I want to tell you a quick story that was the highlight of my recent trip to Africa and then ask for your help.
It was our first day in Uganda. The goal was a quick meeting in the morning, then off to visit three orphanages outside the capital city, Kampala, and return back to the city that evening to visit with a local pastor. Not a very daunting agenda and besides we had all day. However, there were a couple of problems with our plan: 1) We didn't think the jet lag would catch up to us so quickly. It did. 2) No matter how much time you plan to spend at an orphanage, it's never enough. I find myself wanting to just "be" - just to hang out and love all over the kids. Well, by the third orphanage we were running out of time. We had only been there for a couple of hours and it was time to press on to our next appointment. It was heart wrenching - that's the only way I know how to describe it. Everything in you wants to stay, but you know you have to say good-bye and leave - just heart wrenching.
We decided to re-visit the third orphanage that next evening. It would be a surprise visit. We wanted to just hang out with the kids and have fun. So that day we paid a visit to the market. We bought beef, tomatoes, onions, carrots, salt, candy, and bottled soda. It was awesome! We ended up being able to serve stew to about 100 orphans and staff. Several times we we're told that it was like Christmas for them. Beef stew and bottled soda - these are luxuries to children in Africa. That was it; the highlight of my trip was serving beef stew to a bunch of orphans on a Saturday night. I have a new affinity for beef stew.
Food for Thought
Now, here's my plea for help. We have an opportunity to change more lives through a school we sponsor in Mojo, Ethiopia. The school is run by Remember the Poorest Community. Because of your generous gifts this school is having an impact on 300 children who attend at no charge to them or their families. We want to affect the lives of more children. Unfortunately at the present time we don't have enough resources to allow more children to attend school. However, we do have an opportunity to begin a meal program through the school. The entire purpose of the meal program is to draw the children in and present the Gospel to them - that's what they truly need, the Bread of Life.
The start-up costs include a stove, table, chairs, and all the smallwares, and are around $750 USD. The cost to provide a meal to a child is right around $8-10 per child per month. My goal is to ultimately feed 200 children each month through this program. Will you help me? Please consider donating a meal a month. If all of us donated what we would normally spend on one meal out at a restaurant each month, we could feed all 200 children for the entire month easily. Please consider sponsoring the one-time start-up cost of $750 and donating a meal a month. I'm reminded of Jesus's own words in Matthew 25, "Lord, when did we see You hungry...?" If you're willing to help me share the Bread of Life to these children, please e-mail me at chad@partnersinaction.org
This month has been full of new blessings; one of which was the arrival of several new children. Last year, one of our new children, who was not fully rehabilitated, decided he wanted to go back to the streets of Kampala. Several times while in Kampala, we would see him and invite him back, but he was not ready. Recently he called and asked to come back. Upon his arrival, he came with some of his friends. After a couple of days, he went and brought more friends from the street back to Mercy Home. What started with five, has now grown to fifteen new children living at Mercy Home.
These children are very good kids and are really trying hard to change and adapt to their new life at Mercy Home. They are already involved in different activities at the orphanage like brick making and the choir. We believe if given a chance, these children can really have a bright future.
Ayalkibet is an orphan who has lost both of his parents and is being looked after by an older brother. Because of your prayer and financial support, he is leading a more meaningful and satisfying life. In the anecdote below, he tells his story:
"I, Ayalkibet Shiferaw, was born to my father, Ato Shiferaw Ketema, and my mother, Gosaye Kasa, on June 28, 2000 in Kebele 1, Adama City. I have one brother and one sister.
"My father used to work doing various jobs such as working in grinding mills and chopping firewood. He fell sick and died some time ago. My mother used to work in people's homes, but became ill and was bedridden for a long time. She had AIDS. Because of this problem, she was unable to work. She sold the land she had inherited and with the money, she was able to get treatment. But it was only temporary because she contracted other diseases and eventually passed away in March 2005. At the moment, my older brother takes care of me and my older sister. He engages in day labor delivering stone and bricks for masons and brick-layers.
"Since registering with 'Remember the Poorest Community,' I've been enrolled in school and am getting all the things I need for my education. Although my older brother has quit school in order to look after us, he wouldn't be able to fully support us without help from RPC. Life has a much brighter face now and I enjoy going to school and hope for a better tomorrow in God's providence.
"I end this story with a prayer for all of us who are servants of God.
"We thank you, Lord, for these devoted servants who have served and are still serving as messengers of your love and peace. Grant your blessing to their work. Give them skill and knowledge, courage and compassion. Help us to support them with our prayers, our encouragement, and our gifts. Continue to rise up from among us men and women who will follow them in faith and devotion. God bless those who help Remember the Poorest Community."
Mercy Home of Children's choir "The Great Escape Team" recently recorded a music DVD about life on the streets. In this DVD, the children went back out to the streets and portrayed what they went through on the streets. They chose to do this so that they can make people aware of what street children really go through and to help people realize that they need to stop ignoring these children and help them. Recently the DVD was released and is now being played on National Television in Uganda. We hope by doing this we can raise awareness and community people and the government will rise up and help get these children off the streets.
This also prompted a woman, Ms. Eseza who works for WBS television, to contact us. Her job is to go to different children's organizations that she feels are really helping children and video tapes them and broadcast the footage. She is well known in this area and all the children love her.
When Ms. Eseza arrived, the children were overjoyed and were shouting, clapping and dancing. She recorded all the children as she talked to several of them about why they are living at Mercy Home. Later she videotaped the children's dormitories, the children making bricks, the tailoring class, and all the other activities that were going on that day. She ended her day by filming a performance by the "The Great Escape Team." Recently, the program aired on WBS television. The children were overjoyed to see themselves on television and to see what God is doing for them. We are also very thankful because we feel this was a great opportunity to raise awareness about how valuable and useful these children are if they are just given an opportunity.
We would like thank all the people for their donation towards food.
A medical clinic is currently being put in place at Mercy Home.
For continued direction with our plans to build a school and for progress with the medical clinic.
Food, clothing, vocational training tools, school fees, medical fees.
Suubi
The new school term is off to a good start.
We thank God for the love you showed us when Chad and George came to pay us a visit.
Pray for our children for God's protection especially the day scholars when they are going back home, accidents are many along the highway and human sacrifice is also a big problem. (Psalms 46:1) God is our protection and our strength, He always helps in time of trouble.
We hope to buy two pressure or gas lamps this term so that children don't miss out on their evening prep time due to constant electricity black-out.
Mojo
Praise God that our donors are continuing to assist us.
Our families are doing okay, regarding the circumstance.
People whose life and property are affected by recent flood in the country.
For commodity price to go down.
Prayer for a lost child's grandmother, who is without food.
Hope for the Hopeless
We are enrolling more children in public school.
Pray for our project work and fund for our new home.
Sleeping materials, chairs and tables to sustain the orphanage's population.
Extra funds for more food.
The Shepherd's Fold
For the changed life. This is both in their daily living as their bodily needs are met and able to go to school. The weekly meetings have made a great impact in their life, especially in their connectedness to God and ethical living.
The beneficiaries thank God and PIA for the monthly provisions and weekly Bible studies.
We thank God for our kids that they are healthy and can attend school regularly.
We want to thank PIA for standing with us to help the poor.
We pray for kids in our project to have the fear of God and know Jesus personally and have success in their studies.
We are praying for PIA staff to be blessed by God.
We are praying for all poor children and orphans in our country.
School uniforms
Money for school fees
Remember the Poorest
It's always a joy to see little children streaming into the school compound after the summer holidays. We thank God for enabling us to add grade 1 to our education program this academic year.
We praise God for supplying our need for a new Christian principal for our KG School to replace the previous school director who left for the States just recently.
Again, we're grateful to God for enabling us to purchase school supplies in time before the commencement of school. We praise God for two of the street children had baptized in one local church.
We are very pleased for most of the street children going to finish their vocational skills training and ready to start another phase of life of seeking jobs or other means of generating income.
Pray that we may have dedicated and exemplary teaching staff and that the school may be a vehicle for demonstrating God's love and mercy to the surrounding neighborhood.
We request your prayer support concerning the alarming inflationary trend because it's becoming virtually impossible to make any sensible price adjustments. Every two or three days there is an upward increase of commodity prices.
We ask you to stand with us in our effort to find a more conducive learning environment for our students living in the northern section of town. We need a place where they can get their tutorial lessons and some space for playing games.
We need more desks, chairs and other facilities to run the school on a more or less smooth condition. We also need more teaching personnel.
Almaz
We praise God for giving us strength and wisdom to carry with our work and for supplying us with the resources to help the orphan children.
We are grateful to God that he has helped our donors who supports us. God bless you!
House rent increased. Please pray for us.
Please pray that God might provide more of the necessities of the orphans' needs.
That God might touch the life of many of the children in deeper spiritual experience.
Pray for us that God increase our resources more abundantly, so that we may be able to adequately meet our planned objectives.
We pray that our donors might be able to raise ample funds and meet our request.
The biggest challenge we face is price fluctuation day by day. We are struggling to purchase items necessary for the month.
Centro Medico Bosco, Tecate, Mexico - A team of doctors, nurses, and volunteers helped to make Centro Medico Bosco's second medical clinic a success. The team treated 96 patients during the 4-hour free clinic on September 2. The doctors focused on nutrition, well-child check-ups, and helped the children and parents establish good dental health habits by showing them how to properly brush their teeth. The clinic was a wonderful opportunity for the doctors to use their talents to help improve the health of so many people, and for the medical students involved, both Mexican and American, to hone their skills and learn from the expertise of lead doctors, Dr. Wilson and Dr. Trejo.
The team was also able to spend a significant amount of time working with the children from Wa Ta-Lus Kuateí who had renal disease. The team was able to re-evaluate the one patient who is most in need and helped to develop a treatment plan for the young man.
"We really feel that with more tests we can have a better idea of what is really going on and develop a new plan to help treat [this young man] or even restore much of his kidney function," said Dr. Wilson in the post-clinic debriefing. The medical team will be working with a renal clinic in San Diego and a nephrologist to begin working on a plan to get him to the United States for more testing and treatment.
The volunteer team also made a significant contribution to the clinic, making sure that the children and parents in the waiting area were cared for and comfortable. They had games, arts, and activities for the children as well as food and juices donated by Peña Fiel. The volunteer team worked hard on the logistics end of the clinic and made sure that the whole event ran smoothly and efficiently.
"The first clinic was a learning experience for us, and we took what we learned there to make this clinic even better," said Jeremy Francis, PIA Field Director of Latin American Ministries, who coordinated the clinic. "This clinic ran so smoothly, but even still we learned lessons here that we will apply next time to make the following clinic even better."
The donation of a large tent, tables, and chairs from Tecate Brewery also made the clinic much more manageable and comfortable for the children and the parents as they waited in the late summer sun.
As the tents came down and everyone loaded up to head home, there was a sense of accomplishment among the team, they really felt that they had made a difference, and everyone who was treated that day knew that they had.
Special thanks go out to Dr. Wilson, Dr. Tarango, Dr. Castro, Dr. Murieta, Nurse Quan, Stephanie, Grace Church of San Bernardino, and Richard and Carmen Libby and family.
To get involved in the next clinic contact Jeremy Francis at jfrancis@partnersinaction.org. We are looking for anyone with medical experience in any field, including students, as well as non-medical volunteers and Spanish speakers.
Wa Ta-Lus Kuateí Children's Home, Tecate, Mexico - WTK Children's home is in the middle of an expansion project. Orphanage director Laura Cota opened her home to a few orphaned children and soon began to take in more and more until her small two bedroom home was filled with 16 orphans.
She has been slowly renovating her home to make it more useful to the children in her care and is presently in need of support in the area of construction. She is engaged in a building project to help expand the kitchen to better prepare meals for all of the children in the home, as well as building on more bedrooms for the kids and a laundry room and bathroom.
She is also planning to add on an educational room where the children can study and practice their music and arts and crafts. As her ministry grows she will also need an office area to take care of the administration of the orphanage and more bedrooms for additional kids.
Her current needs include plumbing, masonry, carpentry, and help in design and planning to maximize the useable space in the home.
If you or your church or civic group would like to dedicate a week or weekend to this project please contact Jeremy Francis at jfrancis@partnersinaction.org for more information on setting up a trip to help build the future of Wa Ta-Lus Kuateí Children's home.
Campamento Tierra Prometida, Lomatova, Mexico - We recently finished some preliminary recordings of some of the different groups that we work with in Mexico and will begin adding them to the web site. We hope to be able to bring together enough music to make a special edition CD of music from Mexico to help raise funds for the programs that we support in Mexico.
We are also working on putting together a special Christmas CD of music sung by the children in our programs as a special Christmas fundraiser that will be available to order December 1.
We have added some songs online featuring Rey de Reyes Worship Band, Rancho San Juan Bosco, and some special music sung by Karen Francis. We also have a CD that is available upon request with music from this fall's fundraising campaign.
They grow up too fast! For those of you with kids and grandkids you already know that. We are so privileged to work with so many great kids, but God has also blessed us with our own. Noah and Belen sure keep us busy at 3 and 2! They seem to come up with new things each day and it is amazing to see what they will come up with next. Sometimes good and sometimes not!
Noah gets to start school November 6 and he is so excited. School is a little different in Mexico, they require three years of Kindergarten for each child before he can enter the 1st grade. So Noah will start 1st Kinder when we return from our fundraising trip in Arizona. He had a huge list of supplies and will have a uniform and all. He will go each day Monday to Friday from 9 to 1. We met his teacher who is bilingual and will say everything in Spanish and English. We thank the Lord that we found a bilingual school for him as he is not very good with his Spanish yet and needs the socialization skills to learn it better. We are very hopeful that with his peers and structure of the school setting that he will be speaking both languages very quickly. Please uphold him in your prayers as it will not be easy for him but also for a fun and great school year.
Culture Taste - Mexican Independence Day by Jeremy Francis
Campamento Tierra Prometida, Lomatova, Mexico - Mexican Independance Day was marked with an annual celebration at Campamento Tierra Prometida with festivities, food, and lots and lots of "Gritos." Mexicans observe September 16 as Independence Day and the celebration is known as the "Dia de Gritos," so named by all of the yells that accompany the celebration.
History and legend mix in the highly patriotic celebration, but both agree that the Mexican revolution was sparked by the revolutionary call of Father Hidalgo, a Mexican priest, in the early morning hours of September 16, 1810. No one knows for sure what he said that night around midnight, but his words, known as the "Grito de Dolores" (Shout of Pain) set in motion the Mexican revolution.
His revolutionary act is reinacted every year by the Mexican president and by people celebrating their independance all over the country. People get together each year in the late night hours of September 15 to reinact the famous yell, and feast on menudo and tortillas. The people are typically dressed in vintage attire that reflects the time period, and they sing traditional songs. At midnight they recite a typical yell "Long Live Independance, Long Live America, Long Live Religion, and Death to Bad Government."
The celebration lasts long into the night and usually ends some where around 5 or 6:00 in the morning. The next day everyone takes for their families, and it is a relatively quiet end to the celebration known for the "Gritos" of freedom and liberty.
Jeremy and Karen will be in the United States this month and part of November raising support for their ministry and raising child sponsorships. Please pray for their safe travel.
Please pray with us for the following needs in our ministries in Latin America:
Jeremy and Karen are fundraising; please consider them in prayer and consider supporting their vital ministry. For more information on supporting the Francis's, please contact Jeremy Francis at jfrancis@partnersinaction.org
Wa' Ta-Lus Kuateí is in need of a 15-passenger van, or donations to purchase one.
Rancho San Juan Bosco is in need of staff sponsorships, specifically $2200 per month to hire additional staff.
Both orphanages have many children who need sponsors. Please consider becoming a child sponsor.
I want to tell you a quick story that was the highlight of my recent trip to Africa and then ask for your help.
We decided to re-visit the third orphanage that next evening. It would be a surprise visit. We wanted to just hang out with the kids and have fun. So that day we paid a visit to the market. We bought beef, tomatoes, onions, carrots, salt, candy, and bottled soda. It was awesome! We ended up being able to serve stew to about 100 orphans and staff. Several times we we're told that it was like Christmas for them. Beef stew and bottled soda - these are luxuries to children in Africa. That was it; the highlight of my trip was serving beef stew to a bunch of orphans on a Saturday night. I have a new affinity for beef stew.
Now, here's my plea for help. We have an opportunity to change more lives through a school we sponsor in Mojo, Ethiopia. The school is run by Remember the Poorest Community. Because of your generous gifts this school is having an impact on 300 children who attend at no charge to them or their families. We want to affect the lives of more children. Unfortunately at the present time we don't have enough resources to allow more children to attend school. However, we do have an opportunity to begin a meal program through the school. The entire purpose of the meal program is to draw the children in and present the Gospel to them - that's what they truly need, the Bread of Life. 
This month has been full of new blessings; one of which was the arrival of several new children. Last year, one of our new children, who was not fully rehabilitated, decided he wanted to go back to the streets of Kampala. Several times while in Kampala, we would see him and invite him back, but he was not ready. Recently he called and asked to come back. Upon his arrival, he came with some of his friends. After a couple of days, he went and brought more friends from the street back to Mercy Home. What started with five, has now grown to fifteen new children living at Mercy Home. 
These children are very good kids and are really trying hard to change and adapt to their new life at Mercy Home. They are already involved in different activities at the orphanage like brick making and the choir. We believe if given a chance, these children can really have a bright future.
Ayalkibet is an orphan who has lost both of his parents and is being looked after by an older brother. Because of your prayer and financial support, he is leading a more meaningful and satisfying life. In the anecdote below, he tells his story: 
"Since registering with 'Remember the Poorest Community,' I've been enrolled in school and am getting all the things I need for my education. Although my older brother has quit school in order to look after us, he wouldn't be able to fully support us without help from RPC. Life has a much brighter face now and I enjoy going to school and hope for a better tomorrow in God's providence. 
Mercy Home of Children's choir "The Great Escape Team" recently recorded a music DVD about life on the streets. In this DVD, the children went back out to the streets and portrayed what they went through on the streets. They chose to do this so that they can make people aware of what street children really go through and to help people realize that they need to stop ignoring these children and help them. Recently the DVD was released and is now being played on National Television in Uganda. We hope by doing this we can raise awareness and community people and the government will rise up and help get these children off the streets.
This also prompted a woman, Ms. Eseza who works for WBS television, to contact us. Her job is to go to different children's organizations that she feels are really helping children and video tapes them and broadcast the footage. She is well known in this area and all the children love her. 
Centro Medico Bosco, Tecate, Mexico - A team of doctors, nurses, and volunteers helped to make Centro Medico Bosco's second medical clinic a success. The team treated 96 patients during the 4-hour free clinic on September 2. The doctors focused on nutrition, well-child check-ups, and helped the children and parents establish good dental health habits by showing them how to properly brush their teeth. The clinic was a wonderful opportunity for the doctors to use their talents to help improve the health of so many people, and for the medical students involved, both Mexican and American, to hone their skills and learn from the expertise of lead doctors, Dr. Wilson and Dr. Trejo.
Wa Ta-Lus Kuateí Children's Home, Tecate, Mexico - WTK Children's home is in the middle of an expansion project. Orphanage director Laura Cota opened her home to a few orphaned children and soon began to take in more and more until her small two bedroom home was filled with 16 orphans.
They grow up too fast! For those of you with kids and grandkids you already know that. We are so privileged to work with so many great kids, but God has also blessed us with our own. Noah and Belen sure keep us busy at 3 and 2! They seem to come up with new things each day and it is amazing to see what they will come up with next. Sometimes good and sometimes not! 
Campamento Tierra Prometida, Lomatova, Mexico - Mexican Independance Day was marked with an annual celebration at Campamento Tierra Prometida with festivities, food, and lots and lots of "Gritos." Mexicans observe September 16 as Independence Day and the celebration is known as the "Dia de Gritos," so named by all of the yells that accompany the celebration.
