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That is really cool.

I once spent a few months living in Belo Horizonte Brazil at a orphanage for street children. We were there to help with projects around the orphanage and got to spend a lot of time getting to know the kids who were rescued from the streets and given a chance. Several times we visited the slums where the kids had come from and got an idea of how they lived. And one thing struck me while playing in the dirt with these young kids. The simplicity of their lives made it so they understood the need for eachother.

Instead of being like you would expect small children to be towards eachother fighting and trying to always win, there were 10 year old girls who were caring for their younger siblings and small children who cared for eachother. You see community comes from our hearts and is not aided by stuff or success but instead hurt by it. When we set our priorities straight and see that people around us matter we start to see that success gets in the way. I don’t wish the life of a Brazilian street kid on anyone but learned something about caring for eachother when I was there that I never forgot. I also learned that you can visit the most desperate situations in the world and meet the people who have had to live through horrors you could never imagine and yet long for their sense of peace, their understanding of value for eachother.

We just got word that the money you all pitched in to help out for Chala who runs the orphanage in Thailand helped avert a disaster. The debts were paid off in full and the 40 children will now be able to continue to have their caregiver safely at home with them. You all heard the call and stepped up and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

We are going to stay in touch with the folks from The Charis Project there in Thailand and hope that things go more smoothly for them. They let us know that they are working on setting up a sponsor a child program with Homes of Hope International, I will make sure and let you know when that is up and running.  I know my family and I will be supporting a child.

Thank you!

Levi Benkert