One Hut At A Time

Dear Friends,

You saw the original picture of the crippled woman with her children and now you see the finished product!

Back in 2010 I was blessed to go to Kenya on a missions trip through my Church, Village Church of Barrington.  While there we went to many villages where we saw much poverty and people in a helpless state.  We went to a village  where all you saw were old woman, in their 70's, 80's taking care of young children (either they were the grandparent or aunt) because both parents of the children died of AIDS.  Their homes are huts and they are happy, but most of the huts were crumbling!  Some only had 3 sides - some had no roof!  One woman had no home at all because the rains had washed it away!

When I came back home I asked my close friends if they would be willing to help me build ONE HUT AT A TIME (hence the name of the organization) and try and help these beautiful people.   Through our church we have trusted people there (our church has build over 7 wells in the area and a Medical Center) and we were able to find a trusted company to build the first hut.  Since then we have been able to build 11 huts!!!   Not one penny that has been donated has gone to anything but the building of these homes for these wonderful people.  As a matter of fact, many times we have had to take money out of our own pockets to make up the difference.

I start the fundraising in the October/November time frame and I am always excited to see families coming together to give hope to someone accross the world whom they will never see - but God knows!!

This year I was led to go to this website in hopes of trying to raise more money.  The cost of a home now is at $980.  The home is approximately 11x13 and it accomodates an entire family!  It is made of bamboo and clay.  There is no electricity, there is no running water.  We provide them with a home that has a tin roof and a concrete floor so the worms won't bother the feet.  

We ask the Lord to guide us in picking the poorest of the poor.  We are always looking to help the widows and grandmothers, but occasionally we pick other families also.  And as you can see from the first picture, this crippled lady lived in a heap of dirt - and look at the home she is living in now.  This my friends is a palace to her and her family.

Would you be willing to partner with us in this Godly act of kindness?   Whatever you send will be pooled together with others so that we can build as many homes as possible.  If there are left over funds we will keep them for next years fundraiser and apply them at that time.  I must tell you however, that in order to go through this website  - there are fees.  The following is what they tell us : "GoFundMe's fee is 5% from each donation you receive. WePay's fee is 2.9% + $0.30 per donation. By continuing, you agree with the GoFundMe"

So please understand that some of your precious gifts will go to the administrative fees of this website - HOWEVER - anything past that ALL goes to the building fund - NOT one dime is pocketed by ANYONE else.

If you would like me to send you a picture of the home you helped to build, send me your email and you will get it.  I promise!

God bless you whoever you are,,

Lydia