Message From Roman Deiter:
Garabou boys are boys sent from their parents at least two cities away at age 4, to live a life of poverty. Their parents hope that by living a life of poverty they will become wealthy, strong Muslim leaders. They are owned by a marabou, who is an esteemed Muslim leader owning Garabou boys. Every morning at 4:00 they go to beg in the streets. They come back at around 5ish and memorize the Koran which is similar to the Bible except there is no grace or love. At about 2:00 they go to sleep until the next day when they repeat.
Some missionaries to Koutiala Mali named the Holsenbacks, have a hospital for the locals and share the gospel to their patients. One day they noticed a Garabou boy walk down the road and collapse right in front of their gate. They were going to bring him in when some of the locals told them that they couldn't touch him without speaking to his master, a marabou. They went with him back to his marabou to ask him if they could help him and the marabou asked, "Would it cost me anything?" They replied saying, "Well yes we do ask for a small fee-" "Forget it!" he thundered. "What if we cover the cost?" they asked. "Sure, whatever!" he blurted. So basically he didn't even care if he lost one. When they started helping the Garabou boy, they realized that the other boys had the same problem. It was then that they found out that their diet was horrible. When they begged they would by chance get a stale piece of bread or maybe some left over coos-coos or some crackers-all carbs. They need protein. To get the boys their daily nutrition, Steve and Heather Holsenback decided to start a Garabou boy time and give the boys the food they need each day. But money went down fast because they were buying food for the Garabou boys. So, they asked people to donate money for the boys. For $0.25 you can give one boy all the nutrition he needs, an egg and handful of peanuts, for one day. So we’ve decided to start a coin drive for the boys. There will be a jar by the coffee machine with ‘Garabou Boys’ written on it. So for every dollar 4 Garabou boys can be fed in one day. Please donate!
