Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Giving and Receiving

Hi Everyone,

We wish you all a very Happy Holiday Season and hope that you are enjoying time with family and friends. This is the season of giving, receiving and spending time with those we love and care about.

Thanks to your generosity we are able to focus on giving in many different ways here, to support kids and help them and their families to live better, healthier and more equitable lives. We always enjoy connecting with the many young people that K.I.D.S. supports. Our student sponsorship programs focus on education, vocational training and family support. We have over 100 young people taking English lessons, studying at tourism and hospitality schools and working while attending university.



They receive the tools that are needed to be successful and change their future from one of poverty to prosperity and break out of working as child labourers. It is truly heartwarming to see the difference everyone's support has made. One of the best gifts we receive is seeing these great young people doing so well.



One program K.I.D.S. sponsors and recently visited is Sohing's Farm School, where each night poor village students come to learn English under her house. Sohing and her family raise frogs and cows and grow fruit, vegetables and have a rice field. Each week K.I.D.S. provides these hard-working students with nutritious meals, English lessons and educational material. We went for a fun farm walk with some of them and had a great time.




Last post we talked about the teacher who used to teach at Sohing's school and how she sadly died after complications giving birth to her second child. We heard that the father and grandparents were having difficulty paying for formula so we visited them and brought the baby formula as the expense of purchasing it was beyond their means. The baby's father works and the elderly grandparents are caring for the baby and older child. The grandfather is blind and they had to borrow money and also sell all five of their cows to pay for treatment to try and save their daughter's life, this is the second daughter they have lost. As we sat and chatted about their daughter and played with the baby under their basic small, stilted wooden house we found out that even though they are very poor they give rice and sometimes a chicken and any support they possibly can to help poorer children in the village to eat or go to school. It was a truly moving and humbling experience to meet such strong, kind people....who in turn were incredibly grateful to receive support from others and yet still found it in their hearts to share some rice from their field or a chicken or two to help the less fortunate. K.I.D.S. will continue to provide formula and other needs for the baby.


This is one of many stories of resilience and compassion that we experience. We thank you for your kindness and support and are grateful for the incredible people we work with both here and at home.

We wish you and yours much happiness, good health and all the very best.

Until Next Time,
Adrianne and Rick

Thanks to the Smart Kids in the city for making K.I.D.S. this beautiful tree!!