It's all about "Kids"

I think I could write a book about our own "Kids helping Kids".  What a breath of fresh air they are
and the ideas they come up with are incredible.  You will see in the pictures below of just two examples where kids took it upon themselves to raise money for our Home of Angels.  We are all so proud of them for their hard work and dedication to make this difference.  Any of you trying to start something in another part of the world, put a child into the equation and you will see amazing things happen.

This will be the last blog before we leave for Uganda.  It's exciting to think that next month we will be showing you the opening of our home and all the activities involved.  We promise to make you feel like you are right there with us when we do it.  The first 13 children will soon be uniting as a family, to love and care for each other and know they have a secure safe home.  Edwin has been working hard to make this happen and I can honestly say that I cannot wait to see the changes from when I was last there.  Pictures are not the same as walking into that compound...I already have goosebumps.

The 3rd phase will be starting soon with the final wall being built around the entire 2 acres of gardens and chickens.  We have received a donations from the Heronbrook Foundation to get a good portion of the wall up.  We also want to thank Thomas for offering to buy the chickens.  Once this is completed,  gardens planted and the chickens producing, we can bring in the next 45 children who are waiting to join their new family.  At this time, we will celebrate our official "Grand Opening".

Shantel, one of the employees at the Whatcom Save on Foods store took it upon herself to have a massive bottle drive to raise money for us.  She even contacted the Carrie Underwood concert and was able to secure their bottles which were truckloads.  Her kids, Brooklyn, Kayden and Tauni (above) worked for 10 hours sorting and bagging them all.  Inside we sold banana bread and Sarah with Mom (left) and Isabella (right) manning the booth. Thanks to their wonderful demeanour and interaction with the customers, we were able to sell all the loaves.  A big thanks to Save on Foods for allowing this event to happen.

Katelyn is turning 12 years old and wanted to do something to raise money for our Home of Angels too. She came up with the idea of baking not gingerbread, but took the name of our town Jinja and named them  JinjaBread.  You can go to JinjaBread.ca and see her website and if you would like to order, the form is there.  Katelyn is also giving up her birthday presents and is requesting donations instead.  She wanted to serve God in her very own way and I would say He is up there right now smiling down on her.  We are so proud of you Katelyn for taking on this huge task.  

The main house is finished.  Gardens are in and the grass is flourishing with the rains and the hot sun.

All 3 kitchens are completed with cabinets and countertops.

It is normal practice to have a sink in the sitting room or what we call living room.  

Sunflowers growing around the perimeter and I can see my 65th birthday present ahead...avocado tree

The second children's home will be finished at a later date.  We are now going to concentrate on the wall encircling the 2 acres of gardens first.  Once that is completed, the next project will be to plaster this house and get it ready for the 45 kids waiting to come and live with us.

This is our cookhouse.  We have hired a cook that has known the children for most of their lives and she really loves them all.  In order for the smoke not to linger inside, a special outlet has been built on the roof.  On the right is a room to store food and utensils. 

You can also see the amount of vents on the side to protect the cook from the smoke inside.

And finally, Richard is still hard at work making the paving stones.  He has made 22,000 by hand and has another 6,000 to finish.  This boy works so hard and doesn't stop.  Clothes might be ripped, wheelbarrow is broken but Richard just plugs along.  New outfit and gloves are on the way from Canada for this boy.


Thanks again to all of you who have contributed in some way.  We have a special girl named Rachel going to Heritage Wood Secondary school who is baking banana bread and selling it at the staff and student functions.  Cheers to the kids at Chilliwack High who sold bread at their fundraiser for us.
All the kids who have helped us over the past few years, we will never forget any of you.   From your prayers to your donations, Edwin and I are very grateful.  We still have a ways to go before we can accommodate all 57 children, but we know the blessings are pouring down on us from above and you are a part of those blessings.  CTV has also just finished a story on us which will be airing sometime this coming week.

If anyone does wish to send a donation, I have someone at my house who will be collecting all my mail.  Please still make it out to MMF as you will get a tax receipt, but address the envelope to:

Barb Giraud
#96-32691 Garibaldi Drive
Abbotsford, B.C.  V2T 5T7

Thanks again for following our story and supporting us to make this dream come true for these children.

Bless you all....

Love "is" Honesty

"Honesty".... what a powerful word. 

I want to share with all of you about two situations that happened to Edwin this month. 

Four Pastors from 4 different districts in Kamuli travelled 200km south to visit with him and find out his theory of success in building our Home of Angels.  Edwin told them first of all, it was God.  Secondly, it was about being honest, because without honesty, there is no way to be successful in serving God.  Apparently we have not only inspired our own community but the districts around us. After some hours of hearing how Edwin and his crew had built this beautiful compound, mostly out of love, they left to travel home to report to their own district.  I see something big happening here.... a new trend maybe?  

 The next day there was a knock at our gate and a woman named Sarah was there to present Edwin with a chicken.  It is a high honor to receive a chicken.  She was there on behalf of our local community to give thanks for making their community a better place to live.  It can be difficult to understand for those of us living in such a different part of the world, but for them, they consider us the catalyst for others creating development in the area.  They were grateful for jobs for their men and children, the water we share with them daily and eventually having their own pumping station, being able to sell fruits daily to the workers on our property, helping the widows start micro-lending businesses and so much more.  And there are more things that we hope to do.  Edwin is working on street lights on the road leading to our compound and fixing the roads that were so damaged over the past 2 years with truckload after truckload of bricks and other heavy materials.  These people are our neighbors and even though the community is a large one, everyone is grateful for what we are doing there and it makes us smile.

July is rapidly approaching and it is almost time to house not 12 but 13 children...Yes, we have a new child and his name is Sam.  He is 11 years old, homeless and very attached to Edwin, Dr. Isaac and David.  A wonderful boy who will be an inspiration to the others.  We recently found Sam a sponsor (thanks Bennie) and even though he has been through some difficult times recently, he will do well living with us.  I see great hope in his future.

Enough rambling.... Here are some recent pictures to show you.  We never planned to make this project as large as it is and God only knows how we are ever going to feed everyone, but we did make a decision to bring in 45 more kids that have had their home taken away.  We also needed a new wall to build around our 2 acres of gardens and chickens for sustainability.   We are so thankful to the Heronbrook Foundation for providing funding to start the building of this wall.  It's people like you who really make a difference in this world and we are all so grateful for your big hearts in helping the less fortunate.  Thank you

Sarah is presenting Edwin with a chicken from the community in honour of all that he had done for them.  So many people have benefited by our Home of Angels and we feel good that we could have helped so many to provide the basics for their families.

Meet Sam...This is one special boy that will be an inspiration to the other children.  With love, hope and education, Sam will prove to be a productive citizen in Uganda..

This will be the new home for the children coming in later. In the future when our wall is built and we have a way to provide for them, they will live in this new home and call themselves brothers and sisters.  We are dreaming for this day to arrive.

A different view of the 2nd children's house.  The paving stones are almost made and installed and everything is complete except for the interior.  That will all come in time.

We had to make a new veranda.  When this home was built in 2010, we were still learning and through experience, we discovered a new and more efficient way for construction.  This will last for years to come.

A view of the main house.  The stone slate on the patio in front and the paving stones are all installed leading up to the main gate.  The grass is now flourishing and hedges following along behind.  

This is our Electrician Dennis and he is installing all the electrical fixtures in the homes, the main gate and the guardhouse.  He also will be working on the submersible pump where our water will be turned on with a switch in the house.  He is considered one of the top electricians in the entire area and has such a heart for the poor.

These three kids and their father painted our homes inside and out and what a beautiful job they did.  They made enough to support their family for a year.  In our country it's called child labour...in theirs, it's called survival. 

This is our cookhouse for the children.  The far left is where the cook will prepare the food with 100 vents installed for ventilation as to prevent smoke accumulating within the room.  The window in the front will be a pick up station the children to get their food as we don't want them going into the actual kitchen. The room on the right will be for the storage.

We want to help our community.  This is the garbage dump at the end of our road and we have people already cleaning it up.  Once this is gone, we can start working on the road going up to our home.  One step at a time but the most important thing is...everyone wants to make a difference here and they are willing to work to better their neighbourhood.

This is the road leading up to our home and the many trucks building in the area now have basically destroyed it.  Edwin is speaking with officials to bulldoze it and fill in the holes and make it a more easily travelled road for everyone.

The growth you see beyond our wall is the 2 acres recently purchased.  We will start building an extension of the main wall to enclose the gardens, fruit trees and animals  which will be our long term sustainability program.  Thanks to the Heronbrook Foundation, we are able to do this.  

Edwin and I speak every day and we try and think of the perfect words to say to make you understand how life is in Uganda.  It's not just Uganda, people are suffering throughout the world and we read about it every day.  Most people want to be more productive citizens but have little to work with to make that difference.  If we can just take a few kids with your help and change their lives to where they have hope, love and care, we have done our job.  


Thanks from all of us at our Home of Angels for listening and staying with us throughout this journey.  It means so much to us.