It has been far too long since we have last shared the news about what is going on with Hope Milele Africa. We have made posts on our Facebook page and sent out email updates to donors, but have neglected our website. The good news is we have been very busy and that is part of the reason we have not kept up. Here is the latest.
Project Burundi: The school we support in Burundi is open for the fall semester. The children in our primary school have new uniforms and are back in class. Fortunately, the corona virus has not taken a severe toll in Burundi at this point.
Our children continue to grow. Of the children we support in Burundi 2 are ready for college and 1 is in trade school. These 3 young adults were part of the children’s choir that toured in the US in 2012. Eight children are in secondary boarding school and six are in external boarding school (secondary school is high school). Seventeen of our younger children are in other primary schools and twenty-seven are in the primary school that we provide primary support for.
Funds from all of the sponsored children help to keep the primary school in Ngozi open. We continue to provide school fees, supplies, supplemental care for all children who are sponsored and a hot meal a day for all children attending our primary school. When things settle down with the corona virus we hope to find additional sponsors for these children in need.
Burundi remains one of the poorest nations on earth. The niece of the former president of Burundi is a devout Christian and helps to run the school through Hope of Africa Mission NGO. A local Pastor also works in support of our school there. The First Lady of the newly elected President just visited the children and provided gifts and support to them.
Project Kenya: We continue to support only one family in Kenya. We provided funds for a chicken marketing business for restaurants to help the family become self sustaining. Shortly after that Covid 19 hit and all restaurants were closed. Those funds were used for other needs. One of the oldest children is in Nairobi looking for work and his siblings will be starting school when the lock down eases.
Project Rwanda: Our children in Rwanda are doing well. Eight of the children who toured with the original children’s choir in 2010 are now young adults attending college. These children stayed in many of their sponsors homes when on the US tour. Though the organization that toured them closed in 2015, their sponsors have continued to faithfully support them.
Our project in Rwanda originally started with about a dozen of these children who lost their host organization. Along with those in college we now support ten children in secondary school (with some in boarding school) and sixteen in primary school.
In other developments, we have recently facilitated the development of two wells to provide clean water in communities where our children are located. Rwanda is handling the corona virus well and is gradually opening up their country under regulations similar to ours here in the states.
Our original work in Rwanda was through Baho Outreach Church, but is now through a separate non-profit called Baho Community. Baho Community just went through the rigorous vetting process of the Rwandan government and is now fully certified by the national government.
Project Uganda: We continue to have a small project in Uganda. We have no expansion plans there, but hope to see the children we have sponsored through their formal education . We will be referring future Uganda sponsors to Bridges of Hope Ministries, BOHAM. We work closely with their organization and have great respect for their founders.
Project Peru: We recently undertook a major relief project in Peru due to the impact of Covid 19 there. Peru has one of the highest death rates per capita of any developing country. Through the generosity of our donors we raised nearly $19,000, all of which went to providing aid to indigenous people living in poor villages near Pucallpa and in remote villages in the Amazon river basin. Through our contact with a non-profit there we have delivered direct care to well over 4,000 indigenous people with confirmed or suspected Covid 19 illness. There is little doubt these efforts have saved lives.
Our Position on Racial Equality: At Hope Milele Africa we stand for racial equality and opportunity for all. We recognize that recent incidents here in the US have brought this issue to the forefront of our nations consciousness. We also recognize that the same incidents have created distrust of the police for many. This concern is understandable, but we would encourage people not to judge anyone by the color of their skin or by the color of their uniform.
It is important to note that four of our founding board members are retired police managers from four different law enforcement agencies here in Sonoma County. These individuals and their wives put up thousands of dollars of their own funds to start Hope Milele Africa. They dedicated their careers in support of racial equality. They have dedicated significant time in recent years to help children in Africa and more recently to support indigenous people in Peru. Many of our donors are retired or active police officers. All have been dedicated to helping the poor and people of color before HMA was incorporated and have continued that dedication to the present day.
At Hope Milele Africa we hope to always practice what Jesus refers to the “second” of the greatest commandments. That commandment challenges each of us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. In that regard we stand for justice and equality for all. Collectively we stand against police brutality, community violence and bias in any form. We stand with all people regardless of ethnicity. We also stand united with the vast majority of ethical men and women in uniform who put their lives on the line daily to preserve the peace.
May God bring healing to us all.