Name: Cathleen K.

Cathleen is a precious six year old girl who is currently enrolled in the Early Childhood Development Program at FHS. The formal schools have not been required to offer Kindergarten, so FHS offers this program to give orphans and vulnerable children a jump start into their first year of school. Her favorite activities at FHS are singing and eating lunch. Cathleen is one of 450 children who are registered at FHS and benefit from the educational programs, feeding program, and the sponsorship program which assists with school and uniform fees for an individual child.

I am introducing Cathleen to you because I want you to look into the eyes of one of many children who could use your help. I wish that I could bring you into the center for a day. That you could hear the excited voices as they compete to be heard in a tiny building that has no separation for classrooms. I wish you could see the faces of some of the small children that rarely ever smile. (One of my goals is to find ways to light up the faces of those particular children.) I wish that you could look into their eyes, not just in a photo, but directly into their eyes as they plead for attention and for love. I wish that you could be brought to tears when you see a child limping with his shoe in his pocket because he has a giant boil on the bottom of his foot (a symptom of HIV).

Cathleen responded that one of the things she dislikes the most about her home environment is eating only porridge. Many of the children that come to the center are malnourished. I am thankful for the feeding program that FHS offers to feed the children one meal Monday through Friday. FHS is totally dependent on donations and receives no funding from the government. They do what they can with what they have, and I pray that God multiplies their efforts through each of the programs they offer. I pray furthermore that the dreams of these children will be realized. Cathleen's dream? She wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Through programs like FHS, and through help from people like you, these children are given hope to complete their education and hopefully even to pursue a university degree.

The cost to sponsor a child like Cathleen for one year is 1,700 Namibian dollars (approx $224 US at the current exchange rate). This amount covers school fees and uniform costs. An additional N$1,700 will cover food supplies for one child for one year (one meal per day, 6 days a week). If you would like to receive more information, including a copy of the Sponsorship Agreement, let me know and I can forward along your request. Thank you for your continued prayers for FHS and for Cathleen and others just like her.