Updates Computers Donation at Gitega International Academy

 Computers in the Gitega International Academy Library are already installed in and in use.

We are extremely excited for this donation and are thankful to Great Lakes Outreach and all the supporters who made this dream become a reality. It came at the time we really need it.

May the Lord bless you abundantly!

Could you please continue praying with us for an online library?

Homes of Hope ( orphanages) Updates

Kids in all the Homes of Hope are doing well. Some of them have been suffering from illness these last weeks, but we are thankful that they are recovering now. The         children no longer feel orphans. They are growing well and are rejoiced to have sponsors. Their life have been dramatically changed since their arrival in Homes

of Hope. They have mums to give them food, wash their clothes and take care of them. The eyes of YFC Burundi leaders are opened wider to dreams that only God can make possible, along with practical tips towards the goal of sustainability in the YFCB projects for a best future of these children. It doesn’t have many years of experience, but is  trying to run multiple projects to sustain themselves and help different groups of    people in the community. We are grateful to you all who are sponsoring these kids.  Please continue to pray with us for the health and wellness of our kids, organizations and nations. Anyway, two of our kids don't have sponsors. Could you  pray with us  for them to have sponsors?

 Love in action at Gitega International Academy

GIA continue piloting a scheme to give the young people a chance to serve the community. Last weekend, one of the classes at GIA visited a very poor community of pygmies at Gitega and their leader shared the Good News after distributing food for them. The    community really  appreciated that. The GIA students went back to school raving about the experience, creating album display to show their fellow students. Now all the students want to have a go! It’s very exciting to see the young people so enthusiastic about     serving their community. We pray that the Lord may continue guiding these godly  leaders.                                                                                                                            

                                                                                      

           

A New School Year is here

August and September have been busy months for everyone here at Burundi Youth for Christ. In August, we were still busy building and recruiting new teachers for both the Future Hope Schools and Gitega International Academy (GIA). We then opened a new school year for all our schools, Gitega

 International  Academy and Future Hope Schools, Gitega, Cibitoke and Makamba. Registration day for GIA was August 27^th and  excitement that we saw from the  parents showed their confidence in this school. Some parents are bringing back students from East African Countries and abroad to GIA. God is faithful! We continue to pray for peace and wisdom so as to make this school a great success.

On the other side, the Future Hope Schools opened the new school year on the 4th of            September. We praise the Lord as many   parents keep showing  their confidence in these schools. We are grateful for the light that FHS is being to the community, and we are glad to see so many students being added! We pray that the Lord continue guiding the teachers, students and parents.

In the same way, we are grateful to the Lord as building the Library is done and a good number of books are there too. It  is now in use.  May the Lord bless you all for your support. We are now in the need of an online library. Please, pray with us! 

Farming Project

We praise the Lord as we  continue seeing the Favour of the Lord upon us. The farming project is going well these days. Recently, we got a donation of irrigation equipment together with a truck from Villages of Life Australia. These donations help us a lot. The truck is for instance used to look for food to feed our domestic animals,… Talking about irrigation, it is a very huge blessing to us especially during the summer season where   plantations are dry and hard to get vegetables.   In the same way another cow in our Homes of Hope gave birth to a baby cow.  This project is making a big impact in the lives of our kids. They get milk , meat,..without much struggles and some of the vegetables are also affordable. May the Lord bless you all who are contributing to change lives! You are the source of these blessings!

 

Operation Hannah Mothers

We continue planting seeds. The Operation Hannah Movement was introduced to the mums of children in Cibitoke Homes of Hope and Female teachers of Future Hope School. We are grateful to the Lord as all of them attended the informative gathering and were joyful to be taught and encouraged to pray for their children, students and children of all nations. At the end, they elected their own leaders to start organizing prayer meetings once a week. Please pray with us for them to move forward.

First Graduation at Gitega International Academy

June 2017 has been a busy and exciting month for everyone at Burundi YFC. We launched the graduation of the first international

private Christian  boarding school in Burundi. The graduation was on the 17th and the excitement we saw from the parents and students showed their confidence in this school.  Thirty two students graduated and the pride of the students and parents was evident.  Several of the parents offered gifts to Freddy and the other leaders to show their deep gratitude. We continue to pray that the hands of God be on GIA and Burundi YFC leaders as they work together to make this school a great success.         

Our principle mission is to offer quality, internationally recognized education. We aim to provide academic, moral and cultural education to the students to enhance their relationship to others in local, national and international communities through exemplary leadership. By this we contribute to the expansion of secondary school enrolment in Burundi, build capacity for ministry of Education in Burundi thus improving the education standards and producing young leaders who will impact their communities. We praise the Lord as  this dream is becoming a reality. Please continue praying with us for next step.

Serving with Local Churches

We were so blessed to welcome, again, a team of six from North Point Church (Texas, USA).  Pastor Sallie Leifeste(the team leader), Pamela Foster, Rachel Leifetse , Brianna Dunn, and John and Angela Howarton have been in partnership with Youth for Christ Burundi since 2010 hosting seminars for local pastors in Cibitoke promoting unity among the different denominations.  During their most recent visit, they also organized a womens conference as well as a youth conference.  We know that their words and presence have both encouraged and impacted the attendees of all the conferences and we are so grateful to God for their willingness to serve.

Youth for Christ Burundi Thanksgiving day

The day after we celebrated the graduation we held a day devoted to simply thanking God for all the miraculous ways He has provided for us.  Seventeen years ago we had nothing.  There was no building, no office, no children’s home.  But there was a seed planted in the hearts of people when a woman brought us her malnourished son.  We wanted to take him but had nowhere to go.  Praise the Lord that the vision was planted that day and we stand today to testify that with God all things are possible.  Now, there are 91 children who have homes in our three orphanages across Burundi.  They have enough food and clothes. They learn about the love of their Heavenly Father and receive an education at our schools.  YFC schools have been named the best in the country, including GIA (where the graduation was held).  There are over 200 staff employed at the many locations across the country including the main office, guest houses and Shammah Health Centre. 

On this thanksgiving day, around 400 people gathered to give praise to the God who has truly made something from nothing and we will be eternally grateful for His work in our lives and our beloved country.  All the honor and glory belong to Him.

On the same day, Freddy launched his first book, Where The Cow Grass Grows, explaining his journey and God’s faithfulness.  Euphrate was welcomed as the new National Director as Freddy stepped out of the position to be the Legal Representative for the organization.  We are thankful that God will continue to guide us with His wisdom from here.

Discipleship at Gitega in YFC Ministry

YFC likes to partner with others to spread the Word of God as widely as possible. These last months, we welcomed a

team from Youth With A Mission. They spent time in Gitega busy building the children and youth of this nation in discipleship.  They also shared the love of God through drawing and colouring. Let’s invest in the youth to prepare the future. Please pray with us for this plan.  
educational pictures on the walls in some of the nursery classes. It’s like planting the seeds in good soil. When you sow a grain, you wait until it grows. Let's always have a hope and trust in the Lord!

Electric poles in Gitega Homes of Hope The Lord makes a way where there seems to be no way, and no one knows his hour to intervene! We spent many years praying for mains— powered electricity at Gitega Homes of Hope, using solar panels which were expensive to install and fix, and therefore limited how much we could use it.  Curiously, during this period of political and Economic crisis, when we could not expect it, the government company in charge of electricity has just came and installed electric poles next to the Homes of Hope. Hopefully, this means that mains—powered electricity will soon follow, which will  be cheaper and less stressful for both Shammah Health  Center and Homes of Hope. We are grateful to the Lord and  we pray for the next step of installing electricity to be quick.  Farming Project It’s a joy to share with you that farming project is becoming generative in the life of our ministry. We are grateful to the Lord as we cultivate different items to feed the kids. The farming project is making an impact in the lives of our kids in all our Homes of Hope ( Gitega, Cibitoke and Makamba). The children are now having milk, meat and vegetables more often than before and the soil is being fertilized to improve productivity.  May the Lord bless you abundantly!  These last months, with the help of Villages of Life Australia, we bought a new land in Cibitoke to cultivate and grow vegetables and other plants for kids. Yeah, there is a hope for enough harvest to feed the kids and surrounding community.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dear partners, sponsors, supporters and friends, it is our great honour to recognise and   appreciate you, for the support you have given us this entire year, for your consistent prayers and for the different ways you have touched many lives through this ministry. On behalf of everyone at Burundi Youth for Christ, we want to wish all our friends and supporters a very blessed year 2017. May the Lord bless you abundantly!

The past year has been a hard one, here in Burundi in terms of political and economic situation.

 The price of food is increasing from day to day. The season is very bad due to drought in some areas and torrential rain even destroying houses in other areas. However, we thank the Lord as together with you through out your support, the children in the orphanages and all the people whom we are in charge of, are steel getting the minimum required to be fed and are healthy. In addition, we worked tirelessly with our staff team to get GIA construction facilities finished and now we keep praying for GIA  Accreditation in ACSI.

Since April 2015, the country entered a period of  socio–political crisis and this has been a big hindrance for the development of our country in general and our organisation in particular.

Anyway, 2016 has been a year of hard work in all our different areas. In Makamba Homes of Hope( orphanage), six new kids were welcomed and two other more in Cibitoke Homes of Hope to give home to the homeless and a pigsty to help the

projects become more self-sufficient. Talking about schools, all the Future Hope Schools and Gitega International Academy are providing a good quality education for children in the surrounding area. We thank all our guests, volunteers and short term mission teams who have worked with us last year, we pray that you will continue to follow our journey as we move forward into the new year…

Partnership with Churches

We have a privilege of starting the new year off with North Point church from USA again. These God-sent friends have decided to come twice a year to bless the Burundian pastors by organising seminars for them. This year, although the country is in socio- political crisis, we were not left by our own. The Lord sent us Pastor John Howarton( North Point Church). We are delighted to partner with these local churches and connect them with other churches for a good training.

They have many young people under them and still, we step by step realise a positive impact in the community. May God bless everyone who contribute to widespread the Kingdom of the Lord.