Thanks...

Three months ago we cried out in the midst of our desperation during the Ebola epidemic for your help. The response was overwhelmingly gracious, and we are very grateful. We don’t want to fail to account to you for what happens with your gifts, so here is a brief update.

Africa Response Fund
WHM just sent out a letter thanking those who contributed to the Africa Response Fund. We are taking the button off our blog today, as a symbol of thanks for the way you responded. The gifts of nearly 300 people totalled over one hundred thousand dollars. Fifteen percent went to the immediate expenses of the team for flights, the superb help of the Herrons, and renting a large evacuation house for two months; fifteen percent went to the WHM Sending Center in Philadelphia for their expenses in supporting us; and seventy percent now has been carried over into two new funds:

1. The Jonah Kule Family Care Fund
2. The Dr. Jonah Kule Memorial Leadership Development Fund
   

The Family Care Fund will cater for the school fees for Jonah’s six children over the next 20 years, and build his widow a decent house. The Leadership Development Fund will sponsor a local person’s medical school tuition; we have targeted the medical assistant who worked in the epicenter of Ebola because his clinical competence and character of service most embody the legacy of Dr. Jonah.

We estimate that the family fund has enough for the next decade, but we will let you know if the children need more help in the future. It is possible that God will move more resources into the second fund for sponsoring more students in the future, but for now we are content to start with this one.

Goats and BundiNutrition
Right before Ebola broke, we put up a blog button for the give-a-goat Christmas tree ornament project, as a way to support BundiNutrition’s purchase of dairy goats for HIV-positive families. In spite of the distraction of a life-threatening epidemic, you gave enough for two full truck-loads of goats! The first shipment of 50 goats will arrive in April. BundiNutrition projects and needs are ongoing as we purchase not just goats but milk, oil, sugar and beans for feeding inpatients, peanuts and seeds for local production of nutritious outpatient food, and new chicks to replenish the egg project, and salaries and transportation for extension workers who train people to care for the animals and follow-up families back at home. Again we thank you. We are starting 2008 strong, and our costs (about $3000/month) are half covered. We hope many of our monthly nutrition donors will continue to give in 2008 to make up the other half of our needs ($1500 per month). The BundiNutrition designation number is 12371, and the links to that remain on the sidebar.

We can only pray that God abundantly blesses you as you invest in His Kingdom. As you put your treasure here we know your hearts are with us.