New Kiva Loan

Agatha is a baker in Ebubonko near Abura, Ghana. Agatha has received a middle-school education. She is married and has two children. Her husband is a supervisor at a local business. Agatha has been a baker for the past 15 years. She is responsible for helping her husband pay their family's general expenses. Her loan will be used to buy more flour, sugar, oil and other ingredients needed for her bakery. She hopes to use the new profits to grow her bakery shop to meet her customers' needs.

Letter from Theresa

 

Letter from Briana

17/01/13

Dear Beverly Sykes,

Briana greets you in Jesus' name.  She asks how you and your family are.  Is your child, Brianna doing well?  She asks if your mother was totally recovered.  She says hello to everyone.  She is fine, thanks to God.  She had a great Christmas season with her family.  She asks how you have spent the Christmas holiday.

She asks if you went to your countryside.  She asks how the dog is doing.

Briana got good notes and held the 2nd place in her class.  She regularly prays for you and your whole family.  She says that she was glad to write to you.  She thanks you for the Christmas gift.  She tells you that her birthday is due to January 20th and she will be 11.  She thanks you that you think of her and pray for her.  She will keep praying fr you too.  Thanks!

Written by: her father

Two letters from Esther

These are both dated December 16.

To Beverly Sykes:

Hello!  When you receive this letter, I'm sure that Christmas has passed, Beverly.  My family and I want to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2013.  Lord Jesus always gives his blessing for you.  This Christmas my family and I just stay at home.  We would like to clean the house and decorate a Christmas tree.  What do you always prepare before Christmas?

This Christmas makes me curious because I am waiting for the result of my study and the exam grade during the last 6 months.  Love regards for you.

Thank you for the Christmas gift that you gave as much as Rp 125,300, Beverly.

To Beverly Sykes

Now it is rainy season in my country..  Every day it rains almost in all cities.  Why do you like winter better than summer, Beverly?  In case of me, I like cold weather same as you, Beverly, because it is more fun than hot weather which makes me sweat.

I have ever eaten cherries.  I think it is delicious.  Usually cherries are eaten with cakes.

I'm happy that I could receive and read the letters that you sent to me. Thank you for the letter, photograph, and stickers that you sent to me, Beverly.

I never had a clue that asking each of the children if they had ever eaten cherries would become such a HUGE topic of letter writing!

Photo of Theresa

I saw that Theresa had a new picture posted on my Compassion web site.  They sent me a .jpg.  My happiest day will be the day that I get a picture of this little girl smiling.

Letter fromLuiz Henrique (sort of)

Luiz Henrique is only 5 so someone has to write letters for him.  This starts as a check-off form, where he is telling me about his friends.

Dear sponsor.  I have a lot of friends and I would like to tell you a little about them.  My best friends are Giovane and Pablo.  I met my friends at the Project.  My friends are special to me because we have fun together..  When we are together we like playing soccer.  With my friends I've learned to respect people.

His question for me is

What is a typical food in your country?

And then there is the personal note from Raquel.

Sponsor Beverly,

Hello.  How are you?  My name is Raquel and I am project monitor.  I will write on behalf of Luis Henrique; he and his family are fine.  There are a lot of frogs here.  He was happy to see your granddaughter's photo.  He is learning to read and write.

Luiz Henrique has never eaten cherries.  He was very happy to know that you started a new job as a volunteer.  We hope you will send news soon.  God bless you!

On behalf of Luiz Henrique,
Raquel

Letter from Shallon

My friend Beverly Sykes,

How are you and how is your life?  Back to me, I am doing well.  I first thank God who has given me this opportunity to communicate to you through this letter.  I thank you very much for replying to my letter and sending me photos which look nice.  I was encouraged by the pictures which illustrate women in the Bible.  The message on these pictures is touching.

As you said in your letter, it is true this year has gone very fast. 

I went to the school library and found a book which contained a story about cherries.  It was talking about the colour and that they are purple and how they are made. 

I, too, like the book of Ruth in the Bible because it has good stories which are encouraging. 

I want to thank you for the love, care and support and for thinking about me always.  Thank you also for the stickers.  They are nice.  I enjoy them.  Today the good lord bless you for that kind of love.

My favourite fruits are oranges and mangoes.  At our place we have many of them and we also have a plantation of sugar cane. 

Thank you very much for everything you have done in my life and may the lord richly bless you.

Read Psalms 118:1
(Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.)

Yours faithfully,

Katusiime Shallon

Letter from Fred

Letters from Fred and from Shallon are my favorites, because they actually seem like letters and not something someone has told them to write.  Here is my letter from Fred today.

Dear Auntie Sykes,

Christian Greetings!

I thank you so much.  I played during our semestral break.  I like hide and seek. 

My mother has a bigger stomach because the baby inside is growing.  I also grew in height and I have no sickness.  How about your health?  Don't you have any sickness even though it is cold there? 

I'm so excited about our Christmas party.  My mother and father will have a seminar.

Please pray that mother's delivery will be fine and I will be more kind too.

I am learning about the 12 disciples.  I like Noah's story.  Thank you for everything.

God bless you!

Love,
Fred

Letter from Emmanuella

I was so thrilled to get this photo of Emmanuella today.  This is the first smiling photo I've had.  She is shown here with the things that she bought with her Christmas gift.  It came along with a brief letter.

Dear Beverly Sykes,

Thank you very much for the birthday gifts.  I bought two different fabric for dress to use during Christmas.

How are you?  I hope you are doing well, by God's grace.

Now my mother is baking pastries so I am learning it.

How are your parents doing?

I pray that God protects you and your family and give you strength.

Memory Verse:  Acts 16:31.  They replied, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved and you and your household..  Amen

New Kiva Loan

The is Emilia, from Ghana.

Emelia sells fresh fish in Akotokyir near Abura. She has received no formal education. She is a widow and has three children. Emelia has been selling fresh fish for the past thirty years. She is responsible for supporting herself and paying her family’s general expenses. Her loan will be used to buy more fresh fish to sell in the market. She hopes to use the new profits from her business to save a little and to be able to invest some additional money back into her fish-selling business.

No letter from Miche

I was very disappointed that I apparent received a letter from my new child, Miche, in Haiti, but the envelope came without the letter.  They are going to try to find a copy but it will take 8 weeks before I have it, if it exists.  :(

Letter from Theresa

Dated November 23, 2012

This is another check-off page, because Theresa is so young.

My favorite food is rice and stew, Banku and Okra stew.

My favoritecolor is red

My favorite sport is ampe (this is a game popular in Ghana.  These are the rules: The leader, or "it", and another player jump up at the same time, clap, and thrust one foot forward when they jump up. If the leader and the other player have the same foot forward the leader wins a point. If they are different then the other player become "it" and plays against the remaining players. If the players are in a circle, the "it" moves along the inside of the circle, playing against others in turn. If they are in a line, the "it" moves on down the line. If only two players are playing, they keep score until a certain number of points determines a winner.)

 My favorite friend is Martha and Gijamah.

Things happening in the family:  a new birth (this was a surprise to me!  I must get more information!)

Thank you for your pictures.

Child's prayer request:S  Theresa says pray for her to get strength.

Theresa and Martha play ampe in front f her house every day after school. 

Letter from Josphat

Dated Octber 27, 2012

This the kind of "check-off" kind of letter that young children send to their sponsors.

My name is Josphat.

In my house I sleep on a mat.

I get food from a shop.

My house is made of wood.  It has an earthen floor and a tin roof.  I do not have electricity in my house.  I wash my clothes in a bucket.

The report from his representative states:

Josphat is greeting you and your family in Jesus name.  He is so much glad for the letters and pictures you send to him.  He says that the thing he likes best in school is academic, since he found himself reading most of the time.  He says he loves you so much and requests for prayers.

Letter from Wainaina

Dated November 12, 2012

Dear Beverly Sykes,

First of all is much greetings from me.  I hope that you and your family are all well.  My first thing is to thank you for the letters that I have received.  I also thank the most high God for giving me strength to serve him.  I hope that you and your family are well and you are enjoying living in God's word.

I and my family are still doing fine.  I hope that you are still praying for me as I do, asking God to protect you and your family from the evil.

In school, I am performing well.  I am studying as hard as I can.  Pray for me to perform well in my K.C.P.E. (Kenya certificate of Primary Education) in this year.  I thank God for putting us together as friends from different countries.  May God live in your life forever, Amen. 

Letter from Murugi

Dated November 2012

Greetings in Jesus Name!

I am well in the Lord.  Are you fine too?  I am very happy for the many letters I have received from you.  How is Ned faring?  I have been praying for a quick recovery.  (Not sure what that means!)

It's great to have a great family as that of yours where you have many generations meeting once in a while to make merry.

I was happy to hear that your mother celebrated her 93rd birthday.  This is great and we give thanks to God.

I received the letter with my photo as you had asked in your last letter to me.  I realized I look beautiful, as you mentioned, and I gave thanks to God.  You all look beautiful too.

I am excited to hear how you take care for the less fortunate people and givethem fod.  This is how God expects me to be kind to his people.  Keep up the good work.  I always thank God for you and ask him to meet all the desires of your heart.

I am preparing to celebrate Christmas by serving the old people.  I will visit them and assist them with work at their homes.  I will also go to Church and after my service I wish you well and thanks for being a wonderful friend.

Your loving friend,
Dorvin Murugi

Letter from Emmanuella

This is dated 11/2/2012

Dear Beverly--

I thank you for all your letters, pictures and your words of encouragement.  God bless you.

No, I have not eaten cherry before.  Yes, Istill remember my poem, "I wish for Peace in Africa" (she took me literally when I asked her if she still remembered it--I was hoping she would share it with me!)

At project I am part of the culture dance and we perform during the inauguration of our dining hall.

Question for my sponsor:  How old is Brianna?

I pray that God will bless Lacie and let her grow up to be a good girl.  I want you to pray for my parents' business to go on well.

Letter(s) from Esther

There were two letters from Esther in Indonesia, both dated the same date, October 8, 2012.  Not sure why there are two, but they were very nice to receive.

To Beverly Sykes,

I thank God for his blessings, which flow over on us.  I was happy to receive the gift from you, Susan Jane Hagelstein Memrial.  I spent it on new clothes.  My 17th birthday was different from the last ones.  It's because I had many new things to do.  Seems at age 17, things are more difficult.  I'll do the exams, to.  Please pray for me to do the exams well. 

God bless you.  Sweet regards.  Thank you for the gift.

And now for letter #2

To Beverly Sykes,

I really thank you and because He loves and protects me until I am 17 now.  Because of His grace I can grow well.  I hope that I'll be more mature and be closer to God, be a useful child for parents and nation, more diligent to study. 

I love reading.  I usually read novels. 

What did you feel when you were at 17?  I think at 17 we get some changes.

Thank you for the letter, the photo and the stickers which you've sent for me.  May God bless you always.

Thank you from Fred

What a great letter I received from Fred today, thanking me for his birthday gift, which he used to buy a basketball.  I've been hoping he could get a basketball since he loves the sport so much.  The nicest thing  was that the letter came with a great photo.

 Dear Auntie Sykes:

Christian greetings!

Hi!  Thank you for your letter and stickers.  My height now is 127.5 cm and I weigh 22.4 kg.  The baby in my mother's tummy is bigger now.  My father is still not here because he is on vacation.  I never ate cherry.  We have more durian here.  Do you like to eat durian?

In our school I like to learn more about places.

Belated happy birthday to your son.  Briana and Lacie are beautiful. 

Please pray that I will be far from accident in our school.  Also, for my mother's delivery. 

God bless you!

I received an amount of 1,071.50.  I bought chess board, more clothes and basketball.  I wore the clothes when I go to church.  Thank you.

Love,
Fred

Meet Miché

I received a packet about Miché today.  He is a new correspondence child, to replace Somai, who lost his sponsor. 

Miché is from Haiti.  He is 10 years old and lives with both parents.  His job duties include carrying water and caring for animals.  His father is sometimes employed as a farmer and his mother is sometimes employed as a seller at the market.  There are six children in the family.

Soccer, playing with marbles and playing group games are Miché's favorite activities.  In primary school his performance is above average (the first of my children ever to be above average in school) and he also attends church activities and Bible class.

I look forward to getting to know him better.

A Thank You from Anjali

I got a nice thank you letter from Anjali for the money I sent for her birthday.  This little girl has grown SO much from when I first began to sponsor her.  Then she was very somber and sober and I just love the smile on her face now.

Dear Beverly Sykes,

Greetings.  I bought cooker and iron box with the birthday gift which I received in the month of August 2012.  Cooker save the gas and time.  This is essential for my family.  Iron box is using to keep my dresses in iron and neat.

My family members are very happy about this gift.  They send their regards to you and your family members.  I thank you for your loving gifts.

Your lovingchild
M. Anjali