Local Hero: Woman changes the lives of orphans through love and education
She has devoted her life to giving abandoned children a better future.
Anna's purpose was birthed while working as an advocate and dealing with children's cases. Anna says she was disturbed by how many children from toxic homes got into trouble with the Law. She also witnessed the dire effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic that led to many children becoming orphans.
Moved by compassion, Anna alongside her late sister, Phina, who was a social worker at the time, decided to open an orphanage.
They made it their mission to give love and hope to abandoned children.
" We started with one child and then from there, eight, and then it started growing," Anna says.
Today, the home she started in 2000, has cared for hundreds of children. Not only is she providing shelter, but she has also opened a school on the same premises, and many of the children who grew up in the home have now gotten jobs and are also making a difference in the lives of others.
" Our admission is from zero to twelve, and the children can be here up until they are 18, and sometimes they even stay until they are 21 or 22.
She says her success story is seeing the children succeeding in life.
"I've got one child who is studying Data Science in Russia and one is going to start Bio Technology also in Russia. She will be leaving in October."
" Not only are we focusing on the academic side, we have got Montessori teachers, we have got chefs, we have got those that are doing sewing, so that really moves me a lot, it touches me a lot. When I look at them and they are working, and they are responsible, and they are no longer in the cycle of social welfare, that makes me really happy, that it was worth while."
Speaking about her core values, Anna says compassion and love is what drives her.
"I am love in action. I'm brotherhood in action, I'm care in action, I'm forgiveness in action, I'm excellence in action and I'm gratitude in action and action speak louder than words. So these are the core values that moves us."
Anna says there her greatest strength lies in prayers.
" I spend a lot of time kneeling and praying."
She speaks about how mercy and grace have been crucial in the home.
" I've seen New Jerusalem growing through the support of donors and friends of New Jerusalem. I've seen that grace and those miracles.
She says her faith and trust have grown since running the home.
" I've seen beautiful people coming out of the blue, bringing donations, bringing food. We don't have the budget for clothes, but the children are always beautifully dressed, so in God I trust."
Anna says her dream is to someday build a college where the children will be able to pursue their higher education.
The biggest value she passes to all the children in the home is gratitude.
" For my children here at New Jerusalem, I'd always say they must have gratitude. As they are here, there are a lot of supporters supporting them. So they must not have a sense of entitlement. There are children out there who are worse off, children that don't have food, clothes or anything."
Anna says she encourages women who are facing difficulties in life to know that weeping doesn't last forever.
"Even when things are bad, there are four seasons, things change. The storm does not last forever. The most important thing is you must go through the storm and have faith."
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