Posts Tagged ‘Orphanage’

Every child looks forward to Christmas morning. Even those living in extreme poverty. Like your children and grandchildren, the orphans and abandoned children at Victorious Faith Refuge Home, find it hard to go to sleep on Christmas Eve. The kind of Christmas morning they have depends on us…on a “Christmas Blessing” from Esther’s Hope.  That’s why, each year we take up a special “Christmas Blessing” offering.

Unless you’ve been there, it’s difficult to comprehend the unending struggle of life in the west African nation of Liberia. Unemployment and illiteracy top 80%. The lingering effects of past corrupt dictators and devastating civil war make Liberia a very somber place. And, yet, the children are hopeful.

The thirty children of Esther’s Hope are looking forward to Christmas. Our Christmas Blessing (above and beyond our normal, monthly support) enables Bishop Gombay to stock up on food staples, provide a special Christmas meal with extraordinary delicacies – like a little fruit and some candy. It might even mean new shoes or some needed item of clothing for the children and, if funds allow, Bishop Gombay likes to give a small gift to the caregivers, as well.

As you prepare for your own family’s Christmas celebration, please consider how you might be a blessing to the less fortunate in Liberia. The children have so little, they don’t expect much. The little we send brings them great joy. Just look at the photo from their Christmas celebration last year.  No expensive gifts, but plenty of smiles.

Even a few dollars makes a huge difference in the lives of these precious children. Your donation is tax-deductible and every penny we receive for the children’s Christmas Blessing goes to them. We never deduct “administrative costs” for any Esther’s Hope donations.

Donations can easily be made online by clicking the “Donate” button. You could also send a check by mail to Esther’s Hope, 219 State Street, Algoma, WI, 54201.

If you’d like to be a part of the Esther’s Hope Christmas Blessing, act quickly because funds will be transferred to Liberia around December 20th.

Please, help us spread the word and share this website with your friends.

If you’d like to be a blessing year round, an Esther’s Hope Child Sponsorship is only $30 a month. Check out our Sponsor A Child page. All contributions to Esther’s Hope are tax-deductible. Giving is very easy – simply click on our Donate button.

The school year is about to begin for the children of Esther’s Hope.  Many of the children will be attending a different school this year, since Bishop Gombay is scaling back Victorious Faith Academy to only teach up to second grade.  (See the previous post for details.)

As Bishop Gombay made us aware of the need for the upcoming tuition expenses, I shared it with the church and Esther’s Hope friends and supporters.  Last week we were delighted to send more than $1300.  That included our normal monthly support and a considerable amount to help with the needed tuition.

It’s a wonderful start, but still short of the total needed so please join us as we continue to pray for God’s provision. If you know if someone who has a heart for children and understands the critical need for education, please share the Esther’s Hope story with them.  Donations can easily be made using the “Donate” button in the right hand column of our website.

Communication with Liberia has been a real challenge lately.  I’ve not been able to speak with Bishop Gombay by phone for weeks.  We have communicated by email and he mentioned something about the phone companies going through some sort of transition and that’s making communications unreliable.

After receiving our last financial transfer, Bishop Andrew Gombay sent this short email…

God bless you Rev. Pevlor,

I received the money you sent today in its full sum but I had a hard time e-mailing you till now.

By the grace of God, I will start the process, come Monday, of registering the Kids first and foremost. And the remaining funds needed, I commit to the able hands of God who is the Great Provider.  The money might be insufficient but our God is All sufficient.

Please extend our gratitude to all who contributed to the ongoing education of these Kids, though you are the second person, after God, who deserves our gratitude at this moment.

Again, I say thank you and God bless your family and the church.

Bishop Andrew

Thank you for your prayer support and generous financial gifts.  Remember, every penny we receive for Esther’s Hope is sent directly to Liberia for their care and education. In most cases, your donations are tax deductible. (Consult with your tax professional for details.)

I received email from Pastor Andrew Gombay, the founder of Victorious Faith Refuge Home in Monrovia, Liberia.  This is the home of Esther’s Hope children.

Each year we try to send funds, above and beyond our monthly support, just before Christmas.  Our desire is to bless the children and staff with small gifts and some treats for Christmas.  This year, with the help of many, we were able to send $1,200.

I’ve been waiting for word from Pastor Andrew on how the funds were used – hoping for a photo or two, as he usually sends after Christmas.  Unfortunately, Pastor Andrew has been having a great deal of difficulty obtaining an internet connection.  He’s actually been attempting to send me other email for the last couple of months. Today his efforts were successful.  The photos he attached were very small (a result of his internet problems).  I enlarged and enhanced them as best I could.

Here’s the email and photos I received….

A Christmas Party for Esther's Hope

Dear Rev. Pevlor,

Wow, how is the snow?

We bless the Lord for you, your family, and the supporters of the Victorious Faith Refuge Home, Liberia. We wish you all a blessed New Year.

I have an overdue Christmas card for you and the friends of VFRH. The net has not been helping out with photo attachments but it’s better late than never. I could not send the well designed card I intended because the net refused to attach the design, but that’s where we are at the moment.

Esther's Hope Christmas - 2010

As for the funds you sent me, I wisely decided to buy the children school shoes because the second semester starts next week. Also, I took part of the funds to make them happy on that day as you can see from the attached photos to this mail. Though they wore the shoes for the occasion, they will also serve them for the second semester.I’m glad we finally entered the new year happy and healthy.

Pastor Andrew

Thank you for your help and prayers.  We still need more monthly supporters.  An Esther’s Hope Child Sponsorship is only $30 a month.  100% of all we receive is sent to Liberia for the care of the children. (The church covers any administrative costs.)  Your gifts are tax-deductible and we make it very easy to give – simply click on our Donate button.

For my friends with Liberian connections… If you know of any inexpensive, reliable solutions to Pastor Andrew’s email difficulties, please drop me a line.

I received an email from Pastor Andrew yesterday.  It has been a little more than a week since we sent him $1,120 to use toward the improvements necessary to meet the government’s new requirements for orphanages in Liberia. Though we still have a way to go to complete the improvements and fulfill the financial requirements Pastor Andrew is grateful and believing, by God’s grace, we will get there.  His unwavering faith and commitment is inspiring. Here’s what he wrote:

Dear Rev. Pevlor.

I praise the Lord for connecting us to champion His cause on Earth.

By the grace of God, I received the $1,120.00 USD that was sent towards the ongoing project. What I did, instead of using the funds on the huge renovation work that will be insufficient, I thought of handling another major area which had to do with the $1.2 million cash and asset requirement equivalent to $11,000.00 USD as of today’s rate.

The blessed part is, when I calculated the value of the structures of the Victorious Faith Refuge home, I realized that with only a thousand dollars US in the home’ account added to the worth or asset value of the structures, I have already hit that part of the requirement even a little above margin. So I saved the $1,000.00 dollars and used the $120.00 to purchase all the plates, cups, spoons, bath buckets, towels, toiletries, tubs.

We are getting there little by little by the grace of God.

Last week the first inspection group from the US Embassy visited the center in my absence, but they met men at work especially on the fence. So I am expecting the group from health ministry, finance, foreign, justice ministry and the human right division any time next week.

For now Rev. Pevlor, my major challenge is to change most of the roof, and ceilings plus some minor furnishings in their rooms. From the photo attached to this mail, you will see how far we have gone.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers. God bless you Sir along with all those who are working hard to sustain the hope of these Kids in Christ Jesus.

We love you all and thank God so much for you.

Pastor Andrew




















































These pictures are showing the extent of work going on now at the home. The roof is part of the hectic renovation I am to tackle, but the fence is one big blessing in action.

Pastor Andrew

If you’d like to be a part of helping bring the Esther’s Hope home into compliance, making a donation is easy. Simply click on the Donate button.

Check back for further updates.

I spoke with Pastor Andrew Gombay by phone last week. He is our partner in Monrovia, Liberia and the founder of Victorious Faith Refuge Home – the place of Esther’s Hope.  I had called him to pass on the information of our latest monthly support transfer. We didn’t have much time to talk, but he told me they were currently facing great challenges – a result of government regulations.

Liberia’s government is slowly pulling itself together. Recently they’ve focused on the regulation and oversight of orphanages. Their efforts are imposing some dramatic requirements for all orphanages.

Because our phone conversation was brief, Pastor Andrew sent me details in an email. Here’s the bulk of that message…

This is the place for a beginning

Pastor Andrew Gombay

Dear Rev. Pevlor

Praise the Lord for His faithfulness towards us.

I received the funds sent last week and bought some food stuff for the Kids, the part of the money that had to do with me doing what ever I think best, went towards the current project at hand.

Rev. Pevlor as I was saying on phone, we just ended an intensive workshop with all the government ministries last week. This workshop marked the final leg of arrangements for accreditation of Child welfare Institutions operating in the Country. After that meeting, we were asked to pick up the original copy of accreditation application form from the ministry of health not later than this week Wednesday (21st /4/2010).

As soon you pick up the form, you are given two weeks from that very day to return the form with all the requirements attached to the copy, and that same week you deliver the documents, a task force which includes all government agencies will reach your center for final inspection.

The most important accreditation requirements:

> A bank account statement totaling $1.2 million, LD. (Though this also includes property values.)

> One Caregiver for every 3 children; meaning between now to next week, I should employ an additional 6 Caregivers and one Security guard in the home.

> A concrete fence around the building to ensure the security and safety of the children.  (This project is started and it’s ongoing now as you can see from the photos.)

>The building should be renovated on a one hundred percent bases, and the environment well sanitized.

> The Store should be with not less than 25 bags of rice including other food stuff upon the visit of the task force.

All this excluding the paper requirements of registration, bank statement, qualification of staff etc. are to be met within two weeks.

The Wall Project

Rev. Pevlor, I have taken the challenge relying on the grace of God to get the work done because all of our effort will go in vain at this particular time if the venture is not taken seriously. Another reason why I am making the sacrifice and calling on you to join me at this crucial point is because, I was wondering what the few donors that have been supporting the home feel if the hear that all their effort has been aborted, what will become of the Esther’s Hope website were people are browsing and desiring to make contributions, as was the case of the sister that works with the American Embassy in Liberia that contacted you online who came over yesterday to give all the children teddy bears, and those two girls who sent that cartoon of assorted items for the Kids.

The Wall Project

More importantly Rev. Pevlor as a person and the Victorious Faith family USA who started the entire process and are still upholds the vision of helping with the care of these children.

These and many more factors are the very reason why I am sleepless these weeks trusting the Lord to raise funds for the abrupt and undue pressure from the government.

Should we allow the government to close the Institution and all my years of labor and your effort go down the drain?

Please join me to make the sacrifice at this moment. As for the $1.2 million issue, we battled it with them and that was how they included asset. So if I calculate our assets value it will amount to $ 9,000.00 USD plus, so I need only a thousand dollars saved in the VFRH account to round up this figure to their required $1.2 million (Liberian Dollars) because it is a little above ten thousand United States dollars.

Rev. Pevlor to tell that the Lord is not willing for this home to be closed down and the children becoming more sorrowful, A sister in the African Mercy Ship, heard about the government’s stand to close down homes so she wrote me last week to tell me that she has learned of treats to close down the home. As soon as I responded all the needs to her and the news papper issue, she decided to explain it to her crew members on the Ship which is now in Togo, according to her, an offering was raised that evening for the Victorious Faith Refuge Home children. And she told me that it was the highest offering ever raised in any of their meetings for a single project.

She sent that money to me late this week. She decided to take only the fence project since that was the highest amongst all other projects. The budget for the fence totaled $4,660.00 USD, and amazingly to the glory of God, all of the amount is what she was able to raise for the fence project which is almost nearing completion now since the funds arrived. Her name is Ines Kronester a German Crew on the Ship.

She told that, that was all she can do for me since in fact her own son also lay ill at the ICU on the Ship which may cause them to leave the Ship if nothing changes.  Please Sir join me to pray for her son’ health.

Rev. Pevlor, indeed God is great, even this lady is surprised at the level of heart that people gave to the home.

The Children of Esther's Hope

Please Sir the remaining half of the project that has to do with changing all the ceilings in the rooms, re-conditioning the floors, painting, changing the roof, buying more utensils in the home, adding the bed spreads, changing some of the door frames that were eaten up by bugs, re-conditioning the beds in the rooms, adding more furniture’s and paying of workers etc, will cost me $3,815.00 USD. This is the emergency fund that I need now to get along.

When I explained this to my local church, regardless their financial condition, for the first time, the members raised up to $430.00 USD between Wednesday this week to this morning as their own “widows mite” towards this project.  According to their testimonies, a particular sister in the church sold her mattress she sleeps on at $25.00 USD as part of her contribution to get the work done.

Meaning that we have left the amount of $3385.00 USD as a major emergency final challenge to get the work completed before next week end when I shall return the forms.

Rev. Pevlor please help me out here at the moment to save these children and the Victorious Faith Refuge Home at last.

You have always been there for these children; this is the time we need you most. I will stop here for the moment as I desire to hear from you because we are in this together by the grace of God.

Remain blessed Sir,

Pastor Andrew.

There is not much more that I can add, other than to state the obvious. We need your help. Please join us in prayer for Pastor Andrew and the children of Esther’s Hope. If you’ve ever thought about helping with a financial gift – now would be the time. Also, share this story with others. These children are worth our best effort.

On one hand, $3,385 doesn’t seem like much. On the other hand, it’s a mountain if you don’t have it in hand. Right now, we don’t have it in hand so every contribution of any amount is important.

Giving is easy. You can contribute online using your credit/debit card by clicking on the Donate link on this page.  Donations are processed by PayPal, but a PayPal account is not necessary.

If you prefer, you can also send a check to Victorious Faith Ministries, 219 State Street, Algoma, WI 54201.  Note on the memo line: “Esther’s Hope.”

As always, 100% of funds we receive for Esther’s Hope are sent directly to Liberia.