Can two people make a world-wide difference?  Pietr & Pita Butendijk are a loving couple from the Netherlands who founded the Noah’s Ark Children Home in Uganda.  The compound stretches for twenty-three acres and is secure, protecting children from animals and kidnapping.  Recently, a Global Aid Network team traveled to Noah’s Ark to assist Pietr & Pita in their ministry.  Over the course of the next several days, American volunteers had the opportunity to minister to these 68 children first-hand, in addition to sharing AIDS education and the gospel inside three schools in the surrounding area.

Ministry at the orphanage itself is a never ending opportunity.  According to Kathy R., “You never left ministry there.  In the mornings some of our volunteers were up.  They were bathing babies [and] every child gets a bath.  And they change clothes several times a day, they were helping them change clothes, get dressed, get ready for breakfast.  And then we went all day and at night some of them were praying with them, helping them read stories and that kind of thing.  So you never left ministry.”

A tragic reality around the world is that some babies – especially girls – are simply abandoned by their parents.  Though many parents grieve as they turn over their kids to authorities, sadly others have different stories.  Kathy shared about one such orphaned girl named Elizabeth.  “Elizabeth was found on the side of the road in a bag.  She still had afterbirth on her, she had never been cleaned up, she was covered in flies.  [Today,] she is one of the most confident little girls you will ever see in your life.”

The Noah’s Ark Children’s Home in Uganda is a refuge for orphans from all walks of life, and each story is truly unique.  Just take Mary, Margaret, and Gladys, for example.  According to Kathy, “They are precious triplets…just beautiful, smiling girls.  The mother had given birth to one of them and was hemorrhaging and was actually driven by bicycle 40 miles, delivered the other two, and then she died.  The father and the grandmother couldn’t possibly take care of nine children – they were very poor farmers.  It wasn’t a lack of love; it was just a lack of ability.”

And that’s where Pietr and Pita of Noah’s Ark came in, providing home and hope for these three girls and many others – teaching them about the love of their heavenly Father in the process.  Through the love of Jesus, these people are changing the world one child at a time.