A Call for Help, Prayer and Hope

The drought in Eastern Africa has caused a historic humanitarian crisis.  Normally, there are two primary "rainy" seasons in Kenya:  one during the months of October through December and another larger one in April and May.  Earlier this year, we wrote about the terrible effects the drought has had on Kenya, leaving 2.6 million people in danger of hunger.  The hope was that drought would be helped by the April and May rainy season, but the rain received was 75 percent below average.  The cumulative effects of this continued drought has been scarcity of food and soaring food prices.  The Bethel Children's Centre has taken in nine additional children this year due to the crisis, four of whom lost their parents as a result of hunger and five of whom came from a "poor" orphanage in another part of the country.  Taking on these additional children has created some new challenges.  One such challenge is space.  Most of the new children were very young, too young to attend classes at Bethel's school, so Bethel began pre-school classes for these children, but both the school and the orphanage are at (or above) maximum capacity.  With Huruma's assistance, Bethel has now built a structure which will serve as a school building for these pre-school kids.   The other major challenge is resources.  Not only does it cost more to take care of these additional children, but the continued soaring food prices has caused more and more of Bethel's budget to be used for food than was anticipated for this year. 
​So, we'd like to ask you for several things.  First, we ask for your prayers.  Prayers that God will bring rain, and prayers for provision for the people of Eastern Africa.  Second, Huruma humbly asks for your help.  When you give to Huruma, you can be assured that 100% of your gift will go directly to support needy children in Bethel Children's Centre care in Kenya.  The challenge is great, but our God is greater.