Number of projects: 21 Number of countries: 9
Number of sponsored children January 2019: 563
Number of sponsored children December 2019: 557
Number of children not yet sponsored December 2019: 129
2019, a beautiful and eventful year for Project Held. Thanks to sponsors and stakeholders we have been able to mean a lot for our projects. To name a few activities throughout the year, see below:
March 2, 2019: Destined to reign women's conference. Paulina Zoetebier our ambassador took care of the worship and has told from her own experience how important and special it is to sponsor a child and what it does to you personally. We from Project Held had a Project Held stand to give the women the opportunity to support a child and make a difference in the lives of these children. In total this resulted in 16 new sponsors!
April 7, 2019: Project Hero Orphans and Widows Day within House of Heroes. Every year House of Heroes, the home church of Project Held, holds an Orphans and Widows Day. The projects and project leaders of Project Held are central to this. This time Rrezarta Vonhof from Kosovo was in our midst. Rrezarta is the project leader of the project in Kosovo which is supported by Project Held. She told about her struggle in Kosovo during the war. What special things God has done in her life and how she now carries what she has received to the youth and widows in Kosovo. At the moment it is also possible to sponsor a widow in Kosovo. Especially in Kosovo, the elderly have a lonely and difficult life and the hot meals, medication and groceries they receive from the sponsorship money are more than necessary.
April 23-30, 2019: A team of about 20 fellow travelers boarded a plane to visit Kosovo's projects. Impressed by the poverty and loneliness among the people, the team has been able to encourage people by distributing food parcels, saying encouraging words, praying, doing activities with the children and much more! Gratefully and with a sense of satisfaction, the team has left Kosovo behind and beautiful and special memories have been made for the children, the elderly, travelers and team leaders in Kosovo.
20-31 August 2019: Project visit and Pioneer trip to Mozambique and Kenya. The planned group trip to Kenya was canceled because there were too few registrations. Project Held did pay a project visit to Mozambique, followed by a pioneering trip to Kenya. During our visit to Mozambique, Project Held and the team ensured that new toilet areas were built, so that hygiene within the projects is also being worked on. The team also visited another project there to see if this could be a project in the future that we can support and sponsor with Project Held.
In Kenya Project Held supports a new project Hope4Hope. During this project visit, Project Held built a relationship, discussed protocols, viewed contact with children, etc. But also had a pleasant time together such as playing soccer, volleyball, crafts, etc. Before Project Held supports a project, it is necessary to visit this project first to and discuss the vision and purpose of the project.
October 13, 2019: Before Project Held travels with a team, we always encourage travelers to fundraise in their environment, through friends or family so that we can give as much as possible to the people in need during such a trip. For example, this Sunday we held a sale within the House of Heroes. Cakes, candles, cards, everything was sold to use the proceeds and invest during the trip to Uganda in October. This afternoon raised around 1000,-.
October 18-31, 2019: With a team we visited the project of Iris Ministries in Uganda. The team that goes along with such a trip consists of people who are committed to the orphans and widows and themselves finance the trip and everything that comes with it. Project Held organizes such a trip several times a year and anyone who is willing and able is welcome to join a trip. These trips are always eventful and mean a lot to both the traveler and the project. After serving at Iris Ministries for a few days, playing games and visiting villages, we traveled on to Kamuli full of new energy. There the team, in collaboration with the Words of Faith Foundation, held a campaign that attracted thousands of people and the gospel was brought by evangelist Falko Lodewijk. Worshiping and magnifying God together with both local people and the team from the Netherlands is so special and touches many hearts. Evenings have been used to reach this part of Uganda with the gospel, in addition the team visited many people during the day, encouraged and brought meals. From Kamuli, the team traveled on to Kitale, in Kenya, where another Project Held project was visited. There, Project Held supports, among other things, the Estherhome, where teenage mothers are cared for, supervised and can continue to finish their school and build on their future.
All in all, another beautiful and valuable year in which we were able to support more than 500 children every day in the four most important necessities of life: food, shelter, education and medication if necessary. Of course the children within our projects grow up with the gospel and help each other with school and other needs.
The loyalty of our sponsors has more than encouraged us and showed that God is faithful.
