Dear Friends,
Happy New Year! That is what the children you sponsored are saying in Ethiopia. Today
is Meskerem (September) 1, 2004. It is a new school year and for 400 children it is unlike
any other new school year. Because of your generous support they will have an
opportunity to learn how to read and write, eat one hot meal every school day and hear
the gospel in a way they can understand.
These 400 children are from two villages; 255 from Koshe village and 145 from Woja
village. Generous friends of this ministry have given enough money to build a four-room
school in Koshe village. The school building will be completed soon. Below you see two
pictures of the school building in progress:
You might ask what about the Woja village? Are we going to build a school for them as
well? The answer is “YES”!
A generous friend of the ministry has committed to give $12,500 as a matching gift. That
means every dollar up to $12,500 will be matched by our friend. Leaders of ACTS have
already committed to give almost half of the $12,500 we need to raise. Now we come and
ask you to give, if you are in a position, towards the Woja school building fund. We need
to raise only $6,500 more to build a similar school building in Woja village. Whether you give a little or a lot you will make a difference in the lives of these children.
If you are sending towards this project, please make your check payable to ACTS and
write “School building fund” on the memo of your check and mail it to: ACTS, P.O.Box
27082, Fresno, CA. 93729. Or you can give online as a one time gift by designating your
gift for “School building fund” on our website.
We have also another opportunity to be a blessing in Ethiopia. Many of you have seen the
drought in Somalia, part of Ethiopia, part of Kenya and Djibouti on TV. Some of you
have been asking what we can do to play our part. Even though the children we
sponsored are not affected by the drought, many other children have been affected. We
have church planters who are serving communities that have been affected by this
drought. Many of them are now asking for help so that they can help the communities
they are serving.
Last week I received an email from Dr Minas Hiruy (one of the four speakers at our
fundraising dinner in June—for those who were there) and part of it says: “Things are moving forward despite much resistance in many areas. In the end the Lord prevails. The drought has affected many of the areas where we have been operational in the Ogaden involving Somalis and in Borena involving Somalis and Oromos. Governments have been fast in responding to the plight of people and we are pleased that the international community is finally acting. Some of the churches which we have partnered with on the ground have asked us for some help and I am working on this.”
We are collecting funds so that we can send to people who are on the ground serving
many of these drought affected communities. We are not going to change the world but
we can change the world of a few people. If you are moved by God to participate in this
please follow the same instruction as above but designate your support to “Relief” and
100% of your support will be used to feed the hungry.
A team will be leaving for the Koshe Village in early October. If you would like to send
a note, family photo or something small to your sponsored child/ren please send it to the
ACTS P. O. Box by October 1.
Finally, thank you for your generous support and regular prayers for the children you
have sponsored. By now all of you should have the picture(s) of your child(ren). If not
please email Karen Cornell: karen@actskids.org or call her at 559-287-1168. Please don’t
wait to receive a reminder to mail your support, for there is none. Please mail your
support regularly or use our website to set up once for an automatic reoccurring monthly
giving.
Blessings,
Markos Zemede