Reclaimed Project Aids Orphan Care Centers and Needy in Africa

Assisting orphan care centers in Botswana, Africa delivers hope to poor children while spreading the message of Christ’s love.

Founded in Starkville in 2012, the Reclaimed Project has embraced that task as its core mission. The non-profit also seeks to assist people adopting African children and empowers others through job creation in some of the world’s poorest villages.

No doubt, it’s a mission filled with monumental challenges for Reclaimed Project leaders like Mississippi College graduate Allison Barnhill and her husband, Brett.

“Our hearts are heavy as we share with you the latest update from Lesotho,” the couple writes in a Facebook message in late February sent to Reclaimed Project friends. “God has opened our eyes and shown us that the need there is much greater than we anticipated.”

The Barnhills are working incredibly long hours with two orphan care centers in Botswana. It is the impoverished African country that’s home to more children orphaned by AIDS than any nation on the planet. Many of the children are infected by the virus at birth.

This spring, the Barnhills are reaching out to Mississippians to help their Christian ministry. That’s taking place at fund-raising events at Mississippi State University’s Starkville campus April 28 and at The South in Jackson April 30. For a $50 ticket price, people will meet Reclaimed Project Executive Director Jason Stoker, enjoy a nice meal and hear the latest on initiatives to save African children from dying.

Allison Barnhill’s strong ties to Botswana date back to 2009 when she spent five months there working with Hands-On, an International Mission Board program connecting college students with missions worldwide. The Mississippi College graduate is taking on an immense battle. An estimated one in every four adults, or some 300,000 people has AIDS or tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

In late February, the Barnhills note the needs remain great, but they point to God’s biblical promises from Isaiah 43:19. “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”

In their message to Reclaimed Project supporters, the Barnhills spotlight needs of a dozen suffering children they work with in Lesotho, Africa.

One girl lacks clothes and food, yet is trying to care for her mentally unstable mother. A boy, who is without food and soap, receives no care from his mother, who’s a stroke victim. The couple knows of a 12-year-old boy who doesn’t attend school, works as a shepherd and moves from house to house, wherever he can find help. The African boy lacks shoes and clothes and cannot brush his teeth. The grim list goes on.

The Barnhills train ladies seeking to help their ministry year-round. One of the ladies walks 90 minutes from her home village to join them. “Everyone came with their scripture memorized from the week before,” Allison writes. “They are ready to learn and desperately want to help the children.”

The Reclaimed Project fund-raising events in Mississippi in April will bring some relief to what looks like a desperate situation for orphaned and vulnerable children. Typically, most women leave their children to look for a job and never return. “So many will abandon the children, or kill them by dropping them in the toilet or river,” Allison says.

The ladies she and her husband are training often share heartbreaking stories. “They are looking to God to intervene, and they are looking to us to help them teach them to be His hands and feet.”

The Barnhills ask Reclaimed Project supporters to pray for the African children and their mission. “Our hearts are tired, but our spirits are hopeful.”

Allison and Mississippi College classmate Kasey Ambrose served as founders of the Orphan Care Center, a program providing 10 orphaned children in Lobatse, Botswana with a daily meal, a safe place to play games and the opportunity to encounter love from caring adults. The center offers children hope in the love of Christ and training in God’s word. Allison and Kasey founded the initiative in January 2012, after graduating from Baptist-affiliated Mississippi College.

MC graduate Eddie Kinchen, a businessman and fellow member of First Baptist Church Jackson, provided help to Allison and Amber’s business plan to create the Orphan Care Center and helped launch a donation fund for the Christian ministry.

For additional information on the Reclaimed Project’s Mississippi events in April 2015, go to info@reclaimedproject.org