Helping needy Malagasy kids to become
Jesus’ kids!
December 2007 Volume 10, Number 12
"A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." Proverbs 22:9
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Helping needy Malagasy kids to become Jesus’ kids! December 2007 Volume 10, Number 12 "A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." Proverbs 22:9 |
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Future
Plans for Betikara
Now that the time is getting closer for me to return to Madagascar I am starting to think about all of the things that I will be doing once I arrive on January 9, 2007. One of the big projects for Betikara that I have talked about for the last 5 months is the volunteer housing that we want to have constructed. Many of you may remember our writing about brick houses that cost $16,000.00 each. These houses come with a septic tank, toilet, bathroom sink, shower stall, water heater, and kitchen sink. We first wrote about these houses in the June 2005 Betikara newsletter.
When I arrive back in Madagascar I will go by this place of business and see what the current price for construction is these days. Betikara already has enough funds to build two houses, possibly three houses, depending on how much the price has increased in the last two and one half years.
Included in this newsletter are some of the pictures that we used in the June 2005 newsletter, as well as two new pictures. If the price of the houses are still reasonable we could have volunteer housing completed by as early as the middle of 2008. Time will tell. Please pray that we will be able to purchase these houses, making it possible to be finished with Phase III of the Betikara building project.
Volunteer housing on the Betikara property will help in several ways. Housing will make it easier for the volunteers. Presently the volunteers have to share space with the Betikara Lambs or they need to travel daily from John and Esther Ratovohery’s home or our home in order to spend time with the Lambs. Traveling every day entails riding public transportation as well as about a one and one half mile walk from the place where the last bus stops. If the volunteers travel with us, then we have to coordinate when to be at the orphanage in order to drop them off or pick them up. Taking volunteers to the orphanage on a daily basis does not always work out for us and the volunteers.
When the volunteers are staying on the Betikara property they will be able to spend more time with the Lambs. In the past we only required that volunteers be with the children four hours a day. This was because traveling most of the time took up two to three hours a day. Because the volunteers will be right on the property they will be able to help the caregivers with their many daily responsibilities.
Tsiry
Recently I was talking with some of Tsiry’s sponsors. I told them that Tsiry was not able to pass the test to enter high school and that he would no longer be able to stay at Betikara. Some of Tsiry’s sponsors were concerned about what would happen to Tsiry now that he has to leave Betikara not having finished high school. I tried to assure them that Tsiry would not be released from Betikara without there being something that he can do physically to support himself from day to day. I assured them that Tsiry was taking driving lessons and would then be able to get a job driving trucks or a taxi.
New Lambs
To date the six new boys that we reported on in the October and November Betikara newsletters are still available for anyone who wants to sponsor a child. If you are interested you can contact the Indiana Church of Christ at the address that is listed at the end of this newsletter, or you can contact us using the following e-mail addresses:
brosie@freenet.mg or
barryjrosie@yahoo.com
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If you would like to help with a monetary donation, write your check out to BETIKARA and send it to:
Indiana Church of Christ “He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD,
and he will reward him for what he has done.” |