Meet the Teachers

Laura writes

Today I was able to sit and talk with some of our teachers. I don’t really know who they are. It was a good time to get to know them and just hang out. They play such an important role in the lives of these children.

Then I realized that you don’t know them either. And I thought to myself that this is not good. So I asked each one a little bit about themselves and will now introduce them to you.

I will start with the Hand and Hand church of Yembi 3. It is the partner church of the Ashland, OH Grace Brethren Church. The school here started last year and has two classroom levels. Saturne and Ami teach at a PHC Hand-in-Hand (village) school just outside Bangui city limits.

Mr. Aime Mpogo teaches the higher level, level two. He shares the way he started working with PHC, “After I finished my schooling at the university, I started working with children. My pastor recommended me when Barb Wooler asked him if there was anybody he would suggest as a teacher.” This is his second year teaching and he has 30 students. His wife is going to school to be a teacher. She is studying in a different city and Mr. Aime is watching their two children here in Bangui. One of Mr. Amie’s favorite Bible verses is Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Mr. Saturnin Befio is in level one. He has 63 students and knows most of them if not all by name. I saw this first hand and am still greatly impressed! This is his first year with PHC. Some of his thoughts: “I really like my work teaching the orphans. As they grow up, God will bless them. Then He will look on me and say ‘Well done my good and faithful servant.’” Mr. Saturnin is also very active in the True Love Waits program. He is not married yet and is a positive example to the young people. One of his favorite verses is 1 Cor 15:58, “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Stay tuned for more teachers…

'Quiet Desperation' Thoreau Couldn't Have Imagined

Barb writes:

I heard a story last week that broke my heart. It comes out of Bangui, Central African Republic.

A gal came to my friend in Bangui for help with a medical problem. Her leg really hurt and she needed help. Going into the house the woman removed her wrap around skirt revealed, well, the cause of this poor woman's unimaginable pain. Multiple open sores ran down her leg. My friend wondered how this poor woman could still walk at all.

My friend started asking questions which eventually led to the Big Question: have you been tested for HIV. Yes, she had, but she didn't know the results. "Why," my friend asked? "Because I don't know how to read the paper with the results, and I don't have anyone I can trust enough to read it to me.

This story is too painful on so many levels. Here is a woman...

- living in unspeakable pain for months

- unable to read a paper containing life-changing medical information

- with no one she can trust enough to read the medical report

- living each day in fear of what the contents of that envelope mean for her life


This gal is now being cared for: medical examines, injections, medicines, and tests. Yes, she tested positive for HIV.

Sometimes we missionaries wonder what kind of difference we are making. One need only ask this poor woman what a difference my missionary friend is making for her. So far the medical bills in just two weeks has passed $100 and continues to mount. Eventually her costs for anti-retroviral drugs will cost just $5 per month.

All this has brought up the discussion, again, of what if anything God would have Project Hope & Charité do for HIV positive widow care providers of our orphans. It is impossible for us to do nothing, which is how we've gotten into this in the first place, but it is unnerving to think of starting something.

"Unnerving?" You ask. "Why?"

Well, imagine yourself standing next to a door at the bottom of a very tall dam. The noise of "many waters" are passing through the wall from the other side where millions of tons of water are pressing against the door. Over the door is a sign that says, "Open this door." This is, um, unnerving.

We WILL open this door, in God's good time, and after much prayer, preparation and research. But we already know that as soon as we touch the door knob and turn it just slightly, the door will burst open, and we will be flooded. Almost instantly we will be floating in a sea of needy people living in impossibly difficult and sad circumstances, people looking to us for help.

Please PRAY with us as we set up an initiative to help HIV-positive widow care-providers on a broader scale.

Love The Lord With All Your ... Chest

Karen writes . . .

I teach the kids Bible at the center, once a week in every class. I love it. Sango is a new language to me but I hope a few of my more notable mistakes have at least made the kids laugh with me! I realized half way through one week that I was telling them to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your strength, and all your chest (or ears depending on intonation!). Apparently âme is a French word! I also learned one story to memorization until I realized I was saying that the Good Samaritan took the injured man and kept him in jail, instead of an inn!

Friday, I was talking with some kids at recess. When I got here I was almost terrified by 500 nameless kids I couldn’t speak to all trying to touch my hair and arm. Now that they have names and what they say makes sense, I can’t help but be thankful for the privilege of knowing and being with them. I was leaning against the white wall, and I began to hear a woman’s frantic voice over the kids but I didn’t pay attention. Then I realized the voice was calling my name. I looked back to see Madam Zokoe looking at me. I thought she was just greeting me and I waved and smiled and turned back to the boy I was talking to. But she continued to call out and I couldn’t hear her over the kids. Finally the boy I was talking to, who is continually getting me out of scrapes, said, “Karen! She’s telling you not to lean on the wall! Don’t lean on the wall.” How embarrassing!

Laura and I enjoy sitting with the widows sometimes while we’re at the center when they’re cooking the porridge for the kids. They remind me of grandmotherly ladies you read about in books when they say, “Eat another fritter child, eat another! You’ve haven’t grown enough yet child!” I might have been an adult when I left the States, but if they continue to fill me up with delicious fried bread, I’m fine with being called a child!

VIPs Visits Welcome Center

Karen Writes . . .

In March, Madam Zokoe had the honor of showing the executive director of GBIM, Dave Guiles, and other important guests the completed Orphan Welcome Center. She was able to explain the vision for the Center and the activities that go on there with Ginger Hock acting as her translator.

Dave Guiles, Tom Avey, Frank Poole, Mike Yoder, and Bill Katip (not shown) were in Bangui for an ACTS training seminar with Central African Pastors.

As the men left the center, they were surrounded by a crowd of thankful kids singing, dancing, and playing drums to send them off!

Dave Guiles was also able to meet with the child his family sponsors, Martine. It is a special treat for the children when they are able to receive some attention and love by way of letters or even face to face meetings!

Pictures- Madam Zokoe with the guests in front of the Orphan Welcome Center. Dave Guiles and Martine Wassamba.

I Love My Job!

Laura writes –

Every day that I go to our orphan centre I help children write letter to their sponsors. Sometimes I pull 4 at a time from their class and let the other 3 work puzzles (like Gildas at the left) while they wait their turn. I prompt them on some things that the sponsors might like to hear. Like what grade are you in, what chores they do at home and what they are thankful for. They tell me what they want to say in Sango and I translate it in my head and then write it in English. It’s an interesting job and I love it!

The other day I was helping Jethro write a letter. After asking him what he was thankful for he started talking a mile a minute! I told him to slow down (I had to translate it and write it down so it is legible) and hold that thought. He laughed (that's him at right) and said I was as slow as a tree!

When I was helping Sylvia she told me she wasn’t feeling very good. I was holding her on my lap (I like holding the little ones because they are so irresistible! And they need all the love they can get plus I can actually hear what they are saying since some of them talk so softly!) As I was writing I noticed she had gotten still and looked down and she had fallen asleep! She is so precious!

One of the older girls knew exactly what she wanted to say without any prompting at all. First she greeted her sponsor. Then she started thanking them. “Thank you for helping me go to school. Now I can read the Bible on my own. That makes me very happy.” This served as a gentle reminder of why I am here spending so much time and energy investing in these kids’ lives. Each and every one is an important individual with needs and desires.

Thanks for your prayers!

Wii, Cable TV and Sponsorship

Yesterday I was paging through a book that I hadn't picked up for a couple months and a piece of paper fell out. On it were some jottings I had made back in January, when I was visiting a church where we have a lot of PHC family/sponsors.

The first note I had made on this paper was about a family who had just signed up to become sponsors a month before, around the holidays. This family asked their children what they wanted for Christmas. One of the suggestions was a Wii game system.

Wii, as any parent knows, was THE HOTTEST GIFT ITEM for this past Christmas season. I was initiated into the experience in January when I was visiting the home of a PHC sponsor in Columbus and so tell you I understand why it was the hottest gift of the season. It is a blast!

Imagine it! Children choosing to feed, clothe, educate and care for an African orphan instead of having a Wii in their home! After experiencing Wii, I have the context for understanding what a selfless, generous act that was!

The second note I had made on this paper was about a sponsor who every day makes a real sacrifice to finance her sponsorship ministry to her orphan. This gal is in full time ministry and lives on an exceedingly tight budget. So when she was in the Central African Republic last year helping us (helping us build the Orphan Welcome Center) and fell in love with a little orphan boy, she had a choice to make. She new that the only way for her to finance her sponsorship ministry to her new little African orphan friend was to cancel her cable service.

Well, as a news junky and one who really enjoys watching TV, I was once again impressed, no, humbled by this kind of sacrifice.

These are only two stories among many, most of which no one else knows, of how PHC sponsors are making sacrifices every day to help African orphans become people of excellence in all they are and do.

We are humbled that you are willing to join us in doing whatever it takes to help these kids. I speak now for the entire PHC team when I say that we all, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your sacrifice of love for our kids. We are impressed with and profoundly grateful for the calibar of people that God is raising up to join our family of sponsors.

THANK YOU.