May 2011

This month found many projects happening, all at the same time at what seemed like lightning speed.  Probably the most visible difference to the landscape was the building of the education center (left) and Alyssa’s flat (below) but Jako was especially excited about the floor to his covered work area being cemented and completed.  It was exciting to see the dreams becoming reality every day as the buildings grew higher and higher, brick by brick.

Although we were able to hire local builders to do most of the brick work that does not mean that it was with out effort on our part.  Apart from the general supervising to make sure things were being built to correct standards, bricks and rocks had to be transported, water had to be pumped more frequently and tools had to be borrowed out, assigned, and accounted for.

Moving House (or tent so to speak)

We decided that Alyssa’s flat would best be built on the slab where our first permanent home stood (our permanent tent).  The foundation there was quite strong and larger than necessary and a few years back an additional slab was built next to it to accommodate a different, more temporary shelter tent to house extra wood.  That second tent didn’t work out as ideally as we had hoped with the wind and the rain and so although the open slab worked great for sorting and processing the harvested sunflower and soya beans, when we measured it we realized that with a bit of extension on the front end it would fit our permanent tent perfectly.  So the process to move homes started : )

After removing all the cemented metal poles from their old location, digging and replanting them in their new location, and rebuilding new A-frames to fit the new angles, we were happy to have the help of the local soccer team (who lately have decided that it would be a good idea to help around here and the orphanage once a week in exchange for assistance with a soccer ball and team uniforms) to help move the tent.  While they have been mostly hard at work digging bigger beds for the trees in the orchard, having all of them on hand the day of the big “tent” move made the move much easier and kept us from having to completely break the tent down and set it up again.

Unfortunately in the deconstruction process, it was discovered that the wooden door frame that was built 2 years earlier had been badly damaged by termites.  While the initial plan was just to replace the damaged parts that quickly changed when the local kids accidently knocked it over directly onto a wooden stool that shattered the supporting wood and shredded the metal mesh attached with it.  So…. onto plan B – building a termite resistant metal framed door.  While the effort required in building it will reap it’s rewards in the long run, the extra two days required to build it, when it seems like 1000 other things need to be done and everyone is needing your time and attention, often seem the straw the breaks the camel back ;)

Daily Interruptions or God appointments?

It sure does seem like we have had a lot of these lately.  Apart from the tasks that we seem to be busy with on a daily basis, there always seems to be something else that “pops” up and requires our immediate intention.  While some of these things we are happy to help with, other’s we wish we could just close our eyes and have God miraculously “fix”.  All of them take time and energy, we are also learning that God doesn’t allow anything to happen without his permission, authority, or just by chance.  With this in mind we are trying to see our often daily interruptions through God’s eyes, trying to lean on Him for understanding and wisdom in how to proceed, and what He wants us to learn from it.

Some examples this month included… tending to villagers medical needs (including giving stitches), fixing the generator, fixing the fridge, blown tire on the Land Rover, redoing the lights on the Land Rover because of an electrical short somewhere, tightening loose bearings on the trailer, unexpected visits to the chief and Livingstone, villagers requesting Bibles, having to move clothes lines several different times due to building around here, and receiving a new baby at the orphanage

Baby # 5

On May 31st we received our 5th baby of the past year.  At two months of age, we were surprised at how well he looked considering that he had only survived on a mixture of cow and  goat milk since his birth (due to mom being so sick and then subsequently dying).  Given the name Mapenzi (meaning trouble) at his birth, we asked the family to choose a new for him and everyone agreed on the name Nchimunya (meaning normal).   While I was a bit unsure whether this name was any better the house mothers and Charles assured me that yes, this was a good name and so little Nchimunya came to be under our care that very day.  With a father that was  unknown (thought to be a relative of the deceased husband), Nchimunya has two siblings age 3 and 5 and two others that passed away at age 1 and 2 due to hunger.  The husband had passed away a few years ago and the mother has been sick  for a while.  The family that brought him was a relative of the mom but felt that they were already strapped to provide for his two siblings and their own 2 year old daughter.  It was a special time when we were able to pray and dedicate him to God (in the presence of the family) and remove the charms that had been placed on him from birth when he was dedicated to the spirits.  He is a sweet precious baby boy (the older boys were more than happy to add another male to their numbers) who has taken well to his new environment and just thrived on formula.  We praise God for sustaining his life up to this point and look forward to seeing what will become of this precious life.   

Another full time house mom

Unfortunately, the addition of the 5th baby to our orphanage house brought forth a staffing dilemna for us.  While the first house is equipped to hold two families of ten kids each, we all recognized that 5 babies between two mothers would be a bit too much for them to handle with all the middle of the night wakings, bottle feedings, and nappy (diaper) washing.  We had to make a decision on what to do and quick (we often have no warning as to when a kid or baby will come).  After some time spent in prayer and weighing all our options we decided that we would hire Belita (one of our part time helpers) as an additional full time mother for at least 6 months (when baby Esther will be returned to her father at 1 year of age – she is the only baby that has a living parent and that we made an exception for when her mother died).  She will either go back to her part time hours after that or stay on depending on if we get more children in the mean time or not.  That now brings our total to 3 full time moms, 1 part time mom and the need for a possible second part time mom.  Belita has done a wonderful job adjusting to her new role (and everyone enjoys having her around more) but please pray for wisdom for us and the logistics involved in whether or not to hire an additional staff worker.

Clothing and Shoes donation

Praise and thanksgiving to God (and a group called runners for Africa) who provided quite a large donation of clothing and shoes  to us in May.  Alyssa spent many hours sorting and organizing them, as well as inventorying the clothes that the orphanage children have so that we could determine what their current needs were.  Every year tattered and torn play clothes get turned into rags, last years nice clothes become this years play clothes, and each child receives at least one “nice/church” outfit.  In trying to keep with the standards of community living we try to make sure that the kids don’t acquire “too much” and that any excess that they do acquire get’s redistributed to other orphans in the area.  We were happy to find that this year, we have received enough donations so far to distribute to some of the 30+ double orphans that we are helping to support in the community and another 30+ that are single orphans, many being raised by widows struggling to make a sustainable living.  We believe that if we can help support these families to care for these children on their own then not only the children, but the community in general will be the better for it.  Our goal for the orphanage is only to accept those children who have no one that is willing and able to care for them.  While we are still praying for enough donations to provide blankets, clothing, and educational assistance to most of these children, we are so blessed by what we have already received.  We pray that God will continue to bless those that have given and that He will continue to provide for ALL the needs of those living in the community as well as those in the orphanage. 

April 2011

April found us busy with harvesting, harvesting, and more harvesting.  The first crop we harvested this year was the maize (corn) and we were blessed not only by a truly good yield but also by the number of  orphanage committee members and community people that showed up to help us harvest it.  It was a real team effort with some building the maize storage shed, some cutting grass to line it, some helping with harvesting, loading and unloading and even the kids from the orphanage got involved.  We have found that when given the chance (and a one month school holiday gives a great one) the children not only learn another life skill about how to provide for themselves out here in the bush but also that they can prove to be very hard workers.  And working together as a team reaps greater benefits than working alone. 

 

Then we moved on to harvesting the sunflowers. Last year when we planted and applied fertilizer the villagers laughed at us saying that we were wasting the fertilizer because it isn’t worth it to put it on sunflower.  This year, the villagers received a lesson straight from nature and were amazed at the size and yield that we received from the small portion that we planted.  Of course we also attribute the good yield to God’s favor and blessing but we have already heard several in the village saying that yes, fertilizer for sunflowers really does work. 

School Holiday

On a happy note, the children at the orphanage are all doing well.  The babies are growing and getting bigger by the day, and the kids are enjoying their month long holiday from school.  With their free time they have been busy with the harvesting, helping the mothers with the garden and other spring cleaning chores but also enjoying the extra time to have fun as well.  Thanks to previous donations the children enjoyed getting a few new coloring books, crayons, books, toys, and games to play with (and see how they do with taking care of them).  With all of the older kids having been at the orphanage more than a year now, all seem to be settled in with less behavioral issues and feeling more comfortable in their “new” home.  Sylvester has stopped wetting the bed in the evenings, the children are more obedient, and even Millium and destructive behavior has gotten much better.  It’s hard to recognize some of these kids as the same ones that came just over a year ago.  The moms are also more confident and settled in their roles and things seem to be falling into a nice routine at the house.

School wise, the kids seem to be doing pretty well this year.  While we have only received reports back on 3 of the 8 that are in school of those three, Pillohead is first in his class at the government school, Enest is passing, and Sylvester (who failed last year) is now number 1 in his class at the community school.  What an amazing boost of confidence that has given him as He has learned that if he tries hard he can accomplish almost anything.  His goal next year is to be able to attend the government school which he seems right on track for.  We are still awaiting the rest of the grades for the other children but fear those might not be as good as the boys.  We even wonder if Precious might have a significant learning disability so pray for us as we try to assess and help her with that.  Thankfully help has come!

Help is Here

Thursday the 21st Alyssa and Ben (both from the States) arrived to lend us a helping hand.  Ben will be with us for two months helping Jako wherever possible (like fixing the car in Lusaka) and Alyssa will be joining us for two years, focusing on helping the orphanage children with their education and hopefully helping us to establish a community preschool which may eventually lead into a grade school. 

Although their first week with us was spent in Lusaka picking up our work permits (PRAISE GOD WE HAVE BEEN ALLOWED ANOTHER 2 YEARS IN THE COUNTRY!) and filing for Alyssa’s they have been real trooper and have already proved their benefit in many ways.  The children have enjoyed hearing their Bible stories on Sundays, working along side them and Alyssa has already begun helping the children with their math, teaching them their times tables, and assessing where each of the children are at educationally. Please pray for them during their time here, that God will guide and direct them in all that they are supposed to do, give them peace and comfort as they are separated from friends and family and that God would give them strength and wisdom for each day. 

God’s protection

One day as Charles (our local foreman/manager) was going to get paperwork signed from Salomi’s family we were wondering what was taking him so long.  After dark he showed up apologizing saying that he had accidently rolled the quad going over a hill too fast.  Not only was the quad inoperable but in the process Charles had hurt his hip and his jaw.  While we trust that the quad can eventually be fixed (although it is definitely an inconvience at the moment) we are just thankful that he was not more seriously hurt because according to the speedometer he was going at least 35 kph (21mph) after he slammed on the brakes upon impact.  Charles now respects any moving vehicle (tractor and quad included) saying that they are “like a lion” and need to be respected as such. 

May Plans

Please pray for us as we have a few busy months ahead of us.  Not only do we hope to get the education center and Alyssa’s two room home built but we also need to prepare for the two teams coming our way in June and July.  May or June should also see us returning to Lusaka in hopes of getting Alyssa’s work permit.  Please pray that her fingerprint clearance from the States gets back to us before too long so that we can continue with her application process.

We look forward to ALL that God has in store for us these next few months.  With praise and thankfulness for His provision and faithfulness.  To God be all the glory. 

Our return to Zambia March 2011

After being gone from the orphanage for so long we were certainly eager to return and see “in person” if things were going as well as they appeared to be through our weekly phone calls.  During the 2 hour bush drive in we noticed that the rains appeared to be good with the roads still wet (but travelable) and most of the local crops fairing well.  It did our hearts good to see all the kids and the housemothers at the orphanage healthy and happy and we enjoyed getting to meet not just 1 but 2 new babies.

In addition to baby Salomi (which we talked about in the previous post and have since determined she will be staying with us long term) we now had a new baby boy named Mainza who was born in November of 2009 (just 1 month older than our Jakob).   We asked more about him we were told that his mother recently passed away after being sick for quite some time and that his father was previously deceased.  His grandmother had brought him to the orphanage not long after stating that there was no one that could adequately provide for him as her and her husband were old and already had two other children they were currently caring for (one being Mainza’s brother).  At 15 months of age he weighed only 6.8 kgs (15lbs) compared to Jakob who weighted 9.8kgs (22lbs), wasn’t able to stand even with assistance, and was covered with some sort of rash all over his skin.  The photo taken above was taken almost 1 month after his arrival when he was already picking up weight and looking better. 

We are happy to report now that after taking him to the local nutritional clinic and given extra assistance he is now picking up weight nicely and his skin is looking much better.  Praise to God  that his HIV test came back negative and with the diligent care of the housemothers his leg strength is slowly increasing.  While not one to move around much on his own yet, you call tell that this precious treasure is very observant and while still a little weary of the Makua (white people) he is definitely attached  to his new mother and very observant and smart, even at such a young age.   Above is a photo of all four of our babies in a cute “real life” pose.  (from left to right is Mainza, Genesis, Esther and Salomi).

Jakob was more than thrilled to have a new play mate and be back home around his local friends, the dogs, chickens, pigeons, and all the familiarity of life in Zambia.  There is no doubt that this boy was built for the bush.

 

The Wells. the Garden, and work permits

We were very happy to discover that yes, things had indeed gone as good as we had heard (and hoped) during our time in the States.  While both wells were not working when we arrived and Charles was having to drive quite a distance with the quad to get water for all the orphanage needs, I was very thankful that upon further inspection, the one well was able to be fixed with relatively little effort (meaning only 1 days labor instead of many).  The well by the orphanage is still dry and despite our best efforts to remove the new pump that was placed inside not long ago, it appears that it is stuck and not wanting to budge with the 1 ton block and tackle that we we rigged (along with the towing power of a vehicle as well).  In fact, the casing  of the well started to come out instead of the pump and so we are going to have to put that project on hold until we have a larger block and tackle (as well as adequate time) to “tackle” it again.  Please pray that God gives us wisdom and favor in that because the hope is that we can use that pump to see if there is water in one of the other dry holes that was dug. 

Praise God that the rain was plentiful enough that the garden was still doing good (and flourishing) and that despite everyone still being in the learning process as how to best optimize space, weather and soil conditions, and what plants grow best where, the garden is providing 95% of their vegetable and produce needs.  In fact, we already see the need to expand the garden to be able to grow more but due to time restraints that might need to wait a while.

Unfortunately along with the good rain comes a lot of critters that we don’t normally describe as good.  One day Charles and I discovered this puff adder right behind the chicken coup where Jakob and the other children often play.  Puff adders is one of the top two causes of snake bite deaths around here in the village.  Praise God that He used His creation to alert us to this danger and take care of it before any of the children got hurt.

March also saw Amber, Jakob, and I making a trip up to Lusaka (Zambia’s capital) to renew our work permits.  Even though we were pretty sure they would renew them and had no reason to believe they would not it is always a bit of a nervous (“trusting in God”) time.  Thankfully, God showed us favor, the submission process went even quicker than expected and we returned to the bush to wait out our time before we would receive an answer. 

USA Wrap Up- March 2011

Thanks to those of you that prayed for us during our last few weeks in the U.S.A.  After having the privilege of being present for Amber’s brother’s wedding (congratulations Josh and Katie Finklea) it was time to focus on the events of Missions Conference that we had been invited to a Church in Florida.  It has been our joy to participate in this conference for the past few years and so enjoy the exposure and opportunity it allows us.  Not only did we get to reconnect with faithful supporters, friends, and previous Zambia team members, but also enabled us to meet with new supporters, friends, and people just interested in finding out God’s call on their life and what they can do for the cause of missions.  Over our time in the States we were blessed to be able to share at 4 different churches, 9 different small groups, and share with many different people about the progress, needs, and happenings of the orphanage and all that God is doing in our little part of Zambia.  Two days after the conference ended, with tears in our eyes, we said goodbye to our family and friends Stateside and with great expectancy looked forward to our return “home” to Zambia.

Update from the United States and passing of Amber’s mom Jill L. finklea

We are currently in the USA and have been for the past few months.  Please forgive our tardiness for these updates but once you read them I am sure you will understand why.  We came over on the 20th of December 2010 to spend Christmas with Amber’s mother (Jill) and family. Amber felt early in 2010 that we need to be here, knowing that after a three year battle with brain cancer, it could be the last Christmas that we spend with her mother. We prayed for a longtime to hear from God if it was from him or our own desires but He gave Amber and me the peace in August and confirmed that desire by providing the means for us to do so.

December and January whirled by with all our time and effort being focused on loving Jill.  While outwardly she was only the shell of what she was three years ago, she was still alert enough to know what was going on, who was who, and gave us all good laughs in the way her mind struggled to process things.  Amber cherished this time tending to even her every need (getting in and out of bed etc.) and will never forget how grateful her mom was of her being here.  Amber spend most of her time with her mother till the day she was taken home to be with our Creator Jesus Christ on 29 January 2011. We thank God everyday that He made this possible for us to be here and to spend that time with loved once and dear friends.  She was buried in Arlington National Cemetery atop of Amber’s father (John Finklea) who passed away in 1992. 

Although we will miss her greatly and really hoped that she would make it to Josh’s wedding her passing allowed us all initial time to mourn our great loss (heaven’s gain) and then refocus on celebrating Amber’s brother’s wedding on March 4th.  what a special gift for us being able to be here for that.  February also found us catching up with friends and supporters, even up in Virginia and preparing for a missions conference next week which we are excited to be a part of.

As per our weekly phone calls with Charles back home, things seem to be going well and they are managing things on their own.  One disappointment and struggle is that the submersible pump stopped working and then as they were trying to remove it the pipes got stuck so that well is now unusable until we get back and I can tend to it.  Praise God that Charles has use of the quad and tractor to make water runs from one of the other wells many miles away.  The rains are continuing at a steady rate and so far the crops are looking good.  Support came in for us to purchase bicycles for the older kids to go to the government school and so far the kids are really enjoying that.  All the babies seem to be growing and the kids all doing well.

Another baby?

On an interesting note, we had stated to the orphanage committee that we were not going to be admitting any new children into the orphanage until we returned from the States unless it was a true emergency. 

On Februrary 14th we received a call from Charles about a new baby that was just 22 days old.  According to him the mother was mentally unstable, very sick, unable to care for the baby, and abused by men so that the father was unknown.  The only info that we got about the baby was that she was critical and so the committee was asking if the orphanage could care for her.  Trusting their discretion we agreed (to be reassessed when we return)but asked a doctor friend to come out the next day to see what her exact needs were.  Thank you Rob and Christa for braving the muddy rainy season off road dangers to do that the very next day.  What they reported was that baby Salomi (nickname Shalom) was under 4 lbs of weight and approximately 2 months premature.  Observing that she needed lots of extra care,  they selflessly agreed to take her to their home, give her daily injections and extra care until she was a bit stronger.   Right now she is doing well and thriving under them.  We are still praying for God’s direction as to when to transition her back.  Please pray for her that God’s grace will shine on her as it did on the other two baby’s. The family can not care for the little one but we will make a final decision on to how long we will keep her when we get back to Zambia. We will keep her or equip the family to take care of her so please keep that in prayer so that God would give us the wisdom that we need.    

Thank you for your prayers and support we love you and appreciate it all.

Pray for:

The children at the orphanage and the mothers that they will stay health and strong

For the three baby’s that God would keep His hand on them.

For the orphanage project that everything will Glorify God and that there would not be any big problems.

For the well that has broken.  That God would help the garden, orphanage and the community get water.

For Amber, Jakob and me that God would guide and direct us so that we do His work and not our own.

That God would give us the wisdom to push on in the busy homestretch of our last few weeks/week in the States.

May our Lord Jesus be with you all and i do pray that you all put your trust in Jesus.

With much appreciation

Jako, Amber and Jakob Joubert

Mission of Love Community Orphanage Zambia

e-mail: missionoflovezambia@hotmail.com

U.S.A. Here we come (Dec 2010)

Things continue to progress here with rain coming almost perfect to this point.  Just the right amount at just the right time.  The roofs have all be leak proofed again and apart from a minor collapse of the chicken coup roof and a larger one of the car port roof, all have held up well under the rainy conditions.  And the few roofs which showed weakness we were able to strengthen before our departure.

The chicken mansion is now complete and the kids, Charles, and all had a fun time trying to catch and round up all 200+ chicks to relocate them in their new home.  This new place is much larger and has compartments for the different sizes of chicks to keep all of them safe and meet their different nutritional and vaccination needs.  It also allows space for them to run outside and eventually be split between egg layers, and those that we will use for meet so we are all quite excited about this.  Please pray that the chickens continue to stay disease free during this time where lots of illness’ seem to be going around.

God knew that we needed extra help during this home stretch and so we were so thankful for the extra help that God sent our way.  First, a team from South Africa came to lend their hand with some projects around the orphanage for a couple of days.  They laid electric cable from the generator to the orphanage house (so that there will be electricity there when the generator is running), helped clean up and rearrange thing around the house, and helped me build gates for my new workshop. Thank you guys and girls.

  Our friend Gretchen also graciously gave of her time and talents for a few weeks.  She helped Amber immensely with getting supplies for the orphanage organized, trying to find out how many of each item they will need while gone, inventorying what we have, getting baby clothes and needs sorted and ready for when we are gone (they all needed clothing for the next size/sizes up) and trying to get paperwork in order for the time when we were gone.

We were also blessed with a visit from my mother (Jako’s) and she made it her full time job to love and dote on Jakob as much as she could.  He kept her busy but she was intent on making up for lost time since her last visit.  He took her all over the show and invited her to play in the dirt with him.  All her attention blessed not only Jakob but us as well to get the rest of the tasks done that we needed to give attention to.  All of these people were instrumental in helping and were God’s special gift to us during this busy time.

Orphanage Christmas

Before we left, the children were blessed with Christmas gifts from the Dutch Reform Church in Livingstone.  The church body put together some some gifts to each child and wanting to take pictures of it we surprised them gave it to them just a few days early. They were so happy and thankful for it!  Each present was tailored for each kid, with the boys getting real tools and toy trucks, the girls getting umbrellas, a purse and knitting yarn, and the babies blankets and clothing.  It was so much fun to see them open these gifts because I think that for all of them this was the first time that they received a gift for Christmas.  Thank you Dutch Reform Church Livingstone for blessing these kids and in turn for blessing us. 

 Where things stand now

Currently all of the orphanage supplies have been bought, individual roles and responsibilities defined and clarified and everybody is “pumped” for the transition to manage the place on their own.  It’s a bit bittersweet for us saying goodbye to everyone here, knowing how big the babies are going to be when we get back, knowing that Jakob is going to miss his friends and just leaving things in their hands, but at the same time we are excited about getting to spend time with Amber’s mom that side as her condition continues to decline.  I know that Amber’s heart has been there for a while and will not be at true “peace” until she is able to love on her mom in person once again.  Even so there were a few tears at the goodbye knowing all that we were leaving behind, even if just for a few months.

Summer Happenings (October – December)

Things are going well here but busy as well.   Somedays we just feel swamped with all that needs to get done but God is always good to give us the strength that we need for every day. 

Right now we are focused on getting things in order for the rainy season that is fast approaching;  plowing and preparing several fields for planting (much easier with the new tractor but still not easy ; ) building new cattle and goat shelters, making sure that all the roofs on the houses and storage sheds are still water proof, and making runs to town to make sure that the orphanage is in order for all that it needs during the rainy season while we are gone and local transport is sporadic at best.

Apart from those big tasks we still have the normal tasks of weekly bible studies, house mother trainings, over the counter medicine distributing, bible distribution, discipling, paper work, admin duties such as distribution of orphanage supplies, logistics of overseeing garden management and use/maintenance of the pump, taking people to the hospitals, getting the babies to their vaccination appointments, and just general tasks that come with life in the bush. And then things pop up at the craziest times.

One good example of a typical day here in the bush comes from an e-mail that Amber wrote her brother. 

Oct 30 –2010 “Crazy times here at the camp.  After a full day of work we had just gotten to sleep when Jakob woke up (we think his ears are still hurting him)  then after nursing him the delivery truck came with the tin roof sheets, which is when you called.  One of the guys on the truck was very drunk (and yet still asking for a Bible) and in the process of off loading managed to slice Charles' knee all up wide open and Jako cut himself on his finger pretty bad.  Jako is now busy giving Charles about 10 or so stiches and then still needs to tend to his finger.  and This all after he barely got any sleep last night from driving a 15 year old girl to the clinic who was having difficulty delivering.  They came knocking on our door about 12:30 am and Jako didn't get home until after 4:30 The baby was turned sideways and was 3 months early.  They got her to the clinic to deliver but the baby died about an hour or 2 later.  At least the young lady is doing okay.  And then he drove to town today for supplies so it's been a long crazy day and few nights here in our little corner of Africa : ) .  Hopefully Jako will finish up here in another half hour or so and then we can both get to sleep.  “

Can you tell it had been a very long day when she wrote that?

The good news

The good news is that there is several pieces of good news to report.  Praise God for Charles and his family because they have been a God send.  They really sacrifice of themselves to make the project run well and go above and beyond the call of duty on a daily basis.  Charles has taken on the three boys at the orphanage as his own and often brags of them being “his kids” and Brenda is always so great to lead a hand to either me or the house moms when they get overwhelmed.  We are happy to report that Charles’ house is now finished, complete with roof, and the family is thoroughly enjoying their new place.  Progress on the chicken mansion is progressing as well.

The kids continue to do well and their   behaviors and attitudes are getting better.  Unfortunately from only half of them passed their school grade this year but the neat this is that God seems to have provided a new member to our team, Alyssa Boles (from the U.S.) who will be joining us in April 2011 to help with the children’s education.  Apart from that we also hope to get some of them into the government school once we have the funds for some bicycles for them (the government school is too far away for them to walk)

Esther’s father seems to be fulfilling his commitment to volunteer once a week in exchange for his daughters care (formula is expensive!) and he has been sending his 2nd wife to all of the doctors appointment.  This has been good because she really seems to be taking to Esther and continue to bond well, she will e instrumental when she goes back to live with them.

Meeting with the chief

Due to a community difficulties and a few people trying to cause trouble for us (see previous blog) it was arranged for the chief to come and visit us here, to see what was going on, and give a few wise words to the community.  After two missed scheduled appointment (the chief is a busy guy) we were blessed by his presence and even more so when he publically set things straight at a community meeting, telling them that their behavior was unacceptable and that they needed to work together with us for the benefit of everyone.  That really boosted the morale of the do gooders and those for the project while putting some appropriate “fear” into those who thought if they could get rid of us they would automatically inherit all that belonged to the orphanage and project (vehicles, tools, etc) to do with whatever they wanted.  God’s grace and his faithfulness never cease to amaze us.  How he provides not only physical relief and resources at the right time but encouragement as well.