May 1997

Dear Saints and Aints

Shalom. May you live forever!

Were it not for the sun filter on my window, the hot sun would have already fried me and my computer. The temperatures hover around 46° Celsius - 114° Fahrenheit plus. May and the first week of June are usually the hottest time of the year. It is also the part of the year when work of any kind is relegated to the backburner and sleep, for those who can afford it, is the most expressed need. Were the nights cool one could cope better but the nights too are hot and - till the heat fries most of them - the mosquitoes serenade you through the long hours of the night. Unfortunately this is not the only thing they do and certainly not the "virtue" they are famous for. So, the morning finds you gently rubbing your arms and legs to reduce the discomfort from a hundred stings. It is said that when you are over 50 and you wake up in the morning without some pain - you must be dead. Well, the fan that brings some comfort brings also that - the pains and aches - and turning the other cheek becomes a problem as the neck muscles do not want to co-operate. The only nice thing about summer is that by the time June comes around - you are used to it …

But for a few kids the compound is deserted. The place has its sabbatical. A lot of things we don't like are good for us and I am sure a bit of quietness is one of those. I have become deaf on my left ear. The doctor suggested it could be the result of being exposed to a lot of noise. I mentioned that we have some 600 people in the compound. He figured that could not cause deafness. Well, he probably never been around 500 plus kids ... Just half of them saying "Good Morning" can cause considerable damage to a sensitive ear drum ... Anyhow, it seems, I am getting up there were dentures, hearing aid, glasses and assorted paraphernalia to keep me eating, hearing and seeing are part of the "new man". One wonders what next ...

I am a great dreamer. I can sit there for a long time and dream about this place and the various projects that are in my heart. Of course I am not just content sitting on my haunches and just dream. I dream one hour and work twelve. But nevertheless - I am a dreamer.

Dreams grow holy put in action.
Work grows fair through starry dreaming.
But where both go on - unmingling,
Both are useless and in vain.

The problem with dreamers and prophets is that to them their dreams are so real, so tangible, so utterly sensible, certainly possible even if they look impossible and - their materialization, their fulfillment - imminent. To the delight of many skeptics, even were they to believe in your dreams - the latter does not hold true.

I fear that some of my dreams for the summer will remain but dreams and be shelved for a "more convenient season". This is partly due to funds for a project being late in coming, others because the funds were not enough and others ...Yohan's dream for the bore well for the girls' home had to be abandoned. After 200 feet down without water they gave up. Now he wants to deepen the existing open well.

On a personal level I often feel that we sacrifice our dreams for ourselves to help come true the dreams of others ... The little and bigger things we want are set aside to give others the little and not so little things they want. My parents did for me, their parents did for them, we do for our kids and the Saints - do for us.

Yet being an optimist - dreamers must be considering some of the outrages, impossible things they dream about - I believe that postponement is not synonymous with none fulfillment. We are still waiting for some of the things to happen the prophets of old expected to happen at any moment - in their life time ... But God will fulfill for all of us our legitimate dreams. It is only a matter of having to wait a wee bit longer - like being very hungry and certain of a good meal waiting and - being stuck in a traffic jam …

Sour grapes? I do not believe that trusting the goodness of God has anything to do with sour grapes - just with common sense ...

I look around our compound with its many beautiful trees, sturdy structures: A fantastic school, a large dormitory building and a smaller one, new dining room and kitchen facilities, a functional technical school, the beautiful building that Yohan and I share, great guest room facilities, a new office and a new water tower in the making, roads and miscellaneous things like a bore well, open wells and compound walls. Then there are six staff houses almost completed on a 1½ acres of land with four more to go ... I look at oodles of kids having the time of their lives, being loved and cared for, educated, fed and clothed -- where fifteen years ago (April 27th 1982) there was absolutely nothing here and but 12 kids ... The big bus seating 53 adults or 90 kids - is finally paid for ...The last installment was paid this month. And Yohan's Land rover only needs $2000 before it too is paid ... Yes! God fulfilled my dreams in a most spectacular and wonderful manner. So, I will trust Him to fulfill my "summer" dreams - even if it might be "winter" before He does …

Yohan is doing well. He laughs when he has to repeat himself several times while talking to me or when he speaks on my left side and I look to the right ... He spent only two weeks in the village as none of the staff is here - I don't count ... He has things firmly in hand and deals with many Government offices directly. In short, he has grown up. He is another fulfillment of my dream - the dream to have a successor and one who will dream and work for the kids.

While on the surface I seem to promote Yohan, my real interest is in the continuation of this work which has helped so many children. I see Yohan's advancement as a means to that end and not as the end. Though I obviously like Yohan, his personal advantage, as to running the Society, is not in vogue; he will inherit whatever I possess and my life insurance etc. should make him financially independent for a considerable time. That means he does not depend on this job to earn a living. Of course he will need your prayers, your trust and support. He will need Saints to support him by sacrificing some of their little and not so little dreams that he can help others, less fortunate, to have their little and not so little dreams fulfilled. I assure you, you could not invest your trust it in a better person.

On the 4th or 5th of June the first batch of kids will be back. By the 24th school will start and so - everybody should be back. Till August we do not know who all will be here. We will let you know then. I am tentatively planning a trip to Germany in early September to visit my family. I had dreamt of going in April but it did not work out. Now, I am sure, it will.

Well, enough for now. Thank you for your support, your prayers and gifts. You are a great bunch of friends because all the things I enumerated before -- are YOUR gifts to us.

We love you saints - we really do!

Frank, Yohan and Kids . . .