There are so many orphans and homeless kids in Ziway and the surrounding area. It is impossible not to be touched by the dire living conditions of many children, who are often on the street begging and hoping to find a few discarded morsels of food.

A friend of ours took one homeless boy to school, paid his school fees, and gave him a shower and new clothes. Expecting to find him in school the next day, he discovered the boy had disappeared. A few days later he surfaced again wearing his old clothes. We suspect he went somewhere to sell his new clothes and lived for a few days off that money and then returned to his begging. He has not continued in school.

We offered another street kid a chance to go to our new school with all expenses paid, after he begged to be able to go back to school again. Although he appeared to be about 12 years old, he claimed to have finished first grade and just desired the opportunity to re-enter school. However, on the appointed day for him to show up at school he was nowhere to be found. Giving up the life of the streets was just too large a hurdle for him.

Misgana Ministries has long had a desire to provide a home for orphans and vulnerable children. Unfortunately, now the Ethiopian government is forbidding foreigners from starting any orphanages, group homes, or adoption agencies.

So we have decided to change our direction a little and have a home for vulnerable children. It is a home, an extension of our own home, where we are taking in hurting and vulnerable kids. Some of them will not be orphans.

In order to not appear to be strictly a home for orphans we have named this facility Samuel’s Home. This name comes from three sources: 1) The owner of the compound is named Samuel and is a Christian man very interested in helping the less fortunate kids of Ziway. He has leased us the compound for a very reasonable price; 2) our son is named Samuel. Sam was with us for six years in Ethiopia during his formative years; and 3) Samuel from the book of First Samuel in the Old Testament was a young boy who was given up by his mother from her home to serve in the Temple.

Samuel’s Home is one block from our own house. When we took over the compound, it had four bedrooms in a row in one building, typically called “service quarters.” These types of quarters are very common in Ethiopia. The rooms can be used for an outside kitchen, outside bedrooms, storage, or sleeping quarters for hired help.

We converted two of the four rooms into living quarters for the houseparents. The other two rooms are bedrooms for the children. One room will be for boys and the other for girls. With three bunk beds in each bedroom, we will be able to accommodate up to six boys and six girls, or a total of twelve children.

In addition, we built a house on the compound. In this house are a living area, dining area, modern kitchen, store room, and a laundry (with an automatic washing machine!).

There is still ample room for the children to play outside, with a nice big tree providing shade. There is an area for the children to play inside or do their homework.

Christian houseparents have been hired, along with two houseworkers and caretakers, and a guard.

God has blessed us with a wonderful location, wonderful staff, and a great opportunity to provide a safe and loving home for children who may not have experienced prior to entering the home.

And without any advertising or public announcement God has been bringing us the children He wants us to care for. They range from true orphans to children who were living in miserable conditions and needed to be given up by a parent or care-giver. We have children of a wide age range and a wide variety of backgrounds and interests.

The children will be taught Jesus’ love, taken to church, and encouraged to grow up to be great scientists, teachers, engineers, doctors, and airline pilots for Ethiopia.

This is the new part of Samuel’s Home which has the salon, dining room, kitchen, store room, and laundry.

Here is where the houseparents and the children live and sleep.

The boys’ bedroom.

House parents’ living quarters.

Samuel’s Home Kitchen

This is where the children will relax and study.

Our Samuel's Home family