Our January update described all of the growth in ministry. We wanted to give you an update on what has been happening in Burkina Faso.

Graduation was held at the Village of Opportunity (VOO) in June with 26 young ladies graduating. There were 18 sewing students and eight cosmetology students who celebrated their success! All 26 young ladies took the national exam with 25 passing. This 96% passing rate is well above the national average of 45%. Now these students will attend the summer seminars before going out finding jobs or starting their own business. Two of the young lady’s plan to use the skills they have learned as they go out to be missionaries. We look forward to hearing how God continues to bless these young ladies and how the Gospel is spread because of what they have learned at the VOO.

The building project in Burkina Faso will give us the opportunity to provide better vocational training to more women as well as help the ministry become more self-sustaining. The first phase of the plans for the Village of Opportunity (VOO) in Burkina were to repair some of the existing buildings which was done in 2022. The next phase is to build a kitchen/classroom for the newly established culinary class which is being held in a classroom not originally designed for that purpose. The next phase of the project is to build an activity hall to be used for VOO student activities and can also be rented out. Renting out the activity hall will generate income for the VOO and also provide opportunities for the students to practice the skills they are learning. For example, if rented out for a wedding the cosmetology students can do the women’s nails and hair, the sewing students can sew clothes for those in the wedding and the culinary students can prepare the food for the reception.



We wanted to share a few pictures of the artist rendition of the kitchen/classroom building and the floor plans. It is exciting to see these and think about the potential difference this will make in the lives of those who attend the VOO. The plan is to have the first culinary students graduate the summer of 2025!

Now that plans have been drawn construction has begun. The land has been cleared and digging is all done by hand. The cement blocks that will be used in the construction are made on site. We are excited to see this progress as they work hard to have the building ready for fall culinary classes.

God has been good and supplied the funds to get the project started. We have shared in the past that we have been offered a $75,000 match to fund the Burkina building project. As of this month generous donors have given just over $70,000 toward the match so we only need $5,000 to be able to receive this match. This will allow us to complete this portion of the first phase of the project. If you would like to help us meet the match you can go to cwomissions.org and click on Donate. You can then choose Burkina Faso then Building Fund.

Thank you for praying for us as we plan to grow the CWO ministries reaching more people for Christ. Thank you too for supporting us financially as we follow God’s leading.



Serving Together,

Greg & Laura