Hope Made Real

What a wonderful time it is here. Note only are all of our 41 kids home, but God has sent us number 42. Our village is wonderful all the time, but a change takes place when all the secondary kids are home. All of the kids swarmed the car as it pulled into the yard bringing our kids home, so much so that it was hard to open the car doors so the kids could get out. There was so much hugging and kissing and tears of joy.

The whole place takes on a new face when all the kids are together. The noise reigns supreme. Things change. Everyone is happier. The joy of the secondary kids being home is contagious. Everyone pitches in so that the work gets done faster.

Praise God for little favors.

We are currently in a holiday and looking forward to Christmas, the time we set aside to celebrate the greatest gift ever given. The birth of our Lord Jesus. That gift can never be improved upon.

Last year we sent 329 Rwandan children outside of Urukundo Village to school for 2009. Your donations made that possible. We can do it again and, perhaps, even do better.

A gift of $15 will provide the necessary equipment for neighborhood poor children and orphans to go to school. This includes not only access to school, but also their supplies and school uniform. We are asking those who can to add an extra dollar this year ($16) because like every where else prices have gone up. The extra dollar will help us meet our promise to the vulnerable kids in Rwanda.

We do need your help and cannot do it without you.

Consider putting these children on your gift list and make a donation so that a child can get an education in 2010. What better gift can you give to each other than a gift that keeps on growing? From your kindness, it travels to Africa and is a gift to me and the kids at Urukundo Village. You make it possible for us to help our friends and neighbors send their children to school. This is surely a gift worth giving.

Baby number 6 arrived Monday October 26, 2009. A little girl. Abandoned.

She is 6 months old, but has developed only as far as a 1 month old. She weights 2.6 Kilos. Under 6 Pounds. She is healthy, but very small. She is in newborn diapers. She needs love and food.

We have named her Rebekah Anita, with a last name pending, available for in-house adoption.

We have bought two more cribs ($40 each) like the two shown in last months newsletter.
They are solid and very strong and will serve as a youth bed as our babies grow. This gives us four cribs and with Claudine’s and Rebekah’s coming, we need another. Six babies means six cribs are necessary.

Mama & Rebekah

Sarah & Johnny

Luki, Rebekah & Vestine

David & Claudine

A Challenge in Faith: Building a Nursery
We surely do need someone or a group of someones who love babies to accept this challenge.

Building a nursery for Urukundo is such a worthy project.

Sarah & Johnny

Prayers please.

Fina Bank, a bank local to Rwanda, opened a branch in the town of Gitarama, and was kind enough to honor Urukundo village with gifts of candy for the children and a check for 500,000 rwf ($1000 USD). We were honored to be chosen to take part in this happy event.

The event started with guests arriving and being welcomed.

Fina Bank is one of the sponsors of Bicycle Team Rwanda and brought Coach Jock Boyer and two of the young men from the team to visit with our boys and answer questions. It was an exciting time and our kids were inspired as cycling has become important to them.

Here’s a picture of us receiving their generous gift.

And, lastly, a picture of the whole group.

These are two women from St. Marks UMC in McAllen, Texas. They walked 14 miles to raise funds for Urukundo Kids. This project was started with seed money following the scripture Matthew 25, verse 16.
We at Urukundo are grateful.