An update on the Ghana Cleft Care project...Three more smiles have been changed!

Two years ago Katie Ruf and I were involved in a project in Ghana that helped provide very needed cleft palate surgeries to two adorable little girls from Sandema, Ghana. Many of our friends and family were involved in covering the costs of the transportation and lodging in Kumasi for the families of Angelina and Margaret. 

At the end of our stay in 2013 we fundraised extra to provide for the costs of a follow-up surgery for Margaret. Regretfully, the arrangements we'd made for her surgery fell through, and over the past two years we've been unable to set it up again. Katie and I have tried to reconnect but the distance between us & Sandema has made it impossible.

We've finally surrendered to the idea that we might not be able to directly support Margaret's second surgery (though we hope it's gone ahead!) and have opted to donate the remaining funds to Operation Smile an amazing organization that provides cleft palate surgeries for children around the world, including those in Ghana. 

The funds our friends and family contributed over two years ago ($820) will pay for 3 surgeries and/or support the education of local surgeons who will perform cleft palate surgeries in their own communities. We believe this is the very best Plan B around for the use of these funds, and remain deeply grateful for all those who supported this project. The impact of these donations is more than we'll ever know. 

Please connect with Katie or I if you have any questions. If you want to hear more about the story of how this project came to be you can find the whole story here.

Thanks for supporting us, to support Operation Smile. 

Happy #givingTuesday! 

Thanks!

My friends the McLeans have been a big support to the work of Sheltering Wings and my time in Burkina and were generous in donating toothbrushes and toothpastes to my time in Africa this go-round. Although the original intent was for the brushes to come to Burkina Faso, when I contacted the McLeans about my change in plans they suggested the items could go wherever I saw fit.

While in Dzelukope I traveled with Mamy, my host mother, to visit the school she works at – the Keta Business Secondary School. There I met her class and was able to give them all toothbrushes and toothpastes to keep their smiles looking beautiful. It was a mostly female class as it was a home economics class, and the girls all cheered when I told them my friends in Canada had sent a little gift for them. They send their blessings.

I still had many toothbrushes and toothpastes and was able to give the rest to Father's House International to support them as they continue to provide for vulnerable children in Ghana.

Thanks so much McLean family!

Belated Thank You

I’d like to say a belated thank you...

While still in Burkina I was blessed to be able to direct a portion of the funds I received towards an addition on the garage at SW! This is a huge blessing and will protect the motos from wind and rain. 
The staff uses the motos in order to maintain the every day work of the orphanage, for village visits and the sponsorship program. It’s so important to be able to take care of these vehicles so the work at the orphanage can continue. Thanks for being a part of it!

The picture you see here is of the three part garage. The third part (on the right) is what we’ve just added on.

Camp!

Thank You!
Camp has always been a huge part of my summer. It’s been a place to build friendships, strengthen my relationship with God, and learn some practical life lessons. This year when some of our kids started talking about summer camp I was so excited for them!
This week (Aug 22-28), nine of our kids are headed out to an International Young Adults camp that has come to Yako. It’s something they’ve all been looking forward to and I can’t wait to have news about the amazing week.
They will have bible studies, worship times, and seminars with guest speakers treating the subject of how youth can find employment in Burkina.
For everyone that contributed to the discretionary fund: your funds have contributed to sending seven of these children to camp for this week! Thank you so very much for being a support to the children of Sheltering Wings.

ExciteD about ordinateurs (THANK YOU)

Earlier this year I discovered a need for laptops at Sheltering Wings. When I let EllisDon know they responded to the call by generously donating six company laptops!

Sheltering Wings is very excited to be getting started a program in which the children will have computer access and learn basic computer skills.
This program has great potential and it’s wonderful to see how this donation has helped to provide such an opportunity to our children.

Thank you EllisDon for your continued support of Sheltering Wings!

B is for Barke, C is for Couche...

I’d like to extend another huge thank you to everyone that contributed to the fund for unforeseen ways to bless the orphanage and community.
When I arrived SW had recently acquired a washer and dryer. These items are a huge blessing to the orphanage as during the rainy season diaper washing, and especially drying the diapers is difficult to accomplish.
The funds weren’t yet in place to hook up the electrical and plumbing for the washers and dryers. Your donations went to electrical and plumbing installations that were a part of the process of hooking up the set.After this step a (WONDERFUL) visiting team completed the installation, cleaned out the equipment and got the set in full working order. This was a very exciting day!

Thanks so much for being a part of the process of getting these pieces of equipment going!


(Barke is thank you in Moore and Couche is french for diaper)

Le Foot

I can’t tell you how grateful I am to all of you for the ways in which you (my home team!) support me: through your words of encouragement, your prayers and the donations you have sent with me. From time to time I'll be posting pictures and updates with a little thank you note for these things. Everything is much appreciated.

Today I'd like to thank three of Calgary's Soccer Clubs for their generous donations.

I'd like to extend a huge thank you to Blizzard Soccer for the generous donation of boy's soccer jerseys. We held a small distribution and each of our boys received a matching, team jersey. Already I've seen many games of t-shirts vs. Blizzards and the boys have worn their jerseys everywhere. They were a huge success! Thank you Blizzards for the jerseys, and for the soccer balls!

Also I'd like to say a huge thank you to Northstar Soccer today for their generous donation of soccer balls. Last year and this year NorthStar donated heaps of soccer balls for me to bring to the kids at Sheltering Wings.

This year when I arrived none of the boys could wait until my luggage arrived because their last ball had recently broken. Once my luggage made it to Yako I was able to give the boys at SW as well as the children at our school a new ball. Many happy soccer games have since followed.

Thank you NorthStar!

Finally I'd like to thank NorthWest United for the donation of all things soccer: jersey's, T-shirts, shorts and socks! (Sorry: no photos yet.) Thanks NorthWest United!

***Edit***
check out Blizzard Soccer's Travelling Jersey section to see Sheltering Wings listed.