Local churches are invited to receive funds for the two Jamaa Letu Orphanages in Lubumbashi, Congo, in the season between Easter and Annual Conference in June.

The two Jamaa Letu orphanages need operating funds. Food, clothing, school fees, utilities, medical and staff all cost money. Inflation is a serious factor. The sponsorships of children in the orphanages fund a significant portion of the amount needed, but not the full amount.

Here is one idea we would like to propose for your local church:

-Collect coins and bills in jars beginning in Easter to Annual Conference.

A colorful label for taping to jars and cans will be on the HFCA website for download. The design of the label can also be used for a bulletin insert, newsletters, and/or e-messages.

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Our adventure over the holiday season was spending two weeks with family and friends around our daughter Jane’s marriage with Viren D’silva in India on December 21, 2011.  Many PNW members have met our children through their partnership with Southern Congo.  Jane had friends participating in the wedding from school days in Lubumbashi and Kenya, colleagues from four years teaching in Accra, Ghana.  Viren had family and friends from Australia, California, Massachusetts, Dubai, and Spain.  Ellen and I each had one sibling and family accompany us at this special time.  Members of Viren and Jane’s church in Mumbai came to Goa for three days to provide music and company.  It was a great mix of nationalities and traditions.  It was a wonderful experience.

Jane and Viren asked people to contribute to one of several charities in place of wedding gifts.  The English-speaking School of Lubumbashi was one of them.  While we were away, construction on the utility building advanced so we can post a watchman on the property and stock the building with supplies.  The well pump and water lines have gone in.  After transport delays, our fencing has arrived and is soon to be erected.  The architects have incorporated last-minute suggestions to improve the building plans and are working on the bid documents.

So far we have gotten by with faith, school fundraisers, one large donation from a local company, and gifts through the UMC Advance.  And that brings us to the foot of the cliff, looking straight up.  We need to complete six classrooms (of the 18 really needed) to be able to run a split school on two campuses and finish twelve to relocate completely just to get by.  Our planned January fundraiser was postponed to February.  Not even the money for the first set of three classrooms is totally in hand, but we keep working in faith that doors will open.  If there is one time in our 32-and-a-half years working with education in the Congo through the GBGM in where we really need some financial miracles with donations to keep this school alive…now is the time!  Enrollments are up with nine new students since January 10, including new United Methodist missionary children.  But a growing and prospering school needs appropriate facilities.

We also pass on a special appeal from GBGM for missionary salary support.  In the United Methodist system, the general church backs us with our monthly stipend even if local churches don’t contribute as planned.  However, the system breaks down if enough local churches don’t follow through with support.  We are delighted that GBGM is committing itself to commissioning thirty new missionaries for service around the United States and the world in spring 2012.  We applaud this act of faith and want it to happen.  The moral is: don’t diminish your pledge to our salary support and please consider increasing (or initiating) it.  If it is also possible to make an extra contribution this year for TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), we would be most grateful.  We look forward to visiting churches in the USA during several months this year to share what God has been doing in Congo.

Ellen and Jeff Hoover serve as missionaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the PNWUMC.

On Saturday, September 24, 2011, our boys moved from their quarters in the Jerusalem District of Lubumbashi to their new home in the Golf District!  It was a day of rejoicing for the boys and the staff to have a really nice place to live.  It was a day of rejoicing for The Pacific Northwest Conference, which financed the new building.  It was a day of rejoicing for all of United Methodism for providing better care for 24 boys.

This move was anticipated from the time when the boys were moved into the inferior quarters in 2002.  The girls’ orphanage vacated that space when they moved into their new buildings.  Now, nine years later, both the boys and girls are living in nice facilities.

A few things remain to be completed in the new facility: the outside kitchen, a second septic tank, and a security wall.  New furniture and equipment will soon be purchased from a local workshop, using extra funds from the mattress campaign in 2010 to cover the costs for mattresses and bedding.

Background Info

The girls’ orphanage was started by the United Methodist Church of the Southern Congo Area to house the more vulnerable victims of war, food shortages, family illnesses and other reasons that left them to fend for themselves on the streets of Lubumbashi in the southern part of The Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Children continue to come to the orphanages for care.  The United Methodist Church operates the two orphanages and many other institutions including schools and training centers, a university and seminary, and clinics and hospitals.  The Pacific Northwest Conference has been in partnership with the South Congo Conference, especially regarding children and women, since 1998.

How You Can Help

Financially support the boys and girls, either through sponsorships or general gifts to fund the orphanages.  Pray for the staff that cares for the children and teens.  Consider participation in an UMVIM team to maintain the girls’ orphanage buildings.  If you would like to provide your gift to Hope for the Children of Africa, you can send a check to the PNWUMC, P.O. Box 13650, Des Moines, WA 98198.  Please designate ‘HFCA’ in the memo.

Thank Yous

Thank you to the individuals, churches and groups in the Pacific Northwest Conference who have donated more than $250,000 to construct the new boys’ orphanage building.

For more info, visit www.hopeforthechildrenofafrica.com.