Thank you!

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

THANK YOU so much for your donations for the Awale refugee family! I can’t believe the amount of generous donations we received! Our house was filled with your generous gifts. Thank you especially to those of you who went & purchased gifts for the family, as well as those of you who donated money. We were able to purchase new mattress sets and lots of food with the money—thank you so much!

We went the Saturday before Christmas & delivered 3 (!!!) trailers plus a few mini-vans FULL of your donations. The family got much-needed furniture, clothing, bedding & food, plus toys for all the kids. The younger kids kind of went into shock mode, holding on to one toy while they sat looking wide-eyed. The older boys were a little more enthusiastic—they were especially appreciative of the donated Playstation. Boys are boys whether they are from Kenya or the US!

We took a second trip (still a trailer full) of gifts the Saturday after Christmas. We thought they might turn down some of the items because they had already gotten so many things, but they still wanted all of it!

Because we had so many donations, and so many donations turn up at the last second, we actually had to turn down some donations, and others we were able to give to another refugee family from Burma. Even if we couldn’t use your donations, I want to thank everyone for your giving spirit—I was so impressed by your generosity.

The kids in this family are really just the nicest kids you will ever meet. They are polite & friendly & easily engage in conversation. We were so impressed with their maturity level, as well as how well they have adapted to life here. Here are some pictures of these darling kids.

Hope you all had as good a Christmas as the Awale family had!