Christmas Blessings to Liberian Widows ~ December 2011

As in previous years, Hearts for Africa chose to disperse the remaining funds in our account (that had been donated by our generous supporters) to help several widows in Chris's village this Christmas.
We were able to help out these five needy families. Each of them received various items such as mattresses, dishes, clothes, food and whatever other item(s) that Chris thought was urgently needed.


This is Nyamah Kollie. She is a 78 year old Kpelle woman who was forced out of her village in Bong County in 1999 as a result of the civil war. She had been living with a friend's daughter in Duazon Town, which is Chris's village. This friend, with whom Nyamah did everything together, recently died this past August, leaving Nyamah with her friend's children and her own grandchildren who were left to her after her last daughter's death last year.



This is Neallay Sayway. She lives in Duason Town, near Chris. She lives in a hut that has no sleeping arrangements and is therefore forced to sleep outdoors. Her husband and two sons were all killed in a motor vehicle accident in 1999. She is left to take care of this little boy.



This is Lesaymu Flayu. She is a 45 year old Bassa woman who was left to raise their four children on her own when her husband died in 2001. Since then, she has been frequently raped and as a result she is now raising nine children with different fathers. No man will marry her now with so many children to care for.

This is Zean Kpasea. She is a 55 year old Bassa woman. All of her belongings that she had worked for were lost in a house fire in 1992 and her husband died in 2000. She is raising six children and is mainly living only to find food for herself and her dependents.

This is Tumu Kpana. Unfortunately, Chris did not send much information about this family by the time we posted this.

Here is Tumu with the items that HFA bought for her.

We know that what we have been able to provide for these precious families is so little compared to the luxuries we enjoy in North America on a daily basis, but we trust that our efforts will not have been in vain and that God Himself will bless our endeavours to help the "least of these" ...

We can only imagine the joy they are now experiencing from these little gifts that our generous donors have freely given to them! Thank you and may you also be blessed through your giving.

New well project is finally complete...

This well project got started in July from the funds raised at our last fundraiser. It has now been completed and here are some pictures of the project. We once again give all glory and honour to our gracious Heavenly Father for ALL that He has done to provide these people with desperately needed fresh drinking water!



The culverts arrive.


Rolling the culverts to the construction site.


The project is underway.




A look inside ... we have water!


After testing several areas, it turned out the best location was on Chris's property. Here he is beside the well construction site.



Nearing completion!


And .... they have fresh running water!!


The completed project.


Plaque made for the well site ... our ultimate purpose for this project is that they will find Everlasting Water through our Saviour!

Fundraiser June 17 & 18, 2011

This past Friday and Saturday, the teams with other volunteers spent their days at Hofstede's Country Barn in Chilliwack selling Dutch goods, with all proceeds going to Hearts for Africa. Here are some pictures of the event:

I wonder ....

How many times have we stood in line at a grocery store, hearing people complain about waiting too long in line?



How must God feel when we grumble about not having anything to wear...

... and then stand in front of the mirror and whine that our "shoes don't match our outfit".

... when we open the refrigerator door and sigh that "there is nothing good to eat"...

... and we feel sorry for ourself that the economy is bad and we have to "cut back".

We grumble that our houses are not big enough because our children have to share a room...

... and we get grouchy because we "cannot stand what a mess our home is".

Father, forgive us and open our eyes so that we may see Your blessings all around us; show us how to be a blessing to others!

(pictures taken from another source)

Results of our Spring Fundraiser

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Wow, what a great day we had with our fundraiser!! Our goal was to raise approximately $3000 for the purpose of digging a new well for our impoverished brothers and sisters in Liberia. This was the amount we had raised in past years; however, by the grace of God, we exceed this amount by nearly $1000!! On top of this, an anonymous donor heard of our well project and felt led to donate an additional $3000 to Hearts for Africa, so now we will be able to bless two villages in Africa with fresh drinking water!

It was a very busy few days, but in perspective, working hard for two days now gives two poverty stricken communities on the other side of the world fresh water for life! We are both humbled and honoured to serve our Heavenly Father in this way!!

Here are a few pictures of our day:




Setting up items for the garage sale the day before.


Pricing the garage sale items the day before.

Hanging up clothes for display the day before.

Our generous friends from Devan Greenhouses graciously donated many many beautiful plants for the sale. We sold each one of them!

Setting up the plants in the morning to sell at the garage sale.

Some of the car wash crew.

We washed cars continuously for 7 hours. Car washes were by donation and this portion of the fundraiser raised $500 alone, just through donations. We thank God for giving us nice dry weather for this event!

No car (or truck) was too big or small ....

Our volunteers at the BBQ stand. All the food was donated so all profits went directly to the well project fund.

A generous donor provided the funds to pay for the rental of these ideal premises.

We had so many items donated for the garage sale, for which we are very thankful.

The customers kept coming all the way until closing time.

So many bargains to be had ...

The cashier's area.

There were quite a few unsold items that we packed up at the end of the day and were able to donate to Value Village.

Thank you to everyone for pitching in at the end of the day to clean the building before leaving!

The Hearts for Africa team would like to sincerely thank all the volunteers and patrons who helped to make this fundraiser such a success! May God bless you richly and please continue to pray for those people whose lives will be touched as we proceed to begin our well projects as soon as possible. We will keep you updated on these projects as they progress.

Chris, our worker in Liberia, is currently fairly busy with building his own house so we are not exactly sure when he will be able to oversee this for use, but hopefully this can begin soon!