Thursday, December 16, 2010

Christmas Blessings!!!

This year for Christmas, HFA chose to bless 5 random widows and their families living near Monrovia, Liberia, with gifts of things that they so desperately need. Chris, our worker there, found 5 of the neediest people near his village. Each family received a mattress, a chicken, some rice, shoes, clothing, and kitchen items. We praise the God of the universe, Who knows each one of these people by name, that we were able to share Christ's love with them this Chirstmas in such a tangible way!
Here are the families with a brief story of their current situations:



This is Sarah Ballah. She is a widow who lost her husband in the war in 1990. She has one daughter and the other girl who lives with her is an orphaned child she found that was lost in the war in 1994. She took this girl in to live with her. In order to earn a little bit of money to buy food to live, Sarah plants potatoes for other people.



This is Quatai Dolo. She is a 68 year old widow and mother of 7 children of which only 3 are still alive. She and her husband fled to Monrovia in the war in the 1990's and he died of old age in 2008. She is trying to make a living by washing some of the neighbour's clothes. Her oldest daughter died about a year ago during childbirth. Her only living daughter has mental problems and keeps getting pregnant from men who she never sees again. Life is hard for Quatai as this leaves her to raise these fatherless grandchildren on her own.




This is Julia Weah. She is a single mother of 4, but sadly 2 of her children died a few months ago from sickness. She washes other people's clothes to get money for food, which has been scarce for them. She was recently told by her landlord to leave the house she is living in because she cannot afford to pay the rent for just one room. Her parents were killed in the war in the 1990's.




This is Oldma Kemah Tarnue. She is a widow raising her 4 grandchildren who were orphaned after their parents died in 2003. Oldma and her husband fled to Monrovia in 1994 due to massive looting and killing of elderly people and youth. In 1999 they tried to return to their village but they were stopped by rebels who were demanding food. They had none to give so the rebels cut her husband's throat right in front of her.




This is Gbassie Zinnah, a widow who lives in poverty with her niece, her only living relative. The rest of her family were all killed in their village during the war so she has remained in Monrovia as she had no one to go to.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

"For What It's Worth . . . "

Our friend, Dirk Helmling, from the US, is a missionary pastor to native Liberian pastors. He has committed his life to disciple these people so they in turn can spread the Good News of the Gospel to their own people! He travels to Liberia several times a year to minister to his group of Liberian pastors.

Dirk is in Liberia right now and was able to meet with Chris, our ground worker in Liberia. Hearts for Africa was able to send along with Dirk 2 suitcases of supplies for our sponsored kids as well as some gifts from their sponsoring families here in Canada. We also sent along some New Testament Bibles for the members of Chris's weekly Bible Study. For these people, it will be their first Bible ever that they are able to keep for themselves!! We praise God for this! We will post pictures of this distribution as soon as we get them from Chris.
What a blessing it was for Chris to receive this encouragement from Dirk as well as some Christian mentorship!! You can read more about Dirk's visit with Chris on his blog at:

dirkydirk.blogspot.com

HFA will be working more with Dirk in the future in not only humanitarian projects, but also in helping to feed the souls of these people with the Truth of the Gospel to transform their lives for eternity! Please pray with us as we move forward in this direction. We are very excited to see where God will lead in this way and will continue to keep you updated on future projects and events in Liberia!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Revolution in World Missions

In his book, Revolution in World Missions, Dr. K.P. Yohannan teaches the importance of not only meeting the needs of people physically, but to do all that we can to reach the unsaved people of the world with the true Word of God! He states, "when we allow a mission activity to focus on the physical needs of man without the correct spiritual balance, we are participating in a program that ultimately sends people to hell."
HFA believes this to be true and we would strongly encourage everyone to get a copy of this book for yourself. If you go to his website, you can order your free copy and also get it shipped to your home free of charge. Reading this book has changed our entire perspective of world missions and we believe that it will change yours too!!

HFA will be sponsoring two Liberian pastors starting this month. We will keep you updated on what they will be doing as soon as we receive the information ourselves. Please pray for these men as they go into their villages spreading the Word of God to their people.

Be blessed, be changed . . .

http://www.gfa.org/


Living Water . . .

After the completion of our well project in Liberia, we had this plaque installed so the people who are coming to this place for fresh water can be reminded of the Living Water!!


Monday, May 31, 2010

A few more pictures of the finished well in Liberia

The well project in Liberia is completed. Here are a few final pictures.
On Sunday, May 31, 2010, several residents of this community gathered at the well to have a dedication service. Pray with us that these people will not only be blessed by this fresh clean drinking water, but that they will receive the Living Water that endures forever!





Saturday, April 24, 2010

Pictures of Fundraiser April 24, 2010

Here are a few pictures from our Garage Sale/Car Wash/BBQ today.

We praise God for another great fundraiser! Despite the weather, we still had a very successful day for which we are truly thankful.

Visit our Facebook page to see the entire album with comments.



Pricing and sorting the night before.



Some of the volunteers.





Washing some cars between rain showers!


The BBQ stand.


Lunch guests.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Giant Garage Sale/CarWash/BBQ this Saturday, April 24

We are having our 3rd annual giant Garage Sale/Car Wash/BBQ this upcoming Saturday, April 24 in Chilliwack. All proceeds will be going towards our general work in Liberia and Ghana. If you have items that you would like to donate, please drop them off the day before. See attached flyer for more details or contact us if you have any questions concerning this.

This is always a great community event and we would love to see you all there!!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Pictures from our Fundraiser at Hofstede's April 16&17

On Friday, April 16 and Saturday, April 17, the HFA crew were on location at Hofstede's Country Market in Chilliwack, selling baked Dutch goods. All proceeds for this event will be going towards our current well project in Liberia.
Thanks again to all of our supporters in this! We praise and honour our Lord for all of His goodness!










Thursday, April 15, 2010

Well Project Fundraiser

Our friend, Els VanHierden, from Lethbridge, Alberta, has just released her novel "Ransomed". She and her husband adopted a child from Russia in 2006, then traveled to Romania in 2008 to work with orphans. Based upon these experiences, the platform for this Christian fiction novel was formed. Set in Russia, the characters of this novel deal with rampant issues such as adoption, sexual abuse, street kids, drugs, suicide, abortion, and post-abortion syndrome. She hopes that readers will take away a picture of the suffering that takes place with the hope that we can do our part to help, yet offering the promise of redemption and healing in Christ.

Each book is $20 (including taxes) with all proceeds going towards our current well project in Liberia. Please contact us if you are wanting to support HFA by purchasing a copy of this book.
If you are out of our area, please visit her website at http://www.elsvanhierden.com/book.htm to order your copy. Be sure to mention HFA in the Comments section, and the author will forward the proceeds to us.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Here are a few pictures we have been sent so far of the well project in Liberia:

David, Esther, and a few community members "breaking ground" for the well. Chris is in the red shirt on the right.



Some of the culverts that have been purchased.


Construction begins.


Saturday, March 27, 2010

Well project starts in Liberia!

By the grace of God and thanks to a generous donation, we have been given funds for the purpose of constructing a well in Liberia. This will take place in a poor village community just outside of Monrovia. This will be a hand dug well that will provide fresh water for all of the 200 residents of this small village.
David and his wife Esther pastor a small church there and also have a small school called Triumphic Transformation Children Outreach Ministry (TTCOM). They have had to vacate their former school building due to lack of funds to rent this and are now teaching kids out of their home, as many as they can fit in.
The inital funds have been sent and construction of this will hopefully take place this week.
Chris, our ground worker in Liberia, will be overseeing this project and he will send us pictures as soon as he has access to a camera. Together with David, they will also manage security of this well once it is completed.
Please pray for the people of this poor community, that they will be blessed not only by fresh water but that they may experience the love of Christ by this action.

The pictures below were taken last year when this project was first presented to us. The students and school building you see are at their former location which they have since had to vacate. Notice the lack of desks and the dirt floors.


David

Esther


Inside the school room (notice the dirt floors!)



The staff and students.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Upcoming Spring Fundraisers in April

We have two fundraisers planned for this April:

1. Hofstede's Market in Chilliwack ~ we will be selling baked goods on Friday, April 16 and on Saturday, April 17 at their location.

2. HFA Annual Giant Garage Sale/BBQ/Car Wash ~ at our usual location at the Free Reformed Church on Yale Road on April 24 ... items can be dropped off anytime the day before, April 23, at the church. Please consider Hearts for Africa when you are doing your spring cleaning this year :)

These are both great community events and have been a lot of fun in the past with so many people coming out to support a great cause!

Again, all proceeds from these two fundraisers will be going directly to those in need in West Africa.

More details on these to follow in the next few weeks, so keep checking here or contact us directly at heartsforafricanow@gmail.com.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Needy families in Liberia blessed this Christmas!

After our fundraiser this past November, the Hearts for Africa team decided to bless some of the needy people in Liberia for Christmas. Chris, our faithful groundworker there, found some of the neediest widowed families and orphans in his community and surprised them with gifts of shoes, blankets, mattresses, cooking oil, spices, rice, chickens, and a few other items which we here in North America would consider common necessities.

As well, each of our sponsored children's families were blessed with rice, oil, cooking bowls and blankets as needed.

And finally, at our fundraiser we had set up a Christmas Angel Tree where people could purchase random items for needy people in Liberia. This was also done this past Christmas and Chris was able to locate many needy recipients for this in his Liberian community.

Attached are photos of all of the above giftings. What a thrill to see the joy on these people's faces as they received these small gifts!

Thank you once again to all of you who so generously donated funds to make this possible for these people who are in such desperate need. Because of your compassionate hearts, you have made such a great difference in their lives this Christmas!

We praise God for enabling us to do this as all glory goes to Him!