Sharing Bonbons and Initiation of "Love in Action" a Success!

Arriving at Homes of Hope

Savana with Grace (from Uganda) and orphans

Well, we made it to the orphanage (Homes of Hope) last Thursday evening for our official introduction. The director likes to officially introduce people so the kids know who is coming into the facility. We were able to meet all the children at Homes of Hope and share in a special meal with them. After the meal, we had formal introductions of all the new people and we were able to share some of the candy with the kids that we brought over with us. The candy (bonbon in French) was a huge hit…we were even able to share a candy cane with the adults! Thank you to friends and family in Canada who gave us candy to bring and share with our new friends.  The evening went quite fast as Jean Paul was quite efficient at sticking to the program and we don’t stay out much past sundown.

Savana handing out candy

handing out candy

The sun goes down at 6pm and people try not to be out very late without an armed guard. Usually if we have to be driven home after 7:30 or 8:00pm we have an armed guard accompany us…..this has been a new experience for our kids but they don’t seem to be bothered by it. It just means we have to squish an extra person into the vehicle!  It is a good thing we don’t have to worry about carseats anymore!!  A vehicle that is made for 7 people usually carries 10-15.

9B class from GIA

Cleaning Rice

Sorting through Beans

Sorting through beans

Charles has had a vision for the young people of Africa to start investing in their own people. On Saturday, Charles started “Love in Action” with a grade 9 class from GIA (Gitega International Academy).  This is a time when the kids can be involved with giving back to the community through action. We took 23 students, and a house parent to help the house moms at Homes of Hope (the orphanage). Each home has a house mom and 8 children living in it. There was a bag of beans and a bag of rice allotted to each home, which is their main staple of food for the week. There are bad bits of rice/beans and straw that have to be sorted out of the good rice/beans so that means pretty much going through each bag of rice/beans kernel by kernel…..it is a long process but our students from GIA did an amazing job at sorting the rice and beans. It was quite a detailed process…it took 6 people 2 hours to go through the beans and rice for each house. Imagine, being 1 house mother and having to do it all yourself every week! That is a lot of work. The house moms also do all the laundry, cooking and cleaning for each house…these ladies are hard workers.

Sweeping

Washing floors for the first time

After picking out all the bad stuff from the beans and rice, the students had to clean and wash the floors and some outter parts of the house. We were proud of the students for doing a great job and having a positive attitude the whole time. Many of these students have not done work like this before so it was a new experience for them.

Washing the kitchen area

Next Saturday morning, we will take another grade 9 class to work at Homes of Hope and give new students the opportunity to put “Love in Action”. You can pray for these students that God would take a hold of their hearts and give them a vision to impact their country.

Charles has gone to Bujumbura today to pick up our new to us van! It is an older vehicle but seems to be in pretty good condition. We are thankful to God for providing this much needed vehicle for our family. Currently, we have had to rely on Youth for Christ to provide transportation for us to go to GIA or take a taxi to go to the school….it will give us freedom to be able to get to places ourselves.

Please continue to keep our children in your prayers as they continue to adjust to the schools here in Gitega. Elijah, our shy child, is having some difficulty settling in so we are contemplating hiring a teacher to teach him at home. Savana has done amazing at settling in at school and has caught up with her class in most ways. Micah is his usual stubborn self….getting to school is usually a chore but once he is there and in the program, he settles in. He now will repeat the French that he is learning in class. Joshua is doing ok but he does cry when I drop him off and he does not interact much with the others. Darla usually stays with him for part of the morning to help him feel more comfortable. We are contemplating just having him at home at least until next semester. Please pray for wisdom in knowing the best ways to help our children adjust.

Darla has not done much nursing with the school as of yet as she is still helping the kids get settled in school. Whenever she is at GIA, there never seems to be a shortage of medical issues that come her way.  Everything from blocked tear ducts that are infected, to GI issues, to typhoid, to sports injuries, to allergies and the list goes on. Pray for wisdom for her to be able to learn about some of the local illnesses quickly and to know who to send to the hospital and who she can treat at the school.

Please continue to pray for the stability of Burundi....right now, there is political instability but it has not yet transcribed into tribal instability so things remain safe. We are continuing to follow the news as well as keeping contact with YFC leaders on the situation. Pray for continued safety for our family and for wisdom to discern situations.

Continue to pray for our financial needs to be met. We trust God that He will meet our needs as He has shown to us over and over. We still have needs financially...if you feel led to be a part of this journey financially with us, you can donate through the links at the bottom of this blog.

Thank you to everyone who writes us and encourages us through emails and phone calls. It is always good to connect with people back home! We greatly appreciate you and the effort you put into communicating with us. Thank you for those who have kept our family in your prayers. We know that God is answering the requests you bring before Him. We are privileged as a family to be a part of this journey that God has started us on and we look forward to where God will take us.


If you would like to donate towards our mission to help the young men and women of Burundi, you can donate through YFC Edmonton or Bridges of Hope. Please tag the donation as "Burundi Mission". Thank you and God Bless.

http://www.yfced.com/index.php/donate/how-to-donate
http://www.thebridgesofhope.com/index.php?p=Donate