Help us disciple future great parents at Dreamland South Sudan

The source of their identity is one of the biggest issues young
people are struggling it. What is it? Where does it come from? If they fail to
get clear cut answers to these questions by the time they are 18, they’re dangerously
setup for dysfunctional lives in adulthood.

A significant part of the pruning needed addresses identity issues.
There’s no querying why this is essential for orphaned children. The big questions however are, “Who or what is doing the trimming and how?”

I see a few principal actors, working sometimes unconsciously and independently
for the same goal.

One is centripetal in nature, working from the inside; and the
others are centrifugal, working from the outside.

It’s clear that young people vacillate today more than they did
thirty years ago, because parents (a centripetal force) have played such a huge
role in their life. Moms want to stay close, so they smother instead of mother.
 

In fact, parents hover, serve, protect, reward and obsess over
their children more than at any time in modern history. This makes the children
tend to draw their identity from their parents when their brain is pruning
itself to become more independent.

This reality is more pronounced in social structures with pretty well
defined and large middle class.

I cannot say same for the over 100 orphaned children under our
care in Dreamland (ages between 4-15), desperately in need of a model to admire
and follow, in need of balanced spiritual nourishment, parental supervision and
purposeful practical coaching. This is the greatest challenge of our ministry
to the orphaned children in Yei today.

Many of these children at Dreamland are entering their adolescent
years with their identity quite unkempt. We have little time left. We need urgent
help from people with a call, the training and burden for such as these.

I’m particularly alarmed by the emotional health of the girls
among them. They are changing very fast and the world around them is taking
notice. We must protect them.

Peers on the outside (a centrifugal force) wield gradually taking
the role of parents or guardians and  in
many cases, forcing parents and their helpers to assume a more corrective (instead
of instructive) role at home in order to deal with the absurdities which are new
realities they sense or see in their children.

The emergence of great mothers and fathers, and great ministers of
the gospel is in the destiny of our children at Dreamland. But first, someone
has to model it for them. That someone must come to dwell among them.

The opportunity to mentor a new generation is begging for
connection in Yei with these children. Who will take the first bite?

They don’t have the encumbrances of the internet and TV, other
centrifugal forces the youths are dealing with. Ours have a hunger for a future in and with Jesus that
cannot be ignored. Someone said, hungry people don’t stay hungry for long. I totally agree. These
children must be fed the right kind of spiritual meals and now is the time.

A team is coming our way to pour their life into these children. But
for how long?

Please pray along for a seamless entry for them, eternally fruitful bonds
with the kids and long term commitments.

Author: Uche Izuora

I'm inspired by God’s passion for His name in every generation, which provokes global worship through Jesus Christ. Becoming an emotionally healthy and transformative disciple, I aim to mobilize the Church to engage in cross-cultural missions and raise other like-minded disciples who discover themselves in Christ and seek to present and represent Him as Savior and Lord among the nations northward of Uganda. View all posts by Uche Izuora