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During the past year, several milestones have been achieved: 1. The number of street children brought into the Bethany children's homes in Chisinau, Moldova has increased to over 60; 2. Two more 1800 square foot houses have been rehabbed at Bethany increasing the potential immediate occupancy to 96 children (only two houses left); 3. One of these newly rehabbed houses will be receiving all new furniture by Christmas and a new mom and dad will move in to begin caring for more street children, the waiting list of children wanting to move into Bethany will be shortened; 4. A commercial, state of the art bakery for bread and pastry has been built on the Bethany campus and has received governmental approval to operate as a non-profit business; 5. A shoe making building has been built on the Bethany campus to become an additional source of income for the children's homes; 6. In Moldova's second largest city of Belti, (pronounced belts), approval has been given by the city to grant land for a second set of children's homes, like Bethany; 7. The city of Belti has also agreed to donate land plus an existing 3 story building shell for a school; 8. In Odessa Ukraine, Horizons Foundation partnered with World Hope International - Canada to purchase 3 parcels of property and one existing house to start another set of children's homes there; 9. Hopefully, in Odessa, by Christmas a new mom and dad will be living in their new home, with their new furniture and at least 6-8 former street children, capacity is 15-17, 10. Within the past week, a dozen computers were delivered to Chisinau to upgrade and add to the computers in use in the school and homes at Bethany Christian Center (see below for more details); 11. In Sierra Leone one year ago, Horizons Foundation was feeding 1600 refugees per month, as the country returned to normal after the civil war, this was reduced to 800 per month and earlier this month we have been requested to divert these funds into setting up Orphan Trusts (more detail next month) in two adjacent countries; 12. In Guatemala City, Guatemala, a cistern has been completed that will hold water for 70,000 people, people who formerly lined up at 1 AM, once per week to get their weekly supply of water when the government turned on their water supply; and 13. In Romania, 120 disabled orphans continue to receive meat, vegetables, and fruit on a regular basis enriching their former diet of potatoes and bread and not much else (see update below for more details). And so it goes. We give thanks to the One who supplies all abundance. Here are some quick updates on November activities: a) 12 computers were purchased on 11/17 in the St Charles, Missouri and delivered to Chisinau, Moldova on 11/20; and b) at Bethany Christian Center in Chisinau, Moldova, on 11/22 at 2PM a building that will be used for making shoes was opened and dedicated. The computers may upgrade all the computers used in the elementary school, founded in 1999. Then, 7 of the computers formerly used in the school will be transferred to Bethany Christian Center and a computer will be distributed to each children's home. This will be the first time computers will be present in these children's homes' for their use. Four of the computers will be sent to Belti to the support staff working to establish the second set of children's homes in Moldova. The 12th computer will be sent home with the Executive Director of the Odessa Ukraine children's home after he completes his visit to Bethany later this year. These computers are just another tool to launch these former street children's learning to a higher level. The shoe making building sets very close to the entrance of the Bethany Christian Center. Since the opening of the center, a nighttime guard has patrolled the grounds with a guard dog and has set in an open-air gazebo near the entrance gate. Chisinau has winters like Minnesota. The entryway of the shoe making building, (about 5 feet wide and 12 feet long) will serve as the new guardhouse area with an indoor bathroom. The night guard thanked us over and over again last August for helping to provide a better place for him. Bethany must be watched very carefully at night, because in Moldova there is a law that says that anyone can go anywhere to 'look for water'. Many people wander at night, 'looking for water' and anything else they can carry away. Bethany has a vicious guard dog that is fed and watered by the night watchman and caged during the day in a large pen that even has the roof fenced over to insure the dog stays inside. Everyone in the area knows the dog is there and that he walks the property at night. That alone has cut down on people 'looking for water'. Romania update - The Executive Director of the orphanage for disabled children has established a 'home away from home' for 10 of his highest functioning children. In Oredea, an apartment has been rented where staff can stay with these 10 children and they now have jobs in Oredea. In Romania, a cultural bias exists whereby disabled children get the dregs of whatever meager public funding is available because the feeling is that since there are so few resources, why waste them on the disabled because they can't be productive members of society. By improving these kids' diet during the past couple of years, Horizons Foundation is thankful to be part of the effort to show God's love to the underprivileged children. And now they're working and building self-esteem! Potential new opportunities - Horizons Foundation has been approached by orphanages in Columbia South America, Kenya Africa and Malawi Africa for assistance. Additional opportunities for children's homes may be presenting in Peru. Please pray with us to know how to help these needs thru establishing microlending/microenterprize operations. Horizons Foundation is being blessed by the development of a beautiful, top quality web site. More on this next month. Our mission is to help the helpless, abandoned and homeless. We want to help people help themselves. Thank you for making these objectives, your objectives. God needs committed partners, like you. God bless you and your family. In His Service, Al & Charlotte Lockhart Al Lockhart Past Newsletters: 30 November 2003 31 December 2003 01 January 2004 01 February 2004 01 March 2004 01 April 2004 31 May 2004 30 June 2004 01 July 2004 01 August 2004 30 September 2004 31 October 2004 30 November 2004 31 December 2004 31 January 2005 28 February 2005 31 March 2005 02 May 2005 02 July 2005 31 August 2005 11 October 2005 18 December 2005 02 April 2006 30 June 2006 31 October 2006 |
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