I need a sponsor...

Hi, my name is Henok and I live in Addis Ababa. I am able to attend a school there because there are sponsors helping to keep it going. I had a sponsor, but now I do not have one. It is fun to get letters from them and pictures. Would you be my sponsor? SPONSORED!

Hi, my name is Genet. I live in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia too and go to Kechene School. I had to leave Kechene and move away, but now I am back and I love being with my friends again. Would you be my sponsor? SPONSORED!!

Hi, my name is Ayenalem and I am 16 years old and in the Ethiopian 5th grade. I had to leave Addis Ababa and my school, but now I  came back, so I lost my sponsor. Please sponsor me since I LOVE getting letters and pictures and it feels really great to be prayed for by someone in America! SPONSORED!!

These children need your help. They are at Kechene Care Point with 125 other children who ARE sponsored, but they are not. Though these are not their exact words, this is what the staff has shared with us that they would like. You can see them on our web page http://www.hopechest.org/community/kechene 

and sign up today! When you sponsor a child at Kechene Care Point in the slums of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, you are changing lives of the vulnerable one child at a time. Thank you!

Update on the Library and Children's Hopechest community page for Kechene

Since we first started the Kechene Library Project (shelves, tables, chairs, reference books, textbooks, and other necessary books), we have raised $2965! In order to achieve ALL the needs for the little library at the school, our goal is $3700.  To view our progress or donate, you can go to this link at www.go.hopechest.org/kechene-library

Also, Children's Hopechest and I are introducing a new web page on the Children's Hopechest website. Follow it to find all the newest information about Kechene at
http://www.hopechest.org/community/kechene

The new web page is a great way to view sponsored and unsponsored children at the care point, or to just see what is going on at Kechene. The page is user friendly and easy to share with those who may want more information about our care point in Ethiopia or perhaps wanting to sponsor.

Art Sale a Success!

Wood working from family and church friends

Photography from my dad and my friend

Mums in chalkboard painted pots from a friend

A step stool all decorated ready for a porch from my mother-in-law

Necklaces from friends

Crocheted  hats and scarves from friends

Embroidered towels and hand sewn items from my Mom

Hand crafted baby headbands and wonderful packaged bath salts from a friend

Hand Knit blanket from my sister-in-law

Art work from a church friend's daughter

Headbands from my son's cross country teammate

Paintings from a neighbor, my son's art teacher, and from a church member

Birdhouses from my father-in-law's friend

Baked goods from friends 

The list could go on and on and on!

And then there was all the help I had before, during, and after the sale...

Karen F.

Karen H.

Penny N.

Staci D.

Joanne

Cindy L.

Keith B.

Matt B.

Caleb

Gavin

Jenny H.

Dale H.

Mayra A.

Joyce V.

Steph B.

Paula U.

Susan B.

Brian and Cherie R.

Chance W.

Jorre D.

Jeanne J.

Laci S.

Anita P.

Jami L.

I know there are so many more because I found myself saying thank you in my sleep. Everywhere I turned, someone was helping me do something. 

It is HUMBLING.

It is OVERWHELMING.

It is GOD!

We made our goal! $2000 was raised for the kids' library at Kechene Care Point. 130 children will soon enjoy a corner just for them to study in with reference books, dictionaries, and some fun books to just read all while sitting on chairs at tables.

Thank you, Byers and Anderson Families, Dodgeville, and Hidden Valley Community Church!
You made a difference! God is so good!

What is this Art/Craft sale we speak of???

Art Sale? Crafts? Bake Sale?

It is all to benefit the kids at Kechene Care Point in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where we have 130 children who are presently sponsored by folks here in the U.S. through Children's Hopechest. www.hopechest.org

All 100% of the money raised from the sale will go towards their "library." This will consist of reference books, a few shelves, a couple tables, and chairs and hopefully some "fun" books! We are excited since they don't expect it to all be done in one sale, but our goal is $3500!

Come help us achieve this goal and give these children a library they have never had before!

Where?  Hidden Valley Community Church

When?  Sat., Aug. 18 from 9a.m.-3 p.m.

What?  Over 20 artists/crafters featured with items like wood pens, trivets, cutting boards, crocheted hats, beautiful scarves, paintings and photographs, a girly table, baked goods, and even lunch of BBQ sandwiches, chips and lemonade.

Treading in new waters

As I emailed all the sponsors recently, we had some changes with this new idea of the children at our care point creating art to help support their school. The original idea was big and getting bigger. I felt as if we had something that could really grow and empower the children, but sometimes those ideas are too big, too fast.

In receiving the artwork from the children at Kechene and sending it all out to the sponsors who donated for the school's library we are presently raising funds for, it became a concern with Children's Hopechest that it could be child labor. I know we do this all the time in the States to raise money for schools like new playgrounds or improvements on classrooms. However, in a country like Ethiopia, it could be seen as a gray area and we MUST be careful.

So, the artwork has all been sent out to the sponsors as a gift from their sponsor children at Kechene. If they feel they would like to donate to the library, or anyone else who feels moved to do that, they can still go to the link www.go.hopechest.org/kechene-library and the funds will go directly to the library that Kechene so desperately needs. (This will consist of reference books like dictionaries, extra textbooks and thesauruses, as well as a shelf, tables and chairs.)

As far as empowering the children to help their own school, this is still a frustrating factor that I hope to work through with the organization, and Ethiopia for that matter. I strongly believe that empowerment and self-help is the key to growth and prosperity, but it is a battle I am not fighting alone, nor one to be solved overnight.  New waters may need some more treading, but we will keep swimming forward before giving up!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ironically," this verse was shared today at church...


"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the Proper time He may exalt you." 1 Peter 5:6

Art work is HERE!

I have been a little giddy lately... the long awaited art work arrived last week and I have just now had the chance to photograph all of them and get them on line, all 127 of them. (3 children did not finish their painting when they were sent.:( )I will soon be sending them out to everyone so they can look for their sponsor child's art!

I'm excited because they are all so precious! They were done by the kids at Kechene during their art class knowing that they were going to their sponsors and that it would be making money for their own school! The goal is $3200 for shelves, reference books, extra textbooks, chairs and tables. Their new "library" is something I thought they would need and it turns out they are very much in need of these items.

I will send out an email soon to all the sponsors will ALL the art. The children painted their picture AND their names and reference numbers on the material (muslin I think) so folks can see who it belongs to. They are all so cute!

So, here is a sampler of the joyous, colorful pieces of creativity the little ones (Kindergardeners and 1st-3rd graders) have done for you...

Gotta Love them!

Garage Sale a success!

In April, it looked like Nov. 2012 would be the date to go back to Ethiopia to see all the children at Kechene and continue work to link sponsors with their sponsor child. However, since then, I have had clear direction that June 2013 is better timing for Caleb.

Since then, I had planned a garage sale to raise part of our enormous goal of $6000 so I set a lofty goal of $1000! In our small town, this is not very realistic. Most garage sales earn about $300 for a good sale. The heat last week was intense and it looked to be a very far reach.

I started to ask for donations for the sale from friends and family back in early June. I have a friend who has been very motivated to clean out their basement and she said this was the event she needed to get the job done. When the week came, last week, to start collecting the items, they really started coming! First a couple boxes from Matt's mom, then, a few more boxes from Matt's mom, then, more stuff from Matt's mom. (You get the idea...) Since we do not have a garage, I asked for people to bring things close to the garage sale date. Well, on Wed., Selam's room was packed full of stuff. I was starting to get worried that I would not get this all sold!

Our neighbors offered their amazing, new double car garage to use for the sale, Thank God!! By Thursday afternoon, it was PACKED! We had everything from kitchen tables, to furniture, to name brand clothes stack after stack. The donations came from people I have never met who heard from someone else that this sale was for our kids at Kechene.

I was so overwhelmed by not only the generosity, but the way folks were talking it out with friends and neighbors. The word spread quickly and by Thursday night when we closed the garage door before the sale, it barely closed. Now, my husband was really worried that we would not get rid of it all and we would be taking load after load to storage. It really was a lot of stuff!!! I reassured him that it would be ok and I'll take care of it. The verse, "Do not be anxious about ANYTHING, but in prayer and petition lift your cares to the Lord," became my verse for the weekend!

By Friday, people were lined up outside of the garage door before 7 a.m. The shoppers didn't stop coming until we closed at 4:00 p.m. We had already made over $600! Sat. was slower, but we still sold a ton! We even gave out $1 bags by the last half hour. Gavin, our 12 year old, had the idea to put out a donation bucket! Good thing, not only did it make us $82 on Friday, but another $42 on Sat! Plus, we were able to share what we were doing to everyone!

By the end of the garage sale, all of the big "stuff" was sold and all that was left was the little stuff that we were able to donate to We Care and Goodwill. The whopping total for the sale was $1008! (That's with all my expenses taken out from advertising and starter money.) How amazing!

HUGE thank yous go out to Mueller Implement for the donation of tables, Scott and Jami Lundell, Susan and Mike Bisbach, Tim and Mayra Angel, Keith and Connie Byers (my fearless mother-in-law and father-in-law for all the amazing donations and Connie's tireless help at the sale), Elizabeth Morgan, JT and Keeley Thomas for their garage usage, Anita Phillips, Bill and Lynn Abbott for their incredible lot of vintage toys and books, Cindy Wiker, Staci Driscoll (help at the sale and donations), Maggie Piper, Amanda Lockmann, Sandy Marty, Patty Steil, MacKenzie Johnson, and all the shoppers and donors who helped rack up the total!