The rate at which we have been growing is one of the most exciting aspects of our intervention in this area. In less than five years since we started, the sponsorship has been extended to over 200 children who were selected from about 150 households.
With the funds received from the Itafari Foundation, we have been able provide education support to 28 secondary school going students who receive over 98% of the funds needed for them to attend school without being interrupted. The guardians provide 
the remained percentage which mainly includes some pocket money for the children especially those who attend boarding schools. The rest of the children who form the biggest percentage attend pre-secondary classes and receive 100% of what they need to attend school.
Relief
Adequate food is what most families lack in Rwanda. Over 40% of all the families in Rwanda lack enough food throughout the year. The situation worsened this year when, the food prices increased by about 60% across the country. When the hardest times occur, many of the families in which we have sponsored children are frequently affected. All throughout the year, such families are provided with food items that usually include corn flour, rice, sugar, cooking oil and beans. The children who live on their own have received more than food items. Other support received includes kerosene, salt and other basic family requirements. Among these families, is a family of three children Pierre, Deborah and Sentia. These children used o receive some support from their auntie who used to come for some days during the day and then leave in the night before she got pregnant and completely leaving them to find their ways.
The goats
On her visit in November 2007, Itafari Foundation president, Victoria Trabosh, presided the giving away of 20 goats to 20 of the sponsored children. Some of the goats did not do very well at the beginning due to the limited skills in animal care by the owners resulting in the death of three of them. However as time went on, many of the beneficiaries gained more skills in taking care of their first owned animals in their lives. Many of them have produced about two times and we have seen the animals multiplying to about 40 of them.
Other gifts
Sorange was overjoyed when David handed her a pair of shoes in January this year. She quickly fitted them on shortly after she said thank you with tears of joy flowing from her teenage eyes. Sorange who is in senior one is using the shoes for school. Our sponsored children get so delighted every time when they receive special gifts directly from their sponsors or from us.
Many sponsors have been able to write back to the children usually in reply to their children's letters that they receive up to three times each year. Every time when a child receives a letter from his sponsor, he will jump up with great pleasure, showing it to the friends and to the family and does not wait to include a thank you note to the sponsor when he writes again. Some of these letters from sponsors sometimes include small gifts such as stickers, pens or cards.
During the past years, we have been able to give out special gifts to each sponsored child during Christmas that included mattresses, blankets, mosquito nets and bed sheets. We can't find best words to express the children and their families' happiness whenever such gifts come - to make their Christmas very special ones.
The gifts from the sponsors have been very significant in the process of building a strong tie that exists between the children and the sponsors.
Thinking beyond child sponsorship
The normal sponsorship covers a child's education needs, health and spiritual care. We greatly value the impact that such services enable the children reach as a result of our direct intervention in those areas however we realize the need to come up with other ideas to supplement the sponsorship.
When several sponsors could not continue with the sponsorship as a result of the economy in the US, we greatly feared for the affected children but thank God that Itafari Foundation was available to fill the gap.
We pray for the sponsorship program everyday during the morning staff devotions from 8.00am - 8.30am. We pray for the sponsors to be able to continue supporting the children. As we continue to think of the sponsorship being received, we have come up ideas of how we can equip the parents/guardians with skills to enable them be able to take care of their children by supplementing the sponsorship and meet their other needs. The church has presently been able to engage parents in two projects: baking and weaving.
Baking: This started after the church procured a charcoal oven as we prepared for a conference in late 2008. After it had served its main purpose, we realized that more could be done with the same oven. A group of women, many of them parents or guardians of our sponsored children, were selected and trained how to make different types of bread and cakes. What started as an arrangement to prepare food for the conference attendants has now become an income generation for some of the parents of our sponsored children.
Weaving: This started even before the sponsorship but at a lower arrangement. We have now brought many other women on board and involved them in a series of training in weaving, materials mobilization and marketing. A wider range of other crafts that include necklaces and jewelry have also been included and the women have acquired all the skills to make them on their own. We have been able to see several women being able to better care for their children and supplement the sponsorship being received. They can also be able to meet their other domestic expenses.
Staffing
We have qualified and experienced staff whose calling to serve and commitment to developing children is commendable. They work with other church staff to make a fine blend that has made us one of the best children caring churches in the country.
Conclusion
We are again grateful to everyone who make this program a success - the management of the Itafari Foundation, donors, staff, guardians/parents and lastly but not least the sponsored children.
Although we are sometimes faced with challenges here and there, we are undoubtedly progressing. Some of the challenges we face include inadequate capacity to take the increasing number of needy children and lack of our own transport to enable us reach the children. We rely on public means which is not so dependable and available. Our staffs have lost several items that include a 140GB external hard disc, money and broke a laptop screen off during scuffles as they tried to get into the few available taxis.
We continue to pray and trust God to take all the children through the different stages in their childhood and grow into the adults He wants them to be.