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.

Student’s Graduation and  Thanksgiving day in Preparation

Sixteen years are over since the foundation of Youth for Christ Burundi by Freddy Tuyizere. 
This organisation

 spent all these years witnessing God’s provision. It started from a tent as both an office and orphanage at Gitega . But now, it has a building at Bujumbura (headquarter office), three sites at Gitega, one site in Cibitoke, a site in Makamba and hopefully another one to start in Ngozi.  Yes he is the provider of everything. All those sites are made of five schools, three Homes of Hope ( orphanages) two Clinics and farming projects. For sure, your support was not money lost, it contributed a lot to make Freddy’s dream become a reality. BYFC is now busy organising a thanksgiving day to the Lord for all the miracles witnessed over the journey and a first students’ graduation of Gitega International Academy (one of its five schools) on the 17th and 18th of June 2017. Could you please join us and witness these God’s provision?

Operation Hannah Mothers

Operation Hannah is a movement of prayer women of our organisation. These women led by Marie

Josée Karewa, the Operation Hannah Mothers Coordinator were in Gitega this month to awaken the ladies of Gitega area to faith. The speaker of the day reminded to the participants that children, families and nations rely on pious mothers. There is no chance in life, she said. We must make a spiritual battle to achieve victory in everything. The devil never falls asleep and he is jealous of us. We must act accordingly, she added. The speaker has taught a lot about education of children to help prepare future generations to start with our children. Each was encouraged and determined more than ever. May the Lord bless the initiators and all those who contribute to the success of this project how commendable!

Partnership with Operation Christmas Child (OCC)

We are at work preaching the Good News to the children and youth of this nation in partnership with OCC and local churches. It’s like planting the seeds in the good soil. When you sow a grain, you wait until it grows. There is a hope that things will be better tomorrow. Let’s invest in the youth to prepare the future. For sure, we reap what we sow and preparing the future is investing in the youth. Please continue praying with us for the successful.

A New School Year in Burundi Youth for Christ Schools

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 both Gitega International  Academy and Future Hope Schools, Gitega, Cibitoke and Makamba. Registration day for GIA was August 28^th and  excitement that we saw from the parents showed their confidence in this school. Some parents are bringing back students from East Afican Countries 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 12th of September. We praise the Lord as many parents keep showing  their confidence in these schools. We can observe it through the number of students which keeps increasing each year. . We are grateful for the light that FHS is being to the community, and we are glad to see so many students being added! The Lord is guiding the teachers, students and parents.

 In the same way, we are grateful to the Lord as building the multipurpose hall is done. It  can easily host 800 persons. Even the community will benefit from the use of it either for conference or other activities. We are now praying for the equipment.  In addition, the final constructions for the kitchen are still going on. We will be done soon and we also pray for its equipment and accreditation for GIA as we prepare for the very first graduation at GIA in June of 2017. It will be followed by a big thanksgiving service on the Sunday.

     You are welcome!

 New Faces in Homes of Hope ( Orphanages) in Makamba and Cibitoke

These two months, we were blessed to have more kids in our Homes of Hope( orphanages) Cibitoke  and Makamba. We welcomed four kids in Cibitoke whereas five kids were welcomed in Makamba. We have now a total number of 89 kids , 43 in Gitega, 39 in Cibitoke and 7 kids in Makamba. We are grateful to the Lord as the kids are well settling in. We are praying for the sponsors to help these angels. Soon, they will start serving the Lord. 
What a blessing to invest in kids life!

           

Water Filter at Gitega International Academy

Water Filter is here! It’s a great excitement to have water filter in GIA. Actually, boiling water everyday for around 300 students was not an easy task. If we don’t boil, we were obliged to import “Eau sirop” from Rwanda to purify the water. It’s too far and also

demanding. Now, there is no other need. It’s just connecting the filter with the jerrycan or the tank and the purified water is there. We thank the Lord for this donation from USA. It’s a huge blessing for our schools where drinking water was a big deal.  May the Lord bless  you all who keep supporting us in a way or another.

                                                                     

GIA Summer School    

 

The students from GIA have had a chance to break up their long summer holidays with good training, the last week of June and to other more weeks since 11-22nd July, 2016. Within those three weeks, the National Office was filled with life and energy as the students were coming each day to take part. They had two different teachers covering two different subjects:

William Caswell from USA, South– Carolina, with lessons to assist finalists students on how to prepare for some international tests allowing access to English universities like SAT. The Entrepreneurship course was covered by Sandra Dennis from USA, Seattle. It’s a very needed course to raise up these godly generation of leaders with an open mind. It’s also good for the students to get out of the house and continue to learn, grow and expand their minds whilst there are no expectations and pressure of exams and grades. They  were grateful to the Lord to have an opportunity to learn those lessons. May the Lord bless fully those who made this happen (Sandra Dennis, Will Caswell and BYFC Team). We pray for more volunteers to come and serve with us.

A two weeks Holiday for HOH Kids

We keep seeing the favor of the Lord upon all our Homes of Hope children (orphanages). They are well and growing both physically and spiritually. Please pray with us as all the kids are in Summer holidays with their biological siblings when the financial situation is critical during this socio – political crisis in Burundi. Some did not have any of their relatives to welcome them . But  praise the Lord as YFC staff decided to receive them in their different homes to avoid children staying lonely in the orphanage.                                                                                                       Construction Work Building work is going on at all the Burundi Youth for Christ sites as we prepare for the new school year. This is how far we are with constructions: At Bwoga (a new site for FHS Gitega), we are busy adding more classrooms for the nursery and high school level. At Cibitoke, we are building a Headmaster’s office and a new home to house the new orphans to come soon. We praise the Lord as the building work is already done at Makamba. Talking about  GIA, we are busy with finishing works for the multipurpose room, adapting the kitchen to the standard required by the Association of Christian School International.  The building under constructions will hold boys dormitory to house the new students , multipurpose hall ... This will free up existing classroom space for the new grade 7 classes that will start at the end of August. Building work has been an on-going project at GIA; expanding each year until the school reaches Grade 12. Now that we have reached Grade 12, we will be evaluating to make sure if we have enough space to house the entire school’s worth of students. We are grateful to your support and pray that the Lord will rewards you fully! Staff Recruitment We are recruiting  new teachers for the Future Hope schools in Gitega, Cibitoke and Makamba. We had a huge response with many applicants to assess and interview to ensure we selected those with the best skills and teaching abilities for our young children. We are also busy recruiting new teachers and volunteers for Gitega International Academy and a Headmaster for Future Hope School High School. We pray for a successful recruitment so as to have faithful and skilful teachers and staff to help us build the Kingdom of the Lord.

More blessings in Cibitoke Homes of Hope (our orphanage).

Romans1:17 “The righteous shall live by faith”.

Yes, let’s trust this. It’s true. Youth for Christ Burundi is the witness. The economic situation is terrible these times but we keep enjoying the favor of the Lord.

We were blessed to welcome the First Lady, her Excellency Denise NKURUNZIZA in our Homes of Hope at Cibitoke. The kids and staff were so excited to welcome for their very first time the spouse of the President in their compound.She also offered a donation of food, kitchen utensils, soaps and shoes for kids.

What a privilege!

We are grateful to the Lord and we pray for abundant blessings to you all.

Gitega International Academy:

We are pr aying for funding so that we can complete the three-

story multipurpose building (i.e. the big

building in the center of this picture); we have to finish it before we reopen school on August 28, 2016. The third floor (red bricks) is so badly needed for chapels; big school gathering, graduations…etc. It will accommodate 700 and 800 people total. Would you please pray with us??? Thank you so much. You can visit the website: www.gitegainternationalacademy.org

We are once more grateful to the  Lord to have an international volunteer here with us, Will Caswell from USA- South Corolina. As we are about to assist GIA finalist students prepare for some international tests allowing access to English universities. He is the one helping us. We welcome any other volunteer willing to come and serve with us. May God bless you!

Worship Team at Gitega International Academy

Gitega International Academy students are spiritually growing. This is a very exciting news! Some of our students have been so touched by the chapel services and testimonies of the staff during their time in the school, that they decided to give their lives to Christ. This is cause for a great celebration! They created a worship team two years ago and now they’ve started visiting some of other worship teams in churches to exchange their experiences and share testimonies.

A big thank you to all the volunteers who have worked hard in the chapel services, even when there was no sign that their words or actions were taking root. Everything happens in God’s time.

 Affordable Healthcare

Healthcare in Burundi is very hard for the poor to access especially during this period of crisis when everything is expensive and the country classified the poorest country in the whole world. Clinics and hospitals require payment in advance of treatment, and pharmacies would not dream of letting you take medication until it was paid for in full. Shammah Health Center is cutting new ground with their affordable healthcare. Not only are their prices relatively low, but they allow people to get the treatment they desperately need, even if they don’t have enough money on their person, on the promise that they will return to pay later. In these days of crisis in the country, about 10% of the patients have not been able to pay in full especially in case of hospitalisation, and over 70% of them have already returned to clear the debt at a later date.

The gratitude of the patients is overwhelming, some crying tears of joy when they realise that they will still get treatment, despite not having the money to pay for it straight away. There have also been a few cases where patients have honestly told us that they don’t know if they will ever be able to raise the money to pay the debts, which has resulted in the work scheme programme. Patients can return to the centre when they are well and do a few days manual work in our fledging malnourishment programme to pay off their debt. During this period of crisis, the grassroots are in extreme poverty and are really in the need of assistance. Shammah’s trust in people gives them dignity, empowerment and responsibility for their own healthcare, whilst providing access to those who would otherwise be denied. Everybody wins! Let’s serve the Lord!

Building work

The constructions are going on at different youth for Christ sites.

We keep trusting God to provide funding for the new urgently needed classrooms and dorms. We are currently building 3 classrooms on the other site at Gitega, hoping to open a science and arts section at Future Hope secondary school in September . There are very few schools in that area and the local population is very eager and impatient for us to open. New classrooms and headmaster’s office are also needed and expected at Makamba and they are under construction now.

We once more trust that God will allow us to add more students by end of August at Gitega International Academy as many parents trust in our schools. Through his people, we have seen God providing miraculously the past years. Would you please join us praying for the needed funding?