Hope Centre Christmas Party 2009:

The Hope Centre kids, with 72 other local kids from the surrounding homes enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner on Christmas Day.  Most of the families around Mutimbuzi near Bujumbura are refugee returnees from Congo and Tanzania and so are extremely poor.   For some years Mission International has provided The BIG Meal for the children of what is now the Hope Centre, however now that the children have UK sponsors provision is made for a Christmas party.   The sponsors donate a small pool of money which can be used for the Christmas party.   This year Pastor Leonard invited some of the poorest kids from the area who came along and enjoyed the meal with the Hope Centre kids making it a very special day for them all.

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Plan for sustainability:

Part of the plan for sustainability at the Hope Centre is that the whole family learn and work together to build up income generating projects so that they will not me reliant on Mission International forever.   The children are not being allowed just to sit expecting to be looked after for the rest of their lives, no, they are being trained to be responsible and they are learning new skills all of the time.

"Train up a child..."

A good example of this kind of training is the small agricultural project which has been set up within the grounds of the Hope Centre complex where the children can get involved in producing some food for them selves.   Small gardens of cabbages and onions etc. are now producing food for the whole family.

"A little child shall lead them..."
Even the little ones are able to do something, here they are checking out which are the biggest onions and ready for harvest, and then they can have a go at pulling them up and carrying them back to the house for use or for sale in the market.

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Fragile but encouraging:

House four is on its way to completion at the Hope Centre in Burundi.   The country is a peace for the first time in 14 years and life is beginning to hold some hope for the children.   The pictures show the children getting on with some chores around the compound.   Clearing up and sweeping the area surrounding the homes.   Children who have lost everything including every member of their family can now see the opportunities that lie before them.   It is important for them to learn how to look after themselves.   It is important that they learn skills for self sustaining life.   Mission international may not be around forever.   Pastor leonard and the workers at the Hope Centre have received the message that no-one at the can expect to be looked after all of their lives.   There is work to be done, there is a country to rebuild, there is afuture to look forward to.

Of course chores are not the only agenda for the children.   Some have school work to do, homework and projects or assignments to work on and so life is never dull.

Please continue to pray for this large and extended family.   National elections are coming up in July 2010, these times can be worrying in a fragile democracy such as in vogue in Burundi.   Many political factions hope to draw young people into conflict and civil unrest as they try to gain power and influence in government.   Please pray that none of the youth in Burundi are deceived by those bent on violence and bloodshed.

Power to the people!

The Hope Centre has recently had electricity connected so that the family will have modern light and power for the very first time. The picture show the homes being connected and electricity board people climbing up poles to connect the homes into the national grid.

To support the work at the Hope Centre please use the finance options on the right hand column of this page.

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House 4 heads towards completion:

A grateful extended family:

We are very grateful, as are the children and Pastor Leonard and his wife Jolie who supervise the children, that the homes at the Hope Centre in Burundi are moving on. Four out of the proposed six homes are almost complete after which a boundary wall will be built to provide further security to the Centre.

What Next?

It is hoped that we can build a medical centre and a skills centre on the remaining land owned by the Hope Centre. This will provide some much needed support to the community, many of whom are refugee returnees from Tanzania and DR Cong0, after peace has been achieved in Burundi.

Your support:

If you would like to support the work of Mission International in the Hope Centre, please use the options (One off donation or regular giving/bank mandate or by PayPal) on the right hand column of this page. To discuss the Hope Centre please contact us on mail@mission-international.org

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More progress at Hope Centre!

Added to the progress in contstuction of house number 4, some simple ideas have been turned into income generating projects at the Hope Centre in Burundi.

Below house number 4 moves ahead towards completion.

The grounds around the homes have been turned into productive gardens, producing wonderful vegetables for the children to eat and some extra for sale to generate some extra income for the project.

Marrows and courgettes are harvested for consumption by the family and for sale.

Here the children harvest some cabbages and there are many more for consumption and for sale behind them.

Sustainability built in:

Projects aim for long term sustainability:

Now that the Hope Centre kids are coming back together at the Centre after having been looked after by others during the time the building work was going on we can begin to put in place some projects which will focus on long term sustainability. Recent donations of a few hundred pounds have made it possible to begin these projects.

• Goat project
• Cow project
• Chicken project
• Agricultural project

If you would like to support the Hope Centre in Burundi please use the options on the right sidebar of this page.

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PTI encourage the Hope Centre Kids:

Partners Trust International:

PTI, an indigenous Christian organisation in Burundi, spent some time recently encouraging the children at the Hope Cente in Mutimbuzi. PTI has a vision to reach out to the nation of Burundi, part of their work is a church based Bible College which aims to train local pastors and church leaders to cope with the many needs in the church and in the lives of the people.

The Hope Centre children really enjoyed the PTI visit, we hope that this will be a relationship which will develop in the future.

Below: On another note, here the Hope Centre's vegetable garden is developing well, these cabbages are growing proudly and will be ready for consumption soon.

To support the work of the Hope Centre please use the options on the right hand column of this page.

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Hope Centre - Sustainability Projects:

Sustainability the centrepiece of success:
The old adage "provide a man with a fish to eat you will probably have find a fish for him every day, provide him with a fishing rod and teach him to fish he can find fish for himself and feed himself" is key to the idea of sustainability. When Mission International first drew up the plans for the Hope Centre in Burundi in conjunction with Rema Ministries and Pastor Leonard this concept was central to our agreement.

Pastor Leonard Tuyishimire, who oversees the Hope Centre project on a daily basis has begun to lay out small vegetable gardens on the remaining ground around the homes which will in time produce some food for the family. A chicken project is now being funded and should be in place soon and there is a small herd of milk cows producing milk and a small income for the project as well. Many of the kids have been sponsored and so this project has the early signs of success.
3 of the 6 Hope Centre homes are now complete, the funds becoming available for house 4 as well.
Pastor Leonard gets down to business preparing the ground and getting plants growing which will provide food very soon.

Some young plants, shaded from the intense sun will soon be planted out and will in time be a healthy food provider for the family.

Skills Centre Plans:
The next phase of the Hope Centre project is to put in place a skills centre. Many of the returning refugees have no hope of finding work locally if they have no skills and so Mission International would like to find the resources to erect and resource a skills centre for the men and women of the community.

If you would like to support the Hope Centre in Burundi please use the options on the right column of this page.

Hope centre - Kids move in:

First three homes are now occupied:

The sight of happy smiling faces on the Hope Centre kids makes all the hard work, so far, so much worth it. When we first met Pastor Leonard and the kids in 2006 we could not have hoped for such a wonderful outcome for them. These kids had been traumatised by war and left destitute and for many without any family as a result.

Our first offer was to send some money to get them mattresses to sleep on at night and then Mission International managed to fund a fairly regular food programme for the children. It was when a large donation of £30,000 arrived at Mission International's base in Scotland that a much more advanced project was initiated.

Here some of the kids enjoy their new surroundings, now called the Hope Centre, sitting outside of one of the homes in Mutimbuzi.

Sitting around the dinner table will be very much a first for these kids. Life from now on will be full of new experiences.

We are very grateful to Charles & Val Carr and their family for their selfless commitment to this project, leaving their home, family and friends to spend 10 months in Burundi in order that this project could reach the stage that it has. The Carrs are now back in the UK but the project continues. Four of the six homes will soon be complete and so funding is still needed to complete the last two homes.

The Next Phase:

The next phase of this project is to put in place a skills centre for the local refugee returnee community. We hope also to put in place a medical centre which will service the many who have no access to medical services.

Getting involved:

If you can support this project financially please use the options at the top right of this page.

To see a weekly update of the project from day one until now go to the Hope Centre website www.HopeCentreBurundi.com

Hope Centre Homes near completion:

First home is ready for habitation:
In the summer of last year the Carr family from Westhill in Aberdeenshire made their way to Burundi to become involved in the planning, construction and management of the Hope Centre in the township of Mutimbuzi in Gatumba, Burundi. For them it was a huge adventure and a journey of discovery.
Charles and Val Carr had visited Burundi in the March of 2008 to have a look at the country and to see how they could be involved in the project, which was loosely planned on paper but had at that time no drawings or other planning in place. The first experience their three boys had was when they stepped off the plane for their year long trip. I am sure that the family had no idea what was before them then and how on earth they were to fulfil their mandate, that of building the Hope Centre in Mutimbuzi.
Both Charles and Val took their job very seriously and even before going out had set plans in motion to have the appropriate equipment in place by loading a container of materials and resources and having it sent to Burundi.
If you read this blog and visit the www.HopeCentreBurundi.com website you will see a very detailed weekly account of the progress made during their stay. The family will be returning to the UK by the end of May and will be starting new jobs and for the boys new schools leaving behind their project to be completed by the staff they have set in place in Burundi.
Not all of the homes are complete but it is hoped that three of the six homes will be finished by the time the Carrs return. More funding is also required for the remainder of the homes and for the security wall which will surround them.

If you would like to support this project please click here or donate via the PayPal link at the top right of this page.

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Special Christmas Visitor to the Hope Centre:

Burundian President turns up dressed for work:
The president of Burundi Pierre Nkurunziza arrived at the Hope Centre in his overalls and wellington boots. The cavalcade of vehicles stuffed with soldiers and security fanned out around the Hope Centre site as the president stepped out of his vehicle to see what the project is all about. Pastor Leonard Tuyishimire was able to show the president around the project introducing him to key staff who were able to show him the details of how this site is cutting edge in terms of vision and design. The president was impressed by what he saw and is keen to talk to Charles & Val Carr, Mission International's staff (who were at home in Scotland over Christmas) to discuss how he can support this project.

Building work continues apace although more funding will be required to complete the project as well as deal with the next phase which is hoped to be a skills centre to help skill up Gatumba's returning refugees.

Windows and doors are being fabricated on-site and are now being incorporated into the houses as they are built.

The BIG Meal:

At Christmas time Mission International tries to find funds to give needy children a Christmas Day meal. Below the Hope Centre kids came to the site to have their meal on the site of where their new homes are being built.

To see the full story of Christmas at the Hope centre go to http://www.hopecentreburundi.com/

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