School Supplies

School supplies were recently purchased for the kids at Merkato using sponsorship money.  All of the kids received exercise books, pens, pencils, erasers, and paper to start the new school year.  What fun to see these photos of their happy faces!  Thank you, sponsors, for making this possible.

45 New Sponsors!

It has been an exciting month!  God has heard our pleas to bring more sponsors for the children at Merkato, and he has answered our prayers.  Currently 106 of the 152 have sponsors to love them, pray for them, and help provide for them.  Praise God!

Let me back up...  Shortly after our kick-off event in March, the "K Family" from Virginia traveled to Ethiopia with Children's HopeChest on a Vision Trip.  They visited several different CHC care points on the trip and saw many needy and hurting children.  However, their hearts were most moved by what they witnessed at Merkato.  The poverty and desperation was more extreme than anywhere else they visited in Ethiopia.

When the "K Family" returned home, they sensed that God was leading them to help the children from Merkato.  They agreed to take on the same role that we have and are helping to coordinate more sponsorships for the kids there.  In June they hosted a kick-off event and have gathered about 45 more sponsors!

Joy, relief, and thankfulness are just a few of the emotions that we have right now.  We still hope and pray that every single child will soon have a sponsors (46 more to go!), but we are overjoyed to be 2/3 of the way there.

By the way, congratulations to Cameron - the winner of our giveaway last month.  Thank you for sponsoring one of the kids at Merkato!

Giveaway!

60 of the children at Merkato now have sponsors!  This is great news, but we want to see ALL of the 150 kids sponsored.  Sooooo.... From now until June 15th, for every child that you sign up to sponsor you will be entered into a drawing for a gift basket that contains the following:

• A $40 gift certificate to FashionAble (www.livefashionable.com)
• A $30 gift certificate to Red Earth Trading Company (www.redearthtradingco.com)
• A bag of Ethiopian Harrar coffee from Just Love Coffee Roasters (www.justlovecoffee.com)

Pretty cool, huh?  We will announce the winner here the week of June 25th.  Head over to the Children's HopeChest website now to check out the profiles and sign up.  

Also, please help us to spread the word about this giveaway by sharing links on Facebook telling your friends.  We need to find sponsors for every one of our kids!  

Meet Pastor Getahun

This is Pastor Getahun Shume and his family.  The sponsorship program at Merkato is the product of his passion, prayer, and hard work over the last several years.  He and his wife are rock stars in my book.  Here is a little bit more about his story:

17 years ago he began attending a small Ethiopian Orthodox church (the predominant religion in Ethiopia).  Gradually Getahun began taking on increasing leadership roles, eventually coming to lead the church.  Over the next couple of years the church grew.  However, as they prayed and studied together they became increasingly devoted to Jesus and less devoted to the traditional theology of the Orthodox church.  Because of this, the church came under sharp criticism and persecution from other Orthodox churches.  Eventually, they were completely cut off from the Orthodox church.

Undeterred and driven by passion for the Word and for orphans and widows, Getahun and his wife planted an Evangelical church in the middle of the roughest part of Addis Ababa - the Merkato area.  The church there is comprised of some of the most vulnerable people in Ethiopia.  The economic hardships that they face are indescribable, and the church, compelled by Jesus' love, has a burden to care for the many orphans in that area.

We first met Pastor Getahun two years ago.  He told us how his church members, though in poverty themselves, were giving to fund the care of 25 orphans.  They were providing food, clothing, and education to these kids.  They were also personally involved in their lives, mentoring them and teaching them about Jesus.  Getahun saw the difference that they were able to make in the lives of these 25 children, and he desperately wanted to expand the program to include more children.

Pastor G and several of the sponsored children

Now, because of sponsors here in America, 60 more children are being helped.  They now have a regular source of food and medical care and are receiving an education to help break the cycle of poverty.  60 more kids are being taught about Jesus!  For that we praise God and thank all of the sponsors for their support.

Would you consider making a difference in the life of a child today?  Click here to view the profiles of children who are waiting to be sponsored.

http://www.hopechest.org/community/merkato/sponsor/

The Rein Family Visits Merkato

One of the things that we love about the Children's HopeChest sponsorship program is that they encourage you to meet the children that you sponsor and even help to provide the opportunity for you to do so.  This can be done through an organized mission trip to Ethiopia (more on this to come!).  Occasionally, however, sponsors find themselves in Ethiopia for other reasons (like adoption) and take advantage of the opportunity to visit their sponsored children.  This was the case for Clay and Neely Rein.  About a month ago they traveled to Addis Ababa to complete the adoption of their daughter.  Children's HopeChest made arrangements for them to visit Kidist and Liya, the children that they sponsor from Merkato.

Neely said:

"It was so exciting to meet Kidist and Liya and to be able to see these precious children who desperately need our help.  It is indescribable to see the conditions they live in but exciting to see the hope in their eyes. We also got to meet Liya's mom.  She was so sweet and very appreciative....The Children's HopeChest liaison was very kind and helpful too."

How exciting for all of us!  Clay and Neely, thanks for sharing your experience and helping to give Kidist and Liya a hope and a future.






You can visit the Rein family's blog at:  http://thereinnews.blogspot.com/http://thereinnews.blogspot.com/ 

Wil visits Merkato!

Wil Crooks, a partner with Children's HopeChest, led a Vision Trip to Ethiopia a few weeks ago. (Vision Trips are for church leaders who are eager to learn more about the needs of kids around the world how their congregations can get involved.) If you were at the kick-off reception we held in March, you will remember Wil as the all-around-cool-guy who so eloquently spoke to us about CHC's work in Ethiopia.

While in Ethoipia, the team visited our care point - the Merkato slum area! Wil got to spend the afternoon loving on and playing with about 20 kids from the sponsorship program. He and the team witnessed crushing desperation. The children in that area are particularly vulnerable to violence, neglect, and prostitution. Despite these incomprehensible hardships, their smiles are eager and eyes hopeful.

Would you consider making a difference in the life of one of them through sponsorship? Real change happens one child at a time. You can be the catalyst for that change.

Click here to see photos of children who are in need of a sponsor.

http://www.hopechest.org/community/merkato/sponsor/

Where Does Your Money Go?

We are so excited to be launching this sponsorship program. About 50 kids have been sponsored so far from the Merkato community in Addis Ababa. It is so exciting to know that many lives have been drastically changed already. Thank you sponsors!

We still have about 100 children who need sponsors. If you are interested in sponsorship, click on the link below and take a look at their profiles. We need your help!

http://www.hopechest.org/community/merkato/sponsor/

You may be wondering exactly where the $34/month sponsorship fee goes. 20% of the money is used to pay administrative costs for Children's HopeChest here in the U.S. They take seriously the responsibility of being good stewards of your money, and they use a lot of volunteer work to keep these costs at a minimum.

80% of every dollar goes to Ethoipia and is directly used to pay for the needs of the individual children.

Here is how the 80% breaks down:

In coming weeks we will be sharing more about what each of the individual components look like.