Humanitarian Aid Archives - Page 23 of 30 - Humanitarian Aid & Relief

Incarcerated women help stamp out parasites

Almost every day at World Concern, we see this principle: “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” (Acts 20:35) have an impact on the lives of our supporters.

A letter and stamps from the women at Dawson State Jail. — Women at Dawson State Jail send postage stamps in support of the 44-Cent Cure.

Recently we received an amazing letter from a woman named Jennifer in Dawson State Jail in Dallas, Texas. One day, she was exercising and listening to KLTY 94.9 FM and heard about the 44-Cent Cure.

“As a mom, my heart went out as a 13-year-old boy told about being so ill, his parents thought he would die,” she wrote. “I couldn’t believe my ears. Forty-four cents? For the cost of a stamp I could provide medicine to cure a child of parasites?”

Unable to send money for obvious reasons, Jennifer realized she could still help, by giving of what she had – postage stamps. She asked other women in her dorm if they’d like to participate and many were excited to be able to make a difference in the lives of children around the world.

“We’ve named our project ‘Stamp Out Parasites’ (Prison Project) – S.O.P.³– three like the Trinity,” wrote Jennifer. “Already we have shared this idea with others both in the world and on other units. You will be able to expect other donations in the name of S.O.P.³”

This letter reminded me of when Jesus praised a widow for her offering in Mark 12:44.

kenyan children — Poor children, like these in Kenya, are often infected with parasites that make them sick. A child can be cured for the cost of a postage stamp.

“They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Jennifer has since moved on from this dorm, but the women there are continuing her legacy. They’re sending stamps and even volunteering their time to hand-write thank you notes to our donors.

Anyone can give, regardless of their situation. And when we do, we’re blessed in return.

Learn more about the 44-Cent Cure at www.worldconcern.org/curekids.

Grow Your Own Sack Garden

Our staff in Chad have been teaching people living in refugee camps there how to grow sack gardens. It’s a great way to improve a family’s diet by adding fresh vegetables with less water needed than a typical garden.

Since spring is a time many people are thinking about gardening, we thought we’d share these instructions for growing your own sack garden! If you do, please share it with us! We’ll be sure to share how things are growing in Chad, too.

Our agronomists first learned about sack gardens from Manor House Agricultural Centre in Kenya, and we learned more about various container and urban gardening methods at ECHO Global Farm. These instructions have been pulled from Gardens From Health.

Materials needed to grow your own sack garden:

A burlap or plastic sack (we use discarded food aid sacks, which make perfect sack gardens, especially for symbolic reasons)
Soil mixed with organic compost
Rocks for irrigation
A cylindrical bucket or tin, open on both ends (we use seed tins or vegetable oil tins, but a coffee can would work well too)

Instructions:

1. Fill the bottom of the sack with soil mixed with organic compost. Fill the tin with rocks. This will serve as an irrigation channel.

2. Surround the tin with more soil, and slowly lift it up, so that the rocks remain.

3. Fill the tin with more rocks, and surround it again with soil. Repeat this until the sack is filled with a tower of rocks surrounded by soil.

4. Poke holes into the side of the sack an even distance apart.

5. Transplant seedlings into the sides of the sack.

6. You can try direct seeding beets, carrots or other vegetables or herbs in the top of the sack.

7. Enjoy your harvest!

For more information on how World Concern is improving nutrition in impoverished countries, please visit worldconcern.org/myconcern/hunger

Facing the challenge of survival in Somalia

A nomadic family in Somalia. — A nomadic herder and his family move to find water in Somalia.

World Concern’s mission of reaching the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world means we work in some of the most challenging places on earth. A report I just received from our Somalia staff brought this reality to light afresh for me. It summarized the results of a survey of families in two areas where we’ve recently started working in Somaliland (northern Somalia). The figures indicate such dramatic need – it’s hard to fathom what these families face every day just to survive.

Here are a few of the most astonishing ones:

92% of the families do not use latrines
54% of people observed had noticeable eye infections
59.6% have never attended any school
Only 13% have attended secondary school
54.6% travel 1-2 hours a day to reach a water source with the largest percentage going three times a day
83.3% are drinking water that is not safe for human consumption
A main source of income is livestock, yet only 10% of the animals in households are producing milk

It’s impossible to dig wells in some of these areas because the water, even below the surface, is salty. Rainwater and groundwater runoff collected in berkads (underground reservoirs) are the only source of clean water. One of our projects is building more berkads in these areas.

Planting sack gardens in Somalia. — Teaching people to grow vegetables in sack gardens offers hope.

The soil is so dry and lifeless, nothing can grow here. People eat mostly bread, rice they buy from others. Even vegetable gardens wither. We’re teaching people to grow sack gardens, which hold moisture so things can grow.

Droughts are becoming more frequent and herds are shrinking. Their only hope for healthier herds may be to improve the land with rock lines that will direct rainwater into the soil. One goal is to improve livelihoods so families don’t have to be constantly moving in search of water.

In spite of the inhospitable environment, we know there are solutions: Collecting rainwater, growing food in sack gardens, sustaining herds. Even in Somalia, we see hope.

Join us in bringing hope to this dry and weary land.

Pond scum mustaches

Kenyan boys at pond. — Young boys drink from a murky pond in Kenya.

I will always think of the little boys with the pond scum mustaches when I consider the developing world’s water crisis. I met them in Kenya this week as the World Concern team was surveying an extremely remote village where we are planning further development.

We drove to a water pan – essentially a man-made pond for water collection. Water pans are usually reserved for livestock, but in this case, a couple of water pans were the community’s source of drinking water. After slipping through a fence made of gnarled branches and walking toward the muddy pond, I saw the water. It was green with algae, and moving with life. Over the surface of the water was a film of muck, essentially – pond scum.

As I was getting video and photos of this water pan, reality set in, as a group of five friends – thin and quiet little boys around 10 years old – came with filthy jugs, out to get a drink. They lined up alongside the pond, dipped their jugs in the water, brought the water to their mouths, and tipped the jugs back.

I knew at that moment that the boys were being infected, as they had been many times before, with parasites and bacteria that would make them sick. We scooped up some of this water in a clean, clear bottle – and with the naked eye could see worms and other creatures flex and swim through the opaque mess.

Dirty water from a pond in Kenya. — Filthy water is all that's available to drink in this Kenyan village. It doesn't have to be this way.

I could not believe the heartbreaking scene that I was witnessing. But for these little boys, there is no other source of water nearby. As they drank I noticed that around their small mouths was green pond scum.

In many cultures where World Concern works, there is a sense of fatalism. The tragic circumstances dealt to people are their fate, and they just need to accept them. Part of it is religious, part of it is cultural, part of it is just the fact that they haven’t seen anything better. Why would they hope for something they had not seen or heard about?

Here is the truth: God aches for these boys, as do we. What we know that the little boys don’t is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Working together, we are can bring the love of Christ in tangible ways to relieve the suffering that families have endured for generations. It just doesn’t have to be this way.

In communities where we have worked in a more significant way – communities that have seen the benefits of clean water, of sanitation, of education for children, of opportunities to work and save money – we have seen something happen. A spark of realization in the minds of hopeless people that the misery they’ve endured is not the final word. When they get it, mountains move. Children grow. Goals are set. Communities change – long term.

Water is one of the most important ways we can begin the process of this transformation, to show the light of Christ to people who have suffered for so long.

To learn more about World Concern’s water programs, or to help bring clean water to communities like this, visit www.worldconcern.org/water

Starting over: One family’s story

World Concern supporter Kurt Campbell is in Sri Lanka visiting some of our programs. The following is an excerpt from his personal blog.

Chris, Teri and Dori. — Chris, Teri and Dori are grateful to be earning income from the cow they received from World Concern.

Boy meets girl. They wed and soon have a baby. A typical story that can be found around the world, but when it is played out in the middle of a violent war it often takes a turn for the worse. Such was the case of Chris and Teri and their daughter Dori (not their real names), who live in northern Sri Lanka.

Government soldiers one day came to their village and took Chris away to a military prison on suspicion of aiding the enemy. This left Teri and their young daughter alone in the middle of a war. It wouldn’t be long before they both joined several hundred thousand others in one of the war refugee camps.

When the war came to a close this family was reunited, but much had changed. Chris returned paralyzed from the waist down. To compound their problems they had no livelihood with the disappearance of their 16 cows. Yet despite all this they did not lose hope.

Recently World Concern began meeting with people from the area to develop a livelihood program that would help the community sustain itself in the future. It was agreed upon that creating a milk chilling station co-op would be a great place to start. The co-op started by selecting 10 of the most vulnerable people in the community that could benefit from a gifted milking cow from World Concern. One of those selected by the community was Teri.

Teri and her cow. — Teri and her cow, which now helps feed her family and earns them income.

Teri attended a five-day workshop led by World Concern that helped train the community on best practices in dairy farming.

Today Chris, Teri and their 8-year-old daughter have access to a balanced diet and a source of income that will help them build on a brighter future. Their community will soon have a milk chilling station as well, which will allow every dairy farmer an opportunity to sell their milk.

For more information on World Concern’s work in Sri Lanka, please visit www.worldconcern.org/srilanka

Garden = better test scores and more in rural Kenya

Students hard at work at Naado Primary School in Kenya.

Kathryn Sciba is visiting some of our programs in Kenya this week. The following excerpt is from her blog about her trip.

We began our eventful journey to a primary school near Narok. This is the kind of land where safari animals roam wild. The children and teachers at this school blew my mind with how well they welcomed us. The people here are Maasai, nomadic herdsmen. This school has changed their lives since World Concern started working with them in 2008.

The school has a 28-acre garden that World Concern built a fence around so the elephants wouldn’t destroy it. The lack of farming means the families have had to follow the herds and lack a balanced diet.

In the past three years World Concern has not only built a solar powered electric fence around the school’s garden but they’ve also trained the community about farming. Now the families can stay put if they want to. Now the community has wheat and corn fields. The school produces more than enough food for their enrollment and is able to sell the rest. They grow passion fruit, mango, bananas, and vegetables, including basics like beans, corn and wheat.

They do have a water catchment system, which catches rain from the roof and carries it through pipes to the garden, but they need rain to sustain it. Please pray for a great rainy season which was supposed to begin this month but has been lousy so far.

Students in Kenya. — About 800 students receive education and nutritious meals at Naado Primary School in Narok, Kenya.

The garden has provided essential nutrition and that’s helped the student’s test schools improve dramatically. In 2007, 191 children graduated with a Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (a national standardized test required to pass primary school). In 2008, 216 students graduated and in 2009 the number was 261.

Enrollment has been increasing because the community is sending their children there to be well fed and educated instead of having them roam with the herds. The school provides boarding to 150 girls who would otherwise roam with their families. By having girls live at the school, their families may feel less urgency to marry them off at a young age in exchange for a 20 cow dowry.

There are currently about 400 boys and 400 girls enrolled in the school.

Moved to respond: expertise in disasters

First responders in Japan. — Japan's first responders provide aid after the devastating earthquake on March 11, 2011. Reuters photo.

Watching the earthquake and tsunami disaster unfold in northeastern Japan this week has been painful for all of us. Hundreds of thousands of people have been impacted, and aftershocks continue on a daily basis, reminding the Japanese people that this tragedy is far from over.

World Concern, a member of the Global Relief Alliance, is responding by working through alliance partners that were already in place and at work in Japan prior to the disaster. Some may wonder why we’re not loading our staff onto a plane and heading into the disaster zone. Believe me, as a member of our disaster response team, it’s hard for us to “wait this one out,” but it’s important that we do so.

After the Haiti earthquake, we were able to respond immediately because we have worked in that country for 30 years, had staff in place, and were able to make an immediate impact, utilizing resources and donation dollars in the best way possible. But the disaster in Japan is very different on a number of levels.

I have been encouraged by the response being undertaken in Japan. Countless lives have no doubt been spared by the efficiency of their mobilized volunteers, military, and emergency response teams. Rapid assessments, organized distribution lines for rations and water, and shelter provisions reduce uncertainty and anxiety. Heavy equipment has been mobilized, clearing roads and restoring communications and transportation. Japan has very accurate national registries (hence their ability to report the numbers of those who are missing) and has reached out to contact everyone in the affected areas. The Japanese have been a model of disaster response, and we have lessons to learn about how we can improve our own system in North America to match theirs.

Contrast this with Haiti’s 2010 earthquake or Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar in 2008, where the number of victims will never truly be known due to lack of census records in the affected areas. The needs in these countries overwhelmed the fragile states, and basic necessities were unattainable. They desperately needed international support, simply to get food, water, and basic medical attention. World Concern had offices and programs in these places prior to the disasters and responded directly. We have continued to work – and will continue – in these countries long after they have faded from the headlines.

In Japan, after the immediate search and rescue and medical emergency needs are met, Japan’s disaster response teams will determine their need for additional help. Meanwhile, we are standing by, ready to deploy if needed in the field. Until that time, we will provide technical assistance and support to our partners on the ground, maximizing our team’s expertise and your donations.

Please join us in praying for the victims of this tragedy and their families, for the government of Japan as it coordinates the response, and for Christian partners and the church in Japan, as they work to support the local authorities and care for their neighbors.

For more information, visit www.worldconcern.org/disasters.

A Change of Heart

Kurt Campbell remembers the moment God melted his heart for the people of Sri Lanka. It was on Easter Sunday, 2009. Sitting in his comfortable, warm church, singing worship songs, he started to cry.

Several weeks earlier, he and his wife Cari had prayed and felt led to donate their entire savings account to aid in the crisis in Sri Lanka. They’d heard the details of how the end to the 26-year-long civil war had killed thousands and left hundreds of thousands homeless. Knowing World Concern was responding and rescuing war victims, Kurt and Cari wanted to help.

“I’ve often said, your pocket book follows your heart, but sometimes it works the other way. It was after that financial investment that we felt more connected to Sri Lanka,” recalls Kurt.

As he sat in church that Easter, tears running down his cheeks, he realized they probably weren’t singing worship songs in Northern Sri Lanka.

“I thought, here’s a group of people who don’t know the Lord as their Savior, and surely aren’t experiencing the love and compassion I’m used to on a daily basis. My heart just broke,” he said.

Kurt’s burden for the people of Sri Lanka grew over the next two years, especially as he’s had the opportunity to travel there several times. During his visits to the displacement camps, he saw first-hand the tremendous losses people have endured – loss of life, loss of limbs, and loss of loved ones.

Kurt Campbell with Sri Lankan children. — World Concern donor Kurt Campbell visits kids who were living in camps after Sri Lanka’s civil war.

“One of the hardest places to visit was a special camp where people went once they left the hospital … it was basically and old factory floor with cots lined up one after another,” said Kurt. “I came across two children – a girl about 4 years old, and a boy about 6. The boy had a bandaged leg and would obviously be crippled for the rest of his life. The girl had lost three fingers on one hand. I was looking right at her, but she had a completely blank look on her face.

“If God had used me for anything in those camps, it was to make the kids laugh. But this girl, nothing. A blank stare. What had she seen?” Kurt wondered. She was most likely an orphan and had seen the horrors of war.

That experience changed Kurt. He felt more compassion and more of a desire to help than ever before. “There’s something about the Sri Lankan people – something within them – an ability to persevere and to tackle life that is so beautiful. It’s not a hand-out society. These are people who are truly hard-working individuals who want to do things on their own. That really resonates with me.”

One of the most significant aspects of the work Kurt observed was how World Concern staff pays attention to individual people, walking with them through their struggles. “We’re affecting people’s lives and it’s wonderful,” he said.

Learn more about how Campbell Auto Group partners with World Concern to impact the lives of people in the poorest, hardest to reach places around the world.

Kurt Campbell is the owner of Campbell Nissan of Edmonds, Campbell Nissan of Everett, and Campbell Volkswagon of Edmonds.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven …” – Matthew 6:19-20

The freedom to make a living

Sitting at my desk on this International Women’s Day, I’m reminded of the opportunities I’ve been given to be educated and earn an income to support my family. I don’t take this for granted, especially when I read stories like that of Rashida Begum, who grew up in the overcrowded slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh. She never went to school and was forced into marriage at just 13 years old. By the time she was 18, she had five children.

Rashida working. — Rashida has a thriving business making and selling beaded and embroidered fabric.

Despite the odds against her, today, Rashida has a thriving business. She’s able to use the talents she learned as a child – embroidery and bead work – and has gained self-confidence from the growing list of customer orders she receives. Even though she’s illiterate and living in a male-dominated, oppressive society, Rashida is able to support her family with her income.

It all began with a small business loan, which she desperately needed. Unfortunately, in many countries, skill and incentive aren’t enough. The loan enabled her to buy materials and start selling things. It’s amazing to think how different her life is, simply because she’s able to work. She’s also able to pay for her kids to go to school, which means the benefits of her business will carry into the next generation.

Microlending is a simple concept that leads to independence for so many women around the world. In honor of International Women’s Day, take a minute to learn more about it. For a small investment, you could change a life in a developing country.

A living example of hope

Harun at a community meeting. — Harun (in teal) at a community meeting in Southern Sudan.

When he visits the families World Concern serves in Southern Sudan, Harun Ringera shares hope through words of encouragement and practical help. But he also shares hope through the example of his own life – one of how education and having someone believe in you can change everything.

The youngest of seven siblings who grew up in Eastern Kenya, Harun is the son of illiterate peasant farmers. None of his brothers and sisters were educated beyond primary school, but his father saw Harun’s passion for school and worked hard to pay his tuition for high school.

When he ran out of money while attending university in Nairobi, his father sold a piece of land to help him finish college. Now married and the father of two young children, Harun is working on his thesis to earn his master’s degree in October of this year.

His education, experience and skills are impacting others far beyond his own family. As program manager for World Concern Sudan, Harun spends his days overseeing vocational training programs, and working with families who are receiving food and agricultural training. Although he lives in a staff compound for 10 weeks at a time, and only travels back to Kenya to see his family for two weeks in between, he loves his job.

“I felt called to go to Sudan,” he said of his decision in 2006. At that time, Sudan was very unstable. There was no central government and no infrastructure. Schools had been destroyed and people had no way to earn income. He worked with traumatized child soldiers and homeless refugees.

Harun Ringera is CRISTA Ministries' Employee of the Year.

It was far from glamorous work, but Harun persevered, and now oversees thriving microfinance programs, including savings groups and village banks. People are saving and borrowing money, starting businesses and planting crops. Others are rebuilding schools and earning food for their work. Women are learning to read and write, and they’re obtaining business skills. Life is improving.

“It called for a lot of patience, sacrifice and prayers,” he said of the progress in Sudan. He also believes it has to do with how people are treated. “If you want to succeed in Southern Sudan and motivate people, learn to appreciate them. These people have never been appreciated, because they have been under oppression for a very long time. Give them an opportunity to work and tell them, you can make it. Give them hope.”

Harun’s dedication to his work earned him recognition as CRISTA Ministries’ Employee of the Year (World Concern is one of CRISTA’s seven ministries). He’s currently enjoying his first trip to the U.S. – and his first time outside of Africa – to be honored for his service at World Concern’s headquarters.