BBQ for orphans

As with all projects, movements & organizations, there seems to be a critical point at which the members either lose interest in the goal, or overcome an obstacle to accomplish a milestone. This is described as the "tipping point" in Malcom Gladwell's book of the same name. This month I had a strong feeling that we had arrived at one of these points - we were either on the verge of failing with our microenterprise projects, or on the verge of succeeding in some way.


Fueled by the success of drilling the clean water well in February, a very compassionate coworker of mine & my wife made it their personal missions to assist our work in Chad. My coworker hosted a barbeque with many of her friends to share our work with others, and to ultimately raise awareness & funding for future projects. During my last expedition to Chad, Kolpele and I worked to get several pieces of art created by local Chadians which were to be auctioned off at the BBQ for additional funding.

Keep in mind that all the fundraising in previous years have been to 1) meet immediate needs (people starving to death, major injuries like amputations, taking care of widows & orphans) and 2) develop self sustainable projects such as a goat farm, hen house, seamstress shop & carpentry shop. Other pressing needs have also been identified including a reliable car and more clean water wells for drinking throughout the country. Without trying to get a car, we figured a good goal for the BBQ would be to raise $5000 - this would finish all construction on the goat farm & would allow purchase of more goats, while taking care of some immediate needs. In my wildest dreams I thought this was unobtainable - but then again, God has different plans than I do.

Needless to say the BBQ was a huge success; people were excited to hear about the work & equally excited to bid on some of the Chadian art. During the event I was able to give a short description of Kolpele's ministry & described the major needs. At the end of the night we were blessed with well over $6000! As is often the case when you think God can only do so much, He doubled the amount the following week when several members of my church felt led to donate. This is enough to finish the goat farm, purchase a vehicle, start training seamstresses & drill another water well! This should tip the projects to completion so income can start being generated. We are very optimistic, however, this is still Africa and the needs are great. Please continue to keep Kolpele, his family, the orphans & church in your thoughts and prayers.