Updates and Stories of Hope

After 18 days solid work, the 420m foundations for the boundary wall are complete. We are so grateful to get this work finished before the rains start in May. The men feasted on a pig and cans of juice to celebrate the end of this arduous work. You can see they've already set the iron in place for pillars. The next task will to begin making 11,000 concrete blocks, by hand, to build the wall. Did you know one bag of cement makes 30 blocks? And one team of 4 men can make 600 ce

We are so grateful for those willing to do the work of digging out the foundations in the hot sun. They have worked 6-8 hours a day, for 2-3 weeks to clear three sides for the boundary wall. Our aim is to secure the land so that we can begin planning for the school build. As ever, we appreciate your prayers and trust that the God who never leaves us nor forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5), and completes what He begins (Philippians 1:6), will continue to lead us and open doors of favou

What a blessing to get the opportunity to buy land for a new school. Amazingly, the local govt representatives have organised to create a road from the main road, to what will be our school. They are clearing a road for 360o access to the site. And... they are covering the cost with the taxes paid from purchasing the land. We truly feel the hand of God is on this project with favour. Our hope is to build the school in the next 18months. Follow our progress here!

It is with great delight that we received twenty brand new desks to the school. The children are delighted. This was a 'small win' but a big boost for all involved to work together and achieve this goal. Happy New Year 2026!

What is missing from this photo of a classroom in the school? Yes, if you answered a door, a window or flooring. But the actual focus for this post is desks! When we first saw the children having school sitting on the veranda, we bought them chairs. Then, for September, we built two temporary classrooms. By October we had started giving them breakfast - a resounding success. But now, we want to equip the classrooms, starting with desks. Desks are not available to purchase. Th

With our charity registration still in progress, we’ve been unable to purchase the land that has been offered to us for building a permanent school. Yet, the need continues to grow—currently over 70 children are registered for first and second class, ready to begin in September. The rainy season is now in full force and not expected to break until October. With monsoon rains, it is impossible for the children to learn on an open veranda. Therefore we have made the decision

The six months since returning from Guinea-Bissau have been full of surprises. We quickly discovered that sending money abroad to build a school wasn’t as simple as we thought. Instead, we needed to register a charity—a process that turned out to be far more complicated and time-consuming than we ever imagined. Meanwhile, life in the village hasn’t stood still. The children have kept coming to school— their numbers growing steadily after our visit . The teachers are unquali

The plan was to visit Guinea-Bissau to see family and reconnect with old friends. What we didn’t expect was to find fifty or more children sitting on the veranda of Celestino’s mum’s house shortly after 7am. With over 161,000 children in Guinea-Bissau not able to go to school because there are no schools available in their area, Celestino’s sister, Nene, had jumped at the chance to start a school in her home village, when given a donation of money by a visiting Brazilian Ch