Week 34
Each week we introduce you to the children of Hope Centre Burundi. We upload a picture of one child and give you their story.
Bijoux Nishimwe
Bijoux's StoryBijoux is 10 years old.
In 1999, just a few months after Bijoux was born, soldiers came looking for rebels in the area where Bijoux and her parents were living.
The soldiers and the rebels started shooting at each other and both Bijoux parents were caught in the cross fire and were killed.
After the soldiers and rebels left the area there were many left for dead laying on the ground. Pastor Leonard, and some others, went to provide some help and then he heard a baby crying. It was Bijoux and she was still tied to her dead mother's back (this is how most mothers carry their babies in Burundi). Pastor Leonard was able to take Bijoux with him as she had no relatives alive to take care of her.
At the moment, she is being cared for by friends in Bujumbura.
Bijoux is in grade 4 at school.
Progress on SiteWork is still progressing well especially with the good news that work can now continue due to the recent donations that have come in. If you didn't see our mid- week report posted here then we have news that more donations have come in, this week, for the work of
Hope Centre and these amount to about £3,000. This is great news for all who are involved with this project and once again we say a huge big thanks to everyone for this.
For house number one the finishing rendering for the internal walls is progressing well. The one responsible is producing a very flat and smooth finish. The house hardboard ceilings are now being fitted. It is all looking good inside.
House number two is also well underway with roof joists now being lifted into place:
A view from outside the site with house number one on the left and house number two on the right. You will also possibly see how high up the houses look from the level of the surrounding ground level. As the whole area is prone to flooding we spent a fair bit of time and money to ensure that our houses, and their foundations, were built well above the anticipated future flood levels:
A picture of one of our friendly brick layers:
Hope Centre Fruit TreesA little more about the fruit trees at Hope Centre:We needed to have trees put in around the perimeter of Hope Centre's grounds but felt that it would be a good if Pastor Leonard could find donors locally to provide these trees free of charge. This he managed to do.
The ground that
Hope Centre is built on does not have good fertile soil. The ground is very salty and not suitable for growing anything more than grass. To get around this problem we have been digging large holes and filling the holes with top soil that has also been given free of charge. All we had to do was collect the soil with our truck.
I would like to introduce one person in particular who has been responsible for the managing of the fruit tree planting and has done most of the actual planting himself. His name is
'Aron Ntahomyukiye'Aron is a local pastor of a small church in Gatumba and is giving his time freely to help and support the
Hope Centre project. He is pictured with Pastor Leonard below:
This week the rains were heavy and the timing of one heavy shower of rain coincided with the return of our boys from school. The picture doesn't show it clearly but they are completely drenched. What a shame.
I think they are muttering something like "
Dad is too lazy and can't be bothered to pick us up"
For the last few months Val has been providing some extra learning support a couple of mornings each week for four of the children from the Crib orphanage who attend the King's School (the same school that our boys attend). Their names are Della and Edward (who are twins), Kosami and Andrew and they are all in John's class, year 5, although Kosa is just 9 and Andrew, Della and Edward nearly 12. They are so happy that they can keep up with the rest of the class in Maths with Val's support.
Non-GiftAid Donations: 
GiftAid Donations: 
Here are different ways to contact us in BurundiEmail:
Val Carr = vcarr@HopeCentreBurundi.com
Charles Carr = ccarr@HopeCentreBurundi.com
New Mobile Phone Numbers:
Val Carr: (00257) 79239810
Charles Carr (00257) 79239809
Our New House Phone Number:
Use this number sequence and you will only pay 4p per minute.
Dial: 08444 287287 & wait for a voice and then..
Dial: 00257 22259608Please email us and let us know if you don't manage to contact us on these numbers.
Pastor Leonard
Pastor Leonard's StoryPastor Leonard was born in 1971, the youngest of five children. His parents were killed in a mass killing of their ethnic group in 1972. The children struggled to survive and look after each other for many years.
As a teenager Leonard was full of hatred and wanted to avenge the killing of his parents, but he became a
Christian when he was 18 and was able to meet and forgive those who had killed his parents. He felt God told him clearly that he was to look after others who were orphaned as he had been.
At the time his circumstances did not allow him to do this, but he was ordained as a Pastor in 1996, and was able to take in his first orphan in 1997, just before he was married.
His wife partners him in this ministry and they now care for over 40 orphans in addition to their own three children.
Around about April this year Pastor Leonard's land-lord for the house that he was staying in asked Pastor Leonard and all the family and children to move out of the property which they were renting. Obviously this was an impossible situation for them. Latterly Pastor Leonard managed to negotiate a compromise with the land lord whereby his immediate family and a few of the orphans could stay in the property until his house was built. This meant that the remaining orphans had to be farmed out to friends that would be willing to take them. Pastor Leonard continues to provide food and clothing for these children which is now even more difficult for him. Thankfully though you have helped him greatly with your regular child support donations.
February 04, 2009, 09:32:16 AM
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