7/2/2005   Horizons Foundation Newsletter - July 2005

Hello and God bless you!

• Significant progress has been made in Pacasmayo, Peru, during the last 45 days
• The orphanage in Odessa Ukraine is recovering from flooding rains
• The New Elim school in Chisinau, Moldova remains open as almost all non-public school in Moldova are closed as a result of new restrictive legislation.
  

PERU - During the last 45 days, Association Horizon of Peru (the 501C3 equivalent of Horizons Foundation we have been setting up) has made many microlending loans to local micro entrepreneurs. And, every one receiving a loan in June has already made their first payment of principal and interest on time. And, everyone receiving a loan in June has already made their first contribution to the orphanage support. And, the orphanage has received the final official approval to open its doors. And, on Friday of last week, the mayor of Pacasmayo signed the document selling Go Ye Ministries the nearby property that has been pursued since our visit in January 2005. This property has almost 3 acres, and we refer to it as the 'outback mansano.' Five major activities completed during the last 45 days - we give thanks to God for providing these results!

In January 2005, we purchased a van that's almost 20 years old and seats 12 Americans easily. It's also licensed to carry up to 32 people, if need be. It gets lots of usage from pulling the trailer to deliver furniture to the orphanage to hauling barrels of water to the compound to pump into the cistern when the city water is not available.

We have initiated a Saturday morning staff meeting by phone between Peru and America. This has improved our communication a great deal and has ironed out a few start-up questions. Questions like: a) are we charging simple or 'add-on' interest, and b) are we approved by the government to pay interest on savings deposits, etc. We are taking a measured approach to ramping up the microlending program to insure that our new staff learns our methods and strategies. Personnel at World Hope International have been very helpful in making start-up suggestions, as they have microlending programs in multiple countries.

Avis Goodhart of Go Ye Ministries will be returning to the USA next week, for a 6 week period of R&R and FR - Rest and Relaxation and Fund Raising. Microlending will continue to expand. It’s a delight to see how the funds you have donated and invested are making a difference in their lives already.

One quick recap of one of the first entrepreneurs to receive a loan: a lady had been selling produce at the market for over 5 years. She had no method of bringing her produce to 'her' corner except by hand carrying whatever she could. Her request for a micro loan was for $300 to build a sturdy cart that she could load with fresh produce, roll it to 'her' corner and then resell it. She had been borrowing up to $175 per month and paying it back to the lender at a cost of 9% interest per month. Our 6 month loan will allow her to pocket almost $10 per month in interest savings as compared to her current lender. We wonder how this will impact her family of 8. This is just one of the first loans made to a successful entrepreneur to expand her business.

The word about this microlending program is spreading quickly. Steady steams of hopeful people are coming to the compound to inquire about the program and are forming Self Help Groups. It's working!

UKRAINE -- Early last month we received this note from the Executive Director of Hope House in Odessa:

"Please, pray for us. We just had today really big and bad storm. Even with pieces of ice (Hail). It destroyed our plants. Water was everywhere. Again in basement. In all our garden. It destroyed all land we prepared for work team to make playground.So, we met team today, and from office it took 2.5 hours to get Hope House. It was big river, you can see on pictures.May be instead of play ground we will plan again.Anyway we thank God for everything. Pray with us for future harvest." -- Sergey

The first picture was taken from the 2nd floor of Hope House looking back to the rear property line. Looking closely, you'll see the green line of vegatition within one inch of the top of the picture. That's the rear property line. All the plowed ground had been seeded with this years crops and will now need to be reworked. The middle picture shows the lake that used to be the side 'truck garden' packed with vegtables. The bottom picture shows how these late spring floods turned the road in front of the Hope House into a river.

You can see from these pictures the hailstorm and torrential rains turned what had been green gardens into ponds and swamps. The road in from of Hope House appeared to have 8-12 inches of standing water in it. A work team from Canada and the US is going from World Hope - Canada to repair the damage from this flood.

MOLDOVA -- The New Elim School in Chisinau, Moldova remains open as almost all non-government schools in Moldova are closed as a result of new restrictive legislation. As we have reported to you before, the Moldovan Communist government took measures in 2004 to attempt to legally close all non-government schools in Moldova. This included all private Christian schools, like the New Elim School, created for the kids at the Bethany orphanage. Their Parliament voted to require each non-government school to have 1) property in their name and 2) a large endowment in the bank to guarantee the school could run. Most of the non-government schools had to close due to the first requirement - they did not have any property and most rented their locations. Due to the excellent leadership of the Bethany Christian Center (the orphanage), the New Elim school met the first requirement by October 2004.

The second requirement for the large endowment in the bank has proven tougher to meet. Discussions are being held between Horizons Foundation and the leaders of Bethany Christian Center regarding the potential loan of 20,000 Euros (about $25,000) to keep the school open.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES - Please pray with us for wisdom as we are requested to cooperate with new opportunities in Lesotho Africa, Nicaragua and India. Currently, we know that the six step plan for rescuing children is working in different nations and we are anxious to have a 'proven concept' before approaching the World Bank or other mega grant making organizations for assistance. Our measurement of success continues to be to strive toward setting up local businesses where all or part of the income supports the orphanages or abandoned children who so desperately need your help.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT - YOU MAKE IT HAPPEN

In His Service,

Al and Charlotte Lockhart

Horizons Foundation Donations may be sent to:

PO Box 6022

St Charles MO 63302

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