Project Letter: BF-502

Here's a letter from Barry's project in Burkina Faso!

Receive our fraternal and cordial greetings in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior from Bobo-Dioulasso. I am Mrs. Findalo R., project director of the center at (BF-502) where your sponsored child attends. I want to express our deep appreciation and gratitude for your spiritual, financial, material and moral accompaniment through the sponsorship of Barry. Through me the whole team of the center and the whole church express our gratitude by saying thank you very much from our hearts for your very important help.

Like other communities, ours is experiencing many difficulties such as malnutrition, diseases related to poverty such as malaria, typhoid fever, bronchitis, and a few cases of HIV/AIDS. Living conditions are not enviable; tiny houses, lack of clean water, poor sanitation, etc. Today, thanks to sponsors' donations more children go to school, they are cared for; receive a balanced diet and experiencing a positive change in behavior. We can cite the example of a child who had two fractures in the arm after an accident. His parents testified that they could not afford the expenses of his cares because of lack of means. With the help of the center for the cares, the child is now healed.

Also, we can take the example of another child, who after being admitted to secondary school still could not afford to go. The support of the center enabled her to go to school and now she is in fourth grade. She said that she has received teachings in the center, which helped her to understand the Christian life and to get committed. She gave her life to Jesus, is baptized and is in the choir of teenagers at church.

Thanks to the center program the children learn to knit, to style, to plant trees, etc. And today they get to style their hairs themselves. This is the case of a child who comes to style his mates in the center without any assistance and is glad to have learned this activity that would benefit him in the future. It should be noted that through the center, the whole community has a new consideration of our church. It is more open and receptive to our message than before.

The children really welcome letters from their sponsors and are glad to know that they are loved and that sponsors care about their future. At any time we receive letters in the center, everyone is expecting to receive one that they may hear from their sponsors. They also welcome birthday gifts they had never had before and also Christmas holidays they celebrate together in the center.

Also we are in satisfaction in this program because it not only helps the registered children but the whole family; the evidence is that many families in need receive support leading them to better flourish. For this purpose we can list the case of 23 families who have benefitted from Complementary Intervention funds for improving their living conditions.

Seeing these children develop, rediscover the joy of living, big smile on their faces, encourages us daily to move forward in this work. Moreover the participation of the children to different Bible camps positively impacts their behavior, because it not only enhances their knowledge of Christ, but brings a visible change in their way of life. But the gap remains high, and in this regard, Compassion serves us a very solid bridge to get there.

So, we ask you to pray for us tirelessly so that this vision we have to make these children disciples and witnesses of Jesus in their environment be achieved for the glory of our Lord. Let me conclude by reiterating to you our cordial thanks and pray that the grace of the Almighty God may abound in your lives.

If you are interested in sponsoring a child from Barry's center, please consider beautiful Sanata!! I adore her pretty pink outfit! Sanata lives with her mom and dad, and in her neighborhood, there are high instances of HIV/AIDS and child abuse and exploitation. Read more about Sanata here.