Samoutou Family Blog
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About This Blog...

Family of 5 
from Gabon, Hong Kong and the UK   

Living in Impfondo,   
Republic of Congo   
Since April 2012 

Blog by Joyce the mum, 
Homeschooling novice, 
Eye Charity founding doctor / director. 
Reluctant domestic goddess 

Passionate about sashimi, 
helping people see 
physically and spiritually,   
and Jesus   


 

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P.S. This is the personal blog of the Samoutou family  
(Views our own)  
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19
Newsletter August 2011: Elastigirl!
August 19, 2011

Hello from Sunny England!  What a whirlwind it has been since we last wrote!  So much to update you on!  God is STRETCHING us in so many ways - mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually!  
 
 
 
New opportunities for Henri!
 
Henri started a full-time honorary contract under an amazing consultant ophthalmologist with a big heart in St James’ University Hospital in Leeds.  He also started studying for a distance-learning Certificate in Community Eye Health.  In June, he had the privilege of taking part in a World Health Organisation meeting for Vision 2020, a global initiative to eliminate all reversible causes of blindness by the year 2020.  For Henri, the learning curve is steep.  For our family, we are learning to re-juggle the precious time we have together.  STRETCH! 
 
 
Fundraising is going really well!  
 
We are now 1/3 into our target of raising £100 000 in our first year!  We are so incredibly humbled by your support!  We have had children asking guests to donate to us in place of birthday gifts, pamper evenings, sponsored slim, marathons, even ebay auctions!  Award-winning Casa Mia Restaurants in Leeds have chosen us as their charity of the year and a fabulous dinner with auction is planned for Thursday 10 November! Yorkshire Evening Post did a 2-page feature on us.  By nature, we hate profile but we are now realising that we must raise our profile if we want to help people in Congo!  We had to get over ourselves and just go for it!   STRETCH! 
 
 
We have a house in Congo!
 
We are so thankful that we already have a house waiting for us to rent in Congo!  Not just any house, but a 2-bedroom FURNISHED house already hooked up to electricity and water from the hospital!  (Yes yes we have to be conservative with the usage but did you hear us?  We are going to have electricity and water – bring on the party!).  A beautiful missionary couple took early retirement.  So we got to buy a few things from them e.g. cooker and enjoy their lovely home!  It has taken a huge weight off us knowing that the essentials will be there especially for our young children.  There is even… wait for it… the possibility of Internet in the house if we can find the finances for it!  As if all this isn’t amazing enough, this house is within walking distance to the hospital and to another missionary family whose children are likely to share some homeschooling with us!  It also means that it is close enough for Henri to come home for a few hours while Joyce heads off to do some teaching and clinic work in the hospital!   God has surprised us yet again by the amazing way He works for our good.  His ways are higher!  STRETCH! Joyce will soon reduce her working hours and later give up her GP job to focus on all the preparations.  It is not easy to let go of the security of a salary especially when we have 3 kids.  But… His ways are higher!  STRETCH AGAIN! 
 
 
New occupations!
 
Whilst we are very comfortable at a patient’s bedside, we often feel out of place and out of our depth as we take on new challenges.  Deep breath in and…  BIG STRETCH!  Our new occupations include:
 
1.      Teacher: Planning the homeschooling curriculum for our children
2.      Accountant:  Handling donations from 10 countries
3.      Fundraiser & Administrator: Submitting over 40 grant applications; Looking for sponsors for Auctions and Raffles; Legal work with the Charity Commission
4.      Engineer: Internet systems, Solar panels, Water filters
5.      Media: Website, Leaflets, Posters, Facebook, Twitter, and Coming soon… Promotional video
6.      Press officer: Press releases, Press launches, Interviews!
7.      Gardener: Preparing to grow our own vegetables in Congo!
8.      Language Student: Learning Lingala 
 
We thank God for our voluntary helpers who have donated their precious time and expertise with us!  We couldn’t have done it without you!  You know who you are - thank you!
 
 
 
The kids are growing up fast!
 
Our kids continue to bring us unspeakable joy!  Cherissa lost her two front teeth!  Ezra started nursery and loves it!   Karis never held onto things to ‘cruise’.  She just got up one morning and walked – all on her own!  And of course their Afros continue to STRETCH in every possible direction!  We all loved Joyce's family visiting from Hong Kong in July!  It was such a treat to have a family reunion before we set off to the depths of Africa!
 
 
 
Liza (1977-2011) is in a better place!
 
Thank you to many of you who have prayed for Cherissa’s godmother Liza through the years as she courageously battled with cancer.  On 29 June, the same day that Cherissa turned 6, Liza went home to enjoy heavenly bliss with God.  Joyce had the honour of celebrating her inspirational life at her funeral in Hong Kong.  Whilst Joyce had tears rolling down her face the whole time, she could not help but smile as she rejoiced for her dear sister and friend.  We all miss her tremendously.  The heartbreak had been a huge STRETCH for us emotionally.  Please pray for her husband Calvin and her family.
 
 
 
Fancy a bit of a STRETCH?

In addition to praying, here are some simple things that you can do to help:
 
1. Let us know that you want to help!  Just by talking with us, you will easily find something simple that you can do.  You will be surprised - e.g. we need help with transferring our CDs onto Ipod!
 
2. Speak to your church, fellowship group, work, book club or a group that you belong to.  See if they would like us to share with them this exciting project.  A very generous lady proposed to pay for us to go to Hong Kong to raise funds.  So we are up for travelling!   Plus it will be great to see you!  If we can’t come in person, can you show a 2-minute DVD for us and then give out some donation forms / take an offering for us?
 
3. Turn something that you wanted to do anyway into a meaningful fundraising activity! Here are some ideas:
-          When you have friends over for dinner, ask them to put some money into a charity envelope for us rather than bring a bottle of wine.
-          Do you want an extra incentive to lose a few pounds or run that 10k that you had always wanted? Do a sponsored slim or sponsored race for us!
-         When you are celebrating your birthday, save your friends and family the agony of finding you the ‘perfect’ gift and ask them to give the ‘gift of sight’ to our project.  For just £50 / HK$625, someone blind can see again following a simple cataract surgery!
 
4. To give financially, please visit www.samoutou.com and look under for methods of donation.  We NEED PARTNERS to donate regularly so that we can budget our work 
-         If you are in HK, you can now use Autopay to make monthly donations.  To donate, please use the attached form 1 and send to Alliance Global Serve, 9/F 134 Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong.   

-         If you are in the UK, please remember that your one-off or regular giving by standing order will go a 22% further if you donate through Gift Aid.  Please see attached form 2
If you would like leaflets or posters to help us spread the word about our exciting project, please let us know!
 
 
We are amazed by how much God has done in the past 6 months.  We can’t wait to see what He does next!
 
 
Please do write to us.  We’d love to hear from you!
 
 
 
Lots of love,
 
 
Joyce, Henri, Cherissa, Ezra and Karis
 
 
 
 
 
 
Website: www.samoutou.com
 
Facebook @New Sight
 
Twitter @newsightcongo
 
 

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