The BANA project: A miracle begins with a gift!

BANA means children

Ladell Patterson
Logos Global Ministries

Bana means children in the Sesotho language. Bana: the children of Lesotho, Africa, who need real care! Bana: the life-giving focus of Logos Global Ministries [LGM], which now cares for hundreds of AIDS orphans, leveraging indigenous networks for critical training and care. LGM has quietly become a permanent presence in this desperate country, working through its Lesotho arm, THE BANA PROJECT OF LESOTHO, to offer hope in the midst of seemingly hopeless circumstances. These people are threatened on every side for daily existence. For them the Bana Project is a miracle of hope: Loving eyes that look to the children, see their desperate needs, and offer them a better future.

The project is currently supplying Basotho Blankets to help the children during the winter months, which are now beginning. The highland winters of Lesotho can be brutal. The lowlands around the capital city, Maseru, experience a mild winter even though the temperature drops below freezing most nights. But in the highlands the people and animals die by the hundreds: a lack of fuel or money for its purchase means deadly results. During such drastic times, snow and wind bring unthinkable hardship for the locals. We only pray that it will not be one of those winters!

The need is great, but God is raising up people around the world, people called to join LGM in the battle for orphans. Just last week a prominent lady of the community in Lesotho came to the site where the children are cared for and brought with her a load of used clothing. There seems to be no other way to get used clothing into the country, so this lady was a Godsend. Her charity will do more than warm the bodies of the small children: Their hearts also are feeling the comfort of good clothing.

A month ago a lady called me with an offer to build a large garden project for the orphans – with another $50,000 gift! Fresh vegetables and fruit are of great nutritional value if they contain no contaminates or polluted ingredients left there by pesticides: Lesotho struggles with the quality control that we take for granted here in the USA. However, this garden project will now make healthy produce a reality!

Several months ago someone offered a gift of $50,000 for a sewing factory so that the ladies of the community could make school uniforms for those who do not have them. Education is such an important part of the orphans hope! Now they will have uniforms manufactured by their village peers.

A friend with extensive exposure to LGM, who has offered timely counsel, advice and encouragement, recently donated $1100 for the project. And God continues to whisper on the night wind, calling caring hearts to stand in the gap, and stand for this project.

We’re also learning the lesson of fed multitudes in Galilee, where Jesus took a small boy’s lunch and fed five thousand and more. This miracle principle is echoing greater and greater for Lesotho: Little by little we receive 10 dollars here, five dollars there, 50 or a hundred…slowly moving toward our original goal: to find 1 million people to give $5. Youth groups and other groups are starting a campaign to see how many $1 bills we can raise, all for the orphan care project!

We are still praying that a large grant will come to us, like $5 million, or more. I feel confident that it will happen on God’s timetable, but until then we count the blessings of miracles already come, of lives already changed.

You are invited to join us in prayer, for it alone will continue the success that has already come to Logos Global Ministries. Here are a number of things you can pray:

• God, give us that mountain we have prayed for so long. Drive back the forces of evil that refuse us access. Show LGM Your plans and make it all happen, according to Your will.
• Lord, continue to speak to those whom You want involved in the project. Visit those who have already answered with Your Holy presence. Guide them daily as they prepare mentally and spiritually for their assignments.
• Father, will You open the windows of heaven upon The Bana Project of Lesotho to supply all their needs? I know You will, for You have promised over and over again that You care for the orphans as Your own children. In this promise and on Your character we hold them up in prayer.
• Almighty God, Creator of all things, will You surround and support the little children in Lesotho who have no parents to care for them? When they are hungry, help LGM to be there. When winter sets in, keep them warm with Your love. Completely meet their needs through the church and through your chosen vessels. We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, for the sake of Your children and for Your glory. AMEN!

God bless you for your prayers, and for your concern! Remember that a miracle begins with a gift – sometimes even a gift that seems so small will begin a blessing that reaches hundreds and thousands of lives. So hear the call! Join the project as God leads you, and together we’ll make a large difference in Lesotho.

Yours in Christ and for the Kingdom,

Ladell Patterson
Note: This article was written in consultation with Loy