We Are Limitless

In the aftermath of losing Philemon this week, I have been thinking constantly about our home in Goma and what these children truly need moving forward.

For years, the priority has been survival. Keeping children fed. Keeping them in school. Keeping them safe amid war, displacement, food insecurity, disease outbreaks, and ongoing instability in eastern Congo. The compound itself evolved over time as more vulnerable children arrived. Structures were added as resources allowed. Emergency solutions slowly became long-term living conditions.
Then in January 2025, fighting in Goma damaged parts of the orphanage compound itself.

Since then, we have worked to stabilize and protect the property, including building a ten-foot volcanic stone wall around the entire compound. But inside those walls, there is still enormous work to do.

Too many children are still sleeping on floors or sharing beds. The electrical system remains unreliable. Parts of the roof leak during heavy rains. Sanitation infrastructure is limited. The unfinished dormitory wing was never completed after funding ran out. The small courtyard inside the compound now has to function as gathering space, garden, play area, and food production zone all at once.
At the same time, eastern Congo continues to face overlapping crises. Much of the surrounding region remains under rebel control. Food insecurity continues to worsen. Displacement remains constant. And now a renewed Ebola outbreak in neighboring Ituri Province has added another layer of fear and instability across the east.

Philemon’s death has made me realize with even greater urgency that survival alone is not enough. These children deserve a real home.

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Very sad news from our children’s home in Congo.
One of our children, Philemon, died this morning. He was 9 years old.

He went to sleep last night showing symptoms of malaria and never woke up. His brothers and sisters found him beside them this morning, believing he was still asleep.

Malaria is treatable. But when the fever becomes severe, treatment cannot wait. Rebecca did not take him to the clinic because she did not want to burden me. They know how difficult things have been financially for the organization and how much stress we have been under trying to keep everything afloat. I am so sick that they worried more about protecting me from another f-ing expense than getting Philemon medical care.

It is hard to process the contrast of this work sometimes. One day we are celebrating Schadrack graduating from a private university in the United States with a mathematics degree and job opportunities in Silicon Valley. The next day, a 9-year-old boy dies because we did not get him to a f-ing local clinic in eastern Congo in time. I will probably wake up tomorrow with the usual determination it takes to move this organization forward but its times like these that I really question if can do this much longer.

This is the reality these children are still living in every day. Fragile systems. Delayed care. Decisions made out of fear of cost. And consequences that cannot be undone.