A TV for YOU= HOPE for THEM

When I was in college, I worked as a children's minister at an inner city church in Abilene, Tx. Every summer, I took my kids to camp at Camp of the Hills and they had the time of their lives. And all three summers that I was there, the camp director was this guy named Chris Field. The kids loved him.

After camp I never really ran into him again, but always kinda wondered what happened to him, because I was pretty sure he was one of those guys who was going to do something big. And then, out of the blue, a couple of weeks ago, I got a friend invite from him on Facebook. And I learned about the organization God gave him a vision for: Mercy Project.

And I learned that there's a lake, Lake Volta, in Ghana, Africa where over 7,000 kids have been sold into slavery, some for as little as $20, many as young as 5 or 6 years old. Many of the kids work as many as 100 hours a week as fishermen. They mend nets, fish, and scoop water out of leaking boats.

(all information and pictures courtesy of Mercy Project)

These kids are sold into slavery because in Ghana, as in much of Africa, poverty is rampant and many mothers are left unable to care for their children. Told that their sold children will be given housing, education and food, they sell them to someone they think can take better care of them than they can. Instead though, many of the kids are instead taken to the lake to become child slaves.


But something is being done. There is a man named George Achibra, who is from Ghana, who spends almost all of his days on the lake forming relationships with the men who own the children. He works to help them see why slavery is wrong and also to see that they can continue in their businesses without the children. Eventually, after months and even years of this, many of the men release the children and in exchange are given new nets, boats or a motor so that they are able to continue fishing without the help of children.


Once the kids are freed, the parents are found and told of what has been going on with their child. The parents are offered the chance to take their children back but only if they agree to sign a social contract stating that they will never sell their children again. Ghanian social workers follow up with these families to ensure that the children are being taken care of. About 95% of the time, the parents still cannot afford to provide for their children, so they agree to send them to live at an orphanage where they will have housing, food and clothing, and will receive an education. And, there are many children whose families cannot be found, who are orphaned with no place to live.


The number one reason that more children cannot be rescued from Lake Volta is because of a lack of housing.

This is where Mercy Project comes in. And this is where we come in.

$40,000 will build a house where up to 25 rescued children can live. And where their lives can be irrevocably changed, which you can see as clear as day, at the end of the video.



And as I was pouring over the website and the pictures and reading all that I could about these kids, I just kept thinking that we can do something. Something big. If there are people in Ghana fighting day in and day out to rescue these children, and if these men who own these children are willing to free them in exchange for tools that help them keep their fishing business running successfully, and all that's keeping them from being rescued is that there is not a house for them to live in, I can't sit back and not do anything.

Especially after looking into the eyes of these boys.


I spend my life doing too much talking and too little doing. It's time to do something.



Landon and I could have just donated some of our money. And that would have been a good thing. But I had this nagging feeling that God was saying to do more. Keep thinking. So we started thinking how we could make the money we have have a bigger impact, how we could do more for these kids whose faces we can't get out of our minds.


And one night, as we were sitting around talking, dreaming about all important things like new computers, new camera lenses and bigger and better TVs for our house, we had an idea. What if something fun and silly, like a brand new TV, could inspire people to help rescue these children living in slavery in Ghana, Africa? What if it could help us come together and pool our resources and help build a brand new house, a house filled with hope, for these children who are being rescued from a life of slavery? What if something as frivolous as a TV could help us to meet the most basic of needs of these children and give them a new life?

So, as much as we'd love a new one, we're not getting a new TV this week. But, one of you is! And, we're SO excited, because what we're doing here is going to be a total group effort and way more than we could do on our own!

We have a brand new, still in the box TV, sitting right here in our living room--a Sony Bravia 32" Class 720p 60Hz LCD HDTV.


And one of you is going to win it. And it's so easy. All you have to do is help rescue some of the 7,000 child slaves working on Lake Volta in Ghana, Africa. Just head over to Mercy's Project's page--browse around a bit and then make a donation. Any amount--you choose.

For every $5 you donate, your name will be entered in a raffle to win this brand new TV. If you donate $5, you'll be entered once. If you donate $20, you'll be entered 4 times. If you donate $100, you'll be entered 20 times. You get the idea.

When you go to the website, click on the "donate" tab. Enter the amount that you want to donate at the top of the page and then either sign in to your PayPal account or fill in the information on the left side of the page. During the donation process, there will be a place for you to "add special instructions to seller." You must type SPEIGHTS STORIES GIVEAWAY in the "add special instructions to seller" box to be entered into the giveaway. Then, comment on the blog if you can, letting us know you donated (you don't have to let us know how much, just that you did!), to make sure we don't miss anyone!

Also, because part of what we want to do is raise awareness about Mercy Project and the children enslaved in Ghana, you can get entered 2 additional ways:

1. post about Mercy Project and this giveaway on your blog and then comment, letting us know you posted

2. link to this post as your Facebook status and then comment, letting us know you did it.

Giveaway is open only to residents of the United States, due to shipping.

The contest will be open until Wednesday at midnight, CST.

Mercy Project will be randomly selecting a winner on Thursday morning.

So, go ahead and get started.

Do it to help rescue children who are currently enslaved. Do it because these kids are REAL, real little kids just like our sons and daughters and nieces and nephews, whose childhoods have been stolen from them. Do it to be a part of something wonderful and bigger than yourself. Do it to win a new TV. Do it to set an example for someone. Do it because it feels good. Do it because it WILL make a difference to these little boys. Do it to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.


But most of all, do it for him.

And for them.

And for the other 7,000 kids out on the lake, all day, everyday.


Thank you in advance for all I know we (friends, strangers, family, acquaintances, friends of a friend, people who randomly stumbled across this page, friends of Mercy Project and everyone else out there reading this!) are going to do together, with God's help, for these kids!