Previously known as Tsunami Children's Relief Fund (TCRF), we have now come under the larger scope of Asian Children's Relief Fund (ACRF), bringing child relief to different parts of Asia, our work spanning from disaster areas to under-developed communities.

Friday, December 21, 2007

One Year Old and Happily Running

It was such a pleasure to see Kiki the little girl that lives with her mother and her brother in our team house in Banda Aceh, running around and being an inquisitive child. Kiki has been walking for about two months. I last saw her in October when she was still crawling. When I arrived back in Banda Aceh, we found her not only walking but running and around the house, screaming with joy and laughter.



You see it was a pleasure because Kiki almost wasn’t born into this world. Her conception was a result of the tragedy of the tsunami of 2004. Her mother and brother had to move into the relocation barracks at Camp Mataie near Banda Aceh, as their home was destroyed by the wave. While their Kiki was conceived out of wedlock and almost done away with, our team member Santy was able to intervene in time and convince her mother to continue the pregnancy. Today Kiki is loved by all of us at Asian Children’s Relief Fund. We don’t know what the future holds for her and her family but she does know the love of God through all of us who love her very much. Please continue to pray for Kiki, her brother and her mother.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Exciting December Visit

In Jantho the community leader and the ladies affirmed that we are doing what they would like to see in their communities. They want additional help with cooking, sewing & embroidery classes. They also indicated they want computer training, English language training not only for the children but also for themselves. The village leader is fully supportive of all this. This opportunity presents over 350 families that can be helped.

Mercy Teams International also came to visit and is interested in helping to fund fish ponds and various agriculture projects. This could happen in the spring of 2008. We also had some people stop and visit who might want to join us in the work by the summer and help in Riting and Jantho.

After that I was able to receive the major shipment that left Malaysia on the 26th from our home in Seremban.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Plans for 2008

  • We hope to increase the number of sponsors for our children in Banda Aceh and Medan. There are 56 who have funding thus far of the approximately 190 we have registered. More are waiting to register with us.
  • Outfitting of four buildings for widow and orphans ministry, three in Lhok Nga and one in Jantho. Connect Lhok Nga to water source.
  • Start widow training in Jantho in January.
  • Our team will move in February.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

November thrill ride

First of all Mena took off to Los Angeles to help with the delivery of our sixth granddaughter. Then I started to pack up the house in Seremban and get it ready to ship to Indonesia. In the middle of that I had to leave to attend a Cutting Edge Conference near Bangkok for Children at risk 19-22. After settling the shipping and bills and stuff, I stayed with a friend, went to K.L. to have a couple of meetings it was back to Seremban and then to the airport for the flight to Medan, where I was able to visit the children’s home.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Updates

  • We have a promise for water by pipe system from Leupung 7 kilometers away. This should be in by March or April 2008.
  • We bought a 1994 Panther with the pledge from England, thank you.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Some updates

  • We have partial funding for the outfitting of Jantho, this will get us started in February 2008.
  • We have 3 new sponsors from England and two from Malaysia. The new number is 44 for Lampulo, Punge and Paenayong. 12 in Medan. For a total of 56 sponsored.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Looking ahead

We are also looking into a computer lab/coffee house/bakery/language center to start in Banda Aceh. This will be a multi-faceted place of business and training to the local people. We pray for this to become a reality in the near future hopefully by next spring.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

ACRF is 2!

God provided the means to get the beds, furniture and kitchen all ready for the dedication. We celebrated the 2nd anniversary of ACRF at the home dedication. Our friend Jun agreed to be the house manager and she will move in the 1st of November. So, with a staff of two, she will be taking care of 10-12 orphaned children in Medan.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

ACRF celebrates 2nd Anniversary!

We will celebrate the second anniversary of Asian Children’s Relief Fund with the opening
of the new orphan home in Medan on October 17th.

Some other news to celebrate:-

  1. We have 3 new sponsors from England
  2. We have pledge for $10,000 for outfitting the orphanage in Medan and part of Jantho.
  3. We have pledge for a new motorcycle for Banda Aceh.
  4. Stephen raised 335 Pounds for ACRF

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Moving to Indonesia

In November, we will be packing up here in Malaysia and moving to Indonesia by the end of the year. This will facilitate the progress of the work there as well as for future projects.

More updates on this soon.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Trip with our sponsors from England

Rob and Sarah Page (sponsors from England) visited us first in Malaysia, and together we went to Medan and Banda Aceh to visit the projects and the team there. On our journey over we were able to transport the other 2 computers - one to our orphanage director in Medan, the other for Nelson and Ruth, our project managers for Punge. The computer will give us greater reporting and administrative capability. A big thank you goes out to John who supported us by providing the three computer systems that are now in place.

We also were able to rent a house in Medan for two years to start our first orphanage in Indonesia. We now are sponsoring 11 children in Medan and hope to have this first home set up soon.

We visited all of the orphans and children at risk that we are sponsoring in Banda Aceh. We have now 40 children sponsored in Banda Aceh (the city itself) with about 100 waiting sponsors. The monthly birthday party was a big success with all of the family members of the children coming and participating. Sarah helped out by playing the guitar and teaching a new song to the children.


Aside from the sightseeing and visits to the projects in Banda Aceh, we also visited the sites in Jantho and Riting for our future projects. Someone has pledged to provide a desalination system for the location in Riting. This is an answered prayer as there is no fresh water available at the location. If the system can produce enough fresh water, even the refugee settlement across the road from us can benefit.

The Jantho location has 367 families that can be helped in the areas of child development and transportation to school. Most have to walk about 3 kilometers for elementary school and 5 to 6 km for junior and senior high school into town. The people also need help with micro-enterprise development. The government has given some land for husbandry use and we think we can help them with the fishpond development.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Mataie Camp moving out


These two, along with the others, will have to move soon. The army is reclaiming the land that the Tsunami victims have been using as an IDP (internally displaced people) barrack.

We hope to help them relocate into the Lhok Nga project in the next month or two.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Project visits with Mercy Indonesia

After meeting with the sponsors of the Lhok Nga project in Denpasar, we met with Mercy Indonesia and proceeded up to Banda Aceh to visit the ACRF projects. We discussed how to channel water to the site where 3 of the houses are and had a good time of sharing about the children in the ACRF programs.


We will need funds and staff for the outfitting of the buildings in Lhok Nga and Jontoh Aceh. We hope to move in new orphans and widows as soon as possible. We still need water and about $10,000 USD to outfit each building.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

More sponsor's photos







Sponsor's photo

Notice the change in countenance of the sponsored child's face. Your care and love can and does makes a difference!




Photo recieved by the sponsors in Feb 2007


Photo taken at registration (2005)

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

1st Computer arrives!

The first computer has arrived in Banda Aceh. Our friend Randy helped to set it up and was brought over by hand by Apryl and Christina, who were visiting the projects in Banda Aceh.

Thanks everyone!

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

MOU signed with Mercy Indonesia

It was a fruitful trip to Bali. We had a good discussion with Mercy Indonesia and ACRF signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with them to operate 4 buildings in Aceh for the ministry to widows and orphans.

We hope to have the buildings up and running in about 6 months.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Possible new buildings

There is a possibility of using 3 buildings in Banda Aceh as an orphanage and training centers. We will be going to Bali to meet and discuss with an Indonesian NGO, probably next week.

A wedding and a visit to Mataie

We were privileged to be present at the wedding of our manager (with ACRF) in Banda Aceh, as well as to be able to visit the children at the Mataie Camp.

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Computers arrive!

The 3 computers have been purchased have arrived at our doorstep and are awaiting delivery to Medan and Banda Aceh.

Friday, March 30, 2007

More sponsor's photos









Sponsor's photos

Here are some photos of our sponsors from England with the letters written from the sponsored children.



Wednesday, March 14, 2007

More sponsors needed

We now have 110 sponsored (out of 250 children) with more waiting to register.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

A house for our team!

Thanks to the churches in England who helped us to rent a new house in Banda Aceh for our team. This house is the former headquarters for World Vision and has 6 rooms. It is a much needed blessing to our efforts to help the children in Banda Aceh.

We also started 2 after school care programs, one in Mataie and the other in Paenayong. We are giving tuition assistance to the children in all of the projects. John, also from England, is continuing to work out the details for the purchase of 3 computers for our projects in Medan and Banda Aceh. Thanks John!