Just as we are filled with gratitude for our current sponsors and recent donations, we must also inform you of our continued needs and the struggle to fund them. Since the last blog post we have continued to run low on funding for food and fire wood. As for food, we still have enough left to take us through the remaining days of this month unlike firewood that we are completely short of. This is our primary concern as no child should ever have to go hungry. Each month it costs us $520 to provide food for all those who are a part of Gonza House Ministries and an additional $100 for firewood. At the end of each month we have faced hunger as the funding ran out or ran low.
We recognize that it has become difficult to donate with that option no longer available on our website. We are continuing to look for ways to improve the donation process for our many supporters and sponsors. In the meantime, we are directing those interested in donating to utilize the no-fee, mobile app Sendwave. This app was created specifically to make sending funds to under-privileged countries easier and to help donations avoid the high fees often charged for sending funds overseas. We’ll tell you a bit more about Sendwave at the bottom of this post in case you are interested in setting this up.
In case you had not heard since our last update, the Open Skies Primary School has been temporarily closed due to financial strain. Those of our children with sponsors have been registered in other schools and have begun the school term. Still, there are 15 children not in school at this time due to this change. If you feel moved to sponsor a child to ensure they have educational opportunities, please see the link to our Sponsor Children page at the top of this webpage. All the children in need of a sponsor are indicated with red text. For just $40 a month, sponsors transform the lives of their sponsor children.
In good news, our empty school building has been used to host church services each Sunday and has given us a space an opportunity to teach our children about God’s love for them. Previously we have walked miles to attend church services. It is a blessing for the children to learn more about Jesus in this way. We have already outgrown the furniture in the building and are in need of more seating for our Sunday services. If you would like to support the good that God is working through these services by providing seating for our growing congregation, we are in need of $30 for each chair and $50 for each table. Praise Jesus for His work through this new church. Blessed be His name for working this good out of a difficult situation.
Another praise is that our water supply has recently had some needed repairs done and is working once again. Clean water is very important for the health of all those at Gonza House Ministries and we are grateful to have this need filled once again. We feel the support of our community through these needs as your support provides once again for these beautiful children. We have had children and staff recently ill and in this need also we were thankful to receive the support that has allowed them to have treatment. They are now recovering. Thank you for your prayers for good health for us at Gonza House.
For those of you who would like to know more about Sendwave, a number of our sponsors already use this app to send their sponsorship fees directly to our directors Tonny or Eddie Tumbya each month. This is a mobile app, available on your cell phone. Although Sendwave does have a website, it does not offer donation sending through a web browser yet. For more information about Sendwave’s mission or how they operate, you can read about them online here: https://www.sendwave.com/
If you would like to download the app to your phone, search “sendwave” in the play store and look for the yellow icon with the penguin character. We’ve included their logo here to help direct you to the correct app. Initially, Sendwave will ask for some personal information including the debit card or bank you would like to send money from. Please know that we offer this option to you because it has worked for a number of our current sponsors and we trust it but we would never ask you to use a donation platform that you are not comfortable with. We will continue to investigate ways to offer donation on our website once again.
Once you have set up your information on the Sendwave app, you can send funds to Eddie and Tonny through their phone numbers. The money will be sent directly to Eddie or Tonny through Airtel and appear in their Sendwave account. This is typically an instant transfer making it easy for us to receive funds from you quickly without costly fees being deducted from your generosity. See our directors contact information below for Sendwave setup:
Tonny Tumbya: 256 701 236807
Eddy Tumbya: 256 704 677074
Our hope is that this donation method allows those of you considering how to sponsor a child to more easily become involved in our Ministry. Once you have read a little bit about our children in need of sponsors on the sponsor children page linked at the top of this webpage, you can send a message to Tonny or Eddie letting them know that you would like to become a sponsor. We will provide you with pictures and updates on your sponsor child and you may write to your sponsor child too if you wish to exchange letters.
Again, thank you to all our sponsors and to all those you have supported our mission! It is truly life changing for these children to have the hope that a sponsor can give. With educational opportunities, food, health care, and the knowledge of Jesus’s love for them, we can make an immeasurable difference in their precious lives.
