FROM THE MISSION FIELD

NEWS ARTICLE – by: Michelle Stark for Matanya’s Hope
Salt Shaker

Notes from Michelle Stark, after returning from the Matanya’s Hope mission in Kenya, East Africa:

INTERVIEWS and VISITATIONS:


After a seemingly endless wait to go back to Kenya, I finally made it! This year, Matanya’s Hope was joined by several visitors from the USA: Linsette Hawkins, Arthur Stark, Dr. Jeff Blumenthal, Sara Strahan and Alana Trotter: all sponsors. It was an amazing privilege to take them to visit with the children that they sponsor. Cameras snapped, videos taped and some of the most breathtaking footage of a love between sponsor and child was captured. But added to this excitement was the combined effort of making the Matanya’s Hope 2008 mission a success. We collectively interviewed over 100 new children this year in addition to interviewing every child already in our program. Sponsors, get ready! We are in the process of editing this footage to create a visual program for you. Included will be our time with your sponsored child.

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URGENT SPECIAL INTERVIEWS:

EVERLINE SENGENY - I was to get married since my family could not send me to school.

…We interviewed several girls who – unless sponsored by the end of NOVEMBER will be SOLD FOR COWS. These girls range between 11 – 14 years old. Once sold, they will become the wives to men OVER 40! Can you even imagine!? Please help by sponsoring these girls – even if it means going in on a sponsorship as teams. 4 people can collectively pay 20 a month and change a child’s life! Our sponsorships provide children with their basic school supplies and an education at a high ranking boarding school where they not only get their academics, but they get nutritional, spiritual, emotional and social support.

...We also interviewed a medical student, Susan Sankaine – who desperately needs a sponsor. Unlike the USA, medical school in Kenya is only several thousand dollars per year. Susan is praying to become a doctor so that she can go back to her impoverished community and bring the gift of healing to her people. She is not looking to gain financially but rather to give back to a needy people who she loves.

RAINWATER STORAGE TANKS:




The trip to Kenya this year was motivating, heart wrenching and still, very successful when compared to our goals. We helped countless people by supplying rainwater storage tanks to homes, villages and schools. These tanks are designed to collect the rain water from gutters attached to iron sheet roofs. This process allows for clean water to be supplied to a location that was dependant upon dirty, bacteria and dung infested waters – or even worse, no water at all during the many months of severe drought. “When one village saw the truck coming, they could not imagine that the rainwater tank was coming to THEM. Hundreds of Maasai men, women and children gathered around as the tank was off loaded and given to their community. Song and dance ensued….and then even we were honored with a sacrificial lunch prepared by the entire village.” All of this has been videotaped and photographed. Lives of countless people and animals will be saved because of these rainwater tank donations. A heartfelt thanks goes out to each one of you who have contributed to this cause. (To give a life saving rainwater storage tank in honor of someone’s birthday, anniversary or holiday celebration, contact Michelle at Matanya’s Hope (708) 822-HOPE (4673). Water is the gift of life. It makes a great gift!)

REBUILDING OF HOMES:


The Matanya’s Hope mission team of 2008 completely rebuilt homes in two locations this summer. One home, built for student Julia Wangari was funded by her sponsor in Kansas, MO. All her young adult life, Julia had prayed that she could have a quiet room to study in. Prior to that, she lived in a one room shack with her 3 younger siblings. She shared this dilapidated bed, smaller than a twin, with no mattress or blanket with her brothers and sister. There was only enough walking room around the bed to literally make a path to the door. In one corner was a pen for the goats which also stayed in the room because Julia could not bear the though of them being in bad weather at night. She personally built a pen for them inside of her room. Just when we thought that there could not possibly be room for anything more, we saw, nestled in the corner: three stones with somewhat charred sticks lying between them. This was the kitchen. When Julia’s sponsor heard about Julia’s dream, he did not hesitate to make it possible for us to build her a home.

The other home was built for Morris and Everline – twins whose mother perished due to AIDS. They live with 7 other cousins – all being raised by one loving grandmother. All but one of her children have perished to AIDS. Before we rebuilt the home, Morris and Everline slept in the same dilapidated bed as their grandmother. Through Matanya’s Hope three of these children are already sponsored and doing well in school. Two of them, Morris and Everline are sponsored by Creative Travels. When Stacey, the owner of the New York tour company, heard how Morris and Eveline were forced to live, she supported our efforts in building them a home. Now, Morris and Everline each sleep in their own bed. They have a desk and chair for studies and a solar panel for light at night. For $1,100 US dollars, the lives of these children and their loving grandmother have been truly blessed.

Both of the house building projects went so well that we plan to make this a regular part of our mission trip every year. It costs approximately $1,100 to build a house for a child in need.

DONATIONS OF SHOES, SCHOOL SUPPLIES, UNIFORMS and BLANKETS:

While at Matanya Primary School and other schools in Kenya, we gave out as many pair of shoes that we had. We distributed pens, pencils and other school supplies to the children interviewed and even left money in the accounts of some to ensure they would be provided for during the course of the school year. We went to many homes where we were able to meet the children in their own family environment. When asked, many children revealed that they sleep on the dirt floor with either a tattered and worn blanket or no blanket at all. We provided blankets to as many of these students as we could and will focus on raising funds to purchase more blankets during the upcoming mission in June 2009.

FUTURE WORK:

...future work will take place benefiting the education for the children and economic development for adults through the gifting of Goats, Cows, Chickens and Sheep. Families benefit nutritionally from these gifts, but can also earn an income through the sale of the offspring.

Michelle Stark, founder of Matanya’s Hope spends her summers in Kenya and returns to her hometown in Illinois to raise funds and awareness for the desperate children of Matanya’s Hope. She plans to return to Kenya in early June of 2009 and be joined by a mission team in July. Space is limited for the mission. Please contact Michelle for more information. (708) 822-HOPE or mstark@matanyashope.org

The missions team will experience as much of the following as they desire: building a home for the needy, supplying goats, chickens, cows and/or sheep to these families, distributing shoes, uniforms, school supplies and other clothing articles to students, meeting and interviewing students new to our program as well as students who are sponsored and so much more. We will visit homes and meet the people we serve first hand. This year, Matanya’s Hope will also continue its focus on future plans of building two boarding high schools – both 10 hours apart from one and other. At each of these schools, plans are to have 2 extra dormitories designed: each to house 20 female or 20 male orphans.

In order to maximize the effect of all monies donated by Matanya’s Hope supporters, we make sure the money raised is delivered directly to the program intended for those in need, without the usual overhead or bureaucracy associated with larger charities. Michelle has been invited to speak at schools and often comes adorned with a colorful team of Kenyan entertainers who assist her in the running of Matanya’s Hope from both Kenya and the USA. She provides detailed field reports to donors through e-mails, video footage, photos and mailings. To help promote the efforts of Matanya’s Hope or to sponsor a child,

visit www.matanyashope.org
or email Michelle at
mstark@matanyashope.org.

RUBY - OUR PRECIOUS GEM

RUBY
Our Precious Gem

Most often when we hear RUBY we think of a precious gem. Today is no different. The precious gem we bring to you is a 13 year old girl.



Ruby heard of Matanya’s Hope last year after she heard a piece about it on the radio. She was looking for a public service project to do and as she says “fell in love”. Ruby told us “I love school very much. If I could not go to school, I would be miserable. I wanted to help children who wouldn’t have the opportunity to go to school.”

Ruby pledged to raise money to help Matanya’s Hope and after much deliberation, she focused her fundraising efforts on the brightest and best performing female student in Matanya’s Hope – Meru district, Fridah Kendi. Close to her own age, Fridah would be forced to end her schooling at the age of 15 without Ruby’s help. She would be destined to a lifetime of poverty – working in the fields picking tea leaves – cooking and cleaning and caring for children from sunup until midnight everyday. Her earnings would be less than a dollar a day – less than the cost of living in Meru, the small mountain town that she is from. Fridah would have no choice but to watch others go to school while her own dreams vanished, leaving her top academic scores to be buried forever in the soils she’d have to till.

Equal to the economic hardship that Fridah faces, she would also have to leave her dream of becoming a doctor. Fridah’s family can not support sending her to school, not even to high school. They live in a small wood framed home with a dirt floor. Items such as milk, soap and flour remain luxuries and are not readily available in the house where Fridah lives. Often Fridah must go to sleep without dinner and start the next day without breakfast. I think that here, in the USA, we have to re-read that…and probably still can not imagine the kind of hunger that Fridah and children just like her face every day in Kenya. This year, 30,000 children will die of hunger in sub-Saharan Africa; that means 2.9 million children a year.

Through the sponsorship of Fridah Kendi, Ruby – our 13 year old gem, has proven that she understands the value of life. It doesn’t sit on a clothing rack on the shelves of a jewelry store…but life’s most important gift rests between brother and sister – human being to human being. We don’t have to know each other to reach out and care…we just have to, as Nike states, “JUST DO IT.” Ruby’s unselfish gift granted peace and hope to a young girl half way around the world in a small mountain town of Kenya, East Africa. As we pray for continued help, we know that Fridah will be in school another year ~ and with God’s blessings will be able to continue her education. The only hope out of this bitter cycle of poverty is the academic achievements through education that can lead to employment.

We thank you Ruby and all of your generous donors who heard your plea. This world is a better place because of you…because of all of you. You are not only a gem, but you are an angel here on earth, Ruby. Just ask Fridah Kendi.

Aitong 08

FIGHTING DROUGHT WITH LIFE SAVING PROJECTS

Rainwater Storage Tanks

photo above - A truck delivering tanks to the village during this years mission.

top photo - children gather to celebrate when Matanya's Hope delivered first of many tanks to come in the village.

Plagued by 4 months of drought, it is almost impossible to grow crops in Matanya and the Maasai Mara, Kenya. If you’ve ever had a garden, you know what happens when you don’t water it for a few days. Day one: the plant wilts. Day two: it begins to dry up. Day three: it shrivels up into almost nothing.
Imagine if your life depended on the crops you planted.

Most families in Matanya are farmers. The area is rural; the people are poor. Families depend upon the crops they grow for their nourishment. They walk miles, barefooted, after a rainy season, to fetch 20 - 44 gallons of water from the river at a time. They then carry this water home - on their backs to feed their garden. Hour after hour, sunrise to sunset, mothers, fathers and children repeat this task. Though the work often causes back problems at a young age, the rains are a blessing and this process is one that brings hope towards providing much needed food.

But what happens when the rains stop and the rivers run dry?

Matanya’s Hope is pleased to announce the purchase of 21 rainwater storage tanks. Tanks will hold from 3200 – 6,000 liters of rainwater. The rainwater is collected from the roofs of individual homes. Gutters, designed to funnel the rainwater into the tanks, are strategically placed on each roof. Special sieves are used to filter out debris that might otherwise enter the tank with the flowing water. Each unit is fabricated to prevent mold and mildew from contaminating the water supply.

These tanks have been purchased through the generosity of individual donations as well as a grant made to Matanya’s Hope through Flossmoor Community Church, located in Flossmoor, Illinois. They are the first in a series of many as it is our goal to supply each needy family and school in Matanya and village and school in the Maasai Mara with their own water tank. There are over a hundred families who remain waiting.

The 3,200 liter rainwater storage tanks cost approximately $350 US dollars a piece. Costs begin at $575 for 6,000 liter and above. With over a hundred families still in need, we ask your support for this project.

It is our goal to place several 10,000 liter tanks in villages and schools during the 2009 mission. Cost for these tanks starts at $1,200.00

This project too saves lives. Please help.

MATANYA'S HOPE

Matanya Primary school provides as well rounded of an educational curriculum as one might hope to find in any progressive school system. All of the children are well schooled in English, Kiswahili (the common language of Kenya’s 42 different tribes), mathematics, science, social studies, religious education and creative arts. The children attending Matanya Primary School have varied career interests and dreams such as lawyer, doctor, artist, graphic designer, computer engineer, nurse, pilot and more. Matanya’s Hope IS THEIR HOPE – we are the pathway from despair to opportunity.
School’s daily sessions begin at 8:20 A.M. and end at 4:30 P.M. with an hour off for lunch and breaks in between. The school year runs on a trimester basis beginning January thru April; May to August; and September thru December. Students enjoy holidays in April (Easter, August and December (Christmas).
Matanya Primary School is the oldest school in the area and children may begin at age 5 with the nursery program. They can complete the program ending with the 8th grade, when the children are 14 or 15 (some are older depending on their actual starting age). Because the cost of going to secondary school is approximately $450.00 USD annually – a sum most families cannot produce, less then 10 students a year manage to get into secondary school, with most not being able to complete the program due to lack of financial means.
In the last ten years only a handful of Matanya’s students have managed to go on to university, which is regrettably very, very poor. The children pray every day that they will be able to find a way to further their education. School is their way out. They know this, yet for the lack of a few dollars, so many potentially good minds have gone to waste. Dreams have turned to dust and yesterday’s children have turned to the barren earth for their sustenance, repeating the cycle of poverty and disease all over again.
Conditions are harsh in this area, with most children having to walk anywhere from 2 to 3 kilometers each way…in all types of weather. When it rains, the wooden class room buildings are soaked. Many of the teaching aids are destroyed by the rainy weather further challenging the teachers with their daily tasks. Chilling weather brought on by the rains frequently finds the children huddling together for warmth, since their clothing offers little protection against the elements or cooler weather.
In a recent email from Mrs. Mugo, our African liaison and teacher at the Matanya Primary School in Nanyuki Kenya, we learned of several newsworthy items worth reporting. While things might appear to be running in a normal fashion to the visitor’s eye, availability of food supplies remains critical. Crops have failed due to lack of rain and extreme heat. This not only effects the current day, but it affects the entire years food storage.
Demanding much attention is the children’s clothing. Many of the children are wearing threadbare or torn garments, which they have had for years as hand-me-downs. They are in desperate need of new clothing and uniforms. The girls need dresses or long skirts. All need cardigans, white shirts, jackets, pullovers, etc. In addition, most of the 250 children walk miles to school without the aid of shoes and socks to protect their feet. The ground is hot and rugged. The children speak often of their dream to have shoes and socks.
Facilities at the school itself are also lacking. Without running water, plumbing or electricity, the school is dependent on daylight and rain for these modern day conveniences. The teachers pray for a decent administrative office conducive for working, as it would be a great help to the entire primary school staff.
On the wish list for the school are items such as: lockers for the children’s books; a wood saver cooker for the kitchen to reduce smoke while cooking; desks, benches, worktables and writing supplies.
It is our goal to one day build a school with a church for the community of Matanya.
Please join us in this wonderfully rewarding labor of love to help save the children. Your contributions, both physical and financial are a blessing.
Save a Mind, Save a Child, Save a Life!

STORY OF THE MONTH

Excerpts from a letter from Michael Karue Waweru

Exemplary student – term 1 Secondary School

Meet one of our newly sponsored students!

Dear Michelle Stark,

Hello! I am quite fine and full of God’s joy!
May I take this opportunity to thank you…please receive endless thanks from the deep part of my soul. …. I know that with no doubts that the Lord has come to me via kind Michelle.
At first I had started seeing life so miserable especially when I knew that I would not continue with my education – knowing the condition of both of my parents. They had also been worrying about my future. The thing that troubled me the most is how I worked hard in school so that I could help my family and others … and now I knew that I would not continue with education as long as school fees was concerned. Heavy drops of sweat flowed down my face accompanied by painful tears. I felt my life so desperate and I reflected why I was born. My lifetime aim was just helping the needy. I understand the conditions and the difficulties that the needy people undergo through their lifetime. Even in school, I volunteered to teach others what I knew well and understood – and all of the teachers liked me. But now, my brain became like wasted water. Without education, I could not become who I want to become in the future.
With this condition, I sat down with my parents, brothers and sister so that we could solve the problem. Both of my parents’ earnings could not afford to take me to school and so as a family we decided that I could not continue with education. This stressed me a lot and I spent days and nights thinking about it. Thinking that all of the 8 years in primary school will be all for nothing.
I was reading a story about the late Abraham Lincoln of the USA and how he came up from a poor background and became an important person. Henceforth, my hope was renewed…but thoughts of not going to school still troubled me.
After a week of this stress, it ws on Tuesday morning when I was about to leave home to go and fetch water some long distance from home when we met at the gate with the head teacher of Matanya Primary School. He told me that he had come to inform me that Mrs. Mugo needed me in Matanya School the following day (Wednesday). I tried to recall and guess what wrong I might have done, but in the process, I remembered when I wrote a letter to a well wisher. My heart was filled with endless joy and with no doubts I knew that Mrs. Mugo had good news for me. I saw hours like years and I wished if I were God I could have shortened the hours. I asked God when that unforgettable Wednesday will come. I spent sleepless nights in my desperate bed waiting for that Wednesday. Luckily, God is good for He made me see that day.
I woke up very early and prepared myself – and as usual – leaving the house without breakfast – for it was a usual thing to not have breakfast and even lunch. On my way to that blessed school, I wished I had wings and I could fly and waste no time by walking and know that awaited news.
In school, I met Mrs. Mugo while going into the office. My heart was filled with gigantic joy. When she approached me and we sad down, she broke the awaited news. Tears of joy flew down my cheeks and I was totally overjoyed. I thanked the Lord of heavens for having done such a miraculous wonder to me. I knew that God had come to me through kind Michelle.
I now know why I was born. I was happy that I would continue with education and become the man I want to become in the future. I am giving one hundred percent of thanks to your kind Matanya’s Hope. May God bless you. I also promise you that I will continue with the process of helping the needy.
Don’t be so much surprised about it; it is a bit of life experience!
I was born on 5th of February 1991. I am now aged 15 years and I will turn 16 on 5th Feb, 2007. I will be happy if we celebrate my birthday together.
My hobbies are visiting animal orphanages and playing football (soccer). Sometimes, I like reading.
My pet is a dog named Jimmie.
My career choice is becoming a road engineer so that I can construct roads for the needy.
I shall await your next letter. Thank you!

Martin Karue Waweru

A note from Matanya's Hope Founder & President Michelle Stark

My name is Michelle Stark. I work 3 jobs, 7 days a week to make ends meet for myself and my 18 year old son. When my parents approached me 2 years ago to take my son and me with them on a trip to Africa , my heart was filled with the kind of joy I haven't known for quite some time. My father wanted his family to be there together with him, to help celebrate his 70th birthday. Africa has been their destination of choice for years. They go often. I have heard stories from their friends who've gone with them and seen their photographs which have filled my eyes with wonder! Now, unbelievably, I would finally experience this first hand!July, 2005...our plane approached the runway - a long pathway of worn earthen trail amidst a field of frolicking wildebeests. The way they ran around was almost rehearsed - as if they were laughing at us - playing their game; I felt like I was landing in the middle of a movie set but it was so real I had to pinch myself! My eyes brimmed with such happy tears I actually hid my face - this was so private - I didn't want to explain. I was here with my family - my father's dream became a part of my personal reality - and I just knew that this was going to be the kind of experience that one doesn't forget. We awoke early every day for game drives on which we encountered lions, cheetahs, monkeys, giraffe, elephants, zebras, wildebeests, wart hogs, chimpanzees, cape buffalo, hyenas, vultures, crocodiles, hippos and much more! The sights were not to be believed! - The air was delightfully fresh and clean! The sky seemed to span forever!
We saw women hard at work, primitively spinning lambs wool and weaving it into magnificent garments. The vivid colors of their textiles came from their own unique use of flowers, leaves and even speckled beetle type bugs. Often, the workers' feet were bare - their pockets empty, but their hearts were full of a kind of joy that made me happy to be near them. While they apparently had no material wealth, they had a far greater intangible richness represented by a quality of life that seems to have disappeared from most of our world.One day, we went to visit a school near the Sweetwater's Game Reserve. The children were clothed in tattered uniforms. Their gray cardigans were often pilled and marked with tears and runs. The girls wore light gray cotton skirts that came well below their knees and the boys wore darker shorts or pants. The clothing bore all of the signs of being handed down from student to student over the years. It was marked by the tell tale signs of wear and of Africa 's earthen floor. As the children sat on the ground of the great outdoors (their auditorium) at attention, with their hands in the air (showing their readiness to meet us), I could count the lucky few who owned a pair of shoes. Money surely lacked here, but even at this sight, I was not capable of understanding the reality of the harshness of their lives. Our group of approximately 25 American tourists split up into smaller units and we were lead by the children and their teachers to different classrooms. Fragmented boards were nailed together over a frame of sorts and combined with cinder blocks to create a room with shelter. Pieces of corrugated tin stretched over the long building providing a make shift roof. There was no running water. There was no electricity. Each classroom had a few windows - and the spaces between the boards where the sun was beckoned in provided light for their studies. The desks were made up of 2 X 4's with a writing surface the width of one board, barely enough to support a book. The benches, picnic table style, were nailed to the desk; each supported one student who had to squeeze in, in order to sit down. It was here that my world was about to change. The teacher from "our classroom" approached me with Mercy Nyawira Chege's composition book, a student from that class. The writings she showed me were impeccable. The teacher explained that Mercy was one of the best students in the school. It was clear to me that the child could write. Then, she sadly shared that this child would not get to go on passed the 5th grade as her parents could not afford $10 for her required uniform this coming year. My heart sank. $10? No school? I wouldn't accept this scenario for such a bright girl; she WANTS to LEARN!

We were informed that schooling for these children is sponsored by the government until the completion of the 8th grade. At that time the children's families are required to pay the $350.00 annual tuition per child plus fees for supplies and uniform in order for the children to continue into high school. The harsh reality is that most families could not afford even this meager stipend. Until Matanya's Hope, all Matanya Primary School students education was effectively terminated after the eighth grade, condemning each of them to a life of poverty. They would be destined to languish in their families small draught stricken fields (if indeed their families are lucky enough to farm their own land), which did not provide ample income for those already working the soil - and they would continue trying to raise crops for nourishment and possible financial sustenance. The orphans would have to fend for themselves, making even the poor yielding farm work on drought stricken land seem a luxury.

As the visitors left their classrooms, I made my way into the office (another small, dusty makeshift room in the long hall like structure of classes) where I spoke with the head teacher of the day. Through trembling lips, I was able to fight back my tears enough to tell her that this 5th grade child would go to school! I would pay for her. I would pay whatever fees she needed. I recall someone saying "it is ok Michelle". At this point, my tears broke. "NO! It isn't ok! It is NOT ok1" Surrounded now by my parents, my sister and her husband and other traveling companions, 4 families agreed to sponsor one child each. I asked the head teacher to bring in 3 additional children who excelled scholastically but who were struggling to meet their financial obligations to the school. "Three?", she asked? "How am I to do that? They are all poor. They are all hungry!" Even with this, I did not understand the magnitude of her words.

Mrs. Njambi Mugo, the teacher, responded by bringing in 3 students to meet us along with the original child I had sponsored. Peter Wacira (who had just lost his father), Peris Wachera (first in the school since kindergarten) and Christine Muthoni (found wandering and taken in by a good Samaritan) became the first students to receive funds from what would become Matanya's Hope.

As the saying states, "a mind is a terrible thing to waste". We took it upon ourselves at that moment to try and make a difference in these children's lives. We collectively sponsored the education for four children on the spot. At the same time we formed a bond with these four children and have kept in contact with them since last July, marking their success each new day and giving them real hope for the future.

We did not realize it then, but we were on to something wonderful!

Following this early success, and upon our return to the United States , I received a letter from Mrs. Mugo (the teacher who befriended us on our visit to the school). She said she had a set of twins who wanted to become a part of our program as well as a young girl who had been stricken with polio. This girl would need to attend a boarding school and the anticipated costs for her were approximately $750.00 a year. She asked if I would be able to undertake this as well. I was paralyzed with both emotion and fear. How in the world was I going to come up with this money? The thought kept me awake at night because I knew I was not personally in a position to support these needs. I could not close my eyes to these children and I realized that I would have to ask others to help me in this endeavor.

I was driven to improve upon what we started in Kenya . By communicating with Mrs. Mugo (our contact at Matanya Primary School) and with people who wanted to help we created the Matanya's Hope Charity Organization, designed to help provide continuing education for the children of Matanya, Nanyuki, the Masai Mara and surrounding areas of Kenya . In addition we are working with our other African Liaison, Peter Njuguna, on creating a distribution center in Kenya which will provide the families with primitive drip irrigation systems for their small farms. This will enable them to radically improve the quality and quantity of the crops they grow which will positively impact their lives and economies. The inventor of this inexpensive system was responsible for feeding over 40,000 children in Africa last summer by teaching these simple methods to the area families.

Matanya's Hope has also grown dramatically over the past few months and we now are able to sponsor a total of seventeen students who will continue their education beyond the eighth year. Where there was once no hope at all, there is now hope and excitement for these children. With a continued education, they are getting closer everyday to becoming productive individuals in a land where poverty is now the norm.

We have developed a fund for new uniforms and we are spearheading two new programs: one for light called "Let There Be Light", and one designed to improve the crop production of these people with the drip irrigation system previously mentioned. Yes, there is much to be done, but in 7 months, much has already changed. Children who were once destined to work in the fields and live in semi-starvation are now in high school boarding schools receiving an education. Children who walked miles to school barefoot and cold are now receiving clothing and shoes to help them overcome these hardships. Hungry children are now being fed, and the list goes on and on.

Matanya's Hope is proud to be changing the world, one child at a time. Whoever said changing the world is impossible? It is not easy. But, only ignoring the problem makes our plight impossible! We need your help - these children are counting on us. Help us get them what is free in our country and let them learn. Please help us lead these children to the fruits of their education - something they have only dreamed of - and make it possible for them to help themselves through the power of their minds.

This has been a wonderful, exciting and rewarding involvement. Matanya's Hope is a fully accredited 501-(C)(3) approved charity. Your donations are tax deductible to the extent of the law. We must continue to do whatever we can to help as many children as possible. Let these beautiful minds flourish! We invite you to join us in this wonderful endeavor. All of the children sponsored communicate directly with their individual sponsors forging a new chain of strength into the future. You may see yourself as the rescuer or helper, but wait to see just how much you too will learn in this marvelous exchange! We hope you will consider joining us in this exciting venture.

Thank you for taking the time to read this very long letter. We welcome your support and involvement. One hundred percent of all donations go directly to the children. All of the Matanya's Hope staff work on a volunteer basis only and each board member has sponsored at least one child themselves.