Attitude of Gratitude Especially During this Challenging Year

“Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. ”

— Proverbs 11:25

Dearest Partners,

May I start with wishing each of you a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are so grateful for you and your commitment to help us be the hands and feet of Jesus to our brothers and sisters around the globe. We could not do what we do without your support and we are forever grateful.

I’ve learned the best gifts are not bought in a store! The best gifts are helping and serving others. Those are better than any jelly of the month club. The joy we receive from helping someone else is amplified 10X. By giving, we transform from reservoirs to rivers allowing love, joy and hope to flow from us into others! It’s a beautiful process!

This Christmas season, we have an opportunity to expand our river. We have a remaining need of $2050 in order to provide the children in our program a new outfit and a Christmas meal. Would you please consider donating any amount toward this? We can provide you with a gift certificate you can mail/wrap if you’d like to make a donation in someone’s name/honor. We have tote bags available for sale online and soon we will have limited edition face masks made from beautiful African fabrics!

Here’s some pricing if you’d like to consider gifting any of these items:

• A Clean Water Well-$2500 (serves hundreds of people clean water for years to come)

• Sponsor a child-$600/$1200 per year ($600 provides food, education, school uniforms, supplies, hygiene items and more to an elementary aged child. $1200 provides the same for a high school student)

• $1500 provides a jigger clinic to a school/community that includes treatment, prevention and new shoes for dozens of people

• $400 provides an adult 6-month tailoring school, a sewing machine and tools upon their graduation and fabrics to make their own outfit

• Our wish list for other items is available here: http://www.giveamore.org/wish-list

As always, we thank you for your support and can’t wait to see how God provides for each of you and our family across the globe this Christmas season!

God bless,

Christa Horst

Give Amore Founding Director

Back Together!

 With no government initiated stimulus package nay plan in taking care of the overly deprived in Kenya during these Covid-19 trying times, your contribution towards providing food among other vital supplies  is keeping tens of families fed and alive. 

 Socially distanced, this month our beneficiaries gathered to receive their monthly food supplements in person at our community resource center as opposed to our recent past’s door to door home delivery. 

Further, our dedicated team continued to emphasize the need to wear masks at all times and frequent washing of hands with soap especially at this crucial time that is witnessing an exponential surge of infections worldwide.

The most incredible take away from the celebration was of how well aware and informed our children were about Covid-19, something that comes in handy in this great fight against an invisible enemy. 

It's Never Too Late to Change the World

2020 has been quite a difficult year but we are super inspired by your unfathomable exhibition of great love that has helped transform many lives to the better. Still, together this festive season, we can give ourselves the best gift of giving.

Our immediate goal is to gift each child in our sponsorship program with new clothes, a special Christmas meal and other essential supplies that will go a long way in enhancing their lives.

Therefore, via www.giveamore.org/donate  we can serve better in the lives of our brothers and sisters who long for a beautiful day of hope, joy and love in Kenya.

Kindness is the perfect picture of a world we believe in and through the example of your compassion, we are certain today and many others to come will be just as beautiful.

What Are You Thankful For?

Emmanuel has greatly transformed since joining Give Amore and we are proud of the man he is becoming. The following is an edited copy of a letter to his sponsors exuding hearty gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving!

“Dear Sponsor,

I hope you are doing well! 

I am so happy to write to you today.  How is your family during this pandemic? Are schools open there? In Kenya Covid -19 cases are on the rise and schools are partially open.

I feel sad that we recently lost Brian, one of us, but am glad he rests in eternal peace.

I am thankful for you and your support and may God bless you!

Yours,

Emmanuel” 

A Rollercoaster of Emotions

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

— Philippians 4:6-7

Partners,

My words seem to be failing me as I try to update you on so much that is going on with our ministry. Our highs have been so high! We’ve resumed our sewing program and have students graduating! We’ve finished another well (5 clean water projects so far this year)! Schools are resuming and life is slowly returning to a “new normal”. Praise God! But our lows have been incredibly low. We’ve suffered our greatest tragedy yet with the unexpected loss of one of our precious children, Brian, last month. Most of the Give Amore team members have also lost close family members in the past few weeks so we are all grieving the loss of these souls on earth with us. However, we rejoice with knowing Brian, and others that have passed, knew Jesus and we know we will be reunited as if no time has passed.

When it comes to the loss of Brian, God really put it on my heart that though his life was short he knew he was loved, special and chosen. He had hope! He had joy! He knew he was special to be a part of our Give Amore program and saw so many people around him be the hands and feet of Jesus to him. Though he was without a father on earth, he KNEW his heavenly father.  What a gift!!!!

I am fiercely determined to continue to do what we can with our sponsorship program! We need MORE people to join us! We have lost some sponsors and our donations are suffering in the wake of COVID hhough the needs have increased. We need to raise $2000 immediately as the children are all needing additional supplies for safety reasons as schools resume-masks, sanitizer, personal products (not sharing as they have in the past) and more! The team let me know this just yesterday and my heart sank in fear that we can’t provide this. But, I’m trusting God and I get to be their voice and ask on their behalf.

Please help us spread the word about what we are doing! 

• If you are able, please consider making a one-time donation in any amount toward this. 

• Please like and share our posts on social media. 

• Please ask your friends and family to help us.

• Please ask your church, your businesses and any organizations you know to support us! There are often employer match programs available!

Though I worry, I trust. God has not failed us yet. 

Thank you for sharing our joys and our heartaches with us. Though the work is hard, the investment and pay-off is so worth it!

Trusting in Christ,

Christa Horst

Give Amore Founding Director 

Commissioning our 24th Well

The community celebrates clean water-a necessity denied to most Kenyans!

Give Amore’s 24th well is complete, commissioned and already serving its worthy beneficiaries with unlimited supply of clean water for their domestic needs. The well located at Emmanuel’s home has a vital responsibility of taking care of tens of families in its village and beyond. 

During its inauguration, the ecstatic multitude present was brimming with appreciation and contentment terming this venture a blessing, timely and most appropriate. 

Just like its predecessors this borehole is a special significance of hope, joy and love that God desires to be reverberated throughout the world among all mankind. Further, it suffices as the most viable in its jurisdiction as the only dependable avenue in the fight against Covid 19 due to its consistent reliable supply of clean water for all.

Graduation with a Purpose

Our newest Made with Amore graduates are confident in the dresses they made for themselves as part of the completion of their 6 month training. These single mothers now have a skill and the tools necessary to start providing for their families! Now that’s how we break the cycle of poverty and despair!

Made with Amore, a dynamic segment within Give Amore, marked its very first tailoring school graduation after the onset of the deadly global pandemic, Covid 19.  This was made possible via government’s eased restrictions and well-practiced social distancing rehearses among other required proposed measures.

This time we had five women graduating after successfully completing a six months training on everything embroidery. Each of them was awarded with a sewing machine and a sawing kit to kick-start their journey in business. 

Almost all of these women are single mothers looked unto to care for their families nay village. Therefore, their graduation and awards trickles down to the very last person who depends on them in both the short and long run of their business successes.*

We wish them all the best. 

Tribute to Brian

Our beloved Brian, gone too soon, but we rejoice that he is with Jesus and we will see him again one day!

About a month ago our Brian went to be with the Lord after a long battle with anemia that s. shook him to his last breath notwithstanding our great efforts to keep him alive and thriving. Despite being a rock to his grandmother (and only family) and to his friends and extended Give Amore family, he was an endearing joy, glimmer of hope and most of all love, to us all.

His demise caught all of us with a huge surprise and ominous grief but understanding that he knew and embraced Jesus by living according to his ways makes heaven even more fun than we could least comprehend. 

So much to be said about our boy but we can boldly liken him to our appealing values of joy, hope and love given that we watched and molded him into a fine teenager that he was; strong, empathetic, loving and visionary. We are glad, proud and blessed to have known him for the better part of his life.

We are thankful to our generous givers who came alongside us in our moments of grief with love, prayers and financial support for a beautiful send off for him.

Water the Meaningful Things in Your Life

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, wether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. ”

— Phillipians 4: 12

2020 is absolutely epic. It will be an unforgettable year like none other-for everyone! While it’s been an absolutely challenging year for most everyone, it’s also been a year of growth in unexpected areas-IF you are watering those areas! What we focus on grows. We can focus on our challenges OR we can focus on helping others. We can focus on what we’ve lost OR we can focus on what we’ve gained. We can focus on despair OR we can focus on hope. We have a choice and that choice requires effort and strengthening of the muscles of gratitude!

While 2020 has been so hard for us blessed and privileged Americans, it’s been unfathomably hard for our brothers and sisters across the globe who struggle to receive education, a meal in their belly, medical care and clean water on a good day! This pandemic has shaken them to their core and yet they are filled with gratitude for what they do have! We can all learn so much from those who are used to clinging to Jesus for their daily needs!

We are blessed that while our sponsorship program has taken some losses, overall, Give Amore is still going strong making a difference in the lives of so many with a new clean water well, jigger clinics, additional food provisions for our children and their guardian families, resuming of our computer and sewing schools and so much more!

We continue to water the meaningful things in the lives of other and focus on what we CAN do! While much is out of our control, we can continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus! This is exactly what Jesus would do! Read on for just a few positive stories of how we are continuing to make a difference. We are so thankful for our donors who make this all possible!

May God bless you and keep you safe!

Christa Horst

Founding Director, Give Amore

No Chance for Jiggers

Jack tends to a woman whose feet were highly infected with jiggers.

Jiggers have freshly been on the rise in most parts of rural western Kenya, a profanity that compelled Give Amore to carry out two emergency jigger clinics to help ease the agony of the affected population. So far dozens of people mostly children are pain free from these vicious bugs.

Part of the population treated included Give Amore’s Violette, Queen and Moses who were among the hardest hit individuals and at the time of their diagnosis, they could not walk properly nay sleep peacefully due to the excruciating pain from the jiggers. However, our dedicated team treated, educated and decontaminated affected homes.

So far, reports indicate our timely intervention is bearing fruits and most of the patients soon will be jigger free and back to ther normal lives. The treatment method was painless and everyone that turned up received the best care possible.

24th Well in Process

Our well workers begin the challenging test of hand digging our latest clean water well.

Give Amore’s 24th well is on course and is due to be accomplished in less than two weeks. This new baby is situated at Emmanuel’s home and from its strategic placement will serve dozens of families at its disposal and beyond.

With the raging Covid-19 threat that is growing exponentially in Kenya’s rural areas, this well suffices as one of the vital source of clean water that is paramount in the fight against the deadly Corona virus. Also, it comes at a vital moment that most people trek far and wide in search of clean water for drinking and domestic consumption.

Give Amore so far has 23 wells to its name serving hundreds of fammilies in tens of villages across western Kenya and the dream isn’t stopping at that. To be part of this life changing quest visit our website for this and more projects.

Monthly Round Up

Thomas receiving additional food and toiletry supplies due to the effects on his family of Covid-19 quarantine measures.

Covid-19 cases are soaring in Kenya and though western Kenya is not one of the hard hit provinces, fears still lurk of a possible outbreak given that existing control measures are hard to abide by due to inadequate education on the subject and economic disposition of the locals.

Give Amore upped its response to the pandemic by distributing food and toiletries once again to our sponsored families whilst ensuring that they stayed in line with set procedures to control the spread of the virus. Further, the team emphasized effective hand washing with soap and daily sterilization of reusable face masks.

Also, both our computer and sewing classes have resumed successfully. However, all students and staff are required to strictly observe social distancing, wear a face mask at all times, regularly wash their hands and observe other set regulations to control the spread of Covid-19 long term.

A New Season Brings Renewed Sense of Urgency to Help

Gizel and Khalid receive additional food supplies, new masks and a home visit as Give Amore rises to the challenge of protecting the most vulnerable during the pandemic.

None of us saw this coming and we definitely were not expecting it to last as long as it is (and sadly recognizing that this virus is here for a while). I think the word that best describes my emotions at all that’s unfolded is shock. Shock that this could even happen and then shock that we can’t seem to get rid of it. As we’ve seen the explosion of cases in America and the rise in deaths and hospitalizations here in a country with amazing resources, I can’t help but be very concerned for the people around the world who lack basic necessities on a good day, let alone during a world pandemic.

All this has done is increase our sense of urgency that we need to do what we can to help our brothers and sisters across the globe. The Kenyan government recently announced that schools will be closed for the remainder of the year. All children will be repeating their grades come January. However, our children used to receive food provisions at school (our sponsorship program paid for this) and now they are home more, with guardians who are out of work. The needs are greater than ever for food, for clean water and for basic medical care, yet our sponsorships are falling behind.

Would you consider donating to our general fund so we can continue to provide additional food supplies to our children and their families? Or consider sponsoring a child? We have 4 children whose accounts are now behind. $50 per month per child will keep them in school when schools reopen, provide monthly food and basic medical care. General donations are used when medical needs go above and beyond (see story below) as well as help us offset the difference between what our program typically includes and what we are providing now during COVID.

We trust that God will stir in the hearts of others to meet our needs but we are aware that we can’t receive if we don’t ask! Please make your tax-deductible donations at www.giveamore.org and be a part of being the hands and feet of Jesus to one of the most vulnerable populations in the world.

Thank you all for your support. We appreciate you and can’t wait to be on the back side of this pandemic looking back at all the ways God showed up among his people.

Christa Horst

Founding Director, Give Amore

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

— Matthew 7:7

Through Your Prayers, Brian is on the Road to Wellness

Brian was bedridden for days suffering from severe malaria and anemic conditions that left him frail and in great pain. However, due to swift medical intervention and a number of days in the hospital, he is back home and recuperating well. 

Living with his grandmother in abject poverty and in a very remote village, he was lucky we got to him when we did. At the hospital multiple blood transfusions were done on him and at some point volunteers had to chip in to donate blood.

This little guy will also need a diet change to help avert any future occurrences of anemia plus to help speed up his recovery. The good news is that despite the dark times in his recent life, he is gaining back his good health and soon enough will be active like his peers.  

We are glad he is ok and we thank you for your prompt and caring intervention when he needed it most. 

Harnessing the Good Fight Against COVID-19

Give Amore’s final batch of self-made face masks were distributed this moth alongside extra food to our sponsored children and their families. This was in our continued effort to help combat the spread of COVID 19 as well as keep our sponsored children fed.

Some positive observations drawn from the exercise included regular hand washing, social distancing from strangers and awareness of the existence of the virus. Also, our team alerted our young girls to the alarming rise of teenage pregnancies in the country and the importance of having the right peers for friends.

COVID 19’s spread in the country is alarming and worse still is its penetration into the remote villages where access to medical care, protective gears, water among other essential supplies is scarce or entirely out of reach.

Please join us in prayer for an end to this virus.

Lest We Forget

Despite this being the worst pandemic in our lifetime and all the lessons we draw from it, it doesn’t escape us that there is so much we miss and are eager to get back to once all this is over. Meanwhile we are thankful to still be able to touch and change lives in definitive ways imaginable. 

Regardless of the silence in our tailoring classes, we still harbor the hope that someday soon enough we will be able to once again joyfully see off empowered motivated and well equipped sewing school graduates in to the community to be the change they can be and infectiously share their gifts with others in love.

The list is endless, however on a positive note, we are grateful that together, we can still do clean water wells and door to door food distribution among other vital causes during these trying times that not only change lives but also unite us as the body of Christ in love!  

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:35

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30-31

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:24

Wow. If our world ever needed Jesus more in my lifetime it’s right now. I know that darkness cannot overcome darkness without light. I want to urge us all to be the light in this dark world! We cannot debate someone into knowing the love of Jesus. We can’t force them into knowing Him. We can’t argue and try to rationalize away someone’s pain, fear and life experiences. But we can BE THE LIGHT! We can LOVE others as Jesus loves us. We can be HIS hands and feet by showing up and listening and helping. Our world is hurting. We’ve been faced with some of the greatest challenges in many years-as a globe! There’s so much fear and anxiety. Add to that racial inequalities that have sadly long existed but are being brought to the surface and we’ve got an infected, open wound for much of our country and the globe. Jesus is our healer!

I encourage you to look above the mess below. Look UP! Look to Jesus!! He is our anchor. He is our hope! The best way we have to change the world is to change ourselves! Our aim is to be like Jesus!! I’m blessed to say that’s what the mission of Give Amore has always been-to be the hands and feet of Jesus to our brothers and sisters across the globe and to always, always preach the gospel and when necessary, we use words. (Thank you St. Francis of Assisi for those beautiful words). 

We pray for our generous givers, we pray for all of the lives we’re impacting in Kenya (and here through the blessing of generosity) and we pray for our entire world. We’re in the messy middle of change but it will bring a beautiful, much needed transformation to many lives!

Please read our newsletter for ways we are continuing to make a difference!

Your Sister in Christ,

Answered Prayers of Clean Water

Tens of families are currently drawing clean safe water from Give Amore’s 23rd well that was completed and commissioned on Monday, June 15, 2020.. This latest blessing is situated strategically at Kelvin’s home, one of our latest additions to our sponsorship cause.

Amid the worldwide raging Covid-19 contagion this well suffices as a vital means in controlling possible contraction and spread of this deadly virus. Its bounty of clean water will help effect hand washing and further easing sterilization of the common reusable face masks in this village and beyond.

Also, other water and related glitches will also be resolved hence providing an enabling platform for the beneficiaries to focus on maximizing their scarce economic undertakings to fend for their families during these harsh financial times. 

The well was hand dug by our proficient devoted team of well builders who also happen to have worked on our previous life changing boreholes. Based on their consistency and good work, we believe this well, just like its predecessors, will go down in history as one of the rarest projects that changed lives eternally in western Kenya. 

Sustaining the Vulnerable through the Pandemic

Once more this month Give Amore distributed food and toiletries to the families of our sponsored children in our new a door to door delivery method. This venture also seeks to help cushion the children and their loved ones against the current raging tough times courtesy of Covid-19.

Further, our dedicated team utilized this occasion to follow up on their sanitization routine and we are glad to report that they are devoted to the set guidelines of steady hand washing and regular sterilization of their face masks. Also we observed limited interactions with strangers, an encouraging factor that they are aware of Corona Virus and its deathly nature.

Currently the number of cases are surging at an alarming rate in Kenya as the government races against time to restrain its spread.  However, there are no confirmed cases in western Kenya but this doesn’t rule out possible victims since only a handful of the population has been tested due to the ravaging lack of effective testing kits.

Emmanuel’s Alleviated Pain

The las time we paid Emmanuel a home visit we learned he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep for over a month due to irritation and excruciating pain triggered by blood slurping jiggers which had all his toes annexed. However, after timely treatment he is now doing well and sleeping peacefully again like before.

During one of our routine visits, a formerly miserable Emmanuel was beaming with joy and proud of his restored to health feet. Also, he was grateful for the opportunity and swift response our team had to his plight. Alongside Emmanuel three other jigger victims were also treated including an elderly man in a painless treatment therapy. 

In addition to the treatment, their family house was disinfected of jigger causing fleas in a thorough fumigation process of its walls, floors and lawn. Praxidise, Emmanuel’s mother testified that the home is now flea free and that our efforts paid off. 

Jiggers’ containment is still a work in progress in Western Kenya but we believe someday, victory shall be realized over these vicious parasites.