Birthday Wishes

Mwayi (four years old)

Yesterday was my birthday. I received enough phone calls, social media posts, and visits to occupy a good portion of my day and to make me feel loved and appreciated. I relished each one, reminded that I am indeed blessed. Then why was I crying when that nice lady came to my door with one of the most delicious cupcakes I have ever eaten? Because, among the many happy greetings, was one heartbreaking message that is speaking to me louder than all the others, and I want to share it with you, my friends. 

Snoden notified us that another child in our program lost his mother to illness. That’s the second one in so many weeks. Mwayi, whose name means lucky, joined our program after losing his father when he was two years old. His mother could not afford to raise him and his four siblings alone, which is why she brought him to us. She has been sick ever since, and I’m sad to report that she passed away yesterday with complications from tuberculosis. Now Mwayi is four years old, and he and his brothers and sisters have no parents at all.

Even though we just want to love and support these kids through their trauma, we’re responsible first and foremost to provide for their physical needs. Because we’re still gathering funds for the family of the last child whose mother died of cholera, this is beyond our current means. We spend the money we raise on the children in our program. We don’t have a huge bank account, just enough for the occasional emergency. At times like this when we feel devastated with grief and hopelessness, and we realize that this is more than our small ministry team can handle, I’m reminded that it’s never more than God can handle. I still believe He will continue to raise up an army to help us expand our reach and impact in one of the poorest places in Africa.

Please prayerfully consider how you can be a part of that army. Maybe you could send a gift in honor of someone’s birthday, give to a specific project on our website, or become a monthly donor. Your tithe would be well spent to help us raise up the children we have lived among and know personally in the Tambalale Village of Malawi. Whatever the case, if we become a community as generous with our money as we are with our well wishes on Facebook, we will surely change the world.

Send a tax-deductible donation to our address or use the Paypal link:

HUGS for Tomorrow

P.O. Box 1816 

Azle, Texas 76098

Paypal 

www.hugsfortomorrow.org 

Facebook 

Instagram 

Blessings Lost His Mother to Cholera

Blessings

Blessings is eight years old and lost his mother to cholera last week. Our hearts hurt not only for him, but also for his family, for his village, and for his country. It’s difficult to mourn properly for a death that seems so unnecessary because we’re sharing our grief with the realization that this could have been avoided. You probably don’t know much about cholera because you don’t need to. You have clean running water to drink, to flush your toilet, to bathe in, and to cook with. Far too many people in Malawi do not, and that’s the root cause of the current outbreak there. Blessings is in our program and has access to the clean water on our campus, but his family still lives in a home without that luxury.

Cholera is an extremely contagious and aggressive water borne bacteria that usually originates with feces. It’s mostly a third world problem because of the lack of flushing toilets. Once it gets into an exposed water source, it can infect the place where people routinely wash clothes, bathe, and even drink. According to the World Health Organization, it has been endemic in Malawi since 1998 and breaks out during the rainy season each year. Our ultimate hope is to eventually eradicate it, starting with the families in our program.

We have been educating our students and their families about health and hygiene since the inception of our program, and we were able to install sinks and flushing toilets at our facility last year. Unfortunately, the village outside our walls still uses streams and ponds for everything we use water for, including drinking. Blessing’s mother is no exception. Snoden took her to the hospital last week after she complained of stomach pain. She passed away less than forty-eight hours later. She left a husband and seven children behind. Blessings’ father is asking for our help to care for his whole family as they recover from this shock.

We are working diligently to care for the children in our program as well as for their families, but we need far more resources than are currently available to have that kind of impact. I hope it’s apparent that we are not just improving lives but actually saving them. Every dollar you donate has a critical purpose and may mean the difference between life and death for a child or one of his family members. Thank you for taking part in this effort, and please consider sharing what we do with someone you know. We have tried to make it easy through our new social media presence. You can visit our website at www.hugsfortomorrow.org, and we’re also on Facebook and Instagram as Hugs for Tomorrow.

Send a tax-deductible donation here:

HUGS for Tomorrow

P.O. Box 1816 

Azle, Texas 76098

Or make a tax-deductible PayPal donation here.