A New Home & New Hope!
Only 18 months ago, 27 children who were living on the streets in Kalehe, DRC met Christophe. These children moved in together as a family, off of the streets, into a food storage building, with the promise that they would be cared for. Donations and funding from the generous hearts of Michiganders and the Kalehe community has provided basic needs; such as food, health care, clothing, shoes, education, safety, a house mom and dad, tutoring (and even some fun :). In January 2021, we all began a journey together to provide hope where there once was none.
January 2021 - First Group Picture of Christophe with the kiddos.
Skip forward to July 2022. These 27 children move into a brand new home - built just for them! They live on good land, that has clean water on it. Their home has solar panels to provide electricity for lighting, safety, and yes a television to watch soccer! They even have soccer balls and their own land now on which to play soccer!
July 2022 - Christophe and the 27 kiddos in front of their new home.
Christophe’s Children playing their favorite sport!
A new home…. and now new brothers and sisters too! The new building can house up to 56 children, and has two separate rooms for a male and female adult to reside with them. The first 27 children welcomed the new 29 children with open arms, sharing whatever they had with their new siblings until the new children had what they needed.
The first day of school was Friday, September 2nd. After breakfast, everyone walked to school and got ready to begin a new school year. There was a lot of excitement and some tears of not wanting to go. Older children helped the new younger ones feel comfortable (just like good big brothers and sisters do.)
The first 27 children were asked what they wanted to be when they grow up. If you scroll back and look at the first picture on this post, most of them looked too afraid, sad, angry, or unsure to even consider that question. But as you will notice below, Serge, Jeremie, Binja, Nelly, Elizabeth and Nabintu have definite plans. They have hope. They know they are loved and cared for, and have a future that looks bright.
A little translation help here…
Serge wants to become a lawyer so that he can help poor people. Jeremie wants to become like Papa Christophe so that he can help orphans. Binja wants to learn how to make money so she can help poor people. Elisabeth wants to become a lawyer so that she can help people who are in trouble. Nelly wants to become an engineer to build and fix things. Nabintu wants to continue at school to learn and become a nun to help others.
Thank you for joining us on this journey and bringing basic needs to children so far away. You have brought hope to those who had none. And now their hope is contagious. Hope is spreading to the new children who arrived in July and continues to spread throughout the Kalehe community.