Some important work was carried out by Star of Hope in the poor north-eastern Ghana a dozen years ago was an upgrade of school facilities and the distribution of school supplies.

Together with the local committee for pre-schools in Bolgatanga a dozen extreme poor schools received new desks, blackboards, toys, paints, and teacher guides. Furthermore, many teacher received training through Star of Hope.

The results were several. The children were given proper school equipment and toys, the teachers got proper working material, and the parents were motivated to send their children to school. Everyone saw a definite improvement in this important work. This donation also gave echo throughout Ghana through the media.

The pictures below I took in 2008 on my journey to Bolgatanga.

On Saturday morning, June 10, it was my opportunity to address the 80 Haitian pastors being hosted by the church in Rigaud, Haiti. Pastor Samson, (speaking), was the host for the four day convention.

It was exciting to see the encouragement on the faces as I shared with them that they are not alone. First God is with them, always. Then as I shared with them that people worldwide pray for them, their faces lit up with excitement.

Here we were in a broken down church building that was all but destroyed in the January 201o earthquake. As we struggled to meet as many needs as possible with the resource that we had, the leaders and people wanted us to rebuild the school buildings first. The outlook on life that says the children are important is so rewarding.

I believe that God has something big planned for Rigaud and I am excited that we now have some resources available to help them rebuild a building for worship.

Want to help? Your gift would mean so much to those who have so little. Click on the Donate button and note Haiti Church in the remarks section. We will make sure the gift gets where it should go.

Star of Hope schools in the Philippines started yesterday the academic year 2012-13. There are about 2 500 students at the school in Taytay.

The new official school plan is implemented, which means that schools must now offer 12 grades instead of the earlier 10. So there are new deamands on teachers and students. Many new challenges lie ahead, but in the long run, the children will get a better start in life.

I wrote several posts last week about the new curriculum. I believe in it.

It rained hard yesterday in Taytay. There were many new students. Many were nervous and cried.

I remember how it was like. What will happen now? Is it my teacher good?

Below are some pictures from the start of school yesterday taken by Star of Hope staff. More here on Flickr.

Get it?

After about 30 hours of traveling, we finally arrived to Haiti this morning. It is really hot and we have now spent our first day here. First we went home to Tony and Myrtha’s place to drop our bags and have some breakfast. Directly after that we went to a pastor conference in Rigaud. We thought we were just going to sit there and listen through the meeting, but the whole thing ended up with us, standing on the stage, having flowers and a medal. They also sang two songs for us and told us that we were in their prayers. We couldn’t have had a better first day in Haiti or a warmer welcome.
We have also been guided in Port-au-Prince and are now back at Tony and Myrthas place, eating mango and watching geckos on the walls. Tony and Myrtha are talking really good care of us. We feel completely safe here. The feelings after today are mixed. Everyone is pretty taken from the first impressions. This is like another world; it already feels like Sweden is a whole other planet. From team Sweden! Maja, Maria, Kristoffer, Frida, Elin and Anna

In May 2009 I visited for the first time the village of Bois Negresse and the school that Star of Hope supports there. We were there to do the routine check of the project and to distribute the extra gifts sponsors send to the children.

One of the recipients was six-year-old Denis. She was then in grade 1, she told me she likes school and her favorite subject is math. But she also likes to learn about other subjects as the local language Creole, French and social knowledge.

For the money that her sponsor sent she was very clear what she wanted to do.

- Now I will buy ants, exclaimed Denis in a big smile.

She was excitedly happy and wanted to use the money the same day. The family has no animals, but Denis loves ants. Denis said enthusiastically that she should have them in a plastic jar and feed them and take care of them as her pets.

When she grows up she wants to become a teacher. She thinks it's fun with the school and to teach things to other children would be fun.

In addition to supporting pre-schools in Ghana Star of Hope has also helped to launch and develop several community development projects.

In the early 2000's, they gave support to women's groups in several villages. Most were various agricultural projects that give women a chance to develop their own manufacturing of various products of the vegetables they grow.

I visited Osae Kroduda 2008. There, the local women's group received financial assistance and other support for setting up a factory to make "gari" from cassava.

Women's Group's business concept is based on that they have access to cassava. They worked on the farm and saw an opportunity to make money from making and selling gari. After receiving support from Star of Hope they soon started their small business.

Gari is produced by press, filter and dry cassava. Gari is used as a base in various local dishes and stews.

The finished product is sold by the women in markets around Osae Krodua and women share the burden of work and money.