Care Packages for Ethiopia!

In two months, 25 volunteers from all over the U.S. will be travelling to Ethiopia to spend time teaching, caring for and mentoring the children at Kind Hearts and Trees of Glory CarePoints. One of the most memorable parts of our trip each year is delivering a care-package to each child from their sponsor family.

 

 
The children have gotten to know their sponsor families through letters, but to receive a special package along with a letter and photos, is an incredible gift for these kids - and you could see it on their faces as they recognized the photos and then held the package in their hands. Most of them could not believe that this package of gifts was for them. "For me??" they kept asking. "Yes - for you!" we kept explaining.

Currently - we have  nearly 200 children at Kind Hearts and 200 children at Trees of Glory. Each of these children has a sponsor family here in the USA that provides for them, prays for them and writes letters to them throughout the year.   If you are interested in sponsoring a child - please email me at kjwistrom@yahoo.com and I will match you with a child. ($34 per month provides nutritious food, clean water, clothing, medical care, education and Christian discipleship for one child.)

We will be delivering a care-package to each child from their sponsor family - so the information below is for each sponsor family with instructions on what to send me. We will be delivering packages to nearly 400 children!

Each care-package should include a letter and photos along with a few small items that you pick specifically for your child. Clothing is always needed - so I am recommending that each family purchase a shirt for their sponsor child as well. Wrap your gifts in the shirt (like a burrito) - then rubberband a label with your child's name, reference number, the care-point name (Kind Hearts or Trees of Glory) and your name on the outside of the package. Care-packages need to be sent to me by October 1. I will take pictures as each child receives their care-package from their sponsor family!

 Use the shirt as your package.  Remove any packaging from pencils, toothbrush,
matchbox car, etc. to keep your package compact and lightweight.

 Line up items in the center of the shirt.

Fold the sides of the shirt in, then roll everything together into the shirt (like a burrito).  

Clearly label the outside of your package with the CarePoint name,
Child's reference number, Child's name and your name and rubberband securely.

Eager Eyes Follow Along ...

With their bottoms scrunched together on the tippy classroom benches, four to five kids at a time hover over the same textbook to follow along with the daily lesson. 

Their teacher tap, tap, taps on the chalk board as one child stands to read from the textbook, in rhythm with the cadence their teacher is tapping.  Eager eyes follow along in the book, and the kids try to scrunch closer together to see better.

At Kind Hearts in Ethiopia, 200 children are attending class every day knowing full well how important their education is.  Knowing that it is a rare and wonderful opportunity and one that will help them step themselves and their families out of poverty.  Their eyes glow with the possibilities and they take notes with little nubs of pencils in notebooks that have every square inch of space filled with their tiny hand-writing - trying to preserve every precious piece of paper.

As the new school year gets underway in Ethiopia, textbooks are in short supply as class sizes grow and the pages of the books are becoming torn and tattered from over-use.

Let's provide our kids in Ethiopia with the resources they need to get the best possible education.  With grades pre-school thru 5th grade attending Kind Hearts school, we can purchase textbooks for each of the grades and provide a text book for each child!! 

Half of the funds have already been raised ... Would you please consider making a donation to fully fund this project?  Please click on the link below to make a donation and see our progress on this fund.  Click here  http://bit.ly/khbookfund

We need to raise about $4000 for text books for all grade levels and half of those funds have already been raised.  Would you help finish this fund?  http://bit.ly/khbookfund

A Place to Call Home ...

Ron and Lauren Hunt (father daughter team) recently returned from Ethiopia as part of a vision team for Children's HopeChest.  Ron and I had been in touch before their trip talking about developing clean water sources in Ethiopia and we were happy to finally meet face to face at a HopeChest conference in February!  Ron's daughter Lauren is also a blogger and she chronicled their trip here http://afamily4others.blogspot.com/.

During their trip to Ethiopia, the team visited Kind Hearts CarePoint and Lauren wrote this about their visit ...

My name is Lauren Hunt and I just got back from a Vision Trip to Ethiopia. Our team was excited about seeking a partnership with an Ethiopian community. On day one, we traveled with Children's HopeChest to see an example of an established CarePoint that has had enormous success and impact in the surrounding community.

 

Previously, I had heard so much about Karen Wistrom and the two CarePoints she works with in Ethiopia, so I was excited to learn we would be visiting the Kind Hearts CarePoint that day. Now that I have seen it with my own eyes, I can say that it is so much more than anyone can explain through words!

The moment we arrived all the children were lined up in rows and waiting to greet us with big bright smiles. As we stood before them, they proudly entertained us by singing many songs-- in English! That surprised me! My sister and I happily joined in and sang and clapped with them. They were all so cute!

 

 

 

I think it was in that moment that I truly realized I was in Ethiopia. I'd always thought I'd go one day, but I never expected to be there so soon in my life. And what I didn't expect at all was the over abundance of love I received once the singing finished.

 

 

  

 

Running with open arms, I must have received at least 20 hugs and kisses in less than a minute or two! Still to this day, I think this is my most memorable moment of the trip. It was funny to see Wil, our team leader, trying to get us to follow him for a tour of Kind Hearts. No one would listen-- he would just have to wait!

Although I loved every moment with the kids, I'm also glad we had the opportunity to tour the Kind Hearts premises. We toured the entire property and saw the many projects Kind Hearts has accomplished in just a few short years. The children even had their own playground which was very cool to see. While the children were told to stay behind as we toured, one stealthy stowaway caught my mom's hand and came along with us!

The land there is beautiful! Tall, beautiful acacia trees surround the school grounds, and large fields freshly tilled are awaiting to be sown. I loved seeing a developed water system with a large tank where they store their water. It was nice to hear their plans to expand the water system to irrigate fields of future crops, too. Walking across the fields, we came across a river at the edge of the property which used to be the community's source of water.

 

 

 

It is a toxic water stream filled with trash and waste. Seeing this immediately made us realize the real difference that clean water makes. Without the clean water source at Kind Hearts, those loving children and the surrounding community would have to walk long distances to an alternative water supply. Instead, the children and surrounding community of 20,000 people now benefit from the safe water system at Kind Hearts! Amazing!

I visited many open CarePoints on this Vision Trip who were hoping to gain the same kind of partnership that Kind Hearts is blessed with. One thing I can honestly say is that there is a noticeable difference between these children who are sponsored at Kind Hearts and the children in other communities who do not have that special relationship. Looking around, you can see why.

 

For one, they have good social skills, even knowing how to interact with adults without overrunning them with excitement-- something that I became very familiar with at several of the open CarePoints! But mostly, these children are home, and they feel that way. These children are provided for, looked after, taught, and, most of all, surrounded by God's love. They are treated equally and are growing up to be leaders-- each made in the image of God. They are filled with hope.

 

 

 

I enjoyed my time at Kind Hearts immensely. You can feel God's love pouring out of their hearts-- more than they could probably feel it coming from mine. I am so thankful for my time there. Not only did they touch my heart personally, but Kind Hearts has inspired our “4others” team as a whole. It is a place that one day we hope to replicate at our own CarePoint. A place where God's love is overflowing in blessings to the children and the community.  A place where two hundred little kids can call home.

"You can hear it in their laughter ..."

I huddled around a table in Feburary in Colorado Springs, sharing ideas and past experiences with a team of coordinators planning their first trip to Ethiopia to work with a new CarePoint.  One of the coordinators, Susan Kyner, had joined me in Ethiopia a few years ago and was now partnering with her husband Jim, and Sarah and Daniel Dubois to work with a new CarePoint. 

During their trip to Ethiopia, they were able to visit Trees of Glory to grasp a vision of what can be accomplished through the partnership of all the sponsor families and Children's HopeChest!  Dan is a photographer (talented!!) and when his email appeared in my inbox once they returned from Ethiopia, I was anxious to see his photos.  This post will have A LOT of photos because Dan's photography is truly excellent and inspiring!  Enjoy!

 

From Dan ...

"We're here. As we step off the bus the first thing I notice isn't the stiffness in my legs from the two-hour trip but the quiet that has settled over our group. Normally chatty, we pause by the bus breathing in the beauty. The lush green grass. The rolling hills dotted with sheep and cows. This place, Trees of Glory, feels like an oasis. 
 

 

We're greeted by Simret who oversees the CarePoint. She wears a huge grin on her face and exudes an infectious joy. It is clear that she loves this place and these kids. Simret, working alongside Children's HopeChest and Karen Wistrom, has done great things here — and she's got big plans for the future.

 

As we walk she guides us along showing us the dorms and common space. 

 

 

 

We peek inside the kitchen where a huge pot of Shirowat is cooking, fueled by methane from the animal waste recovery system. We stop at the library with it's brightly colored walls and shelves full of books. 

 

 

 

Then it's off to the chicken house. I expect to see ten, maybe twenty chickens. I'm wrong. I walk into the chicken house and I'm met by the sound (and smell :-) of more than 200 chickens. Simret proudly shows us a box piled with eggs — all collected today. 

 

 

We walk across the field to another barn where she opens the door to nine milk cows and three calves.

 

 

 

 

We hike down to the river. Along the way we stop and Simret shows us the water pump that moves hundreds of gallons of water up the hill to two giant water tanks. 

 

 

Even when the power is out, Trees of Glory still has water from the gravity-fed tanks.

All of this is impressive. But when she tells us that most of it has been done in the last two years, it seems miraculous.

It's time to head up to the dining hall for lunch. As we walk back Simret suddenly stops. We're in a clearing, about 100 yards from the rest of the buildings. This, she informs us is where the prenatal and birthing clinic will be built. She asks if we would pray for God's blessing on this project. I have no doubt that it will be built. Simret is that kind of person and our God is that kind of God.

 

The Kyners see their sponsor child at TOG! 

The children here are joyous. Their lives have not been and will likely never be "easy". But God, through Simret, Children's HopeChest, Karen, and the sponsors, has brought these children and this community a place of peace and rest. 

 

Webit looking healthier than ever! 

 

 

This is a place that feels refreshing and safe. The children know that. You can see it in their eyes and hear it in their laughter." 

 

Daniel Dubois pictured on the far right.

Thank you Daniel for the incredible photos from TOG!