Dear Family and Friends, 13 February, 2009
So long and I have not written. So much to do and so little time! But, in the midst of all our busyness the Lord is good, loving, and kind and He is working on our behalf.
Our children are all doing wonderfully well. . . the orphanage children are well, the school children are well, and the sponsored children are well.
We recently sent a little boy, named Norbert, to the hospital in Ouayaghuia with a terrible wound on his head. He is not a sponsored child but he is an orphan and showed up at our gate with a very serious need. Norbert’s mother is not well mentally and one day in December she decided that she did not want Norbert to go to school. In a physical struggle, and purely by accident, the mother bit Norbert on the top of the head. The wound was not treated and Norbert now has a very large wound and a terrible infection on the top of his head.
Knowing that this case was beyond the scope of our nurses, they referred Norbert to Dr. Zala in OGH, who then referred him to the general hospital. Norbert has been hospitalized for 2 weeks now and has undergone one surgery. The recovery will be slow, up to 2 months, but we are hoping for a complete recovery. Norbert is in the 6th grade this year. Because of missing so much school, he will need to do 6th grade again next year. But, he is a good student and we are thankful that he will be okay and will be able to return to school as a healthy boy.
We recently sent a young girl, Sylvie, just 17 years old, to a center in Ouagadougou who receives un-wed mothers who have been kicked out of their family courtyard. Sylvie is an orphan who has made some bad choices and was scared and hurting. She had been living on the streets of Yako, begging and stealing to survive, for several weeks before coming to the orphanage and asking for help.
We cannot receive a girl in Sylvie’s condition into the orphanage long-term but she did stay with us for a few days while we worked out placement for her in the other center. Sylvie still has not delivered her baby but she is doing well. After the baby is born, Sylvie and the baby can stay up to one year at the center in Ouaga and the center will work towards reconciliation between Sylvie and her extended family.
Water Project –
Phase 2 of our water project is well under way and nearly finished. This past week, Russ Green from Friends In Action came and worked hard to install the plumbing to bring water from one end of our courtyard to the other. The water tower was built locally and was delivered and installed this past week. Thought that I would let pictures tell the story of this 2 year project.
So long and I have not written. So much to do and so little time! But, in the midst of all our busyness the Lord is good, loving, and kind and He is working on our behalf.
Our children are all doing wonderfully well. . . the orphanage children are well, the school children are well, and the sponsored children are well.
We recently sent a little boy, named Norbert, to the hospital in Ouayaghuia with a terrible wound on his head. He is not a sponsored child but he is an orphan and showed up at our gate with a very serious need. Norbert’s mother is not well mentally and one day in December she decided that she did not want Norbert to go to school. In a physical struggle, and purely by accident, the mother bit Norbert on the top of the head. The wound was not treated and Norbert now has a very large wound and a terrible infection on the top of his head.
Knowing that this case was beyond the scope of our nurses, they referred Norbert to Dr. Zala in OGH, who then referred him to the general hospital. Norbert has been hospitalized for 2 weeks now and has undergone one surgery. The recovery will be slow, up to 2 months, but we are hoping for a complete recovery. Norbert is in the 6th grade this year. Because of missing so much school, he will need to do 6th grade again next year. But, he is a good student and we are thankful that he will be okay and will be able to return to school as a healthy boy.
We recently sent a young girl, Sylvie, just 17 years old, to a center in Ouagadougou who receives un-wed mothers who have been kicked out of their family courtyard. Sylvie is an orphan who has made some bad choices and was scared and hurting. She had been living on the streets of Yako, begging and stealing to survive, for several weeks before coming to the orphanage and asking for help.
We cannot receive a girl in Sylvie’s condition into the orphanage long-term but she did stay with us for a few days while we worked out placement for her in the other center. Sylvie still has not delivered her baby but she is doing well. After the baby is born, Sylvie and the baby can stay up to one year at the center in Ouaga and the center will work towards reconciliation between Sylvie and her extended family.
Water Project –
Phase 2 of our water project is well under way and nearly finished. This past week, Russ Green from Friends In Action came and worked hard to install the plumbing to bring water from one end of our courtyard to the other. The water tower was built locally and was delivered and installed this past week. Thought that I would let pictures tell the story of this 2 year project.
First Drilling Third Drilling - SUCCESS!
Russ Green from Friends In Action working with several of the orphanage boys to install water pipes from one end of the courtyard to the other. Liz is in the background, also assisting.
Russ Green from Friends In Action working with several of the orphanage boys to install water pipes from one end of the courtyard to the other. Liz is in the background, also assisting.
Left. Installation of the hand pump.
Water tower and tank have arrived and a crew of many are beginning to install it.
Can't go any higher without help! Help has arrived!
Tower is installed!In a week or so, the FIA team will return to install the electric pump in the well. We will fill the tank and then turn off the local water access. Yeah!!!
Thank you so much for laboring with us in prayer to see the realization of this project and to each of you who so generously provided the funds. God is faithful and He has made this dream a reality.
School and Clinic news—
We are about halfway through the second trimester of this school year and our teachers and students are doing very well. We currently have some very special visitors to the school with us. They are a team of 5 girls from France who are from the same town as Jacques, one of our boys now adopted and living in France.
Shortly after Jacques moved to France these girls formed a local association called Yako-Trièves. (Trièves is the name of the region where they live.) Since then they have been corresponding with several of our older children, have several times sent gifts to the orphanage, and have been planning and preparing for the day that they could come to Burkina and visit the orphanage.
The girls arrived February 11th and they will stay with us for 2 weeks. They came with 200 kilos worth of books for our primary school and for our older children. One of the goals for their time here is to inventory all of the books and to create a system to loan the books out. They are already busy in their work.
Our clinic is looking more and more like a clinic and each month we are touching and healing more and more children. Our clinic serves the 46 children in the orphanage, the 130 children in our school, the 154 children in the sponsorship program and the 75+ children on Social Action’s list of needy cases in our area.
Here is a picture of Josie, one of our nurses, treating a wound on the leg of one of our school children.
Our teachers have commented that with the clinic open, when they notice that a child is not feeling well, they send him directly to the clinic for treatment. Usually when the treatment is started early, the child does not have to be sent home, and he does not have to miss valuable school days.
Thank you so much for laboring with us in prayer to see the realization of this project and to each of you who so generously provided the funds. God is faithful and He has made this dream a reality.
School and Clinic news—
We are about halfway through the second trimester of this school year and our teachers and students are doing very well. We currently have some very special visitors to the school with us. They are a team of 5 girls from France who are from the same town as Jacques, one of our boys now adopted and living in France.
Shortly after Jacques moved to France these girls formed a local association called Yako-Trièves. (Trièves is the name of the region where they live.) Since then they have been corresponding with several of our older children, have several times sent gifts to the orphanage, and have been planning and preparing for the day that they could come to Burkina and visit the orphanage.
The girls arrived February 11th and they will stay with us for 2 weeks. They came with 200 kilos worth of books for our primary school and for our older children. One of the goals for their time here is to inventory all of the books and to create a system to loan the books out. They are already busy in their work.
Our clinic is looking more and more like a clinic and each month we are touching and healing more and more children. Our clinic serves the 46 children in the orphanage, the 130 children in our school, the 154 children in the sponsorship program and the 75+ children on Social Action’s list of needy cases in our area.
Here is a picture of Josie, one of our nurses, treating a wound on the leg of one of our school children.Our teachers have commented that with the clinic open, when they notice that a child is not feeling well, they send him directly to the clinic for treatment. Usually when the treatment is started early, the child does not have to be sent home, and he does not have to miss valuable school days.
This picture is of Josie treating a student complaining of stomach pain.
Trip home—
Last but not least. . . . I am planning a trip home very soon. I will leave here on March 1st and will have 2 months at home. . . . time to rest, time to hug grandchildren, and, time to visit with friends.
Please pray for me while I tie together last minute things in preparation for leaving for 2 months.
Love and blessings to you!
Ruth
Last but not least. . . . I am planning a trip home very soon. I will leave here on March 1st and will have 2 months at home. . . . time to rest, time to hug grandchildren, and, time to visit with friends.
Please pray for me while I tie together last minute things in preparation for leaving for 2 months.
Love and blessings to you!
Ruth
