There will be much to tell in the days ahead of the team’s many activities in Madagascar. But today we’ll share a personal story about Ancient Path co-founder and longtime board member, Julia Ellifritt and her son, Nate.
Julia first traveled to Madagascar in 1999 with another team member to explore Ancient Path partnership possibilities. She immediately fell in love with the country and the people – especially the children. A longtime adoption advocate, Julia’s heart was already leaning towards adopting again, to give another little girl a good home and to give her daughter Lian a younger sister. As a single mom, Julia assumed she would adopt girls only and soon she and her Malagasy friend, Sahondra, began visiting many orphanages in Tana and the surrounding area.
At one orphanage we met Vonjy, Julia writes. She was such a sweetheart and I fell in love with her, but she was several years older than Lian, and that was my only concern. Whoever I adopted needed to be younger than Lian. We moved on, leaving her there, but it tugged at my heart.
However, it wasn’t a daughter that God had waiting for Julia this time, but a young boy named Nantenaina. Julia first met him when he was 3 1/2 years old. He was living in a dirt-floor orphanage with no running water or electricity, just hoping to be sponsored by someone. It took some time, and several trips, but at the age of seven, Nate officially became Julia’s son and Lian’s little brother.
Fast-forward ten years and Nate is thriving in his adopted country, loving and playing the game of basketball. Now he has returned to visit his birth country for the first time to share his knowledge and love of sports. It’s proving to be an emotional experience for everyone, but especially mom.
Julia writes: Yesterday, Danny, Shawn and Nate were all heroes to these kids, but Nate was the hometown hero. It was the last day of soccer camp and our Malagasy friends held a reception for us and gave us gifts. After it was over, the kids swarmed their new sports heroes and the guys signed autographs for at least 10 minutes. I watched Nate stand tall at the podium, telling the athletes that he is falling in love with his home country. They cheered and screamed – and I cried. I listened to Nate introduce himself proudly as Nantenaina – and I cried. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for, for my son to fall in love with Madagascar as I have.
From a mom’s perspective, I think it could be easy for Nate to look at the past few days and imagine his life here. I wonder if he understands that he would not have been living in the accommodations we have, or attending the best school in the country or being a basketball star. More likely than not, he would have been carrying bricks on his back to buy his daily bread by the age of thirteen. That is the reality for orphans in this country – in any country, really. This is a mom’s musings as I watch my son navigate his journey, but I know this is only the beginning. It will be a long process and ultimately, his story to tell. Tomorrow as we visit the orphanage Nate came from and begin to work in more impoverished areas of the city, all three of our first-time visitors will begin to see a very different picture.
And here’s an interesting addendum to the story about Vonjy! Julia writes: Though we left Vonjy at the orphanage that day, God had a plan for her life. On the next trip, another AP team member talked to Sahondra, encouraging her to adopt Vonjy. I never knew that part of the story, but Sahondra told me that just tonite! She took that step of love and faith as a single mom and adopted her beautiful little girl and the rest is history. Vonjy holds a special place in my heart, and she is now a beautiful young lady, serving God – and her mom is my dear friend. These are all long term relationships, and if I don’t do anything significant in the worlds eyes, I could leave tomorrow feeling like the greatest thing I could do is nurture relationships with these people that God loves so much.
