananarivo during the past two days.  We have been absolutely astounded by the way that Iris meets needs such as these.  Iris is primarily a children's home as there are many orphans and abandoned children in a country that is so impoverished, but we soon discovered it is no mere "orphanage".

We began our time at Iris by assisting with a weekly milk program.  This program allows the poorest of the poor to bring their babies to see a health worker, be weighed and receive a week's supply of formula.  Next, we enjoyed a lunch of rice and beans with the children who live and attend school at Iris and then helped with a community lunch program in which neighborhood children, whose families can't afford to pay for both education and food, receive a nourishing meal.  The afternoon involved a community outreach program that assists families with microenterprise projects while meeting their immediate needs in the form of rice and lentil distribution as well as meeting with a social worker.  

Throughout the day, the campus was continually abuzz with activity as children attended classes, did  chores, played basketball or foosball or just asked for hugs.  It is hard to comprehend the pain that most of these beautiful, vibrant children have endured in their short lives.  Some had been discarded in garbage bins.  Others had been so severely beaten that they had been left with permanent disabilities. Others were simply handed over because their families could not afford one more child.  And yet, because of the amazing ministry of Iris staff and volunteers, these children know that they are loved.

We ended our time at Iris with a raucous two hour worship service in which all of the children, staff and volunteers came together in a crowded, dusty and dimly lit classroom to praise God as one family -- a big, beautiful, wiggly, loud family.  What a privilege to have been welcomed into this special family of God, if only for a couple days.  

-Shay