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Need for Special Prayers, Please.
Elisa and Princy
They came to
Betikara in November 1998. She was five and he was just four.
I remember Grandpa first coming to talk to us about these children.
He and his wife were too infirm and too old to care for them. Their
mother had died and there never was a father in the picture. His
tears were heartbreaking on his first visit to speak with us and they were
even worse on the day when he brought the children to stay in the orphanage.
Grandpa visited more faithfully than Grandma. She was bedridden
for a long time and he suffered from severe arthritis, but he could walk,
and so he took a bus regularly to come and see his precious grandchildren.
Each time he came, his thanks to us bordered on embarrassing. He
gave us far too much credit for loving his family. Grandma visited
too when she could and she was equally grateful for Betikara.
These lambs
have been our little stars. They have always been extremely polite
and obedient. They made friends easily and they study hard in school.
We’ve held up their school notebooks in example to all the lambs as extremely
neat and well done. Both of these two have topped their class over
the years. Elisa is very bright and Princy borders on gifted.
This last year in school, we have struggled with Princy feeling he was
not preparing well enough for the Junior High School qualifying exam.
He would smile at us and remind us that he had a plan. He placed
first area-wide on the exam and Elisa placed second. They have been
model children at Betikara and we love them as our own.
Over a year
ago, Grandpa passed away suddenly. This surprised us because he seemed
so much stronger than Grandma. All of Betikara grieved with and for
Elisa and Princy. We (some 20+ lambs and adults) scooped them up
and held them close as they said goodbye to the Grandpa who cried for having
to place them in an orphanage.
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Age 13
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Age 11
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This week, Elisa
and Princy’s Grandma passed away. As we were driving in to worship
last Sunday morning, we saw the children heading for the bus with the extended
family members that had come to get them. They didn’t know Grandma
had passed away yet.
These lambs
have a huge extended family. Eight years ago, Grandma and Grandpa
cried because they couldn’t take care of them any longer, and for these
eight years, none of the extended family has visited or offered to take
them in. For us, that’s ok, because these two lambs have become very
much a part of the Betikara family, but for them it must be difficult losing
the last one who really cared. When they return to Betikara after
the funeral, we will sweep them up into our arms once again and thank the
Father that they have a Betikara family.
Thank you once again
Christmas is long over, but we are still receiving goodies thanks
to all of you. Two ping pong tables are in the process of being built.
All of the children have received a special Christmas treat. Most
of them have received individual packages from you. As for the packages
that came late and are not for one particular child, we have constructed
a birthday package for each child from these boxes and our year of birthdays
will be much easier for namely me, who puts together birthday treats for
each of the lambs. Thank you so much for caring and for sharing.
Several lambs still do not have monthly sponsors
or full sponsorship. Please pray. If you are interested, please
write us and let us know. Thanks.
Change of mailing address for customs purposes
Betikara suffered
an unexpected blow just before Christmas. All these years, we have
received every bit of what you so generously send for the children via
regular mail duty free. We’ve developed a relationship with the people
at the post office. They have seen the orphanage government registration
papers and have even seen photos of the children. That has all changed.
We are now forced to pay customs duty on everything that comes into the
country.
In an effort
to rectify this situation, Barry spoke with government officials within
the postal system, pleading the orphanage case. They have agreed
to a compromise. Up until this point in time, we have instructed
you to send packages using only Barry’s name in the address space.
Previously, they refused to let Barry take anything from the post office
that was addressed to a different person or to the Betikara orphanage.
Now, the post office insists that we can only receive items duty free if
they are addressed to Betikara.
Please, in the
future, if you are sending something for an orphanage child or for the
orphanage in general, use the following address:
Betikara
B.P. 7554
101 Antananarivo
MADAGASCAR
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