For the 2016-2017 school year, KEP students will be supporting Fundaniñ
os Orphanage in Guatemala. Denny and Barb Freed are the Directors of the home. Abby Freed, KEP Administrative Assistant, is one of their daughters. The Freed family has lived there in Guatemala for the past eight years. Denny and Barb have three grown children whom all live back in the States. The children at Fundaniños have various backgrounds which have placed them in the orphanage. Denny and Barb lead the children in family groupings so that they learn how a family should interact and care for one another. They help the children who range from a few weeks old to teens grow physically by providing the basic needs for them (food, clothing, housing, etc) as well as their spiritual and emotional needs.
The vision God has given Fundaniños is to raise up children to be Happy, Christian and Independent. In a practical sense, here is what that means:
Happy
Yes, we like any good parent, we want our children to be happy, and we want them to enjoy life, but most importantly we want them to have a sense of true Biblical happiness that comes from being content and joyful in God. Like any children, they have lots of ups and downs, but our hope and prayers is that their time here will be a joyful in comparison with the many hardships they have faced in their short lives.
Christian
We are an orphanage founded on Christian principals staffed by Christian staff, volunteers and employees who have personal relationships with Christ and work to not just impart Biblical teachings, but demonstrate them day in and day out through their actions. Our prayer is that we can give them the truest understanding of who God is so they can build a lifelong relationship with Him in fellowship with other believers.
Independent
There comes a time in the life of every child when they must step out on their own. For the children we work with, this is complicated by the fact that few of them have any family they can depend on. Starting in their teenage years, we work with the children to develop a life plan, evaluate their interests, expose them to learning opportunities and develop the life skills necessary to sustain themselves and then walk alongside them as they step out on their own.
In truth, the three aspects of our vision are intertwined and dependent on each other. Achieving them is not a simple task, complicated much more so by the troubled pasts our children have. Yet with patience, discipline, love and time, we are seeing fruit being born in the lives of these precious souls, beloved by God.
We are partnering with them by providing, through the children’s donations (pennies, dimes, nickels and quarters and of course, bills) some basic needs such as school supplies, underwear and socks. Our hope is to raise $70 per class to use to purchase these needed items.
2015-2016 Mission Project
Last year, t
he children at KEP supported the opening of a Christian Preschool in Cambodia, which is a Hindu nation. Jody Musser, who is helping a Christian Cambodian develop the preschool came, to visit the children. She shared about their home life, favorite toys, homes, clothing, and travel. The children were excited to serve others and to learn about another culture. Our KEP families purchased educational materials for the preschool.
Here is the opening day of Kingdom International preschool which will open Monday, July 4.