Hope for Korah

Yesterday - I met Baby Juddah!! Oh my goodness – he is as beautiful and adorable as every picture I have ever seen! I was warned “Be prepared to fall in love!” and yes, that is definitely a fair warning.  Dave and I drove to Seattle to meet up with our friends, Rick and Cherrie who are caring for Juddah.  It was pretty special to actually meet this precious, 5 month old little boy, whom we have been praying for, for so long. It is almost surreal, knowing he was born in the trash dump community of Korah, where I visited last year and am soon to return (in 32 days, 23 hours – but who’s counting!) He has already been on such an incredible journey in his short

Post below written by Cherrie Cornish   My friend Cherrie, first stepped into Korah last April and has returned several times. During one visit she was brought into the home of Baby Juddah.  He was born in October 2010 and has a twin sister, Sarah. At that first meeting these twins were barely breathing.  They lay blue, lifeless and cold, on urine soaked blankets as there are no diapers in Korah and they had no formula to drink.  BUT God was there in the darkness and the twins were revived.  In the days that followed Juddah was diagnosed with hydrocephalus and his sutures in his skull are fused together.  Juddah needs surgery and soon! But it is not available in Ethiopia. He needed to come to the U.S. for surgery, and that would be a miracle only God could do.  T his is his story... IMAGINE JUST FOR A MOMENT....    Imagine just for a moment that you are a young twenty five year old woman, living in a place that the world would consi...

Please pray for my dear friend Beylanesh.  I have just spoken with Sammy in Korah, and have learned that she has been in the hospital since Friday! If you have read her story, you will know that Beylanesh has suffered much in her life.  Not only does she live in extreme poverty, but she has leprosy and only has one partial foot (she lost her feet at 22 days old when she rolled into a fire.)  Please pray for her, as I believe it is her partial foot that is infected. She needs this foot! May God bring her strength, healing and hope; a very real sense of His presence with her. She is not alone or forgotten, but deeply loved and cherished! If you would like read more about Beylanesh, go to my page Beylanesh - A Family Sponsorship Story       http://hopeforkorah.blogspot.com/p/family-sponsorship-stories.html Prayer warriors needed!                                 ...

I suppose this 'Hope For Korah' blog attests to the fact that my journey to Ethiopia did not end upon returning home as Korah continues to be on my heart.  Over this past year as I have been connecting with those who live and serve there, my husband, Dave and I continue to sense that God wants us to be a part of what He is doing in Korah.  Although it is not quite clear as to what that might be, we do know that God calls us to care for the poor, the widows and the orphans. (James 1:27, Isaiah 58:6-10) We don’t have all the answers, but both of us feel we are to take the next step, to go back to Korah, walk through that door and see where God leads. So guess what? Dave is going to Korah too!  The first  week, I will be on my own as he will be in Germany  on business, but  then he will join me for the latter half of the trip. He has been a great support and he is looking forward to meeting everyone and serving where ever the need is greatest.  ...

Post written by Gioia Morris During my time in Ethiopia my team and I spent some time in Korah. Sammy welcomed us with open arms and guided us through the streets and homes of Korah where he grew up himself. Words cannot adequately describe what we saw while there. The poverty we witnessed was overwhelming to say the least - there was an ache in my chest that I had never experienced before. I was overcome with a sense of hopelessness as I was struck by the reality and vastness of human suffering. My heart cried out to God "Lord, this is too much to bear.." and as I had the privilege of meeting some of the people in Korah I came to realize that the Lord meant for us to be there - that He was allowing us to see part of His heart - feel His pain and share in something He cares very deeply about. I came to see the face of Jesus in everyone I met and an overwhelming love started to flood my soul for every individual I encountered. Jesus was present in this seemingly "god for...

For me, the most poignant moment came when my daughter Matthea & I journeyed through the crumbled, broken streets, entering into the homes and lives of those living in Korah… We stooped through a dark, dingy doorway to the far corner of blackness to find Balenish, destitute & disfigured by a leprosy that could not hide her mother’s heart. Tenderly in the darkness, she reached for her children & eagerly introduced them to us.  This was her world, somehow surviving & for those few moments, it also became ours. In the darkness, I couldn’t see that there was only, a b lanket-less, old strip of vinyl overlapping a piece of cardboard for a bed & I  couldn’t see that under a pile of rags lay a young child, burning with fever. I could only see   that this grieved my Lord & that this was so far,   

It was actually remarkable that we even arrived in Ethiopia because we flew on April 15th, 2010, the day the volcano erupted in Iceland.  As you likely know, thousands of people were left stranded for days and even weeks.  Our 24 hour trip turned into 48 hours of diverted flights, hours of standing in lines, leaving stranded passengers behind. We were literally the last plane to leave Munich.  They shut the airport behind us and it did not reopen for 10 days. It was incredible… our luggage never arrived for a week, but we did!  God obviously wanted us in Ethiopia and I have to tell you that our hearts are still in Ethiopia!  This kind of unexpected interruption of plans continued...