Being a mum isn’t easy.  But try being a mum to 46 kids…

Welcome to the world of north Belfast woman Linda McFerran, who lives and works on the other side of the globe in a children’s home in Taiwan.  And with Mother’s Day upon us, Linda knows how important a motherly figure is in her kids’ lives:  “So many of our children have a very negative picture of a Mum and there are many scars there.

“They need to know that they are loved and cared for, that they are precious.  Having a positive mother figure helps them move in their relationships with others and, as I’ve been seeing more recently, in being a Mum themselves!!  (I now have over 20 ‘grand-children’)”

Bethany Home, set in southern Taiwan, was founded by missionary Gladys Aylward and is a place of refuge for children from broken home, abusive backgrounds or for those who have lived on the streets.  Linda’s vision is that the home would be a place where the physical needs of kids would be met, but also their emotional and spiritual needs.

So just how difficult is it being a mum to so many?  “There is always someone who needs individual attention and care, just a smile, a pat on the shoulder, trousers hemmed, school uniform ironed, someone to talk to, a late night snack…and so I could go on.”

Yet Linda obviously thrives in the role: “I love to see children who came here insecure, afraid, unable to relax, curled up in a tight little ball at night - sleep peacefully throughout the night, no longer scared of adults, playing happily, singing away …. it’s a great joy!

“But I wish I could say it was all ’success stories’ - but that wouldn’t be true.  The biggest heartache is when you see one of the kids not wanting to stay - choosing rather to live on the streets, to be caught up in the wrong kind of things etc - and you have no choice but to ‘let them go’.”

But Linda says her biggest hope and prayer for each one of the kids is that they would experience the love of God for themselves, and that they would know His love through the staff here at Bethany.

And she sums up being saying: “Being a mum is a bit like being an octopus…you need to have plenty of arms when everyone wants a hug at the same time.”