Contact Ted Bosveld ted@villagesoflife.org or via the contacts page

Saturday May 15th 2010 as a team of 8 ordinary people from Australia we visited the 1st village being constructed by Villages of Life in Cibitoke Burundi to assist Youth for Christ Burundi in their mission to train up a generation of Godly leaders for Burundi. 2 years in construction and 4 field visits and the day that means the most has come. The day we can welcome into the first home a widow who has chosen to sacrifice her life in the service of loving and caring for 6 orphans, can there ever by a sacrifice more fitting of our praise and encouragement and a sacrifice more rewarding!

Anastasia is a widow from Cibitoke and has a smile as large as the love she has in her heart for these children. She came out of the front door of her new home with both hands waving and a baby strapped to her back and 5 other children following. Anastasia moved into the home 10 days ago and already the children have bonded to her so well.
Rachael is our second mum and she will move into the second home as soon as the next 5 to 6 children have been through the very thorough selection criteria to ensure the children are genuine orphans.

Youth for Christ is doing amazing work here.

Please consider if you would like to partner with us to bless these children and their new mums.

Project sponsorship is only AUD$60.00 per month.

Time does not allow me and word cannot explain all that has happened here in the past 4 days. So here are some dot points.

We arrived to smiling faces and a bunch of flowers each. On Friday night we had a welcoming dinner with the traditional Burundian drummers. Saturday we went to Cibitoke and placed the name plaque, welcomed in the first mum with gifts of clothing, did a clothes and food distribution and experience what a guest house is like in the poorest province in the 4th poorest country with no running water and very limited food options. So here are some photos of our Burundi leg so far.

Today we go to Gitega to see the other orphanage of Youth for Christ which has now been operating for 3 years with school and medical clinic attached.

Sorry for no photos yet. I have been on 3 different internet connections for the last 3 hours and still can’t get it to work.

Time for lunch and off to Gitega.

Hey this is Burundi!

Now in Kong Kong I can finally upload photos

Enjoy.

Blessings Ted Bosveld

Our flights all went very well and we arrived safely on Monday at 12 midday.

Our first Compassion child visit was 2 hours later, all together in a mini bus to visit Doug and Glenda’s child. (They will share more later)

Tuesday we split into 2 groups with half visiting Barbra’s child and half visiting Ted and Lorraine’s child and Bev’s child.

Wednesday we went to the Mother Teresa orphanage (no photos allowed) did our Burundi entry visas and visited the genocide memorial

Villages of Life is here to help you change the world we live in or rather the world they live in. Read on and see how it works, One by One.

I want to say a special big thank you to the Fairfield RSL in Sydney for coming on board to work with us on this awesome project. We here, in the developed world are so blessed but don’t really know how blessed we are until we are confronted with stories and testimonies from refugees and immigrants from far away countries who come to live with us here. They have some workers who moved here from Burundi where we are working and shared their stories. Fairfield RSL went out of their way to find out how they could help, and found us. It took them some time to get the connection, but they persisted and persisted until they found what they where looking for.

I ask and challenge each of us to stop, make some time and truly listen to their stories and then follow your heart and lend a helping hand. Not all of us can go, but we can all give.

Fairfield RSL has had this happen to them. And they are following where their heart is leading and having a huge impact towards the work in Cibitoke. In a few short months they have managed to raise thousands of dollars, a few dollars at a time.

This same principle is used to impact Burundi. One child at a time, one person at a time and before you know it thousands will be impacted. Villages of Life has only been operating for just over one year and already hundreds have been impacted by being employed on the building site and by the clothes, computers, shoes, teddy bears etc etc that were sent over in the container. This is currently only hundreds, but thousands is the vision, and we are well on the way. It won’t be long till the sounds of happy children fill the rooms of these houses as they begin to live a life all children deserve, safe and sound in the surrounds of a loving family in a community filled with a hope and a future which I know Youth For Christ Burundi does so well. Visit their website to see their other orphanage in Gitega.

So Thank You Fairfield RSL and all your Employees and Patrons for your much needed support — you are now changing the world!

On other news, Euphrate and his team of merry men are installing windows and doors and painting walls.

In the first week of October Damien and myself will be travelling to Burundi to install the kitchen into the first guest house. Damien works for me here in Launceston Tasmania (Aust.) at Unique Doors and Windows. We will also be training the local carpenters on how to put together the wardrobe cupboards that were sent over in the container earlier this year (approx 40 cupboards). These will be used in the orphan houses.

Watch this space for an update later on in October. We will have a video produced while we are there.

The cost of fencing is approx US$100 per metre which is about AUD$120 per metre. This is for a 2-metre high, double brick fence. This is needed for the safety and security of the children who will be living in the houses.

The furniture for each house costs AUD$1200. This includes 6 beds, a dining setting and some kitchen utensils.

If you would like to contribute to this exciting part of the project, please visit our “donate” page and remember — all donations are tax deductible in Australia.

Many thanks.

The clothing made up the majority of the contents, which is the most needed.

It was a truly amazing experience collecting, sorting and packing this container of gifts — they came from as far afield as Melbourne in Victoria and from all parts of Tasmania, north to south and east to west.

To all those who gave the people of Burundi says “Thank You.”

These gifts will be distributed throughout Burundi — to one of the poorest countries in the world from one of the richest countries in the world.

The container has now made it to Burundi. It has taken 3 months to get from Tasmania, Australia to Burundi, Africa via Singapore and Des Es Salem in Tanzania.

Our heartfelt thanks must also go to the Burundian Government, who have graciously freed us of all import duties. Your people will be truly Blessed and we are encouraged to do it all again.

We are currently in negotiations with a school in Tasmania who have 50 computers to donate and with another school in Queensland who are looking to offer funding for freight costs.

Giving is fun, and you too can join in the fun of giving.

If you would like to give to the cost of freight for the next container or to building of a house please visit our “donate” page where you can print our Donation Pledge Form, fill in your preferred payment method and where you would like your funds to be directed.

All donations over $2 are fully tax deductible and a receipt will be forwarded to you promptly.

Many, many thanks for your time, prayers and support.