Following the Martins

Hajara, not yet 10, was a house girl, working dawn to dusk in a world of drudgery and abuse when Tom and Cheryl Martin rescued her. They found Kenny in the streets, an orphan with twisted limbs who desperately needed a wheelchair — and school fees. In Following the Martins, you meet them and many more, experiencing the changes that hope can bring. It takes many forms: school fees for children, training and tools for adults, medication for the sick, university tuition for promising students. Suddenly, impossible dreams become possibilities. Children are their primary focus but, unencumbered by organizational straitjackets, they embrace anyone in need, working in hectic bursts for six weeks a year in each of three countries. In the eleven years since the Martins launched their organization, more than eighty North American supporters have travelled to meet the kids and families they sponsor, to share meals, tears and laughter, successes and failures. For many, the visits have been life-changing.