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TechnoratiThat's when Ballinger saw John's video. "It was like God did a certain thing," he said.
The video was shown during services at the Summit Church in October 2007. At the end, a pastor explained how the weekend's collection would be donated to Help the Least of These to build the orphanage and give John Halgrim his wish. Many who watched it were in tears. And they gave — more than $13,000 that first weekend.
That was just the beginning. As word spread and more people found out about John's wish, they gave more money to help build the orphanage for him.
Plans for a larger orphanage were put to paper, a project costing around $90,000. Sixty children would eventually live there, and local residents would come for church in the ground floor common room on Sundays. The building was designed so more floors could be built on top if it needed to be expanded.
John never got to see the video. By the time it was shown at church that fall, the tumor was stealing his ability to function. He could hardly talk or see anymore, and had trouble getting up and down out of the brown recliner in the living room where he spent most days.
But soon afterward, John's Uncle Ed came over with a drawing, an architect's rendering of the front of a building. The boy's grandmother, Jackie Streit, sat down next to his chair and held it out in front of him so he could see.
"John, look," his grandmother said. "This is the orphanage that you wanted. It's going to happen.
"Most boys your age are infamous," she joked. "You're going to be famous."
In neat block letters across the top of the drawing was the name of the building: The John E. Halgrim Orphanage.
John smiled. Then he lifted an arm off the chair and gave them all a thumbs-up.
A few weeks later, surrounded by his family at a Fort Myers hospital, the 15-year-old died.
At his funeral, Cabrera spoke and showed the video again as a tribute to the boy and his wish. Mourners donated another $15,000 for John's orphanage.
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Joanie had promised her son over and over that she would be the shepherd of his wish.
That's why she and her mother went to Nairobi with other volunteers last month to paint the walls, buy supplies for the kitchen and help move the kids in, working amid poverty that was previously unfathomable to them.
She had T-shirts made for each of the orphans and volunteers that said, "Something Heavenly."
At a ceremony to dedicate the building a few days after they arrived, Joanie sat in a plastic lawn chair in the front row, cradling a small boy in her arms. She listened to people talk about John and his wish and how many obstacles had to be overcome to get to this day.
When it was her turn to stand and take the microphone, her emotions made it impossible even to speak at first. Lined up on rows of benches before her, the children waited quietly, their scrubbed faces looking up at this woman who lost her son and because of that came all the way to this place to give them better lives.
"I know John is watching this," she said. "He should be here."
Since he couldn't, his mother opened his journal and started reading aloud. It was the part John wrote on that day in June last year when the pastor came to make the video.
"Today was hard, but so have been the last couple of weeks," she read.
"But all you have to do is have faith and everything should be all right..."
___
AP writer Katharine Houreld in Kenya contributed to this story.
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