HAWA lived with her mother - just the two of them after her father had disappeared. HAWA was told that her father went to the jungle to work his fields during the war years – all she knew was she never saw him again!

HAWA became responsible for helping her mother provide the necessities of food and shelter. At such a young age Hawa was dutiful in her work. Early in the morning, she would take her bucket and begin the long hike to fetch water for the day. After gathering the water, she’d place the bucket on her head and hike home again to work with her mother either in a small garden or collecting whatever fruit they could find.  Hawa would place all of the goods into her basket and walk to the marketplace hoping to sell the items. The money collected each day was used to buy rice for their daily meal.

This daily routine didn't change much, until one morning as HAWA rose early. She noticed that her mother was lying very quietly. When Hawa couldn’t get her mother to respond, she ran out to get one of her mother's friends in the village. The woman could not get her mother to wake up either.  Sadly, she had died!  Hawa never knew why, because there are no doctors nearby who could identify invisible illnesses. Was it the bad water, or the pains in her mother's stomach? She never knew. The village chief came and said HAWA would have to live with a new family that he would select.  They would have a better income and take responsibility for her.

HAWA moved to a new hut in the village. Initially, it seemed to be a nice place as there were other children there and she wouldn't be as lonely. However, she quickly realized that the jobs the other children didn't want were assigned to her. She was not their child; she was just a responsibility!  When clothes became available, she was always given the last choice; seldom did she have shoes or sandals.  As she toiled in the garden or collected firewood, she would see the other children in their uniforms and backpacks happily heading off to school.

As she worked, HAWA dreamed of one day becoming a teacher for all of the orphan children or maybe even a nurse so that no one would die quietly in the dark as her mother did.

HAWA heard the older orphaned girls talk about people from the big towns paying to have pretty girls released from their families in the village. The girls talked about how these pretty, lucky girls were taken to places with lots of food and new clothes. But those girls never came back to the village. Often these kids were victims of human trafficking!

One day a Christian lady from the village came and talked to the family where HAWA was living. She said her church had a foster care outreach, and HAWA was welcome to attend. The family readily agreed. In the program, HAWA would get to stay in her village. She would also be able to attend school and receive new clothes, shoes, notebooks, pencils and even her own backpack! 

The Treehouse Project became her place of refuge!

HAWA loved school, and her loneliness gradually became a thing of the past. When assignments were difficult, one of the church ladies was available to meet with her several times a week for tutoring. Together they would sing, learn stories from the Bible, and play games. Although she did not have an earthly father, she had a heavenly Father, who loved her, and now she was a part of the church family. For the first time, she began to feel truly loved and cared for, and most importantly, she had hope.

Life isn't always easy for HAWA, but now her dream of becoming a teacher or a nurse is a possibility. She has started to experience love in a meaningful way because someone from the church rescued her, and told her ABOUT JESUS AND HIS LOVE FOR HER.

HAWA’s story is a typical example, with hundreds of variations, of how the children in villages just merely exist. They receive no opportunity for education nor have hope for the future. Many times they succumb to disease or abuse. Sadly, these young children are often targeted by people who seek to use them for profit in human trafficking.

The Christian schools, the local churches we start, and the Christian families become a Christian community who all work together to share the Gospel and make a difference in the lives of children like HAWA.

Your gift right now will help us to launch a yearlong effort we are calling CATCH THE VISION. Keep checking back to the website as we will be launching our CATCH THE VISION CAMPAIGN sharing all the details of this new effort we are launching in 2016. It is exciting – and we believe God inspired – and something you will want to be a part of. Your gift now in any amount will help us launch this expansion and reach more children like HAWA.