Friday, September 2, 2016

Our Family of Faith

Home of Angels is a family of faith.  God provides mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers for us and he has called us to serve one another in need.  Edwin is trying so hard to do that in a place of despair.  For him to go out into the bush and find the a child truly suffering takes time and patience.  He doesn't want people to know why he's there so he spends days just talking to people.  Eventually he finds a small child trying to survive alone and the paperwork begins.

The gardens are thriving once again and the goats in Malindi village are multiplying.  Soon we will be able to sell them on the International market to provide enough for next years gardens and necessary items for survival.  On our own farm compound, the children also have their own goat to take care of.  They are learning responsibility by making sure they have food and water and they do understand that one day they will have to sacrifice them for food.

I would also like to inform you that the container designated for Jinja in 2016 will not be going to Uganda due to corruption in the Port of Kenya.  It is not our policy to pay bribes and feed this corruption so we have decided not to send it.   For those of you who donated items and the sponsors who donated to your sponsored child, I will try and carry as much as I can back with me in December.  The items not taken to Uganda will be dispersed to other charities within the lower mainland, throughout B.C.and other missionaries around the world.

Home of Angels is full of activity lately and we would like to share with you.



Guess what Edwin's digging???






Yikes....more banana trees!  His father in the village has 800 trees and I think they plotted that if they start planting them on our property,  I would have to come over and start baking banana bread.   What do you think?



Our gardens are doing really well.  Lots of vegetables for the kids and also enough to help our neighbours occasionally.




Thank you Northview for leaving us with enough to purchase 500 chicks from Israel.  They finally arrived and soon we will be able to have eggs for the kids and elderly in our community.




This melted my heart!  Lovisa in the blue dress welcomed our new little Alice to Home of Angels.
This is what I mean when I say the children living there now will always welcome a new child and make them feel a part of the family.  Edwin says it's like Alice has lived there for months already.




And our Alan....he has 3 new buddies.  Silas, Paul and the most recent.... John-Mark.  I'm really excited to get back there and meet all these new little guys.  




John-Mark might be new, but he's already welcoming little Eddie in the orange shirt.  Before
you know it, little Eddie will be part of the family.  I have to tell you that every one of these new kids are coming in with major trauma.  When we had our meeting on Skype with the older children, they told me that they know the word "trauma" because they all went through it and they know how to help the new kids.  This is our "Family of Faith".




Sula, now named Paul, is still working hard.  He has been with us since 2009 and never asked for anything.  He's digging a hole for drainage (sock pit) for our new wash station.




This is the wash station completely finished.   Before they would carry their water a long way just to wash a shirt, but no longer.  The water comes into this station and they can also get rid of it into the nearby sock pit that Paul dug.  Even the 3 year olds are taught to wash daily.




Every night I talk with Edwin....every night for 6 years.  I feel so blessed to work with a person so dedicated to these children and to serve God.  It's not an easy job over there with all the daily obstacles, but Edwin with his calm demeanor makes it all work.  We plan to house 30 to 35 children for the next little while and let the Lord guide us from there.

I also wanted everyone to know that my email has changed to barb@jaajashomeofangels.com