Friday, October 23 at 1:00pm MST

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23 AT 1:00 MST

Joel and his mom came to Humble Hearts yesterday looking for a school for Joel. He is 4 years old, deaf, and lives with his mom who is barely able to afford her rent and food for the two of them. Because the new Angel Cottage is almost completed and so many people have come together to help us in the America's Giving Challenge, Joel's mother was told he could move into Angel Cottage in January and begin attending school.

During the past two weeks of the Giving Challenge, I've been talking about giving the children of Angel Cottage a home, and all of the things children deserve in their home...loving care-givers, their own beds, books, space to play. But, Joel has reminded me that this challenge is about so much more.

This challenge is all about giving these children a chance at a life that is completely different than they were born into. Because people around the world have come together to build Angel Cottage and put everything in it the children need, Joel will learn a language. Joel will learn math. He'll learn to read. Most importantly, Joel will learn he is capable. He'll start dreaming of a future that doesn't include wondering where his next meal is coming from or if his tin shack is going to leak during the rainy season.

Friday, October 23 at 1:00 starts the next daily challenge. Because of so many people, Angel Covers has won $500 in this challenge twice. Please help us this Friday by donating and asking others to do the same. This challenge isn't about beds and tables. It's about hope and dreams...it's about futures. http://www.causes.com/donations/select_donation_method?cause_id=16135

Continuously grateful,

Kari

Beatrice goes home.

After a whirl-wind trip across the United States, Beatrice Anunda headed back to Kenya today. Beatrice was thrilled to have been brought to the US by the Trillium School in Oregan. Very supportive of Humble Hearts, the Trillium School has sent two groups of high school kids to Humble Hearts with their teachers to help build desks, paint walls, plant a garden, and many other things.

While in Oregon, Beatrice learned new teaching methods from the Trillium School, was able to see the ocean, and met many wonderful supporters. We were fortunate that she also had time to come to Denver. While here she spoke at a school for the deaf, met with two non-profit organizations interested in helping deaf and impoverished children, had an online chat with sponsors, meet many sponsors in person, learned about Halloween, and many other things. She was also able to see snow for the first time and went to the top of the Continental Divide...exclaiming "I've never been so cold in my life!" :-)

After leaving Denver, Beatrice had the great fortune of going to Pennsylvania for a week to visit the Scranton School of the Deaf. It was exciting to hear her be so enthusiastic about what she had learned. Seeing New York City was a huge hit too.

Thanks to everyone who talked to her through the online chat, took the time to meet her, have her in your homes, and show her this beautiful country of ours. She had a wonderful time, much was learned, and many new people learned how they too can help Humble Hearts.

The Rainy Season

My sister-in-law, Lynn, and brother are living in Nairobi right now and Lynn has spent lots of time volunteering at Humble Hearts. I wanted to share a post she recently made on her personal blog. It gives a whole new understanding of the difficulties these children face each day. Kari

I can’t stop thinking about the rain. I’ve heard of rainy seasons, but this beats all for predictability (though a friend from New Orleans once told me that a 30% chance of rain there meant it would be raining 30% of the day. I leave it to the meteorologists among you to compare).

Every day since early last week it has p-o-u-r-e-d down rain. The clouds silently boil up in the late afternoon and, sometime between rush hour and supper, they demonstrate their power over us with more water than some places get in a year. Sometimes it goes on all night, sometimes just a fast thundershower.


It’s going to be like this for the next 2 months.


We’ve traded dust for mud. The cleaning up is a daily endeavor. At the Angel Cottage house where about 35 deaf kids from Humble Hearts live, daily rain means a daily flood. The bedroom structures were only meant to be temporary, and the city council didn’t allow them to include drainage around the buildings.

The kids come home every day and expect to help bail out the house. Shoes must still be washed, so it’s done in the muddy water on the ground.

coming home








There is no yard for these kids to go play in puddles and then leave behind for a dry, warm house. The water is outside their bedroom doors, filling up. The blessing is that so much rain water can be collected in barrels to help with other washing, like socks.


The good news is that a new Angel Cottage is being built, albeit slowly, as funds allow. If you can help, please visit angelcovers.org/africa.html and make a donation.
Thank you and take care,-L
(More pictures of Humble Hearts and Angel Cottage on flickr.)