A great milestone in the history of Family Legacy was reached on Friday, May 29th, 2009 as both the Official & Grand Opening of the Tree of Life Children’s Village took place! Lahema’s House is the first of 25 Homes on the master plan to house 300 of Zambia’s children in the most dire living conditions. Lahema’s House was built in honor of the most precious Zambian AIDS Orphan. To read Lahema’s story, click here.
We are so thankful that the Tree of Life Children’s Village has finally come to life! Thanks to the hard work of Randy Ransom and our Tree of Life Construction Crew, we were able to officially open the first home at the Tree of Life. On Thursday, May 28th, we had government dignitaries attend the official ribbon cutting ceremony. Her Royal Highness Senior Chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamambo II did the honors of cutting the ribbon and taking the first official tour of Lahema’s House.
On Friday, we had the great honor and privilege of moving 14 children of Zambia into Lahema’s house. It was an absolutely perfect day filled with kids laughing, singing, dancing, and playing with all their new things. The children were overwhelmed with excitement as their bus drove up to Lahema’s House with over 100 smiling and cheering faces lining the path wearing Camp LIFE t-shirts that proclaimed that the Lord is their Shepherd.
Greer reminded the children of the final verse of Psalm 23 that says “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Then he let them in on the secret that they didn’t yet know…the house in front of them would now be their home!
It is hard to describe the scene that followed as the kids rushed in to see their very own beds, toys, bathrooms, and seats at the dinner table. They ran from room to room looking and touching everything. After they went through their clothes, tested out their bed sheets, and discovered that they actually had running water and bathrooms inside, they all ran out to the playground to slide and swing and even jump on the new trampoline. The whole village was filled with not only the sounds of children playing, but our Camp LIFE song with the words, “The Lord is my Shepherd…He gives me everything I need.”
We hand selected each one of these kids to move into the Tree of Life. Every single one was rescued from a desperate situation of abuse, abandonment, sever sickness, neglect and/or extreme poverty. Each one of these precious children will now have the chance to grow up and live a normal life without worrying about where they will sleep that night or if they will get a meal today. Unfortunately these are only 14 children out of the one million orphans in Zambia. In order for us to rescue more orphans just like them, we need you to step up and be a sponsor. Each one of the kids in Lahema’s House is able to live there because someone sponsors them for $150 a month.
We have already chosen the children for the next few houses that will open this summer, but we cannot move them in unless you sponsor one of them. We will be posting the stories of the next childen in the coming days. If you would like to see one of these children living at the Tree of Life and rescued from their wretched situations, please contact our office. We will immediately begin the process of moving your sponsored child into a home at the Tree of Life Children’s Village.