Dear Friends,

Another difficult year has passed, full of challenges and losses, but also successes and joy. I am sure God allows us to face the occasional challenge to test us. But if we stay strong and faithful, rewards come our way.

Many of these rewards come from you, our faithful friends from all over the world. As I keep saying, we are very grateful, and can only hope that the Good Lord above will reward you, because I down here below cannot.

Thank you so very much for all your donations and regular monthly contributions for our children. Much of the money, is always used for school fees and other school-related expenses.

Just to give you a little bit of information about our big Kasisi family, I would like to let you know that we now take care of 240 children who live here with us and over 60 children who have been discharged from Kasisi but we still support them (and their families) with school fees, food, clothing, medication and many more things that they need in their daily life.

We help a mother and her six children who have been brought to us some years back. The mother is a very good and hard-working woman suffering from chronic disease. She became homeless after her husband chased her away and took another wife. Now that her children are older and they have very good results at school, we have managed to put three of them in the boarding schools and the other three are still with us. To let them enjoy some time during holidays with their good mother, we bought for them a piece of land and we are helping the mother to build a small house where she can live with her children in the future. She does all she can to support herself selling fish and vegetables that she grows in her garden and she is very grateful for help and for a rare opportunity to have her children with her from time to time.

In the last few months, we have also helped many patients in Cancer Hospital in Lusaka by providing food, medicines and paying for transport when they were coming for treatment or when they were going back home. For those who needed palliative care, we would find a place in the hospice for them and we would cover all the costs. Our involvement in helping Cancer patients started last year when we faced the sad reality of our Christopher losing his short battle with leukemia.

We also have regular visits from the poorest of the poor who come every month to get food and a bit of money that help them survive in this difficult time of Covid-19.

There is also a lot of good development at our Kasisi home. Boys' house has been beautifully renovated and improved. They have nice bedrooms with enough space, a big sitting room with games, TV and musical instruments. Their house is surrounded with plants and flowers which are loved by us and some snakes from time to time!

The next project that will help us to help our children is construction of the new physiotherapy building. We have two physiotherapists who make everything possible to help our 24 children with special needs as well as other children from the villages around Kasisi.

We are also planning to construct a big library where our children and workers will be able to read all sorts of wonderful books.

At present, oftentimes we have to deal with power cuts which results in shortage of water. This inspired us to dig wells with hand water pumps in different areas of Kasisi Children’s Home. Their existence will assure us that we will have water at any time we need it.

All these great things are happening because of all of you, our Kasisi Friends and Supporters. Without your loving help we would not be able to give our children the life they deserve. May your good deeds come back to you through God's blessings this Christmas time. May Joy, Peace and Love be always part of your life. We assure you of our prayers and sincere gratitude for everything you do for us.

With love and prayer

Sr. Mariola