Tag Archives | World Concern

We’ve got a new look!

By on September 12, 2011 in News

World Concern's new logoYou’ll notice that World Concern has a new logo – and tagline. We’re pretty excited about this, as it helps you – and us – tell the story about what we’re doing together.

Here’s a little background on how we reached this point.

I’ve traveled around the world and have seen nearly all of the work we do, in some of the toughest places on Earth. Over time, something has stood out in my mind.

I saw it in the life of a businesswoman in Chad. She escaped a war, with nothing but her wits, and built a new business – when given a chance. I saw it in a family in Bangladesh that went from poverty to prosperity, with education, job training, and a fish farm.

A theme that I see, over and over, is the transformation of lives. People who were hopeless, now have reasons to live.

In some ways, World Concern is not unique. There are many humanitarian organizations that seek to do good. And of those, quite a few have Christian backgrounds. In fact, there are several good ones that have either the word “World” or “Concern” in their name.

But what we see that is unique about World Concern is the one-on-one relationships that we build with people and communities, relationships that sometimes span years. We see that we make the biggest difference in people’s lives when we know them, work with them individually, and equip them with the tools they need to thrive.

We don’t just do good. We do good that lasts. In turn, those we help see themselves, and their lives, in new ways.

They know that God loves them. They have value. They can indeed succeed in life.

So – we’re inviting you, along with those we serve, and anyone else with eyes to see, to “witness the transformation.” Our work does make a difference.

We wanted to bring this idea to an icon as well. The icon we chose hints at transformation and new life: an emerging butterfly, motion, and several parts coming together into one unit. Here’s more about our new look.

We truly cannot do it without you.

In the coming months we will also unveil a new website, with features to make us more transparent, and equip you to act.

Thank you for your compassion for the world’s poor!

Derek Sciba

Marketing Director

World Concern

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Should Christians only help other Christians?

By on July 1, 2011 in Causes of Poverty, Extreme Poverty, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty Reduction

Should Christians help the poor? The immediate response for most of us is, “of course.” But we’ve heard from people who believe Christians should only help other Christians. Their rationale is based on the stories of the early church that involve believers helping one another – not the poor in general.

While the Bible certainly encourages believers to help one another, such as in Acts 2:45, doesn’t it also command us to love others, help others and give generously, without regard to a person’s beliefs?

This opinion was a bit surprising, especially for those of us who believe so strongly in feeding the hungry, housing the homeless and healing the sick. We serve those in greatest need, regardless of race, gender or religion. We take joy in serving others, expecting nothing in return.

Helping a woman in Somalia

A World Concern staff member listens to the needs of an elderly muslim widow in Somalia.

Jesus certainly helped many people who were not necessarily believers. When he fed the 5,000, he didn’t require his disciples who were distributing the fish and loaves to verify each person’s beliefs.

Prior to telling the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus referred an expert in the law to what he must do to inherit eternal life. “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

The man asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus then told the parable, in which a priest ignores a man who had been beaten by robbers, but a Samaritan helps him. Jesus then instructs his listener to “Go and do likewise.”

Jesus certainly did not require conversion before ministering to people. His healing touch or words were often what opened someone’s heart to receive his love and forgiveness. We find that same principle at work in our service to the poor every day.

A Sri Lankan man who had lost everything in the war, told us, “Our suffering and hardship caused us to question whether there is a God. But through the continued support and love shown towards us by the World Concern staff, we believe that there is a God and we now have hope in life.”

What if we hadn’t helped this man because he was not a Christian? He would have given up on God. Our help was the tangible expression of God’s love he needed in order to believe.

A pastor who supports World Concern says, “Jesus came with a message and a mission. Sometimes churches are all about the message and forget about the mission.”

Like this pastor, we believe it’s important to share Christ’s love in word and deed. In situations where appropriate, we offer an opportunity to hear the gospel. But what about the places where we can’t? Should those people be left to starve or die of thirst? In contexts hostile to Christianity, our witness is simply reflected through the work we do.

In the verse above, we are commanded to love our neighbor. That’s why we do what we do. Just like in the Good Samaritan story, our “neighbor” is often someone with whom we have nothing in common.

I have a friend who went to church pregnant and unmarried. The love and support she received led her to recommit her life to Christ. Today, 20 years later, she’s happily married, a mother of three, and a committed Christian. She admits, had she been hit with the gospel the minute she walked in the door of that church, she would have never returned.

If we were to plunk ourselves into a drought or disaster stricken community and start preaching the gospel, with no offer to help, very few people would be receptive. Practical help often opens the door to be able to share why we do what we do.

 

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Standing together against child trafficking

By on May 10, 2011 in Extreme Poverty, Featured, Stories
Su Kim, fundraising winner

Su Kim (left) was the top fundraiser for World Concern's Free Them 5k, held on May 7 in Seattle.

The most exciting part of this past weekend’s long-awaited “Free Them” 5k to stop human trafficking was not the sunshine that peeked through the gray ceiling that has hung over Seattle for six months. It wasn’t even the exhilaration of crossing the finish line after five grueling, hilly kilometers of speed walking.

For me, it was the sense of unity, looking over the crowd and knowing that all 1,200 of us were there for a common purpose:  to do something to help right a wrong. In this world of copious evils – many of which are carried out against innocent children – there is hope in the power of unanimity. Corporately, we can do so much more to protect children than any of us can do alone.

I met race participant who said he’d heard a speaker at his church talk about human trafficking. “I’d never thought about modern day slavery. I didn’t know it existed,” he said. “But my heart was touched, and I wanted to do something. I thought if my 12-year-old daughter got mad and ran off, within 48 hours she could be trafficked into prostitution.”

There were so many others will similar stories. Every person there had their own reasons for taking part in the 5k. And together, we made a huge impact – raising awareness about this issue among our friends and in our families, churches and communities – and raising more than $100,000 to help protect children.

To everyone who participated, thanks for making this a huge success!

Read more about how you’re making a difference. You can also text “FREETHEM” to 20222 to donate $10.

Runners waving.

Participants encouraged each other along the Free Them 5k route.

5k family

The Free Them 5k was a fun event for the whole family.

5k finish

Runners line up at the start of the Free Them 5k.

5k runners

More than 1,200 runners took part in the Free Them 5k to stop human trafficking.

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Join 1,000+ runners in the “Free Them” 5k

By on May 6, 2011 in Featured, Humanitarian Aid, News
Carrie Yu and her children.

Seattle mom, Carrie Yu, is doing her part to help protect children from trafficking by running in the "Free Them" 5k.

As the mom of two toddlers, Seattle resident Carrie Yu is sickened by statistics and stories of children being trafficked into the sex trade in places like Cambodia and Thailand.  So when she heard about the “Free Them” 5k Run/Walk to stop human trafficking, she was excited to find a tangible way she could do something to help.

“As a parent, it’s heart-breaking to think about. I can’t imagine having to make the decision to sell a child into slavery in order to survive,” said Carrie. “I can’t go into the mission field, but I can run for this cause. I can raise money. This is something I can do right now where I am in my life.”

Carrie will join more than 1,000 other runners and walkers in the “Free Them” 5k tomorrow, Saturday, May 7, at World Concern’s headquarters in Seattle. In addition to raising funds for child trafficking prevention and rescue programs, the event raises awareness about this horrific crime. More than 1 million children are trafficked each day around the world – some into prostitution; others into forced labor. The average age is just 12 years old.

“Human trafficking is something we don’t talk about much here, but we need to speak up. This is not right,” said Carrie.

You can do something too. Come out and join us at the race tomorrow morning! Register online at www.worldconcern.org/5k or in person at the event, beginning at 8:30 a.m. World Concern’s headquarters is located on the CRISTA Ministries campus at 19303 Fremont Ave. N., Seattle, Washington.

See you there!

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Grow your own sack garden

By on April 14, 2011 in Aid & Relief, Extreme Poverty, Featured, Humanitarian Aid

Sack gardenOur 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:

  • 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 www.worldconcern.org/poverty.

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Pond scum mustaches

By on March 22, 2011 in Aid & Relief, Extreme Poverty, Featured, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty Reduction
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

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Starting over: One family’s story

By on March 21, 2011 in Aid & Relief, Extreme Poverty, Featured, Poverty Reduction, Stories of Poverty

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

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Garden = better test scores and more in rural Kenya

By on March 16, 2011 in Extreme Poverty, Featured, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty Reduction, Stories

School children in 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.

 

 

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Moved to respond: expertise in disasters

By on March 15, 2011 in Aid & Relief, Diaster Relief, Featured, Humanitarian Aid, News, Stories
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.

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Japan quake highlights disaster risk reduction

By on March 11, 2011 in Aid & Relief, Diaster Relief, Featured, News, Stories

Tsunami damage in Japan.

Houses, cars and buildings were washed away in a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011. Photo by REUTERS/KYODO, courtesy of Alertnet.

The dramatic events unfolding in Japan after a magnitude 8.9 earthquake off Japan’s east coast triggered a devastating tsunami are riveting. They also highlight the distinction between communities that participate in disaster risk reduction activities (like Japan) and those that have not been prepared (such as Haiti). No amount of preparation can stop an earthquake or tsunami, but the next few days will show how preparation and risk reduction have saved countless lives, and minimized the long term effects for the Japanese people. In other nations, this tragic event would have had much greater consequences.

We participate in risk reduction on a daily basis: when the radio identifies a forecast of rain, you assess the risk, and choose to reduce it by carrying an umbrella. On a national scale, this is much more complicated. It requires awareness, planning, and willingness to put plans in place. Today, a few low-lying communities in Washington State were evacuated due to the warnings issued by the West Coast and Alaska Warning Center, a part of the US early-warning system.

The effects of this earthquake in Japan are drastically different than the one measuring 7.0 which paralyzed Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010. In Haiti, low-quality construction practices, lack of awareness about the risk of earthquakes, and insufficient government capacity to respond created one of the worst humanitarian disasters in history. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was also a horrifying tragedy impacting unprepared communities from Indonesia to Somalia.

World Concern is currently involved in disaster risk reduction activities in risk prone areas around the world, training local communities to prepare for the next “big one.” With World Concern’s help, communities in Haiti, Sri Lanka and Myanmar are identifying risks and developing strategies to mitigate losses during disasters. Community members work together to find solutions, and educate others on how to protect themselves during a disaster.

In Haiti, for example, communities dig and maintain storm drains to counteract flooding during hurricanes. Other areas have installed emergency water facilities, in case their regular sources are contaminated by floodwaters.

After Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 130,000 in Myanmar, World Concern supported the establishment of Disaster Management Committees in affected communities, equipping them with disaster response supplies, and assisting them in developing an early warning system, coordination with local government, and implementation of multi-hazard action plans.

World Concern partners and donors are empowering the poorest in high-risk areas to make informed decisions and be proactive in protecting their loved ones and their way of life.

Help us respond to disasters, and prepare impoverished communities for future disasters by donating at  www.worldconcern.org/disasters


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