Meet the Director
Cyndy B Waters Founder & Chairman of the Board
Cyndy B Waters
Founder & Chairman of the Board
“There are no mistakes in who we are and the way we are. Every part of us and each piece of our life leads up to what we are supposed to be doing.”
I am asked often, “Did I have a vision that led me to Orbit?” I didn’t, I had a calling “to go” but as soon as I first set my feet in the Orbit Village I knew I was where I was supposed to be. The vision came later and still grows. I knew nothing about starting a project in Africa.
At 13, I answered the call to be a missionary. However, it wasn’t until I was in my 30’s that I made good on that commitment. I like to think of those years as training without being aware.
I never really felt I fit into my skin. Things about me made conforming to the norm difficult. Time never mattered to me, school was not easy, people made me tick and travel filled my dreams. Simple, worked well for me and I really had a heart for kids and people in need. I wanted to do something to help, but how?
I became a professional photographer and worked my way across the US from Capital Hill to Beverly Hills. It was a great time and I had awesome experiences. Yet, something was always missing. I loved reality and capturing it through the lens. That moment when you look right into someone and capture them forever… Peoples’ lives fascinated me, but too often left me troubled. The struggle between capturing the moment or getting involved and helping change their reality, grew.
For years I volunteered in homeless shelters, youth hostels and wherever I felt I could make a difference. But at the end of the day, what can we really do to make a difference? What I failed to realize was that there was nothing I, on my own, could ever do that would be enough, that could really change anything.
Within me was a supernatural power that I was ignoring and wasting. Jesus Christ had been dwelling with me but I had never let Him work through me. I had spent years doing things my way. In 1992, I let Him take over! Little did I know, that my life was about to get super charged and that I would step in to a whirlwind that would carry me to the African continent and into a roll as founder and director of the Orbit Village Project.
In 1995 on a gloomy, dusty day, I walked up a hill outside of Nairobi, Kenya, through the heavy equipment of many surrounding rock quarries, into a small, filthy, workers’ camp. Children with swollen bellies and runny noses grabbed my legs and fingers and scuffled to carry my camera bag.
There within the rock, I felt the presence of Jesus Christ in a life changing force. I believe it was as powerful as if I had been with the women leaving the tomb that day when they met the resurrected Christ. He had been waiting for me there at Orbit…I felt His arms reach out, welcoming me.
Every part of our journey mattered. Mine all came together to bring me to that time and place of absolute surrender. I had no idea what I was to do, but I had no intention of doing anything but finding out.
Scripture calls us to be an empty vessel, clay, moldable, and changeable, available! God’s Word never says we have to know what we’re doing. All that has certainly been my experience as a “missionary” in Africa.
Funny thing, time doesn’t matter much there, I don’t mind waiting all day or people being late. Life is simple, kids are everywhere and reality? There’s plenty of that.
Through the power of Christ we can do all things that He needs us to do, we just have to remember to keep letting HIM do it.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God... Matthew 6:33
"To be given a chance to love a child is a beautiful gift - ONE CHILD IS TOO MANY TO LOSE"
To have a chance to be Jesus to a child is a supernatural event that can change your life forever. While you think you are ministering to that little child, the Christ Child is ministering to you…..
In a heartbreaking and unnecessary tragedy, our dear Baby Angel in these photographs passed away. She became sick over night and was taken to a new, “good” hospital and misdiagnosed with tonsillitis and teething. The house mother protested the diagnosis but the doctor refused to admit Angel to the hew hospital that had plenty of empty beds. The journey back to the village was long and by the time reached, Angel was in worse condition but it was very late. The next morning Angel was struggling to survive. She was rushed to the hospital and while the doctors and staff took tea until past 10:am, they refused to see her. The only ambulance left the hospital and Angel became unconscious. Our staff that was with her continued to demand treatment and the doctor realized she needed to be transferred to another hospital. They started her on a drip but ambulance was there and they refused to let us drive her in the van with the drip. By the time the ambulance returned it was to late. Angel died soon after they left the hospital heading to the main hospital in town. Angel had meningitis. A simple does of the HIB vaccine could have prevented her death as could a competent hospital staff, or a proper diagnosis. There are sayings we use too often in Africa that go along with head shaking and to ofter, heartbreak: TIA…This is Africa, or Karibu Kenya….Welcome to Kenya. IT IS TIME FOR CHANGE. You can help us make a difference and save lives, as well as, elevate those lives to come to know the abundance of God on earth and in heaven.