PINE BLUFF ALTRUIST DISCOVERS HOME IN AFRICA

By Judy Normand/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Sunday, January 11, 2004 12:00 AM CST

What began with a simple call to faith in the early 1990s has evolved into a lifelong mission for Pine Bluff native, Leigh Ross, who said the opening of her orphanage at Kenya, East Africa, was by no means a request from God -- it was a command.

"I did not just wake up one day and decide to go to Kenya and take care of orphans," Ms. Ross said. "It was a divine calling from God. He said, 'Take up your cross and follow me.' I ignored the calling for two years and was miserable."

She made her first mission trip to the Ukraine in 1997, and about two years later, applied to the Canadian mission board, eventually becoming the first full-time missionary for Into All The World Ministries. After weeks of intensive cross-cultural training, she chose the orphans of East Africa as a focus for her mission of love.

"Look at it this way," Ms. Ross said. "Take away the fact that these children are orphans and that their parents possibly died from AIDS. They are just like every other child in the world. They deserve a chance in life and this home can give them a start. We take it one day at a time."

On May 1, Ms. Ross opened the Arms of Love, which is housed in a duplex-style building with her home on one side and the orphanage on the other.

"The owner really went all out when he built this facility. I actually have a small hot-water boiler and a bath tub," Ms. Ross said.

The orphanage, she said, is located on a "rose farm" in a compound containing six private homes and a building with 34 "flats." Because the owner raises and exports roses, her home and the other buildings have access to a borehole or water well.

"Fortunately, we are never without water," Ms. Ross said. "Other areas go for months without it. They either have to buy water or use the river water, which is very unclean." But she still must boil and filter the well water before it's fit for consumption.

"We use a lot and it's expensive, but doing laundry by hand takes a lot of water," she said. "Can you imagine how many nappies (diapers) the babies go through in one day?"

Ms. Ross said that her first baby was collected May 5 from Marie Stope's Maternity Hospital at Eastleigh, Nairobi. Sarah had been abandoned at birth and was a little more than 3 weeks old. She has since been adopted by a couple who had been childless for 12 years.

Rachel was delivered, without clothes or a diaper, into the Arms of Love at 3 months of age. An emaciated little boy, Joel, also became part of her family and had been in the same room at Marie Stope's with Sarah and Rachel.

"When they brought them, they were wrapped in dirty hospital sheets with urine and feces all over them. They were so dirty and smelled so bad that when the director of the hospital left, I quickly ran out back with the babies and removed their sheets so I could give them a bath," Ms. Ross said. She then put them down to sleep in the first crib in which they had ever slept.

Joel, she said, has a slight case of cerebral palsy and because of his handicap more than likely will never be adopted. "So, I'll raise him until he's old enough and skilled enough to live on his own." Rachel, though she is under a year, is considered too old to be adopted.

"Up until this past year, Kenyans were not even adopting these children at all," she said. "This country has a caste system, more or less, and the upper class considers it taboo to adopt a child. Most people (who adopt the children) are from the U.S., the U.K. (United Kingdom) or Europe, but Kenyans are beginning to adopt them. Sarah, our first baby, was adopted by Kenyans."

Ms. Ross cannot adopt Joel because with the new Children's Act of 2001, a single woman cannot adopt a male baby and a single man cannot adopt a female.

Although she said she feels the law is unfair, it is understandable. Many terrible things can happen to a little girl in Africa, including being sold.

In October, the Arms of Love welcomed four more babies, all under the age of 1 -- three boys and a girl -- who had been abandoned by their mothers. Their names are Matthew, Joseph, Alex and Mercy.

"I never planned to be getting up three times a night to feed babies ever again, but I'm doing just that," Ms. Ross said, adding that her milk bill is more than $300 a month. Some of the babies are now eating vegetables, which Ms. Ross grows in her own shamba or garden.

"After I learned to make their food, I can't imagine why people in the states don't make their own baby food. It is so easy, cheaper and much fresher," Ms. Ross said.

The Kenyan government does not welcome missionaries, Ms. Ross said, and makes it difficult to obtain work permits and to register orphanages.

"Without these two things, one must leave East Africa every six months and come back for a new six-month visa. The money we spend on travel could buy a lot of supplies for the orphans," she said, indicating that since 9/11, charitable giving had been reduced by 25 percent and that she would be traveling to Canada in March in an effort to raise funds for the orphanage.

Traveling itself, she said, can be quite an experience.

"Back in September, I had to leave because my visa had expired. The majority of the people on the plane were Muslim men. We took off around noon from Nairobi and about 1 p.m., all of them headed to the front of the plane. Everyone else had a panicked look on their faces, me included. They (the Muslims) began arguing with the head flight attendant who kept shaking his head 'no.' As it turned out, the men were simply asking to lay their mats in the aisles to pray. They did not succeed, but on the way back a week later, the same thing happened and they were allowed to line up in the aisles for their prayer ritual. I just kept singing 'Jesus Loves Me' in my head until they were through," Ms. Ross said.

As to everyday life at the orphanage, Ms. Ross said she's learned to live with some very unfamiliar varmints and takes unusual situations in stride.

"I've gotten used to the geckos (small lizards) that live with us in the house, but I know where they live and they don't scare me anymore," she said.

Spiders -- big ones -- are also a common sight, along with annoying ants, both of which have been found crawling not only on the floors, but also on the babies. A can of "Doom" she said, takes care of them quite nicely, though she and the babies have been bitten and have suffered through some painful and dangerous infections.

In addition to neglect, Ms. Ross' babies likely suffer from a myriad of ailments, including AIDS.

"Rachel and Matthew have both been in hospital during the past six months. The doctors thought Rachel had spinal meningitis, but were mistaken. Matthew is a very weak baby and was having trouble breathing. He also has some serious skin problems. The doctor thought he was also HIV positive because of his skin condition and swollen glands, but he was negative," she said.

Ms. Ross said the problem with AIDS in Africa has gotten worse as the number of infected people increases, but that only 25 to 30 percent of the babies born of HIV-infected mothers test positive for the virus. Many of those, she said, test negative within two years if they are not breast-fed by infected mothers.

"There is an injection the mothers can take during labor which will prevent their babies from being HIV-positive, but so many people live in rural areas that there is no way to get to them," she said.

Ms. Ross has found a church in Kenya with a pastor who attended school at Little Rock.

"It's a small world. He's Kenyan and a very anointed man," she said, "and his sermons are excellent food for the soul.

"I think in most of Africa there is a great thirst for something to believe in and hold on to. I know that in my area, people are very open to the gospel of Jesus Christ and they want their fellow countrymen to have what they have. That's how the gospel is spread."

Ms. Ross said that living in Kenya and caring for her babies were indeed reality checks, but that it has never presented a real problem.

"I personally can't change anything, but with Christ, I can do all things," she said.

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