Silembe, Zambia | Update 29 May 08

The current status of the HOFO project is:

Completed:
Bathhouse (repair still needed)
Kitchen - Laundry facility
1st Home
2nd Home
Pit Litrine

Under Construction:
3rd Home

From our Team in Zambia:

Hello from Zambia -we are nearing the time where we will be putting the roof on our 3rd home at the House of Faith Orphanage.


I should be sending pictures of this house roofed next week. I'm sure they finished the outside walls today.

After getting home last night from Lusaka, I left at 5:30 to pickup 4 of the District Councilors to do a "site visit". They saw the local people, all giving encouraging words concerning us.


The main floor is finished in the kitchen/laundry. We will grade and pour the pantries (slight grade to keep water out) and entrance (also graded to keep water out) later. Today was the last day of putting water for curing.


Tomorrow I'll haul rocks and pay everyone after a bank withdrawal and buying a few things.


The 2nd house painting is finished and looks good.


Jo Anne and Kathy stayed here last night and greeted the councilors when they arrived today. We will get the information requested to you soon. Jo Anne will send you some options concerning Lovemore's eyes as soon as she can check out everything. All of the children looked great to me today.

God Bless,
from Mike

Please continue to pray for our team and children in Zambia.

Priest urges support for African orphans

By Anne Marie Amacher

“If we educate our children, then we have an asset for the future,” says Father Juvenalis Mutalemwa Ndaula, a priest from Africa who is studying at St. Ambrose University in Davenport.

Read More.......

FAITH REQUIRES ACTION - ZAMBIA 2008 MESSAGE continued from March 27th......

Elizabeth, Housemother for the 1st home at the House of Faith Orphanage in Silembe, Zambia, with Natasha -one of the Orphans living there.

Our Message delivered to Zambia in March 2008 continued....... from Sunday, March 23, 2008.

What about Moses!? Now here is a man that was called the most humble, but he was also referred to as a friend of God.

Moses had Faith! I would have to say that he had to be reminded from time to time of God’s ultimate power, but Moses knew that the God of Israel was the Creator of the universe and the ruler of all man kind.

Moses was a man of special circumstance; once in Pharaoh’s household, and then a Hebrew slave. All of this had changed for Moses, but His God didn’t change. God met Moses where ever he was; on the Mountain top or in the Sinai –Moses was a great man of Faith.

What of you? Are you prepared for God to meet you right where you are? Are you prepared to go where he sends you or will you go at all?

More than 20,000 Chinese Ready to Adopt Quake Orphans

May 28, 2008

This little baby, resting peacefully in the arms of a rescue worker, is one of the estimated 5498 children that have been orphaned by China's brutal May 12 earthquake.

According to Internet stories, one mother who died while holding her baby left him a text message in her phone, "Dear baby, if I die, you must remember that I love you!"

While the youngest orphans probably won't have more than a simple text message or their current clothes to remind them of their birth parents, there are more than 20,000 prospective parents throughout China who are eager to invite these children into their homes.

Read More......

Adoption inquiries soar after China quake orphans children

By Wendy Koch and Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY

Adoption agencies are receiving a surge in phone calls from people who want to adopt children orphaned by the earthquake in China.

"There's lots of interest," says Joshua Zhong, co-founder of Chinese Children Adoption International, one of the largest China-only agencies in the USA.

Read More.......

College students compelled to help AIDS orphans in Kenya

By Jessica Johnson (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Thursday, May 29, 2008

The school in the Kenyan slum is a tin shack with makeshift classrooms separated by a single chalkboard.

Out in the school yard, three stones formed the kitchen.

Gataka, one of the slums where a group of area college students and Mount Pleasant videographer Laura Shelton spent spring break, was a place where children played in trash piles lining the streets because the poor there can't afford garbage pickup.

Read More.........

PAKISTAN: Quake Orphans Still Dependent on Charity, NGOs

By Irfan Ahmed

ISLAMABAD, May 29 (IPS) - Thousands of children orphaned by the earthquake that hit northern Pakistan in October 2005, leaving 85,000 people dead, continue to be dependent on charity and support provide by donors and non-government organisations (NGOs).

According to estimates in the ‘Earthquake Vulnerability Assessment,’ a study conducted by the New York-based Population Council and United Nations bodies in 2005, the earthquake resulted in some 1,700 children losing both parents, while another 40,000 lost one parent.

Read More.........

Orphans donate pocket money

More than 300 children orphaned in the Lijiang earthquake of 1996 have donated a year's pocket money to victims of the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan.

The total of 15,174 yuan ($2,200) is a significant sacrifice for the orphans from Yunnan province, who pledged their meager incomes from planting and selling vegetables and collecting waste for recycling.

Read More...........

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WOW!

Myanmar junta setting up orphanages after cyclone

1 day ago

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's military junta will set up orphanages for the hundreds of children whose parents died in the recent cyclone, state media reported Wednesday.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said orphanages will be opened in Pyapon district and Labutta, Irrawaddy River delta towns among those hit hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis.

The newspaper did not say how many orphans the government estimated had survived the May 3 disaster, or how many orphanages would be built.

UNICEF's representative in Myanmar, Ramesh Shrestha, said the agency believes the number of children left without guardians is over 600 and could rise.

Read More..........

Chinese eager to adopt quake orphans

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN and CARA ANNA – 18 hours ago

MIANYANG, China (AP) — The children's faces stare in somber black-and-white photos from newspapers and scribbled posters at relief camps, seeking their parents. Many will never find them.

As the first estimate of orphans — more than 4,000 — emerged Thursday from last week's deadly earthquake, thousands of Chinese are rushing to offer their homes.

"My husband and I would really like to adopt an earthquake orphan (0-3 years old)," Wang Liqin wrote on popular Web site Tianya.com in a forum that was already three pages long.

Read More......

St. John's Gives Bishop $35K for Tanzanian Orphans

by John J. Edwards, III

(May 22, 2008) On Sunday, May 18, the congregation of St. John’s Church on Sunday presented the Rt. Rev. Catherine S. Roskam, bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, with a $35,000 gift to benefit Carpenter’s Kids, a program that provides supplies to HIV/AIDS orphans in Tanzania so they can go to school.

Read More.......

Silembe, Zambia | HOFO Update

This is an update we received yesterday from our team in Zambia. Enjoy......


We finally got a load of rocks today. Should collect 3 loads Wednesday. We did get a flat tire today in the process.



The lady is washing sheets. These sinks are being used for everything. They are almost indestructible.

Today the children were helping with the carpentry, cooking, and moving sand. Jo Anne interviewed the family of potentially the 12th child today -a 2 week old baby. The extended family are taking a day or two to think about what they should do with the child.

The concrete lintel/ring will be poured this week. The next day after concrete lintel/ring is poured, the main kitchen/laundry floor will be poured.

I delivered a load of cement today. We will use it all and may need a few more. I'll need to withdraw 1000 tomorrow and Wednesday if possible. We are going to Livingstone tomorrow, picking up more furniture, and to pay for the windows, door frames, and the fire doors I'm picking up Wednesday. We will also need another withdrawal for payroll near the end of the month.

The primer coat is being painted as I write. It will look good. Jo Anne brought the other house "parent" for the 2nd home to start learning the ropes with Elizabeth.

So the 2nd house will be filling very soon and we are on schedule to secure the 3rd house with floor poured and no internal walls.

I've been thinking about our project in Kasama. I think we might do something different there with the buildings. Things like cement and fuel are a bit more expensive due to the transport costs. We could possibly build together like town houses saving some walls, and save the cost of a roof by building 2 story houses with the upper level being a large room that could be used for many things, including classrooms.

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Keep WOR Zambia in your prayers, and please consider how you might help the children there.

Silembe, Zambia | HOFO Update

Progress continues at the House of Faith Orphanage in Silembe, Zambia. We will soon be ready to add capacity for another 12 children with the finish of our 2nd home at the project. As seen below, while we are adding the finishing touches to the house, we have begun the process of building the furniture. Some of the furniture is built by local tradesman and some is purchased and moved from Livingstone.

Our financial commitments for this project continues to be very aggressive for an organization like ours. This is what we believe remains for HOFO in 2008:

$ 3,000 Finish 2nd home
$ 3,500 Furniture for 2nd Home
$ 10,500 3rd home
$ 3,500 Furniture for 3rd Home
$ 1,000 Finish Bathhouse, septic system
$ 2,650 Finish facility Kitchen-Laundry area
$ 27,025 Silembe School Project; bore hole, teacher’s home, school & home furnishings
$ 10,500 Operations – 11 children - 1 May, projected at 32 children – 1 Jan
$ 61,675 TOTAL HOFO INVESTMENT REMAINING IN 2008.

We need your financial support to fulfill the commitment. Tax-deductible donations can be made at our website at www.worldorphanrelief.org, or you may mail your check to WOR, 16352 Prairie Farm Circle, Parker, CO 80134.

Below is our most recent update from our team in Zambia:

The 1st bunk bed from Golden is almost ready.



Getting Mukwa planks has slowed progress. He has joined some wood for the next one. The drawers are made and stored.





This is the walls when we arrived mid morning on Friday 5/16. We are on schedule to close-in/secure this house before we go to the States (Part of our team will be departing for the US in mid-June, and will be returning the 1st part of September).

I stand amazed at this water flow. It has changed course, flowing around our building, not through it. I plan to collect 1 or 2 loads of rocks Monday, as I have seen them heaped today.

This 'wonderful' African lumber will be trusses on the roof in a couple of weeks.

Believe it or not, Elizabeth prefers cooking in front of the sinks with these charcoal braizers. She is happy with the water connection and hose that reaches anywhere in the building.

The solar panel, battery, and 1 light are connected and working well in the 2nd house. Our painter has started, and will stay until finished.

Cattle like the place. I hope this one doesn't eat clothes.

By mid afternoon the walls are higher. The scaffolding I made for putting up ceilings and painting our house has held up well.

Linda and I (Linda and Mike Jones) will be out Saturday and Sunday, preaching in the 'bush'.

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Continue to keep our Zambian team in your prayers. Our next team from the US will be visiting in November. Be praying for these folks as they make this life-changing commitment, and begin preparing to bless the people of Zambia.

'What does dead mean?' Young orphans struggle to comprehend

FairFax Digital
May 16, 2008

John Garnaut and Maya Li in Mianyang meet some of the youngest survivors who now face an uncertain future.

"MY NAME is here," said Li Chunchun, lifting her shirt and pointing to her tummy.

The nurse at Mianyang Central Hospital said the policeman who found five-year-old Li had written her name on her tummy so she would not get lost.

Little Li said she had been walking with her grandmother back to school after lunch, singing the song the class was planning to sing that afternoon.

"Xiao yu sha sha sha, Zhongzi sha sha sha, quntian yao lai li" - the sound of drizzling rain, the sound of seeds growing, spring is coming.

Many of Beichuan's orphans have witnessed the worst that nature can throw at them, but have little idea of what it means.

Read More........

HOFO Update

We receive this earlier this month from our Director at the House of Faith Orphanage in Silembe, Zambia, Jo Anne Byrum (edited):

May 2, 2008

I have had a busy week as God sent us 3 children. I guess Mike told you that we now have 11 children. Sorry for not keeping you up to date, but my computer got worms and it had to go to the clinic in Lusaka! We have then had all these power problems and I have been out at the home more than in town, keeping me away from opportunities to communicate our progress.

I want to fill you in on what has happened since we received Natasha. So we received Natasha on the 16th of April. After we had had her for a week I found out the grandmother wasn't truthful about her. Both of her parents are in fact alive! The mother Barbara got pregnant while in school and the father has had nothing to do with the child. I have a letter from the headman(the tribal official responsible for the village) stating I should keep the child. I had the mother sign the release form because she is of legal age and I wanted the mother to agree to what she was doing and not just do it because her mother(Natasha's grandmother) told her to. So that is Natasha's story.

Then we received two boys and they are brothers; Lastone and Vanbeck. They come from a mother whose husband has died and she was left with 15 children! They are healthy looking -not too malnourished. They have never attended school until this year. Vanbeck is 11 and Lastone is 8.

Friday is 20 months old. His mother is alive, but he is coming from a very, very traditional family. The Uncle in charge of the family and is a Traditional healer. He has two wives and is now responsible for caring for his brothers children. Notice brother is plural. He has had two brothers die and had 4 extra children. The uncle has 16 children between his wives, plus the 4 from his brothers. Now Friday is thin and has slightly reddish hair which is a sign of malnutrition. His cousin Priscar is 6 yrs old and has had scabies all over her body for a long time. Why the traditional healer didn't get rid of them I don't know? She has a slightly puffy face. Could be from the scabies. She has not attended school either.


There is also Constance who I had interviewed with her grandfather before she had come. She is afraid of white people. I was the first one she had ever seen. Her grandfather is 58 yrs old. Her mother died of a sever headache, maybe an aneurysm? She has lived with her grandparents in a very isolated area, with no other children around and in poor living conditions. She appears healthy, and is 3 yrs old.

Now the one God sent us -I interviewed his uncle on the 28th. The Uncle came to the home and spoke to me about Brain. This is his story......... When he was 9 months old his father took him from the house and then set it on fire burning and killing the mother. He was arrested and put in prison where he died. When Brain was 3 yrs old he was diagnosed with HIV, and has been on medication since. I was quiet shocked when I saw him. He is so malnourished and depressed. I just want to hold and love on him all the time, but his age is 6 and he is not use to cuddling. He did let me hold him the first night. He is so so very thin and small. He is wearing size 4 clothes and then the pants are falling off because he is so thin. I gave him an ABC book to look at and that's what he did -he sat and looked at the page I gave him. I turned the page and he looked at that page, but never took the initiative to turn or see what else was in the book. His Uncle said he was a good boy, but he just sits like that. So later that night I brought out my electronic toy I had brought. It is a baby toy that makes sounds like the doorbell ringing when you push the door, or water when you push the water drop. Anyway, he showed interest in that and took to pushing buttons. This was something that was stimulating him. The problem is when I am not there I have to put the toy in my box, or else it will be destroyed. He goes for review at the clinic on the 8th. Thank God. I wanted to take him right away because he is so malnourished, so God worked it that he came just when his review date came up. My plan is to give him extra feedings during the day. I will be giving him milk 4 times a day, and plan to buy bananas and high energy high protein foods for him. I told Elizabeth to tell the other children that because he has not had proper food in his diet he needs to have extra food for now so he can become fit. I will also put him on a special vitamins that they have here. It helps you put on weight.


Lovemore HIV test came back negative! Yea! He will have eye surgery this month. God is so good -the eye team comes from America this month. I will keep him here at Mike's (our Mission Director's home in Kalomo) for a few days just to ensure protection for his eye as it is windy and sand is flying. He doesn't need to get it infected.

So that's all I can think of for now. If you have any questions please email me. Remember that I am out more than in if I don't respond right away. I will go back out on Sunday and return on Tuesday. I then go back out on Wed and return Thursday. I know we are planning to go to Livingstone on Friday, and I want to buy a months supply of food and other items for the house.


Pictures are in transit and should be emailed to you momentarily. Please distribute as you receive.

Your servant to Yeshua the Messiah,
Jo Anne <><

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These children, and more where came from, need our help. Please keep them in your prayers and consider supporting one or more on a monthly basis financially. If you'd like to get a question to Jo Anne please email to info@worldorphanrelief.org. -Peace

OBI Brings Food to Myanmar Orphans

By Donna Russell
CBNNews.com
May 12, 2008

CBNNews.com - Operation Blessing International reached an orphanage in Myanmar Sunday, delivering much needed food to the children. CBN News just spoke with an OBI relief worker who says the children are still rattled from the cyclone that hit the country just over a week ago.

"It was a real privilege for OB to help these orphans today, Mother's Day, of all day. Because here, you have these kids who don't have mothers and who endured one of the worst storms in Asian history - and are starving to death.," the aid worker told CBN News. "OB was able to come in and show them love on this very poignant day - it was a very special event."

Read More........

A gift of love for children

GULF Daily News
By JACK SIDDERS

THE mother of a British soldier killed in Belize will make an emotional return to the Central American country one last time - bearing money and supplies donated by schools and friends in Bahrain.

Yvonne Trueman has been visiting an orphanage in the small republic ever since her son's premature death in 1994.

On her first visit to the former British colony to repatriate her son, she discovered he had been supporting a children's home.

Since then, she has returned several times with money and supplies to help 60 parentless children.

Read More........

Host families for orphans on dream holiday

By MaltaMedia News
May 12, 2008 - 12:32:24 PM

The International Charity Society (ICS) is appealing to host families to invite orphan child from Russia to become part of their family in summer this year.

Read More......

Siliembe, Zambia | HOFO Update

From our team in Zambia:

The plaster work has been completed in the 2nd house. The ceilings will soon be finished as I delivered more timber today. If we can find our painter, the painting will begin Wednesday.



This wall is finally finished.

Our children make toys and jungle gems out of everything. The pantry doors are being fitted in the background.

The kitchen/laundry will be fully usable before I go to the States, but maybe not finished. -Mike and Linda Jones will spend July and August in the United States.

These 4 pantry doors below are fitted. Jo Anne and the "parents" can store food and anything under lock and key.

The plan is to have the 3rd house closed in and secure before we depart for the States. Storage will be moved from the bath house into the 3rd house. Probably a few of our people, 1 bricklayer, will continue on the 3rd house. It may be a place for Jo Anne to stay when the 2nd house is full. We need to spend a considerable amount of money over the next couple of weeks. Roofing will cost k4,440,000 , window and door frames k3,300,000 , cement 2 loads of 50 each = k6,400,000. That's a total of k14,140,000 or $ 4,371.00 at the current exchange rate. We already have the bricks. The labor and furniture is not included in this total. This will almost (only things like window glasses, 3 doors, locks, etc.) finish the third house.

We will be in Livingstone Friday picking up furniture and some other things we need. Saturday we'll deliver furniture and hopefully haul rocks (Doubt hasn't returned from visiting his sick relative as of today).

God Bless, WOR Zambia Team -Mike & Linda Jones, Jo Anne Byrum, Elizabeth, and Golden

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As you can see we have considerable financial commitments, and we hope you will join us in serving his Children.

Today is World AIDS Orphans Day

Today is World AIDS Orphans Day – a day dedicated to advocating on behalf of nearly 25 million children have been orphaned by AIDS. Less than one in ten of these children receive any external support. It is time to make children a priority in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

We have just recently gotten started with HOFO in Silembe, Zambia, and of the 11 children there, we already know of one that is HIV positive.

During our recent trip to Zambia, we visited a school for Orphans in Lusaka, the capital city, and it was apparent that there were some there that were HIV positive. We can do more to help, we can do more today.

To donate to the effort to serve Orphans visit www.worldorphanrelief.org, and hit the Donate Now button.

Zambia HOFO Update

Sorry for my lack of posting the last 2 weeks or so. I have been buried in so many things, but need to get you all an update. From our team in Zambia:

Hey Scott,

I should have more pictures tomorrow. I'll try again to haul rocks. I made a mistake on the number of children I communicated to you last week. We now have 11, unless Jo Anne got more since Friday. The 2nd house is now usable, lacking ceiling in 1 room. I need a few more pieces of timber, paint, curtains up, the furniture, and solar lighting and we'll be finished. Jo Anne already has the curtains made, but not rods. As far as the furniture, Golden and a carpenter in Livingstone are building.

The kitchen/laundry is usable now. They are already cooking under this shelter. The sinks are functional, but the plumbing has to be done, and will be when the wall is finished. Trenches for pipes are already dug. Golden should have at least one pantry's door installed, providing a secure space for storing things like food.

Linda and I will be praying for you and the funding for these projects. The project in Kasama we will start in September.

God Bless, from Mike

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Our financial commitments for the remainder of 2008 are growing:

3rd House at HOFO - $ 10,500
Furniture for 2nd & 3rd Home - $7,000
Silembe School Upgrade; water, teacher's home, home furniture, school fixtures - $22,000

Kasama Project; water, 1st Home, furniture - $19,000

and in addition, we have a growing monthly overhead at HOFO. Please keep support of this effort in your prayers.