Friday, August 19, 2016

Project Teen Challenge women's home, Kazakhstan

House of Mercy, Almaty
Recently we visited Teen Challenge Kazakhstan. They gave us a warm and very hospitable welcome in the boys home in Almaty and of course the first thing we had to do was to admire the new kitchen. A project that was funded through the Weisssensee action 2016. Wow, they did an awesome job!

We visited several Teen Challenge programs, all founded in the mid-nineties by Doug & Anna Boyle. They came as missionary workers from Australia to Kazakhstan. The women's home House of Mercy is fruit of their labor ...

Tamara Reshe
Tamara Reshe is the director of House of Mercy and has been working there for 20 years. The house is divided into a drug and alcohol rehab with ten beds. They have plans to extend it to twenty beds. The other half of the house is a shelter for homeless women / girls with their children. We counted thirty-five beds there...

Tamara gave us an extensive tour of the house and showed us how they were able to place all new double-glazed windows recently, with the help of the Assemblies of God missions fund (not a luxury in a country where the winters can be bitterly cold).

Sleeping room at the shelter
There are, however, many more practical projects waiting to be done... as soon as funds come in. The bedrooms need to be insulated, especially where the babies and children are sleeping, the floors and ceilings need repair work and some doors must be replaced.

They have made a project proposal and budget quote. House of Mercy needs about 4.500 euro to get the sleeping rooms done. Traveling Light promised to help with fundraising.

We have seen with our own eyes how staff and volunteers take care of these needy women and children with a passion and love that is unsurpassed. Especially the young girls with babies would not survive otherwise, they who would probably die in the streets.

Kitchen in House of Mercy
Let's not make the gospel too complicated... taking care of widows, orphans, the poor and homeless, that makes God's love visible on earth. Whether you live in the Netherlands or Kazakhstan.

If you want to join us in supporting this Teen Challenge program, please make your donation payable to: St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention: Womens home KAZAKHSTAN.