E. A. T.

Entertaining Angels Together Program.(E. A. T.) 

Please help Sheltering Wings and Tammy Donahue in Kenya to feed and clothe the street children.   For Tammy's story and for information on how to help, click on the following link:

http://www.gofundme.com/1a3ocw?pc=fb_cr

Our God has made a way--

We are rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord tonight for two of our girls, Phoebe Sawadogo and Delphine Kiendrebeogo, passed the entrance exam are were admitted to a Christian Teachers’ School in Ouagadougou today.  Oh, God is so good! 

Phoebe finished the 10th grade and passed the standardized test called the BEPC this past June.  This is the minimum qualification for a student at the teachers school.   

 

Delphine passed the BEPC in 2011 and completed the 11^th grade this past year. 

Both of the girls have been asking to go to teachers’ school for a couple of years now and the time and the favor of the Lord has come.  They will be attending a school called EFORE which is a private school recognized by the State for primary school teachers.  They will have one year of classroom and theory training and then they will have one year of an internship.  After their second year they will take a final exam to earn their diploma.

The school has dormitory facilities so the girls will live on campus and take their meals from the school cafeteria. 

Another Forever Family

This has been a very special week in that we had the sweet privilege of introducing another of our babies to his new parents.  Josias was born in December, 2010 and he came to live at the orphanage in January, 2011.  He is an adorable baby who is now on his way to Italy to meet the rest of his new family.

We love you Josias and we will miss you but we are also rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord in giving you a forever family!

Searching for a Forever Family

Arnoud was born on Feb 9, 2009.  His mother abandoned him when he was about 7 months old.   

A thorough search was made through the area for Arnoud’s mother but there was no trace of her. 

Since arriving at the orphanage, Arnoud has been diagnosed with cycle cell anemia (SS type).  He is receiving treatment but he does have a serious strain of this hereditary disease.

Otherwise Arnoud’s is a delightful little 3 year old.  He is a pleasant and agreeable little boy who loves to play with the other children.

A Gift of Bookbags

School started this past Monday (Oct 1st) here in Burkina and our courtyard was full of happy chatter and excited little voices.  There was just a bit of crying from little first graders who were not happy when their mama or papa left them at school.  But throughout the day our time was filled with typical first day of school activities.

Yesterday, something not so typical happened.  Through a gift from the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) we received 300 book bags for the children in our primary and secondary schools.  The book bags were hand made and filled with notebooks, pens, pencils, a ruler and an eraser.

 Chad and Isa Warfel, the MCC country directors in Burkina, made the trip to Yako to assist in the distribution of the book bags. 

Our children are very happy and their parents are even happier!  Thank you, Chad and Isa for this gift and thank you MCC for the great work that you are doing throughout the world.

This is a 7th grade classroom in our new school building.

Work has started on the wall--

This past week we broke ground for the construction of a wall around the school property. This is a rather massive project in that we have six acres of land to close in.

We will go slowly but for starters we have a general contractor and 4 young men working on digging the foundation. The composition of our land is almost solid rock. Not good land for farming but excellent foundation for school buildings and a wall. The work is slow and hard because it will be completely done by hand, we are very thankful for this land that the Lord has given to us.

In late October we have a team of men coming to visit the orphanage and to work on putting up the wall. Our team of local workers are digging the trench, will lay the foundation of iron reinforced concrete, make the bricks on site, and then the visiting team will start putting the wall up. The wall will be built in two meter sections divided by reinforced concrete support posts.

A note to those who have contributed towards this project: Putting up a wall is not a particularly glamorous project to give to but it is something that is very needed here to protect what the Lord has given to us. Thank you so much! I stand amazed at the goodness of our God and at the generosity of his people! May the Lord richly bless you!

Would you please sponsor a child?

‘Back to School’ time means an increased need for sponsors!

School starts here in Burkina on October 1st. So, this is the time to be preparing for the first day of school.

This year we are adding two new classrooms to our schools. We will be running a full six grades in our primary school and we are adding 9th grade to our secondary school.

When all of the excitement settles the reality of the additional challenges of paying teachers’ salaries, equipping new classrooms, buying books and supplies, and feeding over 300 children a nutritious meal everyday becomes very pressing.

Our schools are primarily funded by our child sponsorship program. If each child in our schools is sponsored, we can pay our teachers a competitive salary, we can provide a challenging learning environment in each classroom, and we can feed our children a nutritious lunch everyday. (Some of our children otherwise will only get one meal per day.)

Would you please consider sponsoring one of our children? Do you think that your youth group or Sunday school class or home group would consider sponsoring a child?

I can say with all of my heart that ‘sponsorship changes the life of a child’. We still have many children in the orphanage and in our schools who need a sponsor. Would you please consider sponsoring one of our children? Do you think that your youth group or Sunday school class or home group would consider sponsoring a child?

If you are ready to take a child into your heart, check out our website (www.sheltering-wings.org), click on sponsor a child on my blog, or call Sheltering Wings at 314 635 6316.

Here are just two of the children in our primary school needing a sponsor.


















Rene (0821)














Nouroudine (0889)

New School Uniforms

Back to school time is an exciting time in any culture and here in Burkina it is especially exciting. Only about 1 in 5 children here get to go to school so for those that do get sent to school, it is a privilege and they LOVE school.

This past Saturday the director of our primary school called all of the children to come to school and to be measured for new school uniforms. Our uniforms this year will be the same as last year, navy pants and skirts, and pink check shirts.

The tailor was called and it was arranged for him to come at 8:00 to start measuring the children.

As I was preparing my first cup of coffee for the morning at 6:30, I heard children in the courtyard. I looked out my door to see 30 or 40 children already at school waiting to get measured for their uniforms.

Ah, the excitement of ‘back to school’ is one of the many things that I love about Burkina.

Three Little Stars

Three little ones with visual problems have recently come to live in the orphanage. So, this week we piled three babies and two baby-caretakers into the car and made the trip into Ouaga to see an eye doctor.

Arouna is now six months old. He came to us as a premature infant of just 3 days old. Having had a very rough start, Arouna is still very small for his age and is behind developmentally.

Although we were very worried, the good news is that Arouna can see! When a light was shined directly into his eyes, there was a response. Yay!

Our next step is to take Arouna to another specialist to try and determine why he cannot hold up his head on his own, is not yet sitting up, not grasping things with his hands, etc.

Please pray for Arouna and for us as we try to find names for his problems and possible treatments to help him.

Madina is a delightful little 18 month old. She is here with her older sister, Mariam, who is 3 years old.

Madina has several vision problems going on. Her one eye is severely crossed and her good eye shifts slightly horizontally. She also has what is called ‘tiny eyes’ in that her eyes are abnormally small.

The eye doctor said that perhaps she could have surgery for the crossed eye when she was 5 or 6 years old but that he did not think that she could get this help here in Burkina.

Christiane is a little 12 month old baby who also has a crossed eye. Her good eye tracks really well but the crossed one does not and she may already be in danger of losing some her sight in this eye.

The doctor gave the same prognosis for Christiane as Madina in that she may be able to get surgery later but not here in Burkina.

Please pray for us as we care for each of these children. They will all three most likely be available for adoption but we are still in the process of getting all of their paperwork completed before that can happen.

Thank You, KOV!

KOV stands for Kids Of Victory. KOV is a summer kid’s camp held each year by Southgate Church in Crestwood, MO.

In total 750 children attended KOV this year throughout 3 different sessions.

This year, KOV chose Sheltering Wings as their mission emphasis project. The children learned about Burkina Faso, learned about our project here, and participated in various fun activities to help them understand the differences between their culture and the culture of Burkina Faso.

The children played relay races hauling water from the well.

They practiced balancing things on their heads to understand how the people in Burkina carry things.

The children formed competitive teams throughout KOV and in total, they raised over $2000 towards new school desks and school books for ‘back to school’ this Fall. In addition, two more of our children are now sponsored as parents heard about our project.

A huge THANK YOU to Becky Powell, the KOV team and to Southgate Church for choosing us your mission project for this year!