After the worst of COVID-19 and the related travel restrictions, I am thankful that it is safe to visit Burundi. Yours truly, John McCready, Founder and Program Director of the Haley McCready Outreach and Development Fund, was able to travel safely to Burundi four times during 2022.
This is a great time to be giving thanks (Thanksgiving Day is upon us) and it is a great time to be thinking about giving (i.e., Giving Tuesday, Christmas and the end of the tax year are rapidly approaching). Giving thanks and giving gifts are good for all of us. This Newsletter is all about giving thanks and our next Newsletter will be all about giving gifts.
GIVING THANKS
The United States is celebrating Thanksgiving Day on November 24th; a day to be thankful for the harvest. To all of our readers, we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving Season and we want to thank you very, very much for your interest in and support for the Haley McCready Outreach and Development Fund during the past 11 years (the first two one-time, start-up development grants were provided in 2011). Almost all of our 29 active projects are agriculture development projects with a Project Association involved in cultivating crops, raising animals and microfinancing.
This is a great time of the year to express our thanks for our Project Beneficiaries, our Program Coordinator, Project Managers and our Advisory Committee Members. In addition, we are grateful for the support we receive from five Collaborating Organizations; Hope Africa University, Friends of Hope Africa University, the Free Methodist Church of Burundi, the Free Methodist Church USA and the Free Methodist Foundation. Of course, we are exceedingly thankful for our Donors who have been willing to make donations. Without the Donors, it would be impossible to provide the money for our one-time, start-up grants for development projects that are designed to allow poor beneficiaries to become self-supporting, self-managing, self-governing and self-sustaining.
Project Beneficiaries
We are thankful for our Project Beneficiaries. We now have 374 beneficiaries. The hardworking beneficiaries, mostly poor and vulnerable women, voluntarily join the Project Association and work together on the development functions and activities; the crop cultivation, animal husbandry and microfinancing. Our beneficiaries work together cooperatively to improve their own lives, the lives of their families and the lives of their fellow association members. Without our beneficiaries, there would be no development. To all our beneficiaries, we say thank you very, very much!
Program Coordinator
We are thankful for our Program Coordinator, Dieudonné IRAMBONA, who is onsite, year-round and helps to coordinate the work of the Haley McCready Outreach and Development Fund. Dieudonné is active in facilitating communication, sharing information and coordinating the project reporting and he provides support to the Project Managers, the development projects and other activities.
Project Managers
We are so thankful for our Project Managers who are self-selecting students and/or graduates of Hope Africa University and who voluntarily prepare and submit a project proposal in response to our Calls for Proposals. When a development grant is approved, the Project Manager is required to sign a funding agreement, committing to be a long-term, voluntary Project Manager to guide the Project Beneficiaries, the Project Association members in becoming self-supporting, self-managing, self-governing and self-sustaining. Thank you very, very much to all of our 15 active Project Managers.
- Aimé Fidèle NINGEJEJE
- Audace MPAWENIMANA (two projects)
- Barthelemy MINANI (four projects; two started without a grant)
- Christine KAMIRAMEYA
- Désiré NSENGIYUMVA (two projects; one started without a grant)
- Dieudonné IRAMBONA (two projects)
- Etienne KATABIRORA
- Epithace NDUWAYO
- Ernest MANIRAKIZA
- Evelyne KANYANA
- Fabien BIMENYIMANA
- Juvenal HAVYARIMANA
- Kilongo Banyakwa
- Prosper NIYONGERE (two projects)
- Viola NSHEMEZIMANA
Advisory Committee Members
We offer our thanks for the advice, guidance and support provided by the Members of the United States Advisory Committee.
We offer our thanks to the Burundi Advisory Committee Members who review, evaluate and recommend projects for grants and who oversee the implementation of the development projects.
Collaborating Organizations
Thank you very much to the representatives of the five Collaborating Organizations which have provided and continue to provide much-appreciated support and assistance. Thank you!
The five organizations are as follows.
- Hope Africa University
- Friends of Hope Africa University
- Free Methodist Church of Burundi
- Free Methodist Church USA
- Free Methodist Foundation
Donors
We are very thankful and beholding to our Donors who allow the Haley McCready Outreach and Development Fund to able to invest in agriculture development projects in Burundi. It is our Donors who make it possible to provide the one-time, start-up grants for the development projects. Thank you donors; thank you very, very much!
Without the donors and their donations, the Haley McCready Outreach and Development Fund cannot survive. We believe that we attract donors who appreciate that the grant money is invested directly in development projects without administrative expenses. The projects mobilize poor beneficiaries to join a project association and work together to help themselves become self-supporting, self-managing, self-governing and self-sustaining. The grant money is invested in development projects that produce results while developing the capacity and the independence of indigenous people in Burundi. We are thankful that our Donors have allowed us to contribute significantly to improving the lives of poor indigenous people in Burundi. Thank you very, very much!
Donations