A Tribute to Sarah and Lisa

Saying 'See you again soon', not 'Good-bye'!

The Lord sent two special gifts to Burkina Faso this past year. They were packaged in the forms of Lisa Otterpohl and Sarah Oeder from Germany. Sarah and Lisa worked tirelessly with us at the orphanage for one year and they have left their mark in each of our hearts.

The list of their accomplishments and impact on our projects here is vast but to name just a few. . .

• they ministered to our babies and older children by caring and loving, teaching and mentoring

• they conducted child evangelism activities where 100's of children accepted the Lord

• they reached out to children and churches outside of our community expressing the love of Jesus, encouraging local pastors, touching the children

• they preached, they taught

• they sang and they danced with our children

• they participated in church activities

• they painted our house!

• they painted our church!

• they organized our house and the clinic and the storage building

• they held art classes with the orphanage children and our school children

• They taught English in our primary school

• and many, many more things and blessings are now ours through their time with us

So, we cannot say 'good-by' but we say 'A Bientot', see you again soon.

Lisa and Sarah, you will forever be in our hearts. Thank you for your obedience to the Lord in following his call to Burkina! Thank you for your servant hearts! If the Lord allows, we will see you again. Maybe on Burkina's soil? Maybe on Germany's or US soil? But if not on earthly soil. . . . for sure we will meet again in heaven.

With love from Burkina,

Ruth

New Student Desks for a New School!

Little by little we are getting ready to start school this Fall. Sarah, one of our short-termers from Germany who just left this past week donated enough money to order new desks for 2 of our classrooms. Here is a picture of our 7^th grade classroom. . . ready for the first day of class.

Dedication Ceremony--

DEDICATION Ceremony for the Clinic and a gift from the Rotary Club International--This past Saturday, August 7^th, we held a big party to celebrate the official opening of our clinic to publicly thank the Lord for all that He has done for us and to thank the Rotary Club International for the enormous gift that they recently gave to us.

With rain pending, it was not sure that the party would occur but with hopeful hearts a crew of 20 women started cooking at 4 AM. They fried 10 chickens and 16 kilos of fish. They prepared beautiful salads. And they prepared riz gras, an African rice dish made with tomato sauce and fresh vegetables.

Food Preparations--

At 7 AM, a crew of 8 men installed two huge tents and set-up 80 chairs. The whole courtyard had been swept clean. The clinic was spotless and the school classrooms were cleaned and set-up as dining halls.

At 10 AM, members from the Rotary Club in Ouaga arrived, and invited officials from Yako arrived. Friends and work associates from Yako came and all of our children and local workers were here to join in the celebration.

Several speeches were given; one by the president of the Rotary Club Crystal, one by our local director of Social Action, and by the local representatives from the Haut Commisaire and from the mayor's office.

Madame

The Rotary Club held a symbolic presentation of the gifts by passing some medical products through a chain of people with the end of the chain being one of our nurses, Josephine.

After a prayer of dedication of the clinic and the Rotary gift, we took a tour of the clinic showing the Rotary members and the Yako officials the new lab equipment, the new motos, and the stacks and stacks of medicine now available to the community.

The ceremony ended with a delicious meal prepared and served by women from the community and by our baby care-takers.

Saying 'thank you' does not begin to express all that is in my heart for what the Lord has done for us. In French to express this we say 'grande merci' or a huge thank you! And, even that only begins to adequately express our deep sentiments.

Once again, thank you to the Rotary Club! This gift enables us to expand our ministry to the orphans and vulnerable children in this region and allows us to start going out into neighboring villages looking for and treating sick children.

The Construction if finished!

Our School is Finished!!

Finally, I can write to you with the news that the construction work on our new school is finished! This morning we signed papers agreeing that the work was finished and that the work was good. I really am happy with the finished product.

Our classrooms are big and spacious with lots of airflow and are equipped with ceiling fans. When we are able to hook up to electricity, our students will be able to study in comfort.

We are thankful to the Lord for his help and guidance throughout the construction project. There were no accidents on the construction site and we have a good quality and beautiful new school building.

School Closing, 2010

School Closing, 2010

Here in Burkina, there is an official ceremony to open the school year and an official ceremony to close the school year. Our school held the closing ceremony for 2009-2010 on Tuesday, July 13^th.

Top students from each class, our staff, and short-term volunteers. We are proud of the accomplishments of each of our students but in a land where often the girls are not sent to school, we are especially proud that 3 out of 4 of the top students in our school were girls!

The day started with prayer and a recap by grade of the success of the school year. Awards were given to the top five students in each of our four classes. Thank you gifts were give to each of our teachers and our director for the outstanding work that they did this year.

In the standardized testing that is held for the sixth graders, our school ranked first in our region. All of our students except one girl passed the exam. Each of our 6^th graders who passed the exam received a new t-shirt. Each class received their own soccer ball to start the next school year with.

We ended our ceremony with a balloon game and by serving lunch to the children.

School Closing, 2010

School Closing, 2010

Here in Burkina, there is an official ceremony to open the school year and an official ceremony to close the school year. Our school held the closing ceremony for 2009-2010 on Tuesday, July 13^th.

Top students from each class, our staff, and short-term volunteers. We are proud of the accomplishments of each of our students but in a land where often the girls are not sent to school, we are especially proud that 3 out of 4 of the top students in our school were girls!

The day started with prayer and a recap by grade of the success of the school year. Awards were given to the top five students in each of our four classes. Thank you gifts were give to each of our teachers and our director for the outstanding work that they did this year.

In the standardized testing that is held for the sixth graders, our school ranked first in our region. All of our students except one girl passed the exam. Each of our 6^th graders who passed the exam received a new t-shirt. Each class received their own soccer ball to start the next school year with.

We ended our ceremony with a balloon game and by serving lunch to the children.

Orphanage Gets a Face-lift

Orphanage Gets a Face-lift

This past week some friends came for a visit and they came with hearts to bless our children. They were a group of 10, the Richter's, a missionary family living in a small town called Dana here in Burkina and the Massie's, a family visiting from Texas.

They came with hearts to serve, with paint and with painting supplies, replacement screens for the baby rooms, and new mattresses for the beds of some of our older children. They built a roost and nesting boxes in our chicken house and they finished the installation of our washer and dryer.

With Sarah and Lisa from Germany, Brittany, Miriah, and Jordan from Canada, and Hayley from the US. . . . and the Richter's and Massie's. . . . we were a working force that gave the orphanage a new and clean face.

Two of the dormitory rooms were painted, 2 cribs were painted, the 4 metal doors across the back of the dormitory were painted and the main gates entering the compound were painted!

Geoffrey and Chad checked and double checked the installation of the washer
and dryer and then found that the problem with the dryer was that rats had got inside of it and had built nests. The rats and their nests were cleaned out and the dryer is now functioning properly.

Last but not least, the Richter and Massie boys built nesting boxes and a roost for our chickens. Finally, our chickens are beginning to lay eggs! Some of them are still young but a couple of them have started laying. With the comfort and security of their new environment, it is sure that they will all be laying soon and our children will have eggs to eat for breakfast!

Food Distribution - June 2010

Sponsorship Food Distribution – June 2010
This past week we held food distributions at our 5 distribution centers for our sponsored children. As usual, these were days of joy.

We talked with each child noting their end-of-school-year information in preparation for school registration for this Fall.


Each child made a special gift to send to their sponsor.




Each family took home a 200 lb sac of corn to carry them through these next few months until the harvest is ready.








A mother and her children waiting for the distribution to start.





Each distribution day is a day of great joy. It is good to see each of the children, to talk with their parents, and to get a report of how the children are doing in school. And it is a great joy to see the smiles of appreciation from the children and their care-takers for your gifts of food. care-takers.

Answers to prayer--

Harouna Update--

We have wonderful news to report in that our Social Action worker was able to find an uncle in Harouna's father's family who wanted to take Harouna into his family as his own son. Through past mis-communication within the family, the uncle thought that Harouna was dead and when he heard that he was a thriving little 10 year old, he did not hesitate to invite him into his home.

We are thankful that the Lord used us to place Harouna with this loving family.

School Construction Update--

The construction of our new school is nearly complete. The workers are in the finish work stage and the building will be completely finished in the next 7 to 10 days.

The construction process has gone well. We have a very solid building which is also beautiful. We are praying over these new classrooms and the children and teachers who will make our school a center for learning.

New children, new needs--

This is Harouna. He is 10 years old.

Harouna was born in Burkina but since a baby, he has lived in the Ivory Coast. Just recently his mother and step-father returned to Burkina to live and this week Harouna's mother signed papers at the courthouse, abandoning Harouna.

Harouna's story is heart-breaking but he is a little boy with great courage.

Harouna's mother and father are cousins. The mother was able to hide this fact while living in the Ivory Coast but the problem surfaced almost immediately when she returned to Burkina. Even though her husband is willing to keep Harouna and to care for him, the mother's family will not allow Harouna to continue to live in their village. Feelings are so strong that words like 'we never want to even hear the name of the child again' have been used.

So, Harouna has become a part of our orphanage family and as his papers are completed we will look for a permanent family for him through international adoption. He is small for his age but seems to be in good health.

Please pray for Harouna!

New Special Needs Child--

This is Karim. He is 10 years old.

Karim is totally deaf. He was not born deaf but lost his hearing as a result of a high fever caused by meningitis at about 2 years of age.

Karim's younger brothers and sisters had been sent to school so this past year Karim decided that he would also go to school. And, Karim just showed up in the first grade class of a small village school about 30 kilometers from Yako.

Karim's teacher told him to go home because he was not enrolled in school but because Karim could not hear what he said, he just stayed in school! After a short time in school, the teacher figured out what the problem was but also saw that Karim was very intelligent. Together they found some simple ways to communicate. Unofficially, because he was not actually enrolled, Karim completed the first grade and he made passing marks.

This past week, Karim's teacher contacted us asking if there was any way that we could help Karim. We sent them to Ouagadougou for a hearing test at the deaf school and an evaluation for enrolling in first grade in the Fall.

Karim has a place in school and the family in Ouaga who has cared for another of our children, Yemba, who attends the deaf school, has agreed for Karim to come and live with them during the school year.

Now, the one thing remaining is to find the funds to send Karim to school and to pay a small monthly amount to the family caring for him. In total, we need $540 per year to send Karim to school. If you would like to help to with this need, please send your contribution to Sheltering Wings and put a note with it saying 'Send Karim to school'.

Evangelism in Peligtanga!

After recently spending a week in the village, Sarah could not get the children and the women of the region of Peligtanga out of her heart and her mind. We started going there for weekly prayer meetings with 2 of the local pastors and their wives seeking the Lord's heart for what He wanted to do in this region. Slowly a plan of a weekly Bible Club developed in Sarah's heart and also a plan for a one day evangelism effort for the children and for the women in this region.

The man in the red hat is the tribal chief of this region. He is a believer who warmly welcomed us. The two men on the right are the two local pastors that we are working with, Pastor Samuel and Pastor Paul.

This past Thursday was the children's day. Five of our orphanage children who had been participating in the previous weeks' Bible Clubs went with us and various activities were planned for the children. About 250 children came from Peligtanga and 2 other neighboring villages.

The day started with singing and Bible stories and a skit that the children of the church of Peligtanga had prepared. When an invitation was given to ask Jesus into their hearts, 18 children responded to the call.

Then we moved into fun and games. Sarah had planned 5 different stations with 5 different activities. Everyone had a great time!

At the end, everyone received a bag of popcorn and some bee-sap to drink. (Bee-sap is a local drink that the children love that is made out of the flowers of a plant.)

Friday was the day for the women. About 160 women came and we started around 10 in the morning. The goal of this day was just to bless these village women who work so very hard just to survive and to care for their families. Many of them work in the fields and many of them work in the nearby gold mines.

The day was planned to be a day of celebration with singing and dancing and teaching and eating. We emphasized the value of the woman to God through the Scriptures by using the story of Esther and declaring the women of Peligtanga to be 'women of destiny'. When an invitation to accept Jesus was made, 4 women responded to the love of Jesus and asked Him into their hearts.

Before leaving our 'serious time' and sharing a meal together, Sarah gave a teaching on foot washing and the four of us (Brittany, Lisa, Sarah, and I) washed our local sisters feet. I have many precious memories of Burkina in my heart, but I think that these moments of feel washing will remain as one of my fondest. There were moments of weeping in the house and there were moments of rejoicing in the house. The presence of the Lord was powerful!

Brittany and Miriah, our Canadian friends, have returned to spend their summer vacation with us here in Yako. This is Miriah's third visit and Brittany's second. After taking just a few days to adjust to Burkina's temperatures and ways, they have slipped right into daily life with us here at the orphanage.

Even though there are still several weeks of school left for some of our children, some of them will be finishing soon and leaving to visit their families in the village. But before everyone starts leaving for the village, the girls planned an 'end of school' party and introduced this parachute where our primary school children played several different games. Everyone was delighted!

This is Brittany on the left playing with the children.

This is a picture of Moumouni taken at the end of school party. Moumouni is a new boy to the orphanage this year. He is 14 years old but is finishing 2^nd grade this year. It has been a good year for Moumouni despite all of his difficulties at home and subsequent adjustment to the orphanage. But, he is finishing strong by ranking 8^th in his class.

Moumouni is a delightful boy and it is a joy to have him in the orphanage. If the Lord has been speaking to you about sponsoring a child, Moumouni is in need of a sponsor.

One part of the 'end of school' party was an activity planned by Lisa. She purchased t-shirts for each child in the orphanage and organized a t-shirt painting party. Many of the children painted their favorite Scripture verse on the back of their shirt and a design on the front. What fun!

This is a picture of Lisa and Therese working on Therese's t-shirt.

And, I cannot write these days without a photo and an update of the progress on the new school. The work is progressing as planned and as scheduled. As you can see in the picture, the walls are up and the workers will soon be installing the roof. The metal doors and windows are being made by the solderer and will soon be in place.

We praise God and thank Him for all that he is doing for the children of Yako.

No Electricity, No Water!

We have had a very busy past few days. A storm passed through last week-end and the wind blew down 4 or 5 power poles just a bit north of Yako knocking out our source of electricity. The electric company had estimated 6 days to re-set the poles and repair the damage but thanks to the prayers of faithful friends like you, our power was restored in just 4 days.

We still have one outstanding problem in that the pump for our well is not working. We have called the electrician to come and look at it but he has been detained on another job in Ouagadougou. Hopefully this is not a major problem and this week, our well will again be providing water to the courtyard. For now, we are switched over to the city water source which is expensive. Please pray that the electrician will soon be able to come and that the pump has not suffered serious damage due to the power cut.

Here is another picture of the progress on the school. It is amazing how quickly the walls go up once the foundation is laid. In the midst of other struggles and challenges, we are praising God that we can actually see the school building taking shape.

This week we walked in the new but not yet completed classrooms praying for the teachers who will teach and the children who will learn in our school.

Our New School--

The work on the new school is progressing quickly. The bricks are now all made and stacked up in rows ready for building the walls.

In this picture, you can see the wooden forms being made to form a layer of iron-reinforced concrete. This will serve as a belt of reinforcement around the foundation of the building. After this row is completed the walls will go up very quickly.

We are beginning to pray for each of the new children who will come to our school this year. We will be recruiting 25 little first graders so please pray for these children. The Lord has already chosen then. He knows them by name and will be sending them to our gate.

Please pray also for a new teacher for first grade and for the teachers needed for our 7^th grade class.

Visitors from Mississippi!

We just spent 10 wonderful days with two lovely women from Mississippi, Debbie Cook and Joyce Hall. They brought precious gifts of love and encouragement to Sarah, Lisa, and I and also tangible gifts for our children in the orphanage and in the school and for each of our workers.

One of the blessings that they brought were hand-made dolls called 'Testimony Dolls'. Each doll had 2 faces on them, one that was asleep because they had not invited Jesus into their heart and one on the other side that was awake and smiling because Jesus was living in their heart.

We gave the dolls to our second grade class and the children were captivated by the story and each one was thrilled to have their own little boy or girl doll.

We spent time together praying at the orphanage and also with a group of believers near the gold mines where Sarah is praying about starting a ministry to the children and women.

We attended a baptism where 21 new believers followed the Lord in water baptism.

Debbie and Joyce spent hours and hours just hanging out with our babies. They loved and rocked and fed and changed them.

Although it was hard to let them go, they left last night on the Air Maroc flight and may already have reached New York by now. We send out love and blessings to you Debbie and Joyce and hope that you will come back again soon!

Progress on the school construction!

Just wanted to send you a couple more photos of the progress on our school. The foundation has been dug. After just 4 or 6 inches of soil, they workers hit solid rock and it was a lot of work but everyone is saying that we have excellent ground on which to build. The foundation is not dug very deep here, but our building will be sitting on a foundation of solid rock both in the natural and in Jesus.

The concrete bricks are made on site as well as the iron for the reinforced cement. The wind blew down the temporary shelter that had been built to protect the bricks from the sun. But, we have had a couple of days of reprieve from the sun and the temporary shelter will be re-built in just a couple of days.