When Tragedy Strikes One of Our Families

This post has been updated to add pictures of the completed home, thanks to generous donations! See below.

I sometimes think about what would happen if tragedy struck my family.  We have health insurance, rental insurance, car insurance, life insurance, insurance, insurance, insurance.  We also have money in the bank for emergencies and family members who could help us immediately.  This is not the case for the family in our program who lost everything last week.

A fire broke out in Bukavu three days ago, the city where we serve in Eastern Congo. This fire destroyed an estimated 300 homes and took four lives. With limited infrastructure to handle fires and no functioning insurance in Bukavu, the destruction is devastating.   

One of the homes that burned down belonged to one of our reunified children.  She lives with her older brother and his wife and daughter. Together, they had saved for years and gotten help from his employer to purchase a small plot of land in a crowded area.  They then slowly built a very small home on it.  They lived there only two weeks and then lost everything.

We are raising money for this family so they can rebuild their lives with dignity and can see that they are cared for by many people across the ocean. If you feel compelled to give to this family, please visit http://reedsofhope.org/give to give a one-time donation. We will e-mail all one-time donors this week to confirm that their donation is for this effort specifically.