Our brand new village in our program, Burtubat, had the opportunity to do their own camp this month, before school starts in October. Though the village started too late to join in with our summer camp with all our village kids together, we were able to put together an individual one for these amazing 50 children and all 50 attended!

The children in the Burtubat village program were excited to spend their first time away from home and go to our camp! It was a new experience for them and a blessed time. The camp was about how God has called us to be His children and we saw the hope and light in their eyes during our time together.

Pray with us for these incredible children and their families. Pray we would see real hearts changed and coming to know Jesus. Pray that God would provide the individual needs for them and that they would be physically well. Pray that each child will learn and grow in their hearts and minds, as we serve them and help them.

We are thrilled that we have recently launched our 4th village! Burtubat village in the El Minya area of Egypt now has 50 children and their families who are being served and lives are already changing. This is all because of another church in the United States, Mariners Church, deciding to partner with us to serve the people of Egypt. We are so grateful!

Before we start serving in a village, we join with our local church partner in the village and train the volunteers that will serve these families. We had our first training in our newest village, Burtubat, and it was wonderful! 18 volunteers learning, engaging, and having fun as they prepare to help change the lives of 50 children and their families.

Burtubat children had their first medical check ups and needed lab tests. Every sponsored child receives regular medical help. Food parcels also went out right away to our new program families. These staples that are given each month include things like oil, rice, flour, tea, etc. This first time included a chicken to welcome them to Our Children!

We had our first Mothers’ Meeting in the village as well. These once a month meetings with the moms are a great time of both encouraging them and educating them on different things. Pray for all the moms! (And it was fun having the kids with them for this first meeting .)

Education is a priority for us! The children in Burtubat started their reading & writing lessons with our local tutors. We are excited to watch their growth and excitement throughout this coming year.We usually see most of the illiterate children in our program become literate in their first year in the program with us. It’s such a joy and privilege!

We were thrilled to do our Summer Camp again this year with the children from all 3 villages together (130 kids)!! It was for Grades 1-5 children and the theme was “Lampa” or “Light” — they learned how Jesus is the light in their life and their life can be a light to others. They were especially excited about getting t-shirts this year!

We had a great group of Volunteers who helped us lead the camp for the children. These are local volunteers from our partner churches in the villages. They give of their time and love for these kids and they helped make the Camp a wonderful experience for each and every child. Join us in praying for our volunteers — that God will guide them on showing love, compassion, understanding, and a continued heart for the children and families they are serving.

The children in our program at Beni Ahmed and Ashnin villages have been learning about giving during their discipleship group times. Their leaders encouraged them to collect money to help other children. All together they collected 250 LE! They were very excited to have done this. They then gave the money to the local church to help other children in their villages. We are so proud of them!

One help we have been able to provide for the children in our program is immediate assistance with emergency surgeries. In 2020, we were able to help 9 children in need of emergency surgeries. These included appendicitis, leg/arm help after accident and more. Without our help, most of these children would not be able to afford the surgery. The families also may not have understood the importance of the surgery had it not been for our doctor and volunteers that stay in touch with them and check in on their health frequently.

Thank you for each and every donation you made in 2020 and are making still today. Whether its monthly sponsorship or a direct donation, each and every pound and dollar matter and impact lives.

If you’d like to make a donation or become a sponsor, please click here.

Some of the children who had surgeries in 2020:

Though Egypt continues to keep schools closed (since January–with offering classes via television and the internet), our program has continued to keep literacy and education support classes going for the kids that need it. We have reduced the groups to smaller sizes, with safety in mind, but have been able to help many of these kids not fall behind, but move forward.

In 2020, with all of the challenges, we still were able to keep 67 children enrolled in literacy classes with our tutors. Of these 67, we had 30 of them “graduate” and become officially literate! With the illiteracy rate of our villages typically being 30-50%, this is great news.

Though our desire is for 100% of the children in our program to become literate, we continue to need prayers for this. Also, we are looking into expanding our literacy program for siblings, so pray for wisdom and guidance on this.

We meet regularly with the mothers and fathers of the children in our program across our villages. This month, God gave us the opportunity to have a time with them together as parents in Al Ashnin village. This meeting time was full of teaching about marriage and the relationship between husband and wife. It’s not a usual teaching for these parents in these villages and they received it well. In fact, God blessed us that 90% of the fathers attended!

Teaching these parents like this helps solve problems at the source or root and not just put bandages on them. Continue to pray for these families and for major changes that provide healing and change that will affect generations and whole villages.

WE NEED HELP! We need to get these 20 children sponsored before 2020 ends. So, we’re taking the next 20 days to ask you all to help us and sponsor a child, and spread the word! These 20 children are part of the village of Zawyet Sultan, our latest village of service. They’ve been waiting and waiting on someone to help them be fully involved in our program. With a monthly sponsorship of USD$35 or EGP600, these children and their families’ lives will change. They will receive food, regular medical care, education help, and spiritual support.

Zawyet Sultan is a small village in the area of El Minya, Egypt with 15,000 people. With a 50% illiteracy rate and 30% poverty rate, the needs are great. There is a 50% unemployment rate, but those that have jobs work in mines and by making small handicrafts to sell.

Scroll through to see these beautiful children and choose to sponsor one or ask a friend to join us through sponsoring a child below.

(You can sponsor a child by signing up online or emailing us at info@ourchildrenkdec.com. Click here to sign up for monthly sponsorship donation with a credit card OUTSIDE of Egypt: http://i19.14f.mywebsitetransfer.com/index.php/donate/. Click here for signing up for a donation with an Egyptian credit card: https://giving.kdec.net/login.com. Please indicate in the comments the name of the selected child or we will choose for you and contact you. THANK YOU!)

Our meeting with the mothers of the children in our program is so beneficial. We know how key the mothers are in the well-being of their children, so each month we meet with them to pray together and teach them about an important need. Lately, our focus has been on health and safety as COVID-19 still poses a big threat to many. This month we met together in our villages and taught the mothers how to make chlorine to be used as a disinfectant in the home.

Thank you for your support! Every child that is sponsored is actually a whole family that is impacted as we serve each member in different ways.

This month, we were able to do medical check-ups on all of the children in our program across the 3 villages. We did basic examinations, blood work as needed and gathered the medicines needed for some of the children. And we had a HUGE ANSWER TO PRAYER!…

We are excited to now have a permanent doctor with us, Dr. Wael, who has a clinic nearby to 2 of the villages. He has committed to be the designated doctor for these children and will be going to the villages one time every 3 months to do check-ups on all the children. In addition to this, for Beni Ahmed and Zawyet Sultan villages, his clinic is nearby and will be open for the children to come anytime that it is needed. For Al Ashnin, Dr. Wael will go to the village 2 days each month to see children that are in need of medical help.

Continue to join us in praying for the health of all of the children, especially in these pandemic times, and for Dr. Wael for all he is doing to help them.

If you would like to sponsor a child, click on this link and sign up or contact us by email: info@ourchildrenkdec.com.