Help International

Orphanage Nears Completion

The orphanage in Bisleg is nearly finished although it is already being used by the children!

Help International was recently, through the generosity of one of our church partners, able to send funding to provide windows, furniture and bunk beds.

This place is already making a big difference to the children who live there. The alternative would be to live on the streets with all its inherent dangers.

Thank you

The Yellow House is Finished!

I recently had the privilege of being the guest of honour at the opening of Yellow House, this is the fourth house to be built at the Rays of Joy Children's Centre in Northern India. It was a great honour to cut the ribbon and welcome all the guests in to see the new home.

Afterwards there was a presentation by the children from the other three houses; they performed various traditional and modern dances and it was wonderful to see children expressing themselves so freely through dance and acting. Each one did their best, and when I considered that many of these children had come from difficult backgrounds, it was very moving.

Now comes the challenging, but rewarding task of selecting the children who will come and live in the new house!

Sally Murcutt

Yellow House is Going Up!

Great news! Our partners, Rays of Joy Ministries, are building another house for a further twelve children on the Sharonsthan site in Northern India. This is thanks to the efforts of Jill Pettinger from Keighley, who raised a substantial sum cycling along the River Nile, and also the generosity of Airedale Church, Keighley. Many thanks.

This is the fourth house to be built and the difference it is making to children’s lives is extraordinary. Many arrive without even being able to dress themselves, but with loving care and attention, soon they are as quick as any of the other children in the home. There are currently three houses fully functioning, each house has House Parents caring for twelve children.

Many of the children are orphans, but some do have one parent but are unable to look after their child. This can be because of financial hardship, illness or simple neglect.

Many of these children need sponsoring through school and so if you can help please contact us for details of our Child Sponsorship Programme.

Micro-Finance Project Gets Underway

Since the early summer a project has been set up with our partner Jonathan in the Philippines.

An initial seed fund was provided and this is being used to give micro loans to those who would never have the opportunity to take out a loan and start a small business. At this point in time nine people are benefiting from the project and so far it is going very well.

 

New Partner in India

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sally Murcutt recently returned from visiting Imphal in the extreme North East of India, not far from the border with Burma. She went to look at initiating some kind of incoming generating project with our new partners there. After discussion it was agreed to help with buying a complete sound system that could be hired out and generate an income.

The first issue is to help with providing a water supply. Currently the Bible School is relying on rain or buying from a tanker (which is costly). We would like to enable them to have municipal water, which is available if they can provide the pipe work needed to reach their site.

Please contact us if you can help with either of these.

A New Partnership

Help International has recently formed a new partnership with a pastor and his congregation in a rather remote part of the island of Mindanao in the Philippines.

Most of the people he is working amongst are tribal people who live in the surrounding mountains. They are very poor and survive by subsistence farming.

One of the projects they have running is an orphanage. At present the children are staying in the pastor’s home because the house where they will be living is having some substantial repair work done to it. All the old wooden posts that hold the second floor up have been eaten away by insects and so concrete posts are being erected to replace them, which is very costly.

The older children, who are now teenagers, help the pastor every Saturday with the building work as and when funds are available.

One of the latest additions to the family is a small boy who is about three years old. He was found wandering around in the street outside the pastor’s house and so he was brought in, fed, bathed and given a clean set of clothes. He ended up staying the night, as no one appeared to be responsible for him. Three days later a grandmother knocked on the door to ask if anyone had seen a small boy who had gone missing! The little boy is now a permanent resident and loves to play the air guitar to taped music!

If you would like to help with this project then please contact us.

Sachibondu IN FINISHING STAGES

The new extension at Sachibondu clinic is in the last finishing stages. It’s beginning to really take shape and the grand opening is expected later in May.

More money has been given to enable the inside to be finished and fully equipped.

Grateful thanks to all who contributed.

Patience is Rewarded

Charles Kudzerema is a Pastor in Zimbabwe who had a vision for fields of lush vegetation made possible by a mono pump.

After a long wait funds have now been released to enable Charles to purchase the necessary pump and bring his dream of running his own farm closer.

Help Int’l was able to assist in providing some of the funds needed for the all important pump.

 

 

UPDATE: Sally Murcutt has just returned from Zimbabwe where she spent time with our partner, Charles, on his farm. “The pump is now up and fully functional”, Sally reported. “This was a real blessing because all municipal water had been turned off a couple of weeks earlier and so unless you had a well or pump there was simply no water. The farm is proving to be a blessing not only to Charles and his family but to those living nearby who come to collect water”.

"It was an amazing sight to see the lush crop of maize with large healthy cobs growing on the stalks, a real contrast to the fields where there was no means of watering. It was devastating to see all the hard work that had gone into the ploughing and sowing only to see it withering and dying through lack of water. The little crop that was harvested will only last for perhaps as long as three months".

Through being able to irrigate, Charles has already harvested enough maize to last his household for the next twelve months. He is presently harvesting soya beans and has already brought in a crop of butternut squash.

After years of patiently waiting, Charles is now seeing prosperity for his family and friends who share his blessings along with him.

Vital Medicines Provided

Help Int’l has again been able to provide drugs for the next 12 months for Sachibondu Clinic in Zambia.

This is a huge encouragement to those who work at the Clinic. Drugs that we take for granted are impossible for much of the world to buy, they are simply too costly.

CHILD SPONSORSHIP

We have been sponsoring children for many years in the developing world, mainly in Africa and India, and lately the Philippines. Through the giving of £20 a month, a young life is changed forever! This money goes to paying for their schooling, school uniforms, one cooked meal a day and the setting up of a trust fund to enable the child to move onto further education and build a future.

It has been my greatest joy to see young people’s lives changed forever through this giving. When one of our partners was distributing the money for new children being sponsored in Zimbabwe he reports, “In almost all situations the mother and father of one of them cried. I could see tears running down their cheeks. These were tears of joy saying ‘God at last you have remembered our plight and need’.

Aileen Cairns

STOP PRESS, STOP PRESS, STOP PRESS

We are always in need of sponsors. At the moment we have a number of children from the Philippines needing sponsorship. Can you help?