Orphanage director reaches out to guerrillas, government troops and children in Colombia

Colombia (MNN) — Colombia has been locked into a long drawn out guerrilla war. That’s compounded by a major drug trafficking problem and a massive paramilitary presence. That makes ministry difficult in that South American country.

IN Network’s Rody Rodeheaver says his organization works in Colombia, but it’s not easy. “Unless you have nationals in the field doing your ministry, it isn’t going to happen because of the danger and of being taken as a hostage, if you’re a westerner.”

Rodeheaver says one of their ministries is an orphanage near a known guerrilla camp. “We have 25 children that are basically children that have been orphaned because parents have been killed by the guerrillas, or their parents have run and are in hiding and the children have been abandoned and we’re supporting these children.”

The director has been helping orphans for 31 years and Rodeheaver says her ministry goes beyond the children. “The guerrillas respect what she’s doing because they realize that she cares. She actually shares the Gospel with these guerrillas. It’s an amazing story of God using a woman in a place that is a hard place.”

Rodeheaver says the orphanage has needs. “We still have five children that are not sponsored, so we need sponsors for these children. We also have a leak in the roof that needs to be repaired that’s dripping in where our children are sleeping.” Your part in sponsoring a child is $30 a month, while $2,000 can repair the roof.

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