Derek Sciba documents World Concern's activities across the planet as the organization's communication officer. Derek has visited villages in rural Kenya where World Concern touches the lives of poor farmers, widows and AIDS orphans. He's interviewed organization leaders from Haiti and Southeast Asia. Derek's professional background includes a decade in TV news at ABC and CBS stations across the western U.S., working as a videographer, reporter and news anchor. Most recently Derek worked at KATU-TV in Portland, Oregon, as a reporter.
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World Concern is a nonprofit Christian humanitarian organization that has been serving some of the world's poorest people for over 50 years. As part of CRISTA Ministries, we are rated a Four Star Charity, the highest possible rating by Charity Navigator (see the rating). World Concern helps educate people, fight hunger and poverty, set up microfinance to help the poor, perform vocational and business training, provide health and medical services, dig wells and provide clean drinking water, and give disaster response and relief when needed.
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When a disaster like the Haiti earthquake happens, it’s sometimes difficult for me to see an upside.
But today, I saw an example of the something beautiful amidst the chaos.
In this case, it took the form of a smart and outspoken 6-year old humanitarian named Jonathon Kane.
Shortly after the Haiti earthquake, Jonathon was captivated by television news coverage of the earthquake.
He felt compassion for children in Haiti, telling his mom “their eyes look very sad.”
He wanted to do something and asked his mom Susan how he could help.
She said money would be the best thing, so Jonathon emptied his piggy bank of all $6.37.
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Last night, about 10 students at Seattle Pacific University decided studying for tests could wait.
Hope for many people has 4 legs and goes “Maaa!” Why it’s great to Give A Goat and bring hope.
It’s not all doom and gloom! World Concern’s president finds great progress in villages in Kenya.
Internships are notorious for being boring. Get coffee, make copies. Not here!
Explore stories about individuals who have been helped by humanitarian aid organizations
The director of World Concern’s operations in Haiti called this morning, after a mobile phone network was repaired. Christon Domond said they need our support immediately. The city of Port Au Prince is overwhelmed by dead bodies, and the critical needs for survivors include clean water, medicine, blankets, plastic sheeting - and now - food.
World Concern’s Senior Director of Technical Support (the disaster lady) Merry Fitzpatrick, expects she will be able to fly out of Miami today to assist with the logistics. If a hurricane, civil war or earthquake hit your community, she’s the person you’d want with you, guiding you through the process.
Christon has been able to contact most of the staff, but not all. We are also hearing about relatives who were killed in the earthquake.
It’s tough to break through the noise. People have got places to go. They’re lost in thought as they walk, talking on the phone, worrying about their own lives.
That’s why it was so cool to see a moment in time where people could pause and reflect, even briefly, about the enormous human cost of a pandemic.
It’s tough to miss what amounts to a graveyard on a college campus.
Seattle Pacific University students helped me place 1,000 white crosses with …
World Concern’s humanitarian aid programs in Asia run the gamut, from disaster response, to job training, to education. I had the chance recently to document our programs in Asia over the course of 40 days. Today I mapped it out on Google. Follow along and learn about what World Concern does in the lives of the poor.
Click on the link below to explore a map and get a tour of World Concern's humanitarian projects in Asia.
View World Concern Journey Across Asia in a larger map
My friend Matt Case has temporarily left his job behind a microphone to see what life is like in African villages.
Matt is the mid-day radio host on Christian radio station Spirit 105.3 in Seattle and has joined World Concern to visit some of our humanitarian aid projects in Kenya.
He just arrived on Sunday and has completed his first full day in the field.
The goal of this trip is to equip Matt with the truth: Compelled by Christ’s love, we can transform the lives of the poor and offer them hope.
Here is what he wrote me a few minutes ago …
I met an amazingly qualified new co-worker of mine yesterday, a medical doctor who once worked in a leprosy mission and has a masters degree in public administration from the Kennedy School in Boston.
Naw Rebecca Htin is a world-class humanitarian. She begins this month as the new World Concern country director for Myanmar (Burma). She’s a mother of three and her husband is a neurosurgeon. And she also grew up in Burma, which was the name of her native country until 1989, when the current military government decided to reinforce the country’s separation from British colonial rule.
Naw is “Ms.” in her language. We call her Rebecca, and she’s also an answer …
