A little boy lost his parents, but thanks to our partners, not all hope was lost for him to be reunited with his family.

Zidane was six years old when he was brought to World Challenge’s partners in Burundi. The Eh’ikirezi transition center and Pacifique work tirelessly to make a safe haven for orphaned and abandoned children but also to reunite them with family whenever it is possible.

One young man experienced the transformation that only Christ can bring that took him off the streets and back to his childhood home.

“I spent over five years as a street child in Nairobi and Mombasa, in Kenya,” Moses Ogutu wrote for Young African Magazine.

A girl who seemed both lost within herself and separated from every outside connection has awakened to faith and new life.

Lenka* was 14 years old when she was brought to the Eh’ikirezi center, World Challenge’s partners in Burundi. A local administrative leader had found her on the street. As soon as the team saw her, they began praying. It was clear they would need wisdom and a gentle hand with this poor girl.

Churches in Burundi are multiplying as people learn how to step forward in faith and better care for themselves and one another.

When we read about Jesus’ miracles in the gospels, it’s hard not to search for a pattern, to see if there’s some kind of checklist or criteria for receiving healing and restoration from God. One particular incident that throws a monkey wrench in any potential pattern is Jesus’ healing of the 10 lepers.

Burundi’s churches are using the radio to endorse COVID prevention methods and the hope of the gospel to their entire nation.

As COVID-19 began to hit the continent of Africa, many churches faced the difficulty of inaccurate reports and contradicting instructions from their governments. In some places, people simply had no idea what was happening to their country and the entire region.

As the coronavirus spreads through Africa, one of our partners shares his battle with it and his heart for his country’s people.

Early in 2020, the world health organizations announced a pandemic and killing virus named COVID-19. By March, every nation around the globe was counting patients and deaths due to that plague.

Around the world, churches and our partners are working together to bless their communities caught in the coronavirus pandemic.

Since March 24th, the Cuban government has shut down grocery stores, with a few exceptions, to ration food supplies throughout the country. For many locals even being able to eat one meal a day has become a struggle.

World Challenge’s team in Burundi is working to help estranged families reconnect to one another and grow in a relationship with God.

Sam was first seen near Ngozi’s marketplace. Some of the market’s venders reported a very small child crying desperately, huddled near a sewage disposal channel.

World Challenge partners in Burundi have made their lives’ mission to connect abandoned street children with their God and families.

As is our custom, when we receive a new child at the Eh’ikirezi Transition Center, we make up a personal file for them with all the information we can find about their health, family and life before coming to the center.

World Challenge’s partners in Burundi run a children’s home and school so abandoned children can experience God’s love and care as well as grow into strong adults.

When I first found Mukamarakiza, he was living on the streets in Ngozi.

He’d been abandoned early and was 11 years old when we met, but unfortunately this is nothing unusual. Street children in Burundi are common, especially in the larger towns.