Across the country and the world, millions of children are eagerly looking forward to Christmas Day – and that includes many children and families in sub-Saharan Africa countries served by Bread and Water for Africa® such as Kenya, Sierra Leone, Zambia, and Zimbabwe where hundreds of orphaned and abandoned children are being cared for in the children’s homes we support.

While these children will enjoy a Christmas meal, and will receive a small gift or two, the greatest gift for them is the one they receive each and every day – the love of those who feed them, provide them with a warm bed and a roof over their heads, provide them with the medical care when they’re sick, and give them an opportunity for an education that prepare them for success in life in adulthood.

In addition, the Christmas spirit lives in our hearts and the many of our supporters from across the country who make the choice to support our mission of digging wells and drilling boreholes to ensure that thousands of children, parents, and elders living in remote villages no longer must risk illness, even their very lives, by drinking from unsafe sources contaminated with diseases and viruses.

It also is clearly evident in their support of our agricultural and food self-sufficiency programs which every year provide hundreds of subsistence farmers with the training, tools, and materials to not just eke out enough cassava or vegetables grown on their own tiny tract of land to survive, but to thrive by growing enough to sell at local markets to pay the school fees for their children.

In countless ways, our partners who operate health clinics and hospitals providing free medical care for those with nothing to give but their gratitude for the treatment they receive and the medicines they need not just to recover from illness, but to live.

The work that we are able to do is all because of the generosity of the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa® and our tireless and selfless grassroots program partners who, as some of our program beneficiaries have described them as their “guardian angels” on Earth – now more so than ever during the Christmas season.

On behalf of them this holiday season we say “Thank You,” in their words:

Asante Sana (Swahili) – Kenya

Ameseghinalehu (Amharic) — Ethiopia

Natotela (Bemba) — Zambia

Zikomo (Nyanja) — Zambia

Maita Basa (Shona) – Zimbabwe

Weebale (Luganda) — Uganda

Tɛnki (Krio) – Sierra Leone