Homeless Children International        Volume 5         No. 2         Winter 1998

Electronic reprint of our periodic newsletter REALIZE

In this Newsletter

          Kenya Update
               Home for Street Girls in Oloitokitok to Open
               Woodley Street School Distributes Shoes

          Wayne Walker Home
               Construction on the Wayne Walker Home Completed

          Training Center
               Land donated for Cross Cultural Missionary Training Center

          Vietnam & Romania Updates
               Exploring partnerships in new countries

Chombo Cha Upendo Home:
Prepares to Open

Last year Homeless Children International – Kenya opened a shelter for street girls in Nairobi as part of its Chombo Cha Upendo program. This program focuses on meeting the needs of street girls since most intervention programs for street kids in the city focus on boys.

The shelter was opened in one of the slums of the city to serve as a transitional home where street girls could gradually adjust to a more structured environment. Thirteen girls have successfully completed the rehabilitation stage at the shelter and are now ready to be placed in a more permanent setting.

Investigations of possible sites for a permanent home led the leaders of the ministry in Kenya to the town of Oloitokitok and a property which was being sold by the Assembly of God Church. Oloitokitok is about 200 kilometers southwest of Nairobi and resides just north of the Kenyan border with Tanzania. Currently the property is being rented with an option to purchase the land at a later date.

There are several existing buildings on the property which will meet the needs of housing the girls. There are 300 coffee trees on the property which will help in reaching the goal of making the home self supporting. There is much to be done before the home can be opened. Homeless Children International – Kenya is currently considering those who will administer the home. Please remember those working in Kenya in your prayers.

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Nairobi:
Woodley Street School Update

Bobby Dobson (Chairman of the Board of Directors) and David High (President) visited the Kenya office in August. During this time they gave shoes to the children in the Woodley Street School. These shoes were donated by members of Central Baptist Church of Bearden, Knoxville, Tennessee. British Airways helped transport these and other items to Kenya.

We are very thankful for all those who gave and helped in making this possible. The smiles on the faces of the children were great.

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Bolivia:
Wayne Walker Home
Prepares to Accept Children

After three years of research and planning, two years of construction and five months of bringing the dairy farm into production, the Wayne Walker Memorial Hogar de Ninos, in Los Chacos, Bolivia is ready to accept children.

This project is unique in that its purpose was to determine the feasibility of building a self-supporting home, operated under a local church. "Although we made our share of mistakes," says David High, President of Homeless Children International, "the idea of building a self-supporting children's home is feasible. Our goal now is to learn from our mistakes, shorten the time, lower the costs and copy the pattern.

The need for homes is enormous around the world. However, the reason many mission boards do not want to invest in most social ministries is because of the ongoing costs. This home was built on faith, for we did not ask anyone for the funds to build it, except the Lord. And the Lord moved in people’s hearts and they gave of time and resources, and today there is a children's home which will have an enormous impact on the lives of the children who will live there."

This project has already had an enormous impact on the community. A church was started in the community by the building of a chapel on the property where the home is located. This chapel was built in October by a construction team from Lee Road Baptist Church, Taylors, South Carolina. Within two weeks of the chapel being completed, 17 decisions to follow Jesus had been made by individuals in the community.

The Lord was preparing the hearts of those with whom our volunteers had been working in the community. They held English classes and Bible studies and assisted in the local school.

The total costs of the project were as follows:

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Land Donated for Cross Cultural
Missionary Training Center

Twelve and a half acres of land in the state of South Carolina have been donated by Mrs. Rebecca Saunders  for the purpose of building a Cross Cultural Missionary Training Center. The Training Center will be a vital asset in training career missionaries and volunteers for overseas service.

"People just do not realize how stressful going and living in a new culture is," says David High, President of Homeless Children International. "When you enter a new culture, all the things which you grew up with and make life comfortable to you change. Suddenly you are a ‘baby’ having to learn everything over again. You don’t know what offends people. You don’t know how to order something to eat. You don’t even know when you should laugh. All this adds up to stress and cultural shock. This Training Center will go a long way in helping prepare people for going across cultural barriers."

Plans are for the Center to also house a language school, chapel and the home office of the ministry. We here at Homeless Children International desire to express our gratitude for this gift. We believe that the Lord will use this gift to help bring many to Him as Lord of their lives.

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Vietnam & Romania Update

The Board of Directors approved in its December meeting support for the American Vietnamese Christian Outreach Ministry (AVCOM). We look forward to working in partnership with this ministry in developing street schools and children homes in Vietnam. Additionally, investigation of a possible partnership with existing work in Romania is planned for this summer.

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