Dear Friends,

On the eve of a brand new year full of hope for thousands of Africans whose lives you made better in 2017, I wish to take this opportunity to say thank you on behalf of the children who were born healthy this year and their mothers who gave birth safely; families who have access to clean water and who no longer risk illness or even death drinking from contaminated sources; and so many others.

Your generosity to Bread and Water for Africa® has made all of this possible – and more!

As you will read below, Baraka, (which means “blessing” in Kenya’s native language of Kiswahili), all that we have accomplished together in my home country of Kenya, as well as Sierra Leone, Zambia, Zimbabwe and elsewhere. Working together with our grassroots partners, Bread and Water for Africa® and you form a team that can truly call a blessing. Here’s just a little of what you have helped to make possible in 2017 alone:

• 53 children who were living at the Lewa Children’s Home in Eldoret, Kenya received food, health care, and other basic needs, as well as an education.

• 68 orphaned, abandoned or destitute children were supported through foster care and extended family living arrangements.

• 96 orphaned children found a loving home at the Kabwata Orphanage and Transit Centre in Lusaka, Zambia which provided for all of their basic needs including food, shelter and healthcare, as well as educational opportunities and vocational training, and counseling.

• Another 84 children living in foster care received food support, a living allowance, assistance with school fees and basic health care through Kabwata’s outreach program.

• 65,000 people received medical care, counseling and health education from the Faith Healing Development Organization, Christian Health Association of Sierra Leone and the Panguma Catholic Mission Hospital in Sierra Leone.

• 1,225 children at the Lamgie Full Cycle Elementary School in Ethiopia have clean drinking water from a well that was completed in May on the school grounds.

• 460 children were provided with an education at the Kipkeino Primary School in Eldoret, Kenya, including orphaned and abandoned children living at the Lewa Children’s Home.

• An additional 34 vulnerable children in the Eldoret area received financial aid for school tuition, supplies and uniforms through Lewa’s outreach program.

• 150 female farmers received training and supplies from Faith Healing Development Organization in Sierra Leone to establish small farming operations which sustained their basic needs.

With the support of Bread and Water for Africa®, I have also truly been blessed to be the mother of hundreds of orphaned and abandoned children who have been able to call the Lewa Children’s Home their home over the years. Thanks to you, a child who is all alone in the world and brought to Lewa soon learns that he or she now has a loving home where all their needs are met and dozens of brand-new “siblings” who treat them as a brother or sister.

Your generosity warms my heart. Yet despite the many lives we have been able to touch, the need is so much greater. Children and their mothers in Sierra Leone, Kenya, Ethiopia and communities in other African countries need so much. Your gift today would help so many.

Orphaned children need school supplies and school fees – a gift of $30 would supply 4 children with the textbooks they need for one year. Expectant mothers need medical care – a gift of $60 would provide that care to 15 mothers in one year. Communities need clean water – a gift of $120 goes a long way to bringing water lines and wells to communities with no running water.

Please send your end-of-year gift of $100, $50, $30, or whatever you can, to help us provide these most basic necessities of life for thousands of African children and families as we have done for nearly 20 years. Any support will help and be greatly appreciated – more than you will ever know.

Thank you for always showing how much you care for those in need halfway around the world.

My best regards,

Phyllis Keino R.N.

Volunteer Spokesperson

P.S. You have done so much for the people in Africa through your support this year and as we say goodbye to this blessed year I hope you can find it within your means to give a gift that will help light up this joyous season for the children of Africa who are looking forward to a promising new year anew.