Gorette’s House Completed!
In memory of McKinsey Rebecca 9/27/1994-2/2/2015
What happened during the dash has changed us forever. We learned to love deeper, to live full and dream BIG, but most importantly to walk in our faith more boldly. Six years ago today, you left this earth to forever live with your Heavenly Father. To honor your memory and continue your legacy of faith, hope, and love, we have decided to introduce the world to Gorette and her son Amos! And in true McKinsey fashion, we are also asking for your help.
On the eve of 2021, I learned a portion of this story. It wasn’t until day 2 of 2021 that I could see it with my own eyes. Amos is one of the children sponsored by The McKinsey Foundation and Gorette is his mother. She had stopped by on New Year’s Eve and spoke quietly in her local language with Samie. I served them coffee and gave her a peanut butter sandwich, having no idea what she was sharing. Only that it was emotional and Samie looked pretty serious.
Later that evening after we had brought in the new year with our family, Samie and I had laid down for bed. We were all tucked in, a mosquito net surrounded us and I remembered the visitor from earlier. He had been more quiet than usual that night so I asked what he was thinking about. He shared the most heartbreaking story.
Gorette is the mother to six children, ranging in age from fifteen to two years old. Her husband had died in 2019 and she wasn’t sure how she would make it. She had thoughts of suicide then but pushed on. Although it took her until December of 2020 to pay off the debt from his burial, she did it. And then the rainy season came and washed away her mud home. She again had thoughts of suicide. She had been trying to construct a wood home on her own, from pieces of wood she had been collecting, but had run out of money for nails. The simple structure has a door but no lock. She uses a hoe to lock herself and the children inside while they sleep and a rope to tie it shut while they are away. When we went to visit, money in hand for nails, someone had already stolen her wood. There was no need for nails. Besides, whatever she built from wood would only be eaten by the ants in a short time.
She told us of how she was so excited when she heard Amos could come and pick up food provided by The McKinsey Foundation for her family for Christmas. But was devastated when Amos returned home with no rice. Amos has a little trouble walking steady and had dropped the bag of rice, spilling it all over the ground on his way home. Again, she was having thoughts of suicide.
Gorette showed us where her home used to be and how the best she could do right now to put a roof over their heads was to sleep with the goats. I spoke as much positive affirmation over Gorette and her children that I could come up with, gave her ALL the money I had in my pocket (Later Samie said, you gave it ALL to her? ….. Ummm yeah!) and then I prayed over them. I prayed for a miracle, for God to show up and bless this family abundantly, but more specifically I prayed for a large portion of supernatural strength to be given to Gorette. I knew the road ahead would not be easy or even short. And then we got in the car and left. I was completely undone but immediately knew the purpose of our trip to Uganda. God had just revealed it and this is the scripture that cemented it for us.
James 1:27 says to look after the orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
And so, here’s God’s plan….. we are going to build Gorette and her children, a home. Gorette owns her own land so that will not be an expense. We had a builder survey her plot, draw up the house plans, and give us an estimate to build her home. And with your help, we can make this dream come true. The estimate to build her home is $4,300 but we would like to raise $5,000 to cover any extra expenses along the way. If money is left over after the home is constructed, it will be used to help purchase furniture. Please consider joining us in honoring McKinsey’s legacy and building a home for Gorette! You can give online through FaceBook or at Mckinseyfund.org. All donations for the Gorette home fund will go directly towards the purchase of her home.