GRACE TAIT SHELTER ORPHANAGE (GTS)
After 5 amazing years as Directors and ~8 months as volunteers our time with WON Cameroon came to an end. Even before it became official we started seeing the Lord opening new doors and directing our steps into new areas. Praise the Lord for His faithful guidance. One day, in August of 2013, Tim walked into the government office of Social Affairs (one which oversees orphanages etc...) to check on a nearby orphanage for some friends and learned that the Social Affairs were meeting about that orphanage to determine the fate of it. The Social Affairs dept. head asked if Tim was willing to help. They asked him to take over directorship of the orphanage or they would have to close it down (we did). We went to check on the orphanage and found that it was really struggling. The founder, a friend of ours, whose dream it was to start an orphanage and shelter for widows and orphans etc... had died several years before. The sole financial backing came from her pension. While there was some money coming in, it wasn't enough. The orphanage, the buildings etc... were in danger of being given over to the village (essentially shutting it down). There were 12 children and 2 adults remaining. The other children who had been living there had to be sent back to their families, placing them back into bad situations. We have taken over directorship of the orphanage and are helping to get it back on its feet through raising support, helping to start self -sustaining/profitable projects, giving financial and general oversight. We saw so much potential and are blessed that the Lord has opened the door to be able to use the experience gained at HHCH to help at Grace Tait Shelter! We loved Auntie Grace and want to see the work that she poured her heart and life savings into go forward and flourish. We currently have 27 children, one care giving couple, their 3 children, and another staff person living at GTS
Due to the dangers of living in a rural village during the civil war in 2018 we made the difficult decision to move the children into town. Our current location is in 3 separate buildings that we are renting in the town of Bamenda. We loved the property we had in the village of Bossa, but after we left rebel forces started making bombs in the area. In response to that, the military mined the roads near our property. Although, the UN forced the military to remove the mines we will never trust the roads again. This prompted us to begin looking for land that we could develop in the town of Bamenda. We found the 2 1/2-acre piece right in the middle of town. It is something that will allow us to grow as a ministry helping to meet the needs of not only our younger orphans, but also those who are ready to move on to independence. The Lord knows what we need, when we need it. He is so faithful and good.
GRACE TAIT SHELTER HISTORY
GRACE TAIT SHELTER HISTORY
Virginia Grace Tait (known as Auntie Grace by her friends) began her mission work in Peru at the age of 27. She served in several South American countries. She returned home to the U.S. for a brief period to care for her mother who passed away in 1991 at the age of 100. Shortly afterwards Grace returned to the mission field, this time to Equatorial Guinea and finally coming to Cameroon. She used her teaching skills to teach English. In 2006 she saw her lifelong dream of adopting and raising orphans come to pass. She put her life savings towards the building that is now Grace Tait Shelter. The shelter was run from her teaching pension. Soon after she founded GTS, she fell ill and suffered from dementia and glaucoma. In Dec. of 2011 this precious woman went home to be with her Lord and Savior. As it happens sometimes in Cameroon certain individuals took advantage of Auntie Graces' situation to pilfer her pension money putting the ministry in a dire situation. At that time another ministry (Bread for Life) stepped in to help "clean up" the situation, bring the property back up to standard, raise sponsorship for the children since Grace's pension money was no longer there to run the ministry. A missionary stepped in for about 1 1/2 years. He made hard decisions...sending many of the orphans back into bad situations because of lack of funding. This missionary left to GTS to do what he originally came to Cameroon to do and the monies again began to dwindle. It was at this state that the government office of Social Affairs (who oversees orphanages) thought that they were going to have to close this orphanage and turn over all of the land and buildings to the village. Social Affairs was 2 hours away from a meeting where they were going to do just that when Tim walked through their doors. "You're here! We thought you had already gone back to America!" (George the department head thought we had already gone to the U.S. for our furlough). "Can you help with Grace Tait Shelter?". And so began our very direct involvement with GTS. We desired to help so that the vision that Auntie Grace had poured her heart and life savings into could continue. We (Hope Filled Futures) partnered with Bread for Life for a season to help GTS become a "Station of Hope". GTS used to have about 50 children and several widows; it had a Cameroonian husband and wife who care who were caring for the 12 remaining orphans (18 more have been rescued since and 30 are currently living there). There was very little funding, a few donations and a small farm. They were in a very desperate situation. It was located in a very rural setting and needed all the help they could get as all the children were not fully sponsored. We consider it a "God thing" that Tim walked into the government office on that particular day. Won't you consider sponsoring children so we can better meet the needs of the children living at GTS and continue rescuing more children from desperate situations?
