This month was a busy one for our little boy, Hank as he traveled to Hefei to the Hope Journey, which is organized by CCCWA.  This is all to help give him exposure to many different adoption agencies in hopes of finding his forever home.  He was quite a hit and many were smitten with him as he sang his way into their hearts.  It is our hope for him that he is able to find his family soon.  Ava is doing well this month, her foster family continues to report on what a sweet disposition she has.  Both children enjoy spending time playing at the park with all of the other children in the neighborhood.  This opportunity is provided to them by sponsorships from our supporters here at Angel Covers.  We love seeing how these children are provided a loving home environment until they are able to find forever families.  We are working on growing our program to be able to bring more children into foster care, but we can only do this with more sponsorship.  If you feel it in your heart to help support one of these children you will be given a monthly update with their health and exciting things they have experienced each month, along with pictures so you will see the loving environment they live in.  Please visit our website at www.angelcovers.org to find out more information on how you can help!

Hank and Ava exploring the park together.

This month we received a lovely spring-time update from the children in our foster care program.  Hank and Ava are really enjoying the weather they are currently having as the foster parents have taken them to the park to play outside every day!  The children have really enjoyed getting to play in the warm weather.  They are growing very well and learning so much about the world around them.  These experiences are provided to them only through the donations received through the Angel Covers foster program.  You can be part of this life-changing program through donations at www.angelcovers.org.  We are hoping to expand this program, to reach more children, in the near future.  In order to do this, we need more sponsors!  In fact, Ava current needs a sponsor to provide half her monthly support, or $35 per month.  As a sponsor you will receive monthly updates with how well the children are growing and responding to foster care, along with many pictures of your sponsored child.  Angel Covers, and the children, appreciate anything that can be given in support and thank those that continue to provide for these children, giving them the closest thing they can have to a family, while waiting for a forever home!

Enjoying the sun.

(The following account is the compilation of Beatrice’ notes about each of the many photos taken on this special day.)  The Celebration dinner which we did on Thursday (Feb 7th) was so SO great (for excellent exam grades and belated Christmas gifts). On that day, classes ended at 12pm and both the teachers and children were given time to have lunch and freshen up before the event which began at exactly 4 pm. We hired a tent, some decorations to make the place colorful, and we also got a chef to do a delicious meal. A group of local youth was hired to entertain the children and teachers. All of these people did a wonderful job making the day one of its kind in Humble Hearts history.                                             By 4pm all the kids and teachers were seated and the entertaining group started with doing dances. The children were so excited, full of laughs, smiles and giggles. It felt so good to see them so at peace and happy–forgetting all their worries and just focusing on having fun which was of course the main reason of the day!

The teachers and children did some thanksgiving speeches, each thanking God and the efforts of each other towards making achievements over the years successful. They did not forget to mention the input of the community around, guardians/parents, the sponsors from different parts of US, Europe, Canada through Angel Covers. We had some more entertainment and then came the most awaited part: the gifts! The teachers were each given an envelope with money and a voucher for them to buy from the market whatever they wanted.  A part of the money from Angel Covers also went into making special lunch for them. They were very grateful indeed!

Next, we did the children’s gifts, which was long and had to continue the following day as it was getting dark and the kids were hungry. We purchased different gifts –some kids got the same while others got different ones -depending on need, age and the like. Each gift is personal and special just for each of them. We bought school shoes, shoe brushes, geometrical sets, hair brushes, spoons, flip flops, kangas/lesos for the older girls, (we use them here to wrap around your waist, shoulder, like head scarfs its a must thing for an African woman to have as they are easy and comfortable for casual and social events and also when doing domestic chores) bob tops and panties for the girls, underwear and vests. For the boys: basins and buckets, and also side head flowers for the girls to use at home, jackets, T-shirts for the small kids to wear during sports day, hair bands for the girls with long hair to tie up their small pony tails, towels, school bags, face towels, socks and we also gave them the teddy bears that were brought when Kari and Jenny visited. We did shoes for some of the kids they were very excited and immediately threw away their old shoes which were worn out and had holes in them. They all loved what they each got with each child getting more than four items.

The FORM (high school)  students all got wrist watches this will help them with time management as they have as their stay at HH is very short and yet they have so much to cover and sit for their final exams starting October ending November, if they perform well they are guaranteed entry in the public university which will be affordable as they can apply for study loans.

Our menu for the day was chapati, spice rice (swahili pilau), soda, juice, cabbage, beef stew mixed with garden bean, french beans, carrots, and spices and we also had potatoes. The kids were so happy to have such a special meal, they each were served a plate and ate it outside near a bonfire which we lit for them outside.  I lack words to describe this day but in one word it was FABULOUS!

In this photo the kids were making hand shaped imaginary flowers which they send through an imaginary hand shaped air craft to the US to reach warm and sparkle the hearts of all our sponsors who made this day a success. 

Beatrice has written of great news for Humble Hearts students and their teachers:

The class 8 results were released yesterday by the minister for education. HH kids did well! Our first (highest scoring student) had 361 out of 500. The pass mark is 250. The first country wide had 430, (but remember) this is a kid who has never had any learning challenges, goes to the rich kind of school, has both parents and all the resources -both at school and home. Looking at these factors, we can say that the HH children who come from difficult backgrounds and even some join school late –did well. We were not expecting them to do this well as most of the class 8 kids had joined HH late in class levels 6, 7 and 8 and had learning challenges. The teachers really tried to pump in their all (greatest efforts) and it has born fruits! We are happy while we do the (belated Christmas) gifts and (school-wide) meal it will also be a good time to celebrate the good results.

Please let the sponsors know that their support in books, food, beds, clothing, vitamins… actually all their support has made it possible for the child from the poor family, who once had no hope, no one to trust and support them –has made them today able to walk with his/her head high, believing in themselves. These kids should be joining secondary this February. We are not sure if they will come back to HH. Sometimes when they do well, people and organizations/institutions like banks will want to support them in government schools. I will keep you posted on this.

—–There is so much for which to be grateful and we owe it all to our wonderful sponsors of specific students, general Humble Hearts sponsors, and the huge efforts by all involved at Humble Hearts. We are so proud of this school and all the staff! They all clearly work extraordinarily hard for these kids and are making a crucial impact in their lives. This is exactly why Angel Covers loves supporting this school so much.