Halls For Hope

In March of 2006, Fred Asare made a trip to the northern part of Ghana. He goes each year and collects a donation of yams from the churches in the northern part of the country. Fred takes a driver with a big truck and they give us our yams for the year which are kept in storehouses.

    On this trip, when Fred arrived at a village in the north to receive a donation, he was told by the church leaders that there was a little girl of about 7 to 8 years old who had been orphaned and had no one to care for her. The leaders wanted to know if Fred would take her to the orphanage. He asked her name and was told that her name in the local language meant "depression" and "troubles." Fred said he would take the little girl on the condition that she be given a new name, because her present name would not fit with her new life at the Village of Hope. He named her MaMalk - which means "new hope."

    MaMalk came to us without ever having been to school or being able to speak English. While we were there, MaMalk spoke to me every day and was a joy to be around. She speaks better English than I do though she is a quiet girl with a beautiful smile. The house parents have been teaching her English and the alphabet but, the most amazing thing about MaMalk is her inability to stop smiling. She smiles constantly. I guess that’s what new hope does for you.

  She is one of the many testimonies of what love can do for a child. At the Village of Hope there are many children with so many needs and while we were there we worked with the house parents and spoke to them about the challenges and rewards of the past year. They could only bring up the rewards, the challenges are always present and just a part of every day life. They have obstacles but they just keep climbing over them. When we are there we see potholes, they just see the same old road and they always get where they are going. They focus on the job and the journey. MaMalk has gotten some individual help to get her ready for school but she gets the same love that every kid gets at VOH. She is doing well because that is the expectation. Love kids, teach them about God, and let God do the rest. We should all do the same for all of our children.   

   We don't put as much of an emphasis on names in our culture as you see in other parts of the world - names are important because they describe who you are or your condition or what has happened to you. Jesus said that he will give his people a new name - MaMalk is a pretty good one...