Loaves and Fishes: our 2025 letter
Dear Friends-
We hope this letter finds you well and enjoying the holiday season.
Dina, God’s Way, Richlove, and Sarah Sr. submitted their applications to college a few months ago. To say that this is exciting is a massive understatement. About 17% of Ghanaian women receive a university degree: in one generation, these girls can launch from the bottom rung of the economic ladder to among the best-educated in their country. Sending all eight through higher education will cost $150,000 and our goal is to raise that entire sum by March of 2026, in time for the first four to enroll in their first year of college, with the remaining four following close behind.
As we’ve prayed about this final chapter, here’s our hope:
We want to assure all eight girls that their tuition is secure, hence our goal of raising the full sum by March.
We don't want to make this request of our monthly donors because we still depend on them for day-to-day expenses at the Yellow House. We are inviting occasional and new donors to make a one-time gift towards the girls’ higher education.
We strongly felt that we should personally give the first $15,000 to kick-start this campaign. Caring for these girls is our life's work and we are grateful to be in the position to do this.
Eugene Peterson, translator of The Message, writes about the sequence of verbs that describe what Jesus does at meals throughout the Gospels: Blessed, Broke, Gave. Of this pattern he says, “This is the shape of the communion table. This is the shape of the Gospel. This is the shape of the Christian life.” Eight Oaks started with five loaves and two fish: spare change and garage sale profits from a group of high schoolers who gave what they could. Jesus took it: he blessed it, he broke it, and he gave it back a hundredfold.
Ted traveled to Ghana this summer, and thanks to a generous donor, he was able to take the girls and our staff on a trip to see the ocean, visit a few colleges, tour Fort Prinzenstein, and stop by The Father’s House. He texted me one night: “Gloria says to tell you her stomach is sooo full from our feasting that it hurts.”
From malnourishment to feasting; illiteracy to college applications. This is what God does. There is no scarcity in the Kingdom: His redemption is not half-hearted.
And with that knowledge in mind, on behalf of Dina, Lucky, God’s Way, Sarah Sr., Richlove, Regina, Sarah Jr., Gloria, and our staff–we echo Ephesians 3:20 “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.”
Ted & Ellie Kriwiel
Founders
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L-R: Lucky, Sarah Jr., Regina, Sarah Sr., Gloria, Dina, Richlove, God’s Way