A little overdue update about the stateside portion of the children’s home.

All the board members have had Covid.  Our Treasurer passed away from it on January 2, 2021,  Dr. Horace D. Smith, local long-time pastor and substitute teacher in the local school system will be sorely missed by many people due to his work in the community.

I have had severe complications since April 14, 2020, and have been unable to work and had hospitalizations relating to the complications.   Between doctors, rehab, and treatment, I am at the doctor’s or hospital almost every day.   I offer that as the reason why I have not gotten newsletters out very timely.   The others have mostly recovered.

It has really cut down on the opportunities for speaking in front of other groups, so consequently support is greatly reduced at a time when our expenses have risen.   Why risen?  Due to the lockdown, we have been providing a hot meal a day and a small bedtime snack to 10 elderly people who are not able to have other sources of food.   We also have a couple more children that we are helping, bringing the total to 39.

I will say that those who are regular monthly donors, sponsoring a child or just general donations, you have been a wonderful source of support during this time.     Our monthly budget is just under $3,000 a month and when emergencies like illness occur, it can be easily over that.   There are no paid positions, everyone is a volunteer.

If you would consider becoming a child sponsor, your contribution is very much appreciated.    You can go to the website, www.hopehomeandschool.org and there is a donation tab on the front page.

I was chatting with my Princess this morning and she told me that her uncle that had a stroke when I was there in 2015, was taken to the hospital by ambulance and has tested positive for Covid. His house is only about 100 feet from the children’s home. Since he is bed-bound, I have to wonder who brought it into his house.

Inday has been very strict with the children and their interactions with others not living in the home. Hopefully, they will stay well. Inday, Princess, and Leray all have past health problems that would give them a weakness that would make them susceptible to the Covid complications.

I might have pictures of him when I visited him in his home.   I wish the best for him and all affected.  Just a week or two ago there were 4 deaths in the small community from Covid.  I don’t find his picture but he lives in the nearest house on the left.

Kevin celebrated his 8^th birthday on February 3^rd.   He and his sister, Leray, are the only two children who live full time at the children’s home.  They are Princess’ cousins. They live there because of circumstances beyond their control.   The father works onboard ship and is only home for two weeks every two years.   Their mother and father were not married, and she found a “rich boyfriend” in the Middle East and abandoned the family to go there.  She got kidnapped by a person known to run whorehouses and has not been seen since.

Kevin has lived with Inday since he was almost two years old and Leray was less than a year old.  Anyway, this is the only family he knows.  So, this week, he was surprised with a birthday party.  He told Inday that since he knew “Daddy” (meaning me) has been sick, so I understand that I won’t have a birthday party so don’t worry, I won’t feel bad.  He was surprised when he had a little party.

Hot dogs on a stick topped with a marshmallow and a small cup of ice cream for him and his cousins.  I can’t explain the marshmallow, it is just how they to it there.  It was really a surprise to him when Inday called and told him to come in because she needed him to do something.  There were no gifts but everyone was happy.

As I have mentioned before, the children’s home and the vocational school have been working together towards establishing as much financial independence as possible.  Inday has been raising piglets and the students from the vocational school have been butchering them in supermarket cuts which sells for between 20% to 25% more than the usual way of just hacking them up.  I have been having classes on meat cutting every time I have been there, based on my experience in butchering and working in quality control for the number one meat processing company.

Things were slowly growing towards the point that they would have 4-6 pigs a month to process.   A few days ago, a neighbor came running to tell Inday that there was something wrong with one of the pigs.  It was laying there lifeless.  A neighbor serves as a vet even though he doesn’t have official training.  He was called and he tried to see if any of the piglets from the pregnant sow could be saved but they were all dead.

The neighbors said that a person who had been very jealous of the little businesses that are going to supplement the expenses of the children’s home, was seen giving something to the sow that died.  Apparently, he was going to poison both of the sows but was chased off when he was spotted.

This loss of the sow and the piglets equates to a loss of about two months operating expenses if they had been sold at full size