Navigation
Joe was excited! He had finally earned enough days off to take a real vacation and had scrimped and saved for years to do so.
He took a sip from his coffee cup and savored the stiff brew. His family had no idea what he had been planning and that made him grin mischievously, chuckling under his breath. He would tell them tonight at dinner time. What a surprise it would be!
Now he could really set about planning the trip to Florida. He had been working so long for this that he already knew where he wanted to take them. Disney of course. The Everglades were a must, and his kids would be thrilled with Kennedy Space Center.
Now it was time to plan the route. He only had a total of 10 days to complete the trip, so the route from his home in Northwestern Montana was critical.
Most of what he wanted to see was in the Orlando area, so he punched in the name of his town and then Orlando and clicked on “get directions.” The computer refreshed and the results were there before him on the computer screen. He squinted at the map and the blue line that showed the route from his hometown to Orlando.
It looked pretty basic from the ten-thousand-foot view, but when he zoomed in, that simple blue line became something much different. There were suddenly roads everywhere. There were changes from highways to freeways. There were multilevel exchanges and detours due to road construction. When he looked up the hotels he had picked out, it got even worse. Exits from freeways to frontage roads, followed by A and B exits, one of which was a one way that went past his hotel by almost 5 blocks. And getting back on the freeway was even more complicated.
Joe sat back in his chair, overwhelmed with what he saw and lost all faith that he could navigate the trip from his home to Florida. He had never gone anywhere before. Just local camping trips and short stints to neighboring towns. Fear set in as he began to imagine the unknown. Suddenly Florida may have well been Mars!
Joe never made that precious trip to Florida. In fact, Joe didn’t even tell his family because he was so ashamed by his fear of the unknown. Joe’s dream was shattered.
Navigation. Our entire life is governed by how to get from here to there in our lives. From the time we are born and have to learn how to let mom know we want our bottle, navigation in life is ever increasing in complexity and successful navigation is entirely dependent on the input receive and what we choose to do with that input. Much of that input comes from our parents and educators, while some comes by way of peers and experiences.
In developed nations, culture, tradition and law are such that much of what you need to navigate your way through life are on auto pilot. Nuclear families provide part of that input, schools and churches provide the rest; and again, it is because culturally that is what families do and by law, education must be provided. While some children do fall through the cracks, it is a very small percentage,
The same doesn’t hold true in developing nations and it starts with the family in the areas where poverty is so prevalent. Depression, alcoholism and excuse driven use of tribal law and culture, cause the implosion of many nuclear families. Throw in rampant AIDS and you have a recipe for disaster for the children in such families.
These fatherless children have little to no healthy input in their lives and therefore no way to navigate their way to something different. They are doomed to emulate and repeat the mistakes of their parents. Their lives are sad and hopeless, and they don’t have God in their lives or know Jesus.
The children’s homes we have in the countries we work in are surrounded by these cultures of poverty. All of the children in our care see it. Their lives are much different than what they see.
But they came from there. They have experienced the pain and suffering that come from living in a home with no father and no food. No education and no spiritual education.
Frank Nakutundu has known that pain and suffering. He experienced that hopelessness until 2007, when authorities removed him from the home and placed him at our Nantale Children’s home.
It took some time for Frank to trust. Time for him to accept that the love and care given to him was something that would last. But over time he has thrived in this home, surrounded by people who love him. Our Christian social workers have helped him understand and accept that where he came from is not where he is going. He has come to love God and Jesus and often quotes scripture in his letters. He went from illiterate, to one of the best students that lives at Nantale. He received the input he needed to navigate his way through life and has graduated from high school and has been accepted by a university to study for a Bachelors in Education.
Frank knows that his life was saved, and he doesn’t take it for granted. He plans to graduate and use his skills to help others learn how to navigate their way through life.
Stop for a moment and think about the two possible lives of Frank Nakutundu.
A life of hopelessness if he even survived. Consider how bad things must have been for him to have been removed from a home in a nation that is not known for its Social Services.
What would Frank have become if he did survive? What would his input have been? He would have grown to an adult only knowing suffering. Living in an abusive and neglectful household where both parents suffered from AIDS and couldn’t work.
He would have never been introduced to God’s Word. He would have never even learned to read. Frank would never have learned how to navigate life.
This is the Good Work we are all involved in together. You saved Frank’s life. You gave him the input he needs, not just to survive, not just to live the same hopeless life of his parents, but to thrive and give back. Navigation.