by Dianne Block

As a young child, starting at age seven, I dreamed every night (for three years) about picking up unwanted children from ditches.

I would tell my Mom and she would say: “It was a dream, honey. Nobody throws children away.” Well, back in the 1950’s and 1960’s nobody knew that they did.

One night I was having the same dream when I found a briefcase full of money and I knew I would be able to look after all those children. Then the dream stopped.

I grew up, got married and divorced, and had four beautiful children (three boys and a girl). Then in 1989 I was in a terrible car accident and had a ‘near death experience.’ During it, I walked and talked with God and then chose life – to come back and do more.

In 1999, my baby girl (and my last child), married, leaving me with empty nest syndrome. On a Tuesday night I prayed and cried, wondering what I should do with the rest of my life.

I was unable to work due to the brain injury from the car accident and my children had always been my focus so I asked God: “What now?” In an audible voice that I took to be God, he asked: “What has been the best part of your life?” “My children,” I answered. Then in my mind's eye I saw World Vision movie stars helping children in Africa, in the poorest countries of the world, and I knew that these children would love me and need me.

On Wednesday I went to the Immanuel Lutheran Church Alpha Supper (near my home in Stony Plain, Alberta). I learned the Youth Group was going to Africa and I asked if I could go along. Soon after I bought my first (of many) tickets on my credit card and went.

I worked at an orphanage in Malawi and while I was there I came upon an abandoned baby (about 1½ years old) sitting in a ditch. It was like those dreams from my childhood.

In May 2002, with only $75 Canadian, I started my own orphanage in Malawi for this abandoned baby and a few other children. Fifty years after the fact, God made true the dream I had as a child.

After almost 10 years I am on my third house in Malawi, each one larger than the last, to accommodate more children and I still have some of the children from the beginning.

Dixon was six or seven years old when he was found naked, bleeding, raped and screaming in the street 500 miles from his home. The Police thought he was bewitched and put him in jail. The Catholic nuns brought him to me and he is now finishing high school.

The family of a newborn child walked 17 miles to find me after the baby's mother died in childbirth. She had not been nursed or even had so much as a sip of water. She now has a loving home in Canada.

There are children dropped off to me with full blown AIDS, TB and malaria but so far we have had only one death this year. Ralph was eight years old and weighed only eight pounds. He looked like Humpty Dumpty. I held him in my arms as he died.

Robin, at one year old, weighed four pounds and was abandoned in a hospital where she was neglected. She was HIV positive and had TB but she is now 4 years old and thriving despite her illnesses.

There have been mostly hard times but I choose not to dwell on those. Some of them are too painful to remember or talk about. I consistently surprise myself at what a strong woman I have turned out to be, but with God all things are possible.

One day I was walking the four corners of our yard with several of the children, praying for safety, when all of a sudden I felt like I was really home – where I belong.

With the donations from wonderful, caring people and my own money, I look after up to 50 children with a staff of 14. The house has running (cold) water, electricity (when it works) and we use candlelight at night.

During this economic downturn a bag of rice has gone from $40 to $95 a bag. It takes between $3000 - $4000 a month to run the orphanages. But here I am – a woman past middle age with a brain injury, limited education and restricted resources – yet I feel like I’ve been chosen to do God's work. It’s as if God is telling me I am one of His people like the fisherman or Mary Magdalene.

I started The Agape Orphanage Foundation and the Earth Angels Care Center Malawi to provide a safe and healthy environment for these orphaned children. It is a federally licensed, registered charitable, non-profit fundraising organization. It provides a secure home with food, fresh water and basic education for orphans in Malawi with 100% of all donations go directly to the children. Therefore every dollar makes a huge difference.

The children that come to us are truly helpless when they arrive. They may have been brought to us by a parent who is dying of HIV/AIDS, a relative too poor to feed one more mouth or the Police. Some are sick themselves and although they may suffer the same fate as their parents, we do what we can by giving them a home, food and medicine if needed.

Once they have shelter, are fed and healthy, it is time to feed their minds. With your help we will educate each child to a grade 12 level. They will learn to read and write and while doing so, they will develop a sense of self worth. Providing adequate education will mean that someday these children will be the teachers, health workers, builders, spiritual leaders, and business people of their community. Their education must not separate them from their culture. Their education must build a respect for who they are and they come from and build in them the desire to improve the world around them.

My dream continues. I dream of having a farm, run by the orphans themselves, being self-sufficient with no welfare mentality and an attitude of empowerment so they can carry on the work when I am gone.

Every day is a new experience and a new challenge to provide the basics of life to these children. Yet my dream is coming true with the help of people like you. If you feel drawn to, please donate to these children who need your help so much and know that your money is going directly to them to better their lives.

If you have the same dream I have – to save as many children as possible – then help if you can.

To learn more or to donate please go to www.agapeorphans.com or email info@agapeorphans.com or Dianne@agapeorphans.com Interested people can make donations via PayPal using their credit cards.