Showers of Blessings!

Showers of Blessings!

In June this year, we celebrated 15 years of Heart for Children! Amazing, all this time, for me and Annette to be serving the children and the mothers in the homes that received support from us and to appreciate all the thank-you notes that we received from them. Actually, these should have also been addressed to you, our partners and supporters! It was such a privilege for us to be able to help. Sometimes you get to thinking that what we do is only a drop of water falling on a hot plate. But, just imagine when that drop is falling exactly on top of a mother or child who really needs it….Jochi, the mother of the safe house in Nellmapius, told me the other day that she was so happy with the roof that was repaired and the ceiling that was installed as the temperature inside the house was much cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

How good it is to look back and be thankful for all that was achieved. But is our mission finished? No, unfortunately anything but…We are confronted daily with the reality of wars, the results of extreme weather, hunger, drug abuse, criminality, abuse of children – you name it. I was so discouraged the other day on learning that more that 5000 children in Gaza have died because of the war. They are thinking of putting up a special cemetery to bury them. How terrible is that? A cemetery full of innocent children. It made me want to cry…..I just don’t have words for this. But I did find comfort in the shortest sentence in the Bible:

‘Jesus wept’.

Whenever we weep  – because we do not understand why these dreadful things happen to us – , God is weeping with us. “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted” (Matt. 5:4).

Closer to home, we are confronted daily with the problem of insufficient power for all the homes of South-Africa. Obviously, this also affects the foster homes and orphanages. However, I am getting a strong feeling that we can beat this problem. “ ‘n Boer maak ‘n plan, tog?” It seems South Africans are not going to sit still but are fighting back by installing solar power and doing their cooking on gas stoves. I recently wrote something about that, click on the link below:

South-Africans are kissing ESKOM goodbye…. | Bread on the water

I am sure we can identify with one of the beneficiaries of Heart for Children, namely the Rehoboth children’s village near Murchison in KZN, who reported that with stage 6 load shedding they have no electricity for 13 hours a day. We would like to help them by converting their office, school, and, as far as possible, all the children’s homes, onto solar and gas. We have a challenge going on with our parent company in the Netherlands, ‘Hart voor Kinderen’. Seeing the problem with the power shortages at the orphanage, they have promised that they will sponsor us Rand for Rand! This means that our contributions in South-Africa for this project will be doubled up by Hart voor Kinderen in the Netherlands. We then asked for your help https://breadonthewater.co.za/2023/10/27/summer-newsletter-special-appeal/

and I can give feedback now that, so far, we have already collected 62000 raindrops. I am so encouraged! This includes of course the amount that will be sponsored by Hart voor Kinderen in the Netherlands. We had a song that we used to sing in church, a long time ago: “There will be showers of blessings.”  Yes. Indeed. I can feel those raindrops coming now. It will be a shower. We need a big shower for those 20 homes in the Rehoboth children’s village.

At Christmas we are reminded of the Light who came into the world. Christ who told us: you are the light of the world. How amazing is that? We take this light with us wherever we are or go. We have God’s DNA within us. When the lightning strikes, darkness cannot exist. That is the power of love: let us share that Love with all our heart. Like flashes of lightning that make the darkness go away, let us not grow tired of doing the best we can!

Henry Pool,  Cel +27836297690   e-mail: henrypool7@gmail.com

Annette Pool, Cel +27834696875 e-mail: annette.pool@gmail.com

Heart for Children: Summer Appeal

Heart for Children: Summer Appeal

Heart for Children is asking you to prayerfully consider helping with the project for the orphans in KZN that we have embarked upon. The Rehoboth Children’s Village near Port Shepstone in KZN is an orphanage with 21 homes with surrogate mothers taking care of more than 75 orphans, many of whom have been abandoned by their own kin & close relatives because they also suffer from HIV. The orphanage is battling with the power they get from ESKOM and we want to help them by converting the school and the homes to solar and the introduction of gas stoves. This is a sustainable project as it will lead to direct savings for the orphanage in the expenses for power. In short: We are asking you to help us for the Rehoboth Children’s Village in KZN to become partly or wholly independent of ESKOM power, by converting to solar power. There are a number of projects that have been proposed and it will depend on the income that we can generate in the next few months as to how far we get in the whole orphanage becoming self-sufficient as far as electrical power is concerned. Heart for Children already has a considerable amount available thanks to a special bequest that was made. Should you, or your business, or anyone you know, be interested in helping us, we can send you any of the following documentation, as required:

  1. The official letter from Heart for Children requesting funds from you/ your business
  2. Proof of registration of Heart for Children as a non-profit company (section 21)
  3. Proof of registration of Heart for Children as Public Benefit Organization (Section 18a)
  4. An example of our letter of thanks and tax certificate
  5. The solar projects for the Rehoboth Children’s Village for which we ask your help!
  6. The certificate of compliance to BBBEE from the Rehoboth’s Children Village
  7. Company profile: Heart for Children part 1, see HFCCompanyProfile1.pdf
  8. Company profile: Heart for Children part 2, see https://www.heartforchildren.co.za

Should you be willing to help us, we could consider making a trip to the orphanage to assess which specific solar project you want to support, mostly. Please note that this project of Heart for Children is in addition to our regular support. If you want to help us with some extra donations for this project we ask that in the reference line you write your name + surname + the word “SOLAR”. Every little bit helps! For our donors from overseas we can make an arrangement that they can also donate via our parent organization, Hart voor Kinderen.

PS

I have some great news. After sharing the projects with our parent company in the Netherlands, and mentioning to them the plight of the whole village of having to sit many times for hours without electricity during loadshedding and being unable to cook during this time, they said that they also wanted to help us. But they wanted to make it a challenge. They promised to sponsor our effort to raise the funds for this orphanage Rand for Rand.

This means that your donation will be doubled up by our friends in the Netherlands!

Remember: this is a sustainable project that will continue to save money for the orphanage and make them partly or wholly independent of ESKOM power, depending on our total income. Again: If you want to help, in the reference line, please mention your name and the word ‘SOLAR” so we know how to allocate your donation.

Many thanks for any contribution you can make!!

 Please contact us! Wishing you God’s richest blessings,

Henry and Annette Pool

Cellphone: +27(0) 836297690 or +27(0) 834696875

e-mail: henrypool7@gmail.com or annette.pool@gmail.com

Account: Heart for Children, FNB Cheque 62215969116, internet code 250655

Heart for Children Gift Shop

Heart for Children Gift Shop

As discussed before, as a way to collect some extra income for Heart for Children, we would like to let you know about the Heart for Children Gift Shop. Either by buying items for yourself or as gifts for others (Christmas!), with the profit that we make you are also providing for the orphans and abandoned children in the homes that are being sponsored or supported by Heart for Children. Below is a list of items that are available from the Gift Shop. These are all hand-made in our own office by our dedicated volunteers! If you are interested in any of these products, please contact Annette at 0834696875.

Please click on the link below to see all items for sale:

Heart for Children Gift Shop | Bread on the water

NEWSLETTER: SPRING 2023

Dear Friend

We have both been quite a bit under the weather this winter with serious ailments, so we apologize for being late in giving you some feedback on the ministry. As reported earlier on the safe house for children in Nelmapius, the roof was repaired, a ceiling was installed, and we are now busy with the cornicing. After that, it is just the painting of the ceiling……Many thanks to all of you for your regular and faithful contributions. So far, our income has been reasonably constant every month this year, but we realize that if we want to continue helping the children’s homes AND start new project(s), we must try and see if we cannot raise more funds. One way to do this would be to make and sell some popular products that people want or need. In the past, we used to make and/or sell Christmas /Greeting cards and Calendars for the benefit of Heart for Children but due to new technology and the demise of the post office, this practice has sadly become a bit obsolete now.

As a new idea for raising funds, Annette and Adel have now started making small bags for your cellphone (can include a small purse), dinner place mats and other items. We will exhibit and sell these items for the first time at a stall of the annual flea market at the Harveston Retirement Village in Pritchard Street in Honeydew. The market will be held next week Saturday, on 26/8/2023, from 10h00 onward.  If you are living in the neighborhood of Honeydew (Roodepoort/Randburg), please come in and take a look! We would love to greet you and meet with you. On this occasion we will also take some pictures of the products and place these on the internet later. Once you have seen them and if you are subsequently interested in ordering these as gifts for your family and friends (for Christmas, Birthdays, etc), can you please contact Annette at 0834696875? Many thanks for your patronage!

If you have 90 minutes to spare, listen to what I think were three of the best sermons ever preached in the big Crystal Cathedral. Just click on the link below.

3 of the best sermons heard in the Crystal Cathedral! | Bread on the water

We wish you a very blessed Spring!

Henry Pool 0836297690, henrypool7@gmail.com, Henry’s Blog | Bread on the water

Annette Pool 084696875, annette.pool@gmail.com, HEART FOR CHILDREN

Tax certificates

Tax certificates

It is that time of the year again where we have to do our taxes. Fortunately, your contributions to Heart for Children are tax deductible! Heart for Children is a Public Benefit Organization, PBO no. 930030392. Please let me know if you did not receive your tax certificate.

The news from our extra project that we started last year is that the roof is finished,

Heart for Children (Autumn 2023) | Bread on the water

but it still needs the cornicing. We are confident that we will soon have sufficient funds available to finish this. After that, Lord willing, we will be looking at an exciting new project for this year. Via e-mail, we will keep you posted on everything! On behalf of the children, many thanks for your faithful contributions that help us in the regular support of the homes,

https://heartforchildren.co.za/our-beneficiaries/

In the meantime, I can report that my operation on my thumb for the arthritis was successful and I am happily typing away on my computer again. If you are interested in mysteries of the past, and if you have some time on your hands, you just must visit my blog:

Atlantis Rising? | Bread on the water

What happened to the Ark of the Covenant? | Bread on the water

Be aware of the dangers of the green faith:

The Green Faith | Bread on the water

 

After all that, don’t miss the sermon from Martyn Iles, on Babel and Babylon, that sets everything that I put together above in an intriguing perspective:

 The Tower of Babel | Bread on the water

 It is really worth the time (1 hour) spending to watch it!

 Remember that we are back on the internet with regular classic services every fortnight  from the old Crystal Cathedral, more details see here:

CCMSA | Bread on the water

 Wishing you God’s richest blessings,

Henry Pool

HEART FOR CHILDREN

https://breadonthewater.co.za/blog/

Cel. +27 (0)836297690

henrypool7@gmail.com