FIRE at PURPOSE DRIVEN ACADEMY

Everyone is asking...what is going on at Purpose Driven Academy?

I wanted to get through Easter at Saddleback and not detract from the incredible weekend...but now here is a brief summary of the fire as I know it...an update on the wellbeing of the kids...and a word about how we can help Margaret and the kids at Purpose Driven Academy...

A BRIEF HISTORY...

Purpose Driven Academy is a Christian School of 525 students pre-K through High School.

It was founded by Mrs. Margaret Wanyonyi, wife of Pastor Moses Wanyonyi, and is an education outreach of DELIVERANCE CHURCH, in Kitale Kenya.

Although the school is only 8 years old, it has grown rapidly on the 1 acre church campus and with Impact Bible College, runs year round in 3 terms..

About the Fire...

Late on the evening of March 18th, 2010, a fire broke out at PDA, completely destroying the boys high school and jr high dormatories. Over 100 resident students were left with NOTHING but the clothing they were wearing ...AND THEIR LIVES.

Praise God that because of the timing of the day all students were in CLASSROOMS doing last minute 'preps' for the next day's National Exams... a Kenya-wide testing that determines your position for university and other school placement...THINK SAT's...nobody died ...and if you stood in those dorms you would say as I did, 'this is a miracle that no one perished'.

The fire's origin is still being sought by the Kitale fire investigators, but because of the fierceness of the fire and the lack of fire response and the complete destruction, that may never be settled.

Every child at PDA keeps their belongings in a small tin lockbox...For the orphans and streetkids at PDA, that small blue box contains EVERYTHING in their world...not much to us but all the world to them...maybe a note from a friend from Saddleback...maybe a picture of a mom long since gone from their lives...maybe a diary... maybe a book or a second shirt or pair of socks...to you and me, Random Items...to them, connection to life and history and memories...

I watched the next morning after the fire, as boy after boy found his box and hoping against hope broke open the charred tin...only to find the same results...NOTHING but coal-black ashes and burnt memories.

As I walked through the dorm I could hear the sounds of the night before.

Margaret called me in tears and explained the crisis and I told her to gather the boys and send them over to our compound... not really understanding what lay ahead but know we needed to do something...

About midnight the kids started arriving in trucks...in shock and wondering what just happened and how it would affect their lives. REMEMBER, THESE ARE KIDS WHO COME FROM A LIFE OF LOSS AND ABANDONMENT.

For the next hour, Ayub, our caretaker, and Cleophus, our nite guard, the Rwandans, Emanuel, his sister Hannah, and Juliette, and Laila from Oasis jumped into action to find 100 freaked out boys a mattress and a blanket and a place to sleep for the night.

We prayed...we sang a song...and gave them some food...and we sent them to bed.

Then we started preparing some food and tea for the morning.

About 3 am I went by what had previously been my room and usually sleeps me and Connie...and looked in on the 18 boys huddled in there...

I wasn't prepared for what I heard...boys softly crying...not little boys...teenagers...boys who in the light of day would never be caught crying...

I was crushed...

In the morning I discovered many of the boys had wet their beds...another evidence of the trauma of that night...and another loss of control in their lives...
Then, thankfully it was morning...The Rwandans and Laila never slept...they just worked on turning 'fishes and loaves' from our pantry into enough to feed a crowd of boys...and they were EVERYWHERE...
They boys returned to campus and it was a media and political circus...jounalists, district child welfare officials, even the Member of Parliament from that region, all coming to see what the results of the raging flames had been...this poor kid found what all the others found...dashed hopes.
I've been to a lot of refugee camps, but never dreamed we'd HOST an IDP camp at our compound.

These 6 boys are kids that OASIS of HOPE has rescued from street life and glue and has sponsored and placed in school at PDA...all their very few posessions gone

These are the remains of the mattresses and blankets and sheets on the dorm beds.
The kids heading to school the next day looked to me to still be in shock and disbelief from the events of the previous night.
And this is what they saw when they returned...

OK STEVE ...enough already...the place burned down...WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

#1 realize that we are not the 'fixers' of every hurt and the 'healers' of every wound...but everyone can do SOMETHING...according to their own journey and situation. GOD is the GOD over every loss just as He is the Lord of every good gift.

The model we are going to use at Saddleback Church is the crisis on Mt Elgon a few years ago...We were so saddened by the deaths and destruction in the wake of the tribal clashes...

We didn't do bake sales and jog-a thons for Mt Elgon...( not ripping those methods...we just don't do that at SVCC)... we just put the word out in the community of folks who know and love Kenya, and a wonderful response came in...to help over 100 pastors rebuild their homes, their lives, and their churches...

THREE MENTAL IMAGES that may guide you in giving to the rebuilding of PDA...

ONE SMALL...picture emptying your pockets at the end of your day...loose coins from a cup of coffee...2 quarters from the tollroad... a buck change from a big mac...picture collecting that in your drawer and sending it to encourage a kid back to school and some sense of normalcy. I don't care if you are 17 or 70...ANYONE can gather their loose change.

A bit Bigger...picture one of the kids that goes to PDA...it costs 46 dollars a month to school and feed and house a student through the year...thats $550.. what 400,000 people in the US just spent on I-PADS...that's uniform and books and every expense for that child...PDA needs help right now with supporting these kids...it's not a life commitment...it's a 'DO SOMETHING' moment...

A bit bigger still...despite the last year's financial roller coaster...besides the drop in stocks and equity...some of us have been blessed and have an ability to give a more sizable gift to PDA...PICTURE as Margaret does every day...picture the school moving off that tiny 1 acre church campus, which was never intended to be it's home and moving to a 5 acre plot off the church property...that kind of dream obviously takes larger gifts..

So let's wrap this up...

• I am not telling you that you should give to the PDA fire response...that's not my job or inclination...it's between you and God
• I'm not suggesting for those who give...WHAT to give...again, God can speak much more clearly than I can to you...
• What I AM saying is...for those who want to give to help PDA during this rebuilding and stabilizing period...
• You can give dollars..they are needed for blankets and mattresses and beds and clothing.
• You can give hundreds of dollars...they are needed for supporting the kids and keeping the doors open...
• You can give thousands of dollars and help PDA move off the overcrowded site and have a place to grow and play and learn...
• Pray about this, please. and let God speak to you about if or what to give...

IF YOU WANT TO GIVE TO THIS CAUSE...

Send a Check to

PEACE RELIEF

Saddleback Church

1 Saddleback Parkway

Lake Forest, CA 92630

ATTN: DON THOMPSON

for tax and accounting purposes, please make your check out to:

Saddleback Church

and on the memo line please write:

PDA FIRE RELIEF

questions?

email me at stever@saddleback.com