Jackie's Home

 


GITEGA, Burundi-- My second day in Burundi, I left Bujumbura for Gitega to meet up with the Sister Connection team. This awesome ministry, provides sponsorship and homes to Burundian widows and their children. Many of these women were widowed during the civil war between the Hutu and the Tutsi. In fact, such a large part of this generation was wiped out that, when we saw an elderly man on the street Friday, Denise (the U.S. Director of Sister Connection) stopped mid-sentence to point it out. There just aren't many men older than late 30s or early 40s there, she said.

It was great to meet up with Michelle after all our emailing back and forth about this trip. She was the one person in Burundi that I had met before.  We arrived at the hotel where they were spending time working. There is a team of about 11 engineers and architects from all over the world, here to serve with EMI and work on building plans for Mount Hope, a mountain donated to Sister Connection by the governor, who was orphaned himself in 1972.


That afternoon, the EMI team, Denise, Michelle and I went to visit three widows. The pictures below are from our visit with the first woman, Jackie. She was so grateful. She kept saying, I want to thank Jesus for the blessing of this house and thank you. Praising God. In fact, she was so grateful that she told Denise she wanted to give her a chicken. Jackie had no idea Denise wouldn’t be able to take it on the plane, but it would’ve been horrible if she hadn’t accepted it.

Denise asked her if she had children. She brought out all three. They were 11, 8 and 6 years old. The 11-year-old was about the same size as the eight-year-old, and I would’ve guessed that the six-year-old was only three or four. It was so sad to realize that they were that undernourished. The smallest boy’s stomach was bulging out, but obviously he had been underfed for long enough that his growth was greatly affected.


Then, Denise had one of the team members pray for the family. I couldn’t stop my tears, realizing that many of the children who had sung for me the day before were probably in the same situation. I had learned after visiting them, that many of them were orphans, but it was just dawning on me that the kids I would’ve guessed were three years old were probably closer to five or six. My heart just broke for them even more.


However, these women that we visited were able to see the blessings in the midst of their poverty. Instead of focusing on what they lacked, they gave praise to God for their new homes and were so happy to receive us as visitors. Jackie shared with us that before receiving her home from a donor through Sister Connection, she had a thatch roof. I thought she would say the problem was rain came through, but what she shared instead was worse. Her own family set fire to that roof in an effort to scare her away and gain whatever her husband had left behind.

I was also so surprised to hear that the women we visited didn’t have sponsors yet. Though they could certainly use the aid, no one is currently sponsoring them through Sister Connection. The reason this surprised me because they were so thankful—thankful to the point of saying their lives had been changed—and by what? $600.


Their lives were changed by God using a gift from someone with more resources. What does it take to qualify as having more resources?  Take a look here.


If you’re interested in learning more about Sister Connection or in providing a home to a widow and her family go to http://www.sisterconnection.org/.


Thanks so much for your prayers and continued support!

 

 Jackie ripped a piece of the tree off to tie the chicken's feet together before handing it to Denise.

Remember, Pray, Give

One year ago today, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti.  Its epicenter hitting the town of Leogane (16 miles west of Port-au-Prince), the quake took more than 230,000 lives and more than 1.5 million people are still living in tents a year later.  Some say Haiti has not even begun to recover, and the year since has been filled with other turmoil, including a devastating outbreak of cholera, which took more than 3,000 lives and infected 130,000 others.  In addition, the country has had to weather hurricane Tomas and chaos during the November 2010 election.

Please be praying with me for Haiti!  God is doing exciting things and providing, but there is still so much need.  If you’re interested in giving to Haiti, I’ve highlighted a few projects I’m familiar with.  Obviously, there are many other ways to give, but these are projects I have seen firsthand.  Whether it’s through praying, giving or just learning more, please take some action and remember Haiti and the suffering the people are going through. There are links under each project if you’d like to learn more!

Radio 4VEH- “The Evangelistic Voice of Haiti” started 60 years ago and has been a lifeline for many since the earthquake.  Not only does this station broadcast the gospel and Bible reading programs, but also vital information for survival and medical information in the midst of the Cholera outbreak.  While in Haiti, we distributed these solar-powered, pre-tuned radios in remote villages.  People everywhere had heard of 4VEH and shared with us about the Hope and help it provides.  Click here to learn more or give!

Starfish Kids- This is OMS’ child sponsorship program in Haiti.  For $25/month, you can sponsor a child’s education.  Your sponsorship covers the child’s tuition, uniform, books and breakfast.  Starfish Kids is impacting kids lives in many different schools.  It is my joy to help with this program from the US, and while visiting Haiti, I visited a few different Starfish Kids schools and spoke with parents and staff first hand about the difference it is making.  If you’re interested in giving a one-time gift, your contribution will help provide school supplies or teachers’ training.  Click here to learn more or give!

Haiti Relief Fund- New donations to this general relief fund for Haiti will contribute to the rebuilding of a church in Port-au-Prince.  Some of the fund will also go to Homes for Haiti.  The remainder of the money will go towards Cholera, future disasters, earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding, etc.  To give to this general Haiti Relief Fund, click here!

Homes for Haiti- In a second wave of relief efforts, OMS’ Homes for Haiti is providing permanent housing for Haitian earthquake survivors.  If you’d like to read about the first recipient, go to my Nov. 29 and Dec. 11 blogposts.  Click here to learn more about the project or give!

Thank you for praying with me and remembering our brothers and sisters in Haiti.

Beka

*The above photos of these ministries are pictures from our October 2010 trip to Haiti.