"Am informing you that the situation is getting worse. No Maize at all. People are dying everywhere because the famine that is here in Kenya and not only Kenya this is almost everywhere. Please, if God will open a way, please, we need money to purchase Maize and Beans. This is God's children. He loves them and He will never let them suffer any more...We have food for only two days. Anyway, we are crying to our almighty father to meet our needs at the right time. .Please, pray for God to meet our needs. Thank you so much for your concern in all. May the dear Lord bless you."   Pastor Moses.

This is part of an email that Hearth to Hearth Ministries recieved last month from one of their orphanage administrators.  The price of corn is going up in Kenya and it is getting harder to find.  Read more of the urgent plea for more maize for the African orphans.

Below is a picture of some of the orphans that come to the gate of the orphanage for food.  My son took this picture when he was helping at Hope for Children Center Orphanage the summer of 2006.  The orphanage did not have enough money to feed them so he took his own money to buy them some bread.  This is still on his mind because he wrote a paper about it this year for his English class called "Can Death Bring Life"  (Click the link to read what he still thinks about it.  I added some pictures to his paper when I posted it on the web.)

My sister sent me a picture of a bill board she saw along Hwy 5 in Southern California.  It said "Congress Created Dust Bowl."  I guess that farmers there are unable to get water to water their crops...  Doesn't most of our produce come from California?

Read more about the Congress Created Dust Bowl.

Friday:  Feb. 6
Sleeping was much better last night because there was no loud music playing in the street. What a blessing!!!  I was also glad that it was quiet for John and Jenna to sleep, and especially for Moses because he had not slept much in the previous days.

After much negotiation and time passing this morning, we finally found ourselves on a bus to Kisii somewhere aroung 3:00 p.m. (10:00 a.m. was the agreed starting time.)  All of our luggage was stowed under the bus and we were stowed inside. Kenyan busses have three seats on one side of the aisle and two on the other, so it is a bit crowded. I joked to the young man sitting beside me that it was a good thing he was skinny because we would have never all fit on those three seats. After my comment, however, I regretted it when I realized that perhaps he was one of those who was truly starving.

During our trip, we kept hearing over the radio that they were trying to raise a million shillings in one day to help starving Kenyans. It was very encouraging to me to hear them working to try to help themselves in this situation.

When Moses negotiated for the bus, he asked them to not play the music because it bothered us. So for quite a time, we had peace and quiet. Unfortunately, it did not last. though they did keep the music lower than our previous experience. After the music had come on, the young man beside me remarked that it had been off because some passengers had complained that it wasn't good for them. Truly, it wasn't good for him either, though he did not know it. They say that without the loud music, no one wishes to board the bus. They will look for another that has that amenity.

We arrived in Kisii after dark and made arrangements for two vehicles to transport us and our luggage on to the orphanage-a trip taking about another two hours due to rutted roads.

Even though most of the children were already in their quarters, we received a very warm welcome from those who were available, as well as help with unloading our luggage and depositing it in our rooms.

The evening meal was served shortly after our arrival at Glory Children's Center Orphanage-at about 11:00 p.m. It was a very delicious meal, consisting of pineapple, bananas, avocado, biscuits, hot chocolate and rice-if my memory serves me right. The table was very beautifully set.

It was good to crawl into a comfortable bed and sleep. God is good!

We are sharing with you the journal entries of Esther, the Director of Hearth to Hearth Ministries.  This journal consists of her thoughts about the trip she is on  to visit orphanages in Africa.

February 5

After sleeping on the plane from Detroit, and arriving at the hotel at about 11:00 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. at home), I found it impossible to sleep. It did not help that there was a nightclub somewhere down the street with music blaring until after 3:00 a.m., and I'm sure the fact that it was still daytime at home had something to do with it as well. Somewhere after 3:00, I did get to sleep, and was able to sleep until 8:00 when my alarm went off. Five hours of sleep was not too bad considering it was about usual for the past several weeks.
This morning, after a breakfast of bread, papaya juice and bananas, we met Andrew and Sasha and Brigitte -US citizens now living in Jordan. Ten-year-old Sasha is all set for an adventure. He had already purchased a "football" in anticipation of playing a game with the children as soon as possible after arrival at Glory Center. Andrew and Sasha will be with us for only two weeks as they need to get back to their family-Andrew's wife and four younger children. Brigette is Andrew's sister-in-law. These three are staying with friends in the Nairobi area during our time here, so after a bit of orientation and instructions, they returned to the home of their friends.

Most of all, I was thrilled to meet my good friends, Fred and Olpha, who had cared for me so tenderly two years ago during the week I spent under treatment for malaria in a Nairobi hotel. Fred has a stall in a Nairobi market where he sells artifacts, many of which he makes himself. He is always very good to anyone coming from our ministry, showing us around and getting us the best prices.     I was also happy to travel by bus to their home and meet their beautiful children, a son, Hill and a daughter, Esther, just one year old and named in my honor. Olpha is a sister to Pastor Moses, our Glory Center administrator and their younger brother, Dennis was visiting from the Center. Dennis is an orphan who is sponsored by our youngest daughter's family. Imagine his surprise when I made a quick phone call and he was able to speak to her and her husband in person. He remarked about it several times and how happy he was to have been able to talk with these people who have supported him for the past several years.
I was happy to be able to meet with an attorney regarding some of our paperwork and to also connect with Nick of Kick Start International. Though I did not meet Nick in person due to his heavy schedule, I did make the acquaintance of his lovely wife, Rose, who is directing a work for widows and orphans further north and west of our work. She was able to give me many good pointers and is putting me in touch with several other people who have programs going that will be of help to our work. We spent some time in my room at the hotel, looking through photographs, and Rose was very touched and impressed to see the work we are doing.
Pastor Moses had arrived from Kisii just before I was scheduled to meet with Rose, and was promptly dispatched to go to the airport to meet John and Jenna from the state of Washington. John and Jenna have been married only a month, so this trip is sort of an extension to their honeymoon. I believe it is Providential that they were able to come at short notice after we learned that Vicki would not be able to make it. Jenna's mother is our new Projects Department Director, and Jenna will be her eyes and ears while she is here. John is an educator and artist of thirty years, who is keenly interested in the older youth and who loves to paint their portraits and tell their stories. I am thrilled that he is here with us and in a position to tell the story of our work so eloquently.
It was late by the time I was able to meet John and Jenna, and after a few words of orientation and instruction to them, we all retired for the night.

We are sharing with you the journal entries of Esther, the Director of Hearth to Hearth Ministries.  This journal consists of her thoughts about the trip she is on  to visit orphanages in Africa.

February 4

The flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi had many empty seats so after we reached altitude everyone began moving around to get more space. Since I had a window seat with two empty seats beside me, a woman asked if she might sit there. I guess God knew I really needed Vicki on this trip to keep me company because this woman reminded me a great deal of Vicki.
When she sat down in the aisle seat, she leaned over to introduce herself and to ask what I would be doing in Africa. What an opening!
She was very interested in our work and asked many questions. When the opportunity presented itself, I retrieved my laptop out of the overhead bin to show her Vicki's picture, since I had told her how much I thought she resembled Vicki and that Vicki was our Fund Raising Manager. She, too, thought there was a resemblance when she saw the photos of Vicki.
Then I went on to show her some of the photos of our children and the Gates Children. All in all, I had a very pleasant trip visiting with my new friend from Finland, and she ended up giving me a hundred Euros to help with our work. As she did, she told me to tell Vicki that she has another fund raiser. I promised her that Vicki would be happy to write to her.
I had checked nine bags: two fifty pound and seven seventy pound. The airline had waived the "excess baggage" costs, which means we only had to pay $150.00 per bag for the seven extra bags. I am grateful to the airlines for the concession. It could have cost us a great deal more.
All nine bags arrived, though one had a small slit in the side and another (bag #1) was badly broken open. I will not be able to determine if anything is missing from either bag until we are able to open them all at Glory Center on Friday. On first look, they seemed to be pretty intact, but since the one badly broken had been packed by Vicki, I will have to take everything out and check it against her list before I can be totally sure.
I was met at the airport by Slavomir from Poland who had arrived about an hour before me, and Elinet, our new Assistant Projects Manager in Kenya. It was good to be on the ground. The vehicle procured to transport us to the hotel was only large enough for most of our baggage, so we took another in which to transport the remaining few pieces and some of us. I was asked to ride in the vehicle with the baggage in case the driver was called upon to explain his large load.

We are sharing with you the journal entries of Esther, the Director of Hearth to Hearth Ministries.  This journal consists of her thoughts about the trip she is on  to visit orphanages in Africa.

February 3

This day started out well at about 4:00 a.m. when I arose to try to finish up last minute details, such as proofing documents and getting them sent off to the Board and Executive Committee, Setting up polls on the Board website so Board members can vote on various issues, responding to last minute emails, giving instructions to George as to how to handle mail, etc., in my absence.
We planned to leave the house at 10:00 but knew we have allowed plenty of margin, so we ended up leaving at 10:38 and stopped by the bank for cash. That's when I realized I'd forgotten the $50.00 battery charger we'd gone out of our way to purchase the day before. It was still plugged in at home, charging the battery for the video camera. We made a mad dash back home to retrieve it, then headed to our daughter's in Brighton.
George had taken five pieces of baggage to our daughter, Melinda's house, on Friday where he met Vicki who had brought two more, plus the cash people had sent her for the trip. Melinda already had those items loaded into her vehicle when we arrived, so we loaded two more, plus my two heavy carry-ons, ate the lunch Melinda had prepared for us, stopped by Radio Shack to purchase a firewire (to transfer video footage from the camera to my laptop) and headed for the airport.
Half way there, I realized we had left my pillow and jacket back in our car at Melinda's. I do not recall forgetting important items on any of my three prior trips to Africa. I certainly hoped that we weren't setting any precedents for the trip!
The flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was without incident. I had a very quiet seatmate and was able to sleep most of the way.

This is a story that was printed in 2006 in the Spotlight on Orphans Newsletter.  It is included here so that you can learn some of the history of Hearth to Hearth Ministries.

On December 28, 2005, we received the following letter from Pastor Maurice: "Dear Vicki and other board members, please remove the names of the following children from the waiting list because they are all dead. They have died of starvation.

"1) Loyce Auma - No. 202 in the waiting list

2) Onesmus Okoth - No. 199 in the waiting list.

3) Wycliffe Otieno - No. 190 in the waiting list.

4) Austine Oduor - No. 203 in the waiting list.

[The next day we received word from Edith that two more had also died. Editor]

"Right now I am in Kisii waiting for Pastor Nyamora to help me conduct burial services.  He will bury one child and I will bury two tomorrow.  I hope you are still reading the newspapers. Already the death toll is twenty-seven in northeastern Kenya.

"The food distribution by the government is too political. Some areas are ignored and people are dying. It is so painful.  Some of our children have decided to forfeit their lunch meal and for the last two days we have been inviting about eightyseven children to come for lunch. It is terrible this time. Only God knows how many more will die from starvation.

"I do not know if at all there is anybody who can help save some. I just don't know.

"God bless you abundantly.

"Maurice"

What a horrible thing for Pastor to again be in a position of watching children die right before him, especially after visiting America and seeing the amounts of food just going to waste here. We studied the photos of the children, feeling in our hearts they could have been saved...

As an immediate measure, our treasurers scraped together $1,000 and wired it on Thursday morning, December 30. We did not want the children to have to wait for food until after the holiday weekend. The money was received and both Pastors Moses and Maurice immediately began feeding orphans at their locations. A letter from Julia revealed that they had fed 358 orphans and 74 adults the previous day, and the effort will continue daily as long as we have the funds.

Likewise, Pastor Moses is both praying with and feeding the little ones who are making their way to his gate.  A further problem at Glory Center is the dried-up water sources in the area.  Pastor Moses is leaving at 4:00 a.m. daily to find water for the children. We are looking into getting a holding tank for Glory Center and buying water by the lorry rather than having him queue for a supply each day.

It was immediately obvious to us that our sponsors and donors would want to help in saving these children, so we sent an email out to several dozen in an order to start sending relief as soon as possible, rather than waiting until this issue hit the mailboxes. Our letter read in part:

"Last year we were faced with skyrocketing food prices in the spring, the result of a failure of crops to survive Hearth to Hearth Ministries' drought. At that time we appealed to our sponsors with a request for funds to purchase a store of grain for two reasons:  One, to avoid the daily rising costs which were severely effecting our ability to operate and two, to assure that our children would not face starvation. Further, we asked for help in funding the feeding program instituted at the orphanage as our staff picked up by van and fed over nine hundred children two times a week, and additional orphans who came on Sabbath, saving them from sure death.

"Once more we are in the same situation. We do have a good farm, but we are now feeding over 230 people on a daily basis, and with the forms students not going away to board this January, the amounts of food needed are going to be far greater and prices are already skyrocketing. We would like to purchase at least one lorry of grain for both Hope Center (possibly two if we can raise enough money as their population is so high now), and Glory Center. With only forty-seven children at Glory, one load would last for several months.

They have not had time to develop a garden at their new location yet. It will be some time before it becomes productive. (Since we sent this email, donations have started to come in. By using what monies we are receiving, and borrowing some, we have been able to purchase these needed lorries of grain.  Next we will buy dried beans to store as well, anticipating further drought this summer.)

"I am sure you are aware from reading Spotlight on Orphans that we have been greatly blessed with several large contributions for the Hope Center lately, but these were given specifically for the building of the school, the development of both the farm and the vocational program of our new schools, and uniforms for the children. As has always been our policy, any money donated for a specific item is never diverted to another use. Additionally, the costs of these items were very carefully calculated so that we did not ask for more than needed for these projects.

It is important that you know this, so you realize we are still operating our orphanages on your sponsorship fees alone, not from these contributions, and why they cannot be used for the purchase of food. And while other similar organizations have considerably higher sponsorship fees, we have resisted raising our fees in order to be fair to the many new sponsors who have recently come on board, despite the rising cost of living and unfavorable exchange rate of US dollars to Kenyan shillings. If at all you are inclined to help with this effort, perhaps you could add a few extra dollars to your sponsorship contribution or send a general donation for famine relief.  Working together, we will be able to continue to save many more children from sure death."

The drought this year is said to be the worst since 1984, according to Joseph Mukabana, director of Kenya's Meteorological Department.  He expects over two-and-a-half million Kenyans to suffer from starvation.  Thousands of Kenyans are pastoralists, who depend on their cattle, goats and sheep for survival.  Some are trying to drive their animals into Uganda to graze, where the drought has not been as severe. Thousands of animals are dying daily, and Pastor reported even dogs dying from thirst in the streets.

Since there are so few wells, those that are available have either dried up, or have been compromised by the many people who are trying to access them.  As well, crops are withering in the fields. Additionally, the government is in turmoil, causing what food stores are available to be sitting in warehouses, not going to the people who are in need.  They seem to be counting on the NGO's to provide for the needs of the rural villages.

A report in the Daily Nation of January 8 tells of visits to villages where there were no smells or signs of cooking, no food and in some cases, no water for several days. Fresh graves held the bodies of young children and mothers. If you have access to the internet, please access www.allafrica.com and read some of the horrible accountings and predictions of what is to come.  If you don't have access but would like to read some of this material, please contact Vicki at the address on the masthead and I will make sure you get some of the articles.

The major worry we have is that we weren't addressing this issue until late spring of 2005, which means we may be faced with two droughts this coming year. According to the African Standard, there will be no relief until the spring rains in April, meaning a food shortage at least until summer. We are faced with a crisis of major proportions, not only with our resident orphans but with the children of the surrounding areas as well. Should the spring rainy season be sparse, the famine could continue through 2006. They are certainly going to need our help in order to survive.

We feel so conflicted by the many blessings that have been bestowed upon our orphans, knowing that, in the immediate area, there are people starving to death. As well, we find it hard to contemplate the abundance our families enjoy, knowing that there are so many who can't even have a single meal per day. As we consider our ample blessings, let us also work together to spread what God has given us to his less fortunate children.

Beginning with Hope Center

As I think back over the past few years, I see how God has blessed this project over and over again, beginning with the closing of OBREC by UNICEF.  A few struggling children came and knocked on Pastor Maurice's door because he had been their Bible teacher and they loved him. They had no place else to go besides the streets. He opened his door to these orphans and Hope for Children Center was born.

The numbers kept growing as Maurice and Edith just kept giving and giving, and God continued to bless. With several moves to larger quarters, more and more orphans were brought into the care and knowledge of God. In 2004 the first piece of land was purchased (by my own brother Tim), and that got us started. Others wanted them to have more land to farm, and two more pieces were added. Then came the miracle of the dormitories, more children; the dinning hall and kitchen and more children; then the miracle of how we got the money for the administration building and still more children! Then still another parcel of land was purchased to add to the first three parcels. I cannot in one article tell about each miracle, but each and every story has God's wonderful blessing behind it. A very large donation by one of our faithful sponsors was provided and the school buildings we had only dreamed of became reality.

Expanding with Glory Center

Our Glory Children's Center is now beginning to experience the same type of growth.We have gone from a dozen children to forty-seven in just over a year, with plans of buying land in the country and building yet another orphanage to accommodate many of the children on our waiting list. Pastor Moses and Prisca moved with the children into the country in late December and although there have been many obstacles to overcome, they are staying the course. The workers at Glory Center have never received any monetary  compensation, except for the little bit thatMoses and Prisca have been able to share with them, expecting their reward in the true "Glory."

How the Work is Accomplished

How can this all be accomplished? I certainly don't know.  I can't even imagine how it gets done. It is all such a wonder of what God is doing that I no longer question where the money will come from, nor do I worry about money being available to send for the next authorization. Frankly folks, do you know the work you are all a part of? It is the work of God; leading you to do His will. A Christian writer once said, "We have nothing to fear for the future unless we forget how God has led us in the past." I just praise his name every day as I know God is using Hearth to Hearth Ministries' people from all over the United States and other countries, in all walks of life, to do His will for these children. Will he bless you? I know he will, for he is faithful! 

I want to put in a quote here from one of the workers at Hope Center who wrote us last fall. This tells it all: "This project is probably the biggest in western Kenya as a whole, whereby the population is well over ten million people. According to the children's department who visited recently, it is rated the best and well managed and also the cleanest, with neat buildings. Even the food is rated among the best compared to other orphanages. However, it has the lowest budget compared to the number of children at the orphanage.

To prove what I am telling you, may you get a report from the children's officer of the province.  They were wondering how the project is run by little funds. It was a pride to our institution to imagine that with the little in our hands, we are able to do a lot." Jane, Maurice's cousin. (It is also interesting to note that the staff of many of these orphanages that are funded by the west receive some of the highest wages in the area. This has not been, and will never be, our policy.) I'm sure Jane understands why we can do what we do with so little. It is because we are NOT the ones doing it. It is He who is Faithful! One thing that amazes me is how they take care of so many children. How do they feed them all, cooking over open fires for so many? There are 226 children at Hope Center every day to attend classes, and all of the workers. And of course there's the famine relief: hundreds of children coming to be fed each day! Much the same at Glory Center-meals cooked over open fires and people coming to the gates by the dozens for food and water. I knew they had to have help, but somehow in my mind I thought they would be fortunate to have five or six good people to help. So we wanted to know just how many were helping and wanted to know their circumstances. 

(This article was printed in the April 2006 edition to Spotlight on Orphans newsletter.)

With the World economy in trouble more and more people are suffering from Poverty and Hunger.  Working together we can make a difference in a poor persons life.  Hearth to Hearth Minsitries is working in Africa to help starving African orphans.  You can help these orphans by sponsoring an orphan.