Urgent Need In Burundi!

In the Heart of Africa live children just like ours, they try to laugh and play just about as much as possible. But of course, their lives are very different. Instead of attending school and thus gaining a priceless education that is preparing them for their lives ahead, many of these children in the heart of Africa instead find themselves walking for hours and hours to fetch their families water.

Pascal and Cyril (7 years old) are two of the children benefiting from the CHRF Feeding and Water projects in Burundi. These two young boys have been tragically orphaned after their mother passed away only a few months ago.

Cyril is now among the top ten students in his class. But last year when he started first grade he was weak, sick and could barely perform his schoolwork. The poor nutrition he received at home was hurting his immune system. With his mother’s illness, Pascal, the older brother, had to provide for the family.

Despite little education, Pascal has always volunteered four hours every week at school! He also attends tailoring school twice a week and works odd jobs to put food on his family’s table. Even though he’s not able to always get work, one day’s work earns him enough money to feed the family for about 3 nights (Remember it only costs 21 cents for a meal!). Fortunately for Cyril, and thanks this year to CHRF and our amazing donors, he receives porridge and meals at school. Pascal tells us that he is so grateful that he no longer has to worry about his little brother going hungry.

Before CHRF’S new water tank, Cyril’s mother used to have to pull him out of school during the day in order to fetch water. Because of the miles and hours of time it took to find drinkable water, parents needed to look for work while their children went to fetch water in order to provide food at night.

But now, with their proximity to the water tank, Pascal has easy access to water, allowing him to let Cyril be a child and excel in school. Pascal will now seldom ask him for help when school is out or on weekends.

After hearing and seeing these stories and many more like them first hand, CHRF, with the help of our partners on the ground, decided to help these desperate children and their families. That’s why this year we committed to building our brand new water well for the children. Also, we are half way towards the goal of funding a great feeding project that will provide over 115,000 meals for the 2014-2015 school year!

Our partners report, “The value of this program is that with good nutrition, our school will have children who are growing healthier and perform accordingly. School meals include mixed flour porridge, milk, eggs, bread for breakfast and rice, potatoes, beans, peas, fish, vegetables for lunch and fruit. The children look forward to every meal. They are healthier, livelier and active compared to the rest of the children in the village. The assurance of a meal at school encourages school attendance for both the children and their parents. The children are also able to study well, especially since our school is the only private and French speaking school in this remote area.” Unfortunately we are still only halfway towards funding the project and we need your help to finish it! Will you please help us help our partners provide almost 60,000 more meals for their children this school year?

Please remember that these healthy and nutritious meals only cost about 21 cents! A great deal and an incredible impact that your donation designated for the Burundi Feeding project will make! Just $21.00 can help provide 100 meals for these school children! That’s simply Amazing! Thank you for your support and furthering our mission to help care for suffering children all around the world!