May 25, 2009 by scot.

Dear friends,

We have received the following emails from our administrators in Kenya. 

“Am informing you that the situation is getting worse. No Maize at all. People are dying everywhere because the famine that is here in Kenya and not only Kenya this is almost everywhere. Please, if God will open a way, please, we need money to purchase Maize and Beans. This is God’s children. He loves them and He will never let them suffer any more…We have food for only two days. Anyway, we are crying to our almighty father to meet our needs at the right time. .Please, pray for God to meet our needs. Thank you so much for your concern in all. May the dear Lord bless you.”   Pastor Moses.

A similar letter was received from Pastor Maurice, who told us that he has to shop daily to try to buy grain.  The farmer, from whom he normally purchases grain and beans in bulk, has threatened to sell what was held for Hope Center and Good Samaritan to others if we don’t have the funds very soon.  Last December when we needed grain, we were blessed with a large grant from World Children’s Fund, as well as an anonymous donation of $10,000, giving us the $30,000 we needed to supply 3 months worth of protein based foods for storage.  Somehow, the Administrators have managed to keep the children fed during April and May, but the situation is becoming dire.  Recently Pastor Maurice was only able to find two bags of grains to purchase at the market, and it took 9 hours of waiting as there is such a shortage. Even if he would have had more money, he would have been limited to two bags. Two bags, to feed over 400 children! It is URGENT that we find a way to purchase the load of grain our supplier is holding for us, before he releases it to others. Today we learned that the children have gone hungry for two days. Then there are the children at the gates who count on us as their only source of a meal. Surely if we cannot feed our orphans we cannot feed them! 

We have disclosed that when Esther visited, she found over 200 children in residence at our orphanages that were unexpected bringing our total in house orphans to over 700.  Certainly this has exacerbated the problem as they have stretched their budgets to care for them.  Our board will be meeting soon to make the difficult decisions on what to do about all of these children.  But in the meantime, we are out of food.  It is not a time for recrimination, but a time to act.  Our children are going hungry, and our budgets are inadequate to meet the skyrocketing costs our projects are facing. Our donations are down due to the failing global economy, with World Children’s fund freezing its grants, as are many other foundations. 

Last weekend, Esther and I had the pleasure of listening to several African guest speakers at a conference we attended.  One in particular noted the work our ministry is doing, reminding us all that “the orphans and the widows are the apple of God’s eyes”.  He said that on judgment day, God will not be interested in our degrees, our homes, or our cars.  He will want to know “did we make a difference in someone’s life?”  We not only are making a difference, but we are saving lives, one at a time.  We have a huge challenge; we must raise at least $30,000 within the next few days.

 I believe we can do it! We must! Joined together, we are a force to be reckoned with.

Please send your donation marked “For the grain challenge” to our treasurer at:

Hearth to Hearth Ministries

P.O. Box 208

Lake Ann, MI  49650

God bless you, each and every one.

Vicki Kritzell

Posted in African Orphanages, Orphanages | 1 Comment »

February 10, 2009 by scot.

Friday:  Feb. 6
Sleeping was much better last night because there was no loud music playing in the street. What a blessing!!!  I was also glad that it was quiet for John and Jenna to sleep, and especially for Moses because he had not slept much in the previous days.

After much negotiation and time passing this morning, we finally found ourselves on a bus to Kisii somewhere aroung 3:00 p.m. (10:00 a.m. was the agreed starting time.)  All of our luggage was stowed under the bus and we were stowed inside. Kenyan busses have three seats on one side of the aisle and two on the other, so it is a bit crowded. I joked to the young man sitting beside me that it was a good thing he was skinny because we would have never all fit on those three seats. After my comment, however, I regretted it when I realized that perhaps he was one of those who was truly starving.

During our trip, we kept hearing over the radio that they were trying to raise a million shillings in one day to help starving Kenyans. It was very encouraging to me to hear them working to try to help themselves in this situation.

When Moses negotiated for the bus, he asked them to not play the music because it bothered us. So for quite a time, we had peace and quiet. Unfortunately, it did not last. though they did keep the music lower than our previous experience. After the music had come on, the young man beside me remarked that it had been off because some passengers had complained that it wasn’t good for them. Truly, it wasn’t good for him either, though he did not know it. They say that without the loud music, no one wishes to board the bus. They will look for another that has that amenity.

We arrived in Kisii after dark and made arrangements for two vehicles to transport us and our luggage on to the orphanage–a trip taking about another two hours due to rutted roads.

Even though most of the children were already in their quarters, we received a very warm welcome from those who were available, as well as help with unloading our luggage and depositing it in our rooms.

The evening meal was served shortly after our arrival at Glory Children’s Center Orphanage–at about 11:00 p.m. It was a very delicious meal, consisting of pineapple, bananas, avocado, biscuits, hot chocolate and rice–if my memory serves me right. The table was very beautifully set.

It was good to crawl into a comfortable bed and sleep. God is good!

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February 10, 2009 by scot.

We are sharing with you the journal entries of Esther, the Director of Hearth to Hearth Ministries.  This journal consists of her thoughts about the trip she is on  to visit orphanages in Africa.

February 5

After sleeping on the plane from Detroit, and arriving at the hotel at about 11:00 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. at home), I found it impossible to sleep. It did not help that there was a nightclub somewhere down the street with music blaring until after 3:00 a.m., and I’m sure the fact that it was still daytime at home had something to do with it as well. Somewhere after 3:00, I did get to sleep, and was able to sleep until 8:00 when my alarm went off. Five hours of sleep was not too bad considering it was about usual for the past several weeks.
This morning, after a breakfast of bread, papaya juice and bananas, we met Andrew and Sasha and Brigitte —US citizens now living in Jordan. Ten-year-old Sasha is all set for an adventure. He had already purchased a “football” in anticipation of playing a game with the children as soon as possible after arrival at Glory Center. Andrew and Sasha will be with us for only two weeks as they need to get back to their family—Andrew’s wife and four younger children. Brigette is Andrew’s sister-in-law. These three are staying with friends in the Nairobi area during our time here, so after a bit of orientation and instructions, they returned to the home of their friends.

Most of all, I was thrilled to meet my good friends, Fred and Olpha, who had cared for me so tenderly two years ago during the week I spent under treatment for malaria in a Nairobi hotel. Fred has a stall in a Nairobi market where he sells artifacts, many of which he makes himself. He is always very good to anyone coming from our ministry, showing us around and getting us the best prices.     I was also happy to travel by bus to their home and meet their beautiful children, a son, Hill and a daughter, Esther, just one year old and named in my honor. Olpha is a sister to Pastor Moses, our Glory Center administrator and their younger brother, Dennis was visiting from the Center. Dennis is an orphan who is sponsored by our youngest daughter’s family. Imagine his surprise when I made a quick phone call and he was able to speak to her and her husband in person. He remarked about it several times and how happy he was to have been able to talk with these people who have supported him for the past several years.
I was happy to be able to meet with an attorney regarding some of our paperwork and to also connect with Nick of Kick Start International. Though I did not meet Nick in person due to his heavy schedule, I did make the acquaintance of his lovely wife, Rose, who is directing a work for widows and orphans further north and west of our work. She was able to give me many good pointers and is putting me in touch with several other people who have programs going that will be of help to our work. We spent some time in my room at the hotel, looking through photographs, and Rose was very touched and impressed to see the work we are doing.
Pastor Moses had arrived from Kisii just before I was scheduled to meet with Rose, and was promptly dispatched to go to the airport to meet John and Jenna from the state of Washington. John and Jenna have been married only a month, so this trip is sort of an extension to their honeymoon. I believe it is Providential that they were able to come at short notice after we learned that Vicki would not be able to make it. Jenna’s mother is our new Projects Department Director, and Jenna will be her eyes and ears while she is here. John is an educator and artist of thirty years, who is keenly interested in the older youth and who loves to paint their portraits and tell their stories. I am thrilled that he is here with us and in a position to tell the story of our work so eloquently.
It was late by the time I was able to meet John and Jenna, and after a few words of orientation and instruction to them, we all retired for the night.

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February 10, 2009 by scot.

We are sharing with you the journal entries of Esther, the Director of Hearth to Hearth Ministries.  This journal consists of her thoughts about the trip she is on  to visit orphanages in Africa.

February 4

The flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi had many empty seats so after we reached altitude everyone began moving around to get more space. Since I had a window seat with two empty seats beside me, a woman asked if she might sit there. I guess God knew I really needed Vicki on this trip to keep me company because this woman reminded me a great deal of Vicki.
When she sat down in the aisle seat, she leaned over to introduce herself and to ask what I would be doing in Africa. What an opening!
She was very interested in our work and asked many questions. When the opportunity presented itself, I retrieved my laptop out of the overhead bin to show her Vicki’s picture, since I had told her how much I thought she resembled Vicki and that Vicki was our Fund Raising Manager. She, too, thought there was a resemblance when she saw the photos of Vicki.
Then I went on to show her some of the photos of our children and the Gates Children. All in all, I had a very pleasant trip visiting with my new friend from Finland, and she ended up giving me a hundred Euros to help with our work. As she did, she told me to tell Vicki that she has another fund raiser. I promised her that Vicki would be happy to write to her.
I had checked nine bags: two fifty pound and seven seventy pound. The airline had waived the “excess baggage” costs, which means we only had to pay $150.00 per bag for the seven extra bags. I am grateful to the airlines for the concession. It could have cost us a great deal more.
All nine bags arrived, though one had a small slit in the side and another (bag #1) was badly broken open. I will not be able to determine if anything is missing from either bag until we are able to open them all at Glory Center on Friday. On first look, they seemed to be pretty intact, but since the one badly broken had been packed by Vicki, I will have to take everything out and check it against her list before I can be totally sure.
I was met at the airport by Slavomir from Poland who had arrived about an hour before me, and Elinet, our new Assistant Projects Manager in Kenya. It was good to be on the ground. The vehicle procured to transport us to the hotel was only large enough for most of our baggage, so we took another in which to transport the remaining few pieces and some of us. I was asked to ride in the vehicle with the baggage in case the driver was called upon to explain his large load.

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February 10, 2009 by scot.

We are sharing with you the journal entries of Esther, the Director of Hearth to Hearth Ministries.  This journal consists of her thoughts about the trip she is on  to visit orphanages in Africa.

February 3

This day started out well at about 4:00 a.m. when I arose to try to finish up last minute details, such as proofing documents and getting them sent off to the Board and Executive Committee, Setting up polls on the Board website so Board members can vote on various issues, responding to last minute emails, giving instructions to George as to how to handle mail, etc., in my absence.
We planned to leave the house at 10:00 but knew we have allowed plenty of margin, so we ended up leaving at 10:38 and stopped by the bank for cash. That’s when I realized I’d forgotten the $50.00 battery charger we’d gone out of our way to purchase the day before. It was still plugged in at home, charging the battery for the video camera. We made a mad dash back home to retrieve it, then headed to our daughter’s in Brighton.
George had taken five pieces of baggage to our daughter, Melinda’s house, on Friday where he met Vicki who had brought two more, plus the cash people had sent her for the trip. Melinda already had those items loaded into her vehicle when we arrived, so we loaded two more, plus my two heavy carry-ons, ate the lunch Melinda had prepared for us, stopped by Radio Shack to purchase a firewire (to transfer video footage from the camera to my laptop) and headed for the airport.
Half way there, I realized we had left my pillow and jacket back in our car at Melinda’s. I do not recall forgetting important items on any of my three prior trips to Africa. I certainly hoped that we weren’t setting any precedents for the trip!
The flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was without incident. I had a very quiet seatmate and was able to sleep most of the way.

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January 8, 2009 by scot.

Did you ever notice that those who have the least are the most grateful? When I ask the administrators of Hearth to Hearth Ministries’ Orphanages how they are doing, they always give an answer like the one I received the other day: “Life was not so bad  generally.  We are very happy for your prayers that we are still among the living though financial crisis has affected the whole world, mostly Africa/Uganda.” Instead of complaining about their problems, they are grateful to be alive.

This was taken from the new issue of Spotlight on Orphans Extra that tells about the work that Hearth to Hearth Ministries is doing for African orphans and Orphanages.

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November 27, 2008 by scot.

Holiday greetings from the hearts of the African orphans to your heart. How overwhelmed the orphans would be if they could see for themselves the bounty that most of us take for granted. How overwhelmed we would be if we had to live for one day in the extreme poverty on the streets of the cities and villages in Africa!
Orphans who are blessed to have been taken into an orphanage have been given a gift from someone who decided to sponsor an orphan and share their plenty with an orphan child who had nothing.
Sponsor an orphan that is suffering because of poverty and enjoy a real Holiday experience! Feed the children and you will be filled with the joy of providing comfort and hope to one who has known little of either during their brief lives. Blessings to you on behalf of the orphanages of the world and Hearth to Hearth Ministries’ orphans and orphanages.

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August 7, 2008 by scot.

We have started a new website on Poverty and Hunger. Check it out and let us know how you like it.

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March 26, 2008 by scot.

Calm is returning in this country of ours. The international community is really concerned with Kenya. They are pushing for a quick resolution of the political crisis. The parties concerned have not yet agreed on what type of coalition to form. Yesterday the US secretary of state Condeleeza Rice came over to deliver the message of the US president George Bush who is on a tour to Africa but not visiting Kenya.
We hope there will be peace soon. But seemingly the various tribes will not go back to different tribes’ regions.
The economy of this country has fallen rapidly. We are affected so much. The prices of various commodities in the markets and the supermarkets are very high. Hunger is looming. We haven’t been able to purchase fuel to use for cooking. Gas is very expensive. Three times the normal price. We do not know what to do.

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February 5, 2008 by scot.

We are working on some new profiles on www.yuwie.com which is a site that pays it’s users. (You probably will not get rich.)  Anyway here are the links.

 Orphans and Orphanages

Spotlight on Orphans

African Orphans

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