Emmanuel

This is the chubby Emmanuel. He can sing and sing. He knows many songs & has a very beautiful voice. Plus he loves to dance. He is in 3rd grade & does very well except when he is irritating the teacher... then he'll be kneeling somewhere while class continues. Through out the day it is very common to hear "EMMA"... meaning that someone is angry at him or irritated at him. He is not bothered and just argues back or goes on to the next place to create a stir. He drives me nuts... then comes back and flashes a smile that makes me forget what the problem was.

Ministry of restoration

Michael & 5 of the boys went to a town near Lubumbashi to see if they could connect with the boys families. They were successful in finding Pascal's family. Unfortunately his mother had died the day they arrived, but his father was very glad to see him. He wept loudly upon seeing Pascal and prayed and thanked God.

(L to R) Shadrack, Michael, Mutombo, Dieu Merci, Joe & Pascal.

Hunger in Africa.

Here is a map showing the places where people are not getting enough to eat. The countries that are red are where the suffering is. Congo is the large country in the center of Africa. It was listed as second from the bottom of all nations in hunger. The report noted that 72% of the people in DRC do not receive enough food.

He restores my soul.

I am very glad to announce that our 11 fourth & fifth level students who took the 6th grade test passed!! We are thrilled because as you see with Yanick in the picture below they are growing up. Yanick is around 16th years old and had no school until he came to live with us September of 2006. He has excelled in school even while he has had to learn to submit to authority & not use his own strength to get through life. I am very proud of him and all the boys who have been doubling up on school so as to prepare for the test and move forward. The Lord is truly a restorer of souls.

Shanick, the scholar

As I've written before, 13 year old Shanick loves learning. I thought that it was sweet that since I was in U.S. he has had Michael send me 3 of his drawing assignments. Here is a picture of him and below is his map of Congo.

Boys will be boys.

Here is Kamba receiving an impromptu bath from his friend, Kambala & Toto. Kamba is never the first to bathe and sometimes just wets his arms, head & legs so as to avoid the process altogether. But at least on this particular morning he got clean before his teacher came.

Early morning baths

Here is Toto helping the boys to get hot water for bathing before the electricity goes.... It was 5:30.