What a way to welcome the New Year!

85 sponsor packets, 166 lollipops, gifts for our staff and extra handmade cards for the neighborhood children.

     Today Ryan Higgins, our director, began his 2 day journey to Rwanda, equipped with the precious words, images and treats that each of our sponsors has sent to their child.  He will spend New Years Day giving each orphan their family profile as well as helping them write their first letter back.  Each sponsored child will also be signing a Behavior Contract which we hope will set a standard for our students in the classroom and in the relationships that they will be developing.
     Ryan will also be working with James in last minute details regarding school supplies and transportation.  In addition, he will be problem solving with some of our headmasters.  In true Imana Kids fashion, the 11th our is upon us and there are conflicts with our S2 and S3 students and which school will best meet their needs.  Some of the kids have tested very low on placement exams, and deciding where to send them to fit their academic and social needs is no easy task.
     Unfortunately (and fortunately) Ryan and James will not have the time to devote to our preschool aged children.  The three nannies have been hired and the initial food program is up and running.  However, additional board members will work with the women later in the month regarding hygiene, first aid and nutrition, as well as identifying a structured, yet realistic routine for the little ones.
    If you are sponsoring a child, watch for them on Facebook and Twitter this week! Ryan will be doing his best to capture as much video and photography of these "first" moments for each child.  Please pray for all the kids, Ryan, James and the schools that will be welcoming them on Saturday.
  

Discernment

Hey there friends.

It's been another blessed week for Imana Kids.  27 primary kids took their placement tests at Good Harvest.  The railing is now complete so no more of our sweet kiddos will fall.  2 more kids have been sponsored.

The finished railing!

Bus ride to visit their new school and take placement tests.

Taking the exams.



We do have a few prayer requests going into the weekend:

• The reality of orphaned children is painful.  Many of our older children are testing very, very low.  James is struggling with where to place them in school.  No 10 year old wants to be in a class of 5 year olds.  This will also be difficult for the children and their future teachers (although the teachers are accustomed to this).
• James is overwhelmed.  He has requested help in placing all the children.  Getting 93 kids tested and to the correct school is a really big job.  We have offered to hire staff to assist him but we are also concerned that we want him to feel that we support him.  There are many expectations for this upcoming month and we don't want him to feel alone or pressured.  If it were not so expensive, all of us would hop on a plane to assist him.  Yet we also know that one plane ticket is the equivalent of 50 mattresses.  We are coveting your prayers this weekend that we make wise choices regarding support for James and how we use our limited funds.
• Next Saturday there will be more than 20 kids and young adults getting baptized.  James has been leading a bible study several days a week at the orphanage and every day more kids are accepting Christ.  This is amazing! This is their salvation.  Forever and ever.  This is also a (good)burden on James.  He requests that we all pray that he can lead them well and that their faith may blossom.  As a board, our first desire is that each child know God intimately as their father.
• For the board.  Each of us is overwhelmed with joy in this advent season that our dreams for the kids of Kimisagara are becoming a reality.  We miss them all dearly and we want James to feel confident, supported and in community with us.  We don't know if we should spend the money and send someone to support him, to seek other staff in Rwanda or to just keep encouraging him from here. Thank you for your prayers, for loving the kids and for supporting us in more ways than we could imagine!

Burdened with Hope

  The clock is ticking.

     The next school year at Good Harvest and New Life schools begins in a month.  We are rejoicing and in awe that there are 70 children are leaving for boarding school.  70 kids getting the top teachers and the top education in Rwanda.  70 kids getting a new, clean bed all for themselves.  70 kids getting a shower and clothing.  70 kids getting three meals a day.  70 kids being cared for and nurtured by staff that knows the special needs of orphaned and vulnerable children.  Yet it gets better.

70 kids now feel wanted.

      The children and young adults of Kimisagara know what it means to be orphaned.  Most of them have spent their lives at the top of a cliff, watching life happen.  Their view from the orphanage allows them to watch kids with families get walked to school every day.  They can see and hear and smell what they are missing out on.  Seeing those kids sit and watch life happen was one of the many ways that God shaped our hearts to start Imana Kids.
     Our sponsors are already bonding with their sponsored children.  They are filling their paperwork with words of love and encouragement.  Our Imana Kids are getting framed on walls across North America (see what we did there, Canada? wink), their names are being whispered in prayers and their stories are being told.  Each of those 70 kids is beginning to believe that they matter.  That they are worth it.  And to us, that is one of the best outcomes that we could pray for.
     You may be crunching numbers now.  We've said from the beginning that we had 93 stories to tell.  We still do.  Some of those stories are of children and young adults that are not orphaned but they find acceptance and companionship and a meal in Kimisagara Orphanage.  And the reality is that until poverty and disease and all the sin of the world is eliminated, there will always be more children.  We know that and we know that our work as a foundation will be life long.
     Some of those remaining are our kids that haven't been sponsored yet.  That breaks our hearts.  That is our burden.  The little (and big) faces of those that we don't want to get left behind.  Although we are burdened by this thought, we know that our God knows each of these children's story.  He has counted every hair on their head and He knows them by name.  They are already His.  And we are only a chapter of this story.
     It is Advent.  A season of hope.  We find our peace that the God of the Old Testament kept His promise to each and every one His people as He does to us now too.

"And again, Isaiah says: 'The root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule the nations; in Him the Gentiles will find hope." -Romans 15: 12

     That hope arrived 2000 years ago on a cold night. That hope hung on a tree and vacated the grave and overcame death.  That same hope shows up in the mundane and in the extraordinary

His HOPE in the form of a long-awaited railing.

   

His HOPE in your actions of love and your commitment to changing lives.

 

You can still sponsor a child.  If your heart is tugging but you have concerns about the financial commitment, can you email us?  We can still use you in other ways to bless a child in Kigali.  We are in need of families that can commit to praying for and writing to a child on an ongoing basis and the financial element we can work on together.  We also take one time donations and you can specify how your gift used (nutrition program, mattress fees, school supplies, medical needs, transportation fees).

Will you also pray for James? 

      If you don't remember, James is our staff in Rwanda.  He has the enormous job of getting each child registered for the appropriate school, transporting them, paying fees AND ministering to everyone at the orphanage.  And he's rockin' it.  On December 21 they are having a Christmas and baptismal celebration where, as of today, 16 kids are getting baptized.  James has requested that we send him someone to help with all of the schools starting up, but we just don't have the money to do that.  He needs prayers for strength, endurance and discernment.  He also requests that we prayer for these "new" believers as well.

We can't find words for our gratitude.

Thank you from each of the board members for the many ways that God has used you to bless our new ministry.  Thank you for believing that we can changes the lives of each of these kids.