Apr2015_Faith & Living: “What Value a Life?”

Over the summer it’s been great to have Michael Henzell home with us from the Casa Segura kids’ home, in the Bolivian Amazon.  Sadly, he’s off again now, back to the heat and danger of the jungle.

My wife Judy and I have been involved with Mik and his work for the past nine years or so.  We have visited four times and will go again this June.  It’s a bit of an effort to get there . . . four planes that get increasingly smaller before finally landing on a jungle strip in a 20 seater.

Last year the Dayboro Combined Churches hosted a Bush Dance in the Community Hall to help with the financial challenges of running a kids’ home in the jungle.  Lots of Dayboro folk came out for an amazing night of music, dancing and fun.

Sometimes when I look at all of the effort, expense and danger involved in running the home, I start to wonder about the worth of it all.  Over the last nine years, it’s been a huge job to raise around $400,000, to clear 7-9 acres of jungle and build the village with cabins, showers, school, clinic, guest accommodation and recreational facilities for the 26 children.  But then when we visit, I’m once again over-awed by the amazing sight of rescued and changed lives, kids who are incredibly grateful to have been given a chance at life through the generosity and love of people from a distant land.  The kids are happy and the whole project is one of joy and hope.  One visiting English journalist referred to Casa Segura (safe house) as “the happiest place on earth.”  You can read his article at http://hogarcasasegura.org/about-us_1.html

Paul the apostle said, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”  And James said, Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.”  I’m sure Mik feels at times that what he’s doing is just like a drop in the ocean (I know I do).  However, I’m encouraged by the words of Mother Teresa when she said, “We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean.  But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.”

So, good on you Mik Henzell.  We’ll see you again in Dayboro next time you’re home.

If you’d like to help Mik out and sponsor a kid at Casa Segura ($50/month), send an e-mail to Judy at dayborochurch@gmail.com

Gary Levens

Pastor of Dayboro Church.