Merry Christmas from your friends at Listen Up TV!!!
I’m Lorna
Dueck and we’ve gathered in the home of a friend for today’s Christmas
broadcast. We hope this setting will help you feel a family welcome to
our interviews today. We’re in beautiful Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
Here one of our broadcast friends has prepared a Christmas wonderland
for you to enjoy. Our topic is the “Longing for Belonging”. We all have
a spark that says “who is my family?” That can sometimes have a
complicated, and even painful conclusion. Today, the search for a happy
ending in the quest to answer our longing for belonging.
Here
are our story guests for today. Faith Goodman is a volunteer with the
Children’s Aid Foundation of Toronto. Faith lives in a city where there
is not enough homes for children. She’ll tell us why and what to do
about it. Trent Kilner has no family line or documentation to explain
his origins, his doesn’t even know his birth date. Trent had an
interesting reunion with our next guest Thanh Campbell. Thanh has three
young sons, and is co-ordinator of a reunion of Operation Babylift.
That was a government sponsored evacuation of 57 orphaned babies
rescued from Vietnam that arrived in Canada – Operation Babylift is
reuniting these young men, we’ll hear their journey today.
Longing
for Belonging – someone working behind the scenes on this story and now
stepping into the picture is our own Associate Producer, Melinda
Estabrooks, and she’s brought along her dad - Paul Estabrooks.
Melinda’s own story involves a dramatic reunion with a birth mother who
had to leave her at a Philippine orphanage. We’ll hear father &
daughter realities of the longing for belonging.
Christmas…
the celebration of God forever welcoming us into supernatural love
through the gift of Jesus. Jesus began walking with the human race by
becoming a baby in a manger. The gift that launched our celebration of
Christmas. Bigger love than what our hearts can imagine. God invites us
to move through our brokenness and bring our longing for belonging to
Jesus. The Christmas message is that that there has been enough love
given to set your world right again – that’s what salvation means.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – from the Listen Up TV team!
Faith Goodman, the woman who founded ‘Let a Child Have Faith in
You,’ challenges every church to foster two children in
crisis. As of June 2004 there were 5835 children in our
collective care yet only 1330 foster homes throughout the Homes for
Kids region.
“One Church, Two Homes” is an invitation to our faith
communities for help! Our goal is to partner with two new families who
can utilize their passion, commitment and unique talents to help a
child who needs them. Fostering a child is about nurturing, instilling
hope and building confidence. It’s about making kids safe and
secure. It’s about touching another person’s life in such a
way that theirs will change forever.
To HELP with FOSTER HOMES and FUNDING please call:
416.923.0924 or click on www.cafdn.org
Thanh Campbell
Thanh Campbell was born in Vietnam during the Vietnam Conflict.
On a special government sponsored babylift, Thanh and 56 other
vietnamese orphans were rescued from Saigon and brought to Ontario
Canada. There, Thanh was adopted in to the family of Rev.William
and Maureen Campbell, a family of five children, two of them adopted
from Ontario. Thanh became the youngest of the 6 children and was
blessed by the Campbell family and their extended family. As a
son of a pastor, he had the privilege to grow up in a loving, nuturing,
Christian family who raised him as a covenant child. He was
baptized in the Presbyterian church and grew up attending his father's
churches in Ontario and New Brunswick.
Thanh graduated High School in Woodstock, NB and continued his
university studies at Redeemer (University) College in Ancaster,
Ontario. Thanh is married to Karina (nee Koops) and has three
boys Aaron, Matthew and Joshua. They live in Hamilton Ontario and
attend Meadowlands Fellowship Christian Reformed Church.
Trent Kilner
My name is Trent Kilner, formerly Tran Van Nghia. Unlike Thanh, I have
absolutely zero papers of myself. Since I can remember I have been
aware of the circumstances of my adoption into a Canadian family.
For 30 years I have always gone with my new name, birthdate. I am
currently 33 years old. I work as a trim carpenter on newly constructed
homes.
For thirty years I have taken life for granted. I grew up in a quiet
neighbourhood in a great Canadian family, a family of fifteen.
(Thirteen children, ten of them adopted)
My history is a little bit different from my other adopted
siblings. All of my other adopted brothers and sisters have
access to their origins and family history. Some, more than
others.
I have no history. I do not have a true birth-date. I do
not know for sure, where I was born. I have no original family
name that can ever be tracked down. I am the only one in the entire
family who was born in the eastern hemisphere.
I was brought into the Kilner family home in May, 1975. At the time,
Earle and Gail had three biological children and two adopted
children. I was number six! I was told by my parents that I
was a very unique challenge when I arrived and in fact, my mother Gail
told me that I gave her a very big scare because she thought that she
might have taken on a child past her parenting capabilities. The
truth is, I was a very sick child. Coping with these health
issues was just one of many challenges we all had to overcome.
The biggest challenge was to figure out how old I was. When Helen
and Vicki fled out of Vietnam, there was absolutely no time to search
for papers on each of the children. Upon my arrival into the
Kilner family, efforts were made too access my age. Several bone
x-rays were taken and specialists based my age on these findings.
I was approximately three years old. The next issue was a
birth-date. The courts came up with an October birth date,
October 15, 1972. By the time I was approximately ten, doctors actually
thought that I may actually be a year older than the original
year diagnosed.
Another challenge upon my arrival was speech. I spoke only
Vietnamese. Communication was difficult for all of us for the
first couple of years. Apparently, my way of communication at
that time was to sing rather than actually speak in conversational
methods. My oldest sister would try and copy me and I was told I
would just laugh.
Up until the fall of 2003, my life was just as ordinary as any other
thirty year old. October 2003 brought some excitement and
emotion. That year my boss, Brian Zylstra had attended church on
Sunday morning. That morning at the service, the church had a
guest speaker. This young man had given a little introductory of
himself, where he was from etc… My boss was listening very
attentively and immediately connected me with this gentleman.
Brian told me that this guest speaker said he arrived from Vietnam in
1975. Brian talked to this man after the service and asked for
his name and number and forwarded the information to me. Although
I had my doubts this guy had any relation to my experience twenty-eight
years ago, I decided to call. Introductions were made over the
phone and I met Thanh Campbell. Thanh started peppering me with
questions about my arrival to Canada in 1975. The thing is, we
both know a lot of children and families who fled Vietnam in this era
ie. “the boatpeople”. We both needed to figure out if
we were on the one and only flight from Vietnam to Canada together with
Helen and Vicki.
As soon as I mentioned Vicki Leachs’ name Thanh knew we had a
match. This was an incredibly emotional moment. Thanh and I
were so ecstatic and still couldn’t believe the connection.
Further conversation resulted in the discovery that our adopted parents
actually crossed paths the day they were at Surrey Place Centre in
Toronto. .
Since that day in 2003, Thanh and I have become very good
friends. Thanh lives in Hamilton, Ontario and I continue to live
in Sarnia, Ontario. I have a full-time job in the home
construction industry and continue to work for Brian Zylstra.
We are two of fifty seven children rescued by two courageous
women. I am a survivor and hope to continue to learn and hear
from other survivors from this incredible journey.
Rev. Paul Estabrooks is a veteran foreign missionary with a deep
concern for Christians in restricted countries. He is the author of
SECRETS TO SPIRITUAL SUCCESS, a volume documenting life lessons we can
learn from those who have experienced “the lion’s
den”. As well he has written a series of booklets and compiled a
major training manual used around the world entitled STANDING STRONG
THROUGH THE STORM (SSTS) for Christians experiencing or preparing for
pressure and persecution. His latest volume which introduces SSTS to
the western world is titled, RED SKIES @ DAWN.
Paul Estabrooks joined Open Doors in 1979 as Research Manager for the
Asia region. Open Doors is a non-profit non-denominational organization
founded by Brother Andrew. It distributes Bibles, brings encouragement,
training and other assistance to Christians living in areas where they
are persecuted or are restricted in living out or sharing their
faith...encouraging them to reach out to others around them.
Prior to joining Open Doors, Paul Estabrooks - whose roots are in
Maritime Eastern Canada - served eight years with the Far East
Broadcasting Company in Manila, Philippines as head of the Overseas
Program Department. It was during these years of considerable
travel throughout Asia that he developed an awareness and concern for
Christians in spiritual need in countries like China, Russia, Vietnam,
Cambodia, India and Burma.
He was the project co-ordinator for Open Doors' Project Pearl—the
delivery of one million Chinese Bibles (232 tons) on one
night—June 18, 1981. He has also served Open Doors for three
years as Southeast Asia Coordinator—based in Singapore—as
well as Director for Canada for five years.
As a representative of Open Doors, he has visited Christians in
restricted countries as diverse as Cuba, Tibet, China, Mongolia, the
former Soviet Union and the Middle East. He has shared his
experiences of meeting Persecuted Christians with numerous audiences in
Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and South and North
America.
Estabrooks graduated from Tyndale University College (LCBM - London,
Ontario) in 1966 with a Bachelor of Theology degree. He later received
a Bachelor and Master of Arts (with distinction) from Wayne State
University in Detroit, Michigan majoring in Mass Communications. He
worked for eight years with CFPL-TV in London, Ontario.
He and his wife, Dianne, have been married for forty years. They
have three grown children, seven grandchildren, and make their home in
London, Ontario, Canada.
Melinda Estabrooks
Melinda Estabrooks sees Television and Media as one of the most
exciting and effective vehicles for communicating truth to Canadians.
She brings experience in missions, marketing, and motivational speaking
to the Listen Up TV team where she is the Associate and Guesting
Producer and Reporter.
Melinda has addressed numerous audiences in several countries from
multi-faith groups to high school assemblies: about issues ranging from
world hunger,poverty and international human rights to healthy self image,
as well as the moving story of her own personal journey.
Melinda was born in the Philippines and adopted as a baby by Canadian
missionary family. Melinda was reunited with her biological mother in
Manila, Philippines after 30 years in Dec. 2003.
Her five years working with World Vision Canada exposed her to the
incredible opportunities to make a difference in the lives of children
around the world as well as creating awareness of global poverty and
HIV/AIDS. this has given her many opportunities for television
appearance to discuss these issues as they relate to life in Canada.
Melinda has traveled extensively around the world from Guyana to Cuba
to S.East Asia to Russia and Europe on mission trips and speaking
opportunities.
A Special Christmas Present Of Love
Mother and daughter Reunited after 30 Years - December 12, 2003
For
five years Melinda Estabrooks, 30, has used her excellent communication
skills to raise funds for WorldVision– Canada to aid global poverty as
well as support orphans and widows. She empathizes because she was
adopted when a one-week-old baby by Canadian missionaries in the
Philippines. Her birth mother was not married and felt she could not
afford to look after her.
This Christmas a miracle occurred in
her own experience. She was reunited with her birth mother, Dory, after
30 years of separation.
The hard work of research was done by
the staff of Open Doors–Philippines. The only contact information known
was the location of Dory’s father in the central Visayas of the
country. He passed away five years ago. A sister still living there
gave information leading to another relative in the north of the
Philippines who gave a lead to another sister living with her large
family in a squatter shack in Metro Manila. Finally, after several
months, Dory was located in Aklan Province on Panay Island – a one hour
flight south from Manila. Her husband of 26 years is a rice farmer who
earns $60 USD a month.
A local pastor, who had been a Bible
courier to China for Open Doors, made the initial contact. Dory, now
50, is a mother of six more children from 25 to 5 years of age. She was
excited to hear about Melinda and wanted to meet her.
This
month, Melinda joined her father on a speaking tour in the Philippines
and on December 9th was reunited in an emotional meeting with her birth
mother, aunts and uncles and many cousins in Metro Manila. Her mother
commented in Tagalog, “This is the best Christmas present I have ever
received!” Melinda was able to share her faith with her birth mother
and relatives as well as provide Tagalog Bibles.
The next day
Melinda spoke to 400 high school students at Faith Academy – a school
for missionary kids where she attended for her first five years of
schooling. Using her own experiences, she challenged them with a
Christmas message to be in touch with themselves and with the Lord.
As
well as visiting the several houses in which she lived the first ten
years of her life in Metro Manila, Melinda also visited the home where
she stayed as a new-born and where her adoptive parents found her. The
Abiertas House of Friendship calls itself “a healing center for women.”
There were five babies in the same nursery room where she was found. On
the wall is a plaque which reads:
Legacy of an Adopted Child
Once there were two women
Who never knew each other
One you do not remember
The other you call Mother.
Two different lives
shaped to make yours one.
One became your guiding star
The other became your sun.
The first gave you life
And the second taught you to live in it.
The first gave you a need for love
And the second was there to give it.
One gave you a nationality
The other gave you a name.
One gave you the seed of talent
The other gave you an aim.
One gave you emotions
The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile
The other dried your tears.
One gave you up
It was all that she could do.
The other prayed for a child –
And God led her straight to you.
And now you ask me through your tears
The age old question through the years
Heredity or environment – which are you the product of?
Neither, my darling – Neither
Just two different kinds of love.
How I Became A Father To 1000 Children
By Dr. John S. Niles
Everyone needs a place to belong
Life is a journey which starts at home - Charles Handy
“We
all need a place to belong. It is a strong human need. It reaches to
the very depths of our soul. For it contains within it our need for
acceptance, affirmation, and affection…We all need to know that there
is a place on this earth where we belong. ... And knowing that you are
not alone in the universe can make a big difference. I discovered that
having a sense of belonging can truly make a difference. And for me
that began when I came to understand that I belonged to God, and that
God was watching out for me…” – John Niles
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Read Lorna's Globe & Mail columns by searching
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Read 'Media & The Message'. Lorna says if the church wants to impact society, we need to share our stories.
On April 30, 2005 Lorna was privileged to receive an honorary Doctorate of Christian Ministries from Canada's largest Christian university, Trinity Western University. Lorna was recognized for the witness and leadership that Listen Up TV has provided in public messaging: "a leader in the voice of evangelical life in Canada."
