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Why Independence in South Sudan Matters.
South Sudan marked its fourth Independence Day in the midst of ongoing conflict. Jenny Yang, World Relief’s Vice President of Advocacy, outlines 4 ways for the American Church to pursue peace in South Sudan. Read Story
Want to stop people from joining groups like the Islamic State? Try tackling core problems first.
Taking cues from grassroots peacebuilding efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, World Relief President and CEO, Stephan Bauman, suggests that increasing access to opportunities for meaningful civic involvement can curb Islamic State enlistment. Read more.
Agricultural Development – A Story from Haiti
In 2011, a year after Haiti’s most devastating earthquake, Monique Lewis bought 500 baby chicks and launched her own chicken farm. Since then, this mother of three has transformed her small start-up into a booming poultry operation where she raises, processes and sells thousands of chickens each year. But just one year after she bought her first chicks, Monique’s husband became paralyzed. Her family and farm descended into financial distress. Then came a glimmer of hope – Monique was able to borrow a much-needed loan from World Relief. She said, “…It was a breath of fresh air. I believed that a loan could not only help me to scale up my new poultry business, but it would also help me to take care of my family.”
And sure enough, Monique’s loan turned both of those hopes into reality.
World Relief’s economic development programs, including those that focus on agriculture, create access to financial services that are often out of the reach of the most vulnerable. World Relief equips Haitian farmers with agricultural training and improves access to loans, seeds, tools and markets where they can sell their crops. Many Haitians depend on farming for their food and livelihoods, so World Relief empowers farmers to turn existing skills into profitable businesses, increased income and lasting economic sustainability.
“With my profits, I have been able to pay school fees for my older children who are in college. In 2012, I was able to buy a second hand car for my enterprise in order to speed up the marketing and the delivery of birds in the neighborhood area of Port-au-Prince,” said Monique.
In addition to her new car, Monique has expanded her business by processing chickens for a large market in Port au Prince. She also energizes the local market by buying from her peers. “I am flexible to help to other farmers to scale up to build up and we network to collectively enhance our positions in the poultry value chain,” Monique said.
Monique recently took out her eleventh loan – and there’s no stopping her innovation and drive to expand her business. She’s already projected goals for the next 12 months to increase the quality of her chicken. This year, World Relief has worked with more than 300 other farmers in Haiti, empowering them to rise above financial insecurity and strengthen their families and communities for life.
Join us today as we empower the most vulnerable to lead their own communities towards change.
Changing Maternal and Child Health – Celebrating 20 Years of Care Groups
Dr. Pieter Ernst with Care Group volunteers in Mozambique
In 1995, a small group of thoughtful people noticed an injustice and were not content to sit back and wait for someone else to do something about it. The problem was that too many women and children were dying from preventable and treatable diseases. 12.7 million children under the age of five died in 1990 alone. Dr. Pieter Ernst worked with World Relief in Mozambique at the time and saw firsthand the unnecessary suffering of women and children. But he knew the potential existed to combat this injustice. All that was needed was some initial training and teaching of health practices and treatments and then local citizens could implement what they had learned. So the Care Group movement was created.
This award winning model of healthcare provides regular health training to groups of 10-15 volunteers in each community. These volunteers, mostly women, are taught the simple health practices like washing hands as well as how to treat and prevent serious illnesses like malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia. Each volunteer is then responsible for visiting 10-15 of their neighbors regularly, sharing what they’ve learned and caring for any illnesses they come across. This multiplying process not only helps save lives, but the entire community becomes aware of how to prevent these illnesses before they start.
As we celebrate 20 years of Care Groups, we commemorate the millions of lives that have been saved by this method of effective grassroots health education. It’s played an important role in contributing to progress on the Millennium Development Goal of significantly reducing child mortality and USAID’s call to End Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths. Recognized as an innovative program, Care Groups have been implemented by more than 25 organizations in over 25 countries.
People like Miseria and her daughter, Lucrencia, know firsthand the kind of life-saving impact Care Groups have. Lucrencia is the youngest of 7 children and was chronically malnourished, thin and unable to walk as an 18 month old. Children in that state used to die because of local traditional beliefs that the disease was caused by spirits that sat on the child, preventing it from growing. But when a local Care Group Volunteer visited their home, she immediately recognized the problem and included mom and daughter in a community training about preparing enriched meals with locally available ingredients to improve the nutrition of malnourished children. Several years later, Lucrencia is an energetic and healthy teenager who is a huge help to her mother.
Miseria and her daughter Lucrencia
One of the local Care Group trainers recently commented, “After seeing Miseria and her once malnourished child Lucrencia at the brink of death, now full of joy and growing into womanhood I could only thank God for what He has done, not only for Lucrencia, but also for so many other families with similar experiences in Gaza Province (Mozambique) through the World Relief Care Group program.”
To join us in this movement of life-saving empowerment, visit https://worldrelief.org/donate.
Transforming Lives and Agriculture- a Story from Mozambique
Out of the five farmers’ groups in Massingir West, Mozambique, the Chinhangane group was by far the least successful. Aside from one strong harvest in 2010, the group suffered through years of poor growth and broken relationships. Like the weeds that tangled their rows of overgrown crops, conflict and division choked any hope of improving their harvests or friendships.
In their August 2014 meeting, the Chinhangane group learned about the fields of other farmers’ associations in the area that consistently out-performed theirs. They compared the neat rows and flourishing fruits in the other groups’ fields with their own meager progress. After the meeting, their hope and confidence were shaken.
“We were really at the end of ourselves and realized only God can change hearts and attitudes,” said Dr. Pieter Ernst, who’s led World Relief’s health and development programs in Mozambique since 1995. Today, his work focuses on agriculture – a mainstay of the Mozambican economy. Farmers make up 80 percent of the country’s workforce. When fields aren’t producing, the consequences are severe for individual subsistence farmers who rely on their crops to eat and generate income.
In World Relief’s Mozambican farmers’ associations, group members study the Bible together as they learn sustainable agriculture techniques. “We discussed the goal of the church as we find it in Ephesians 4, to have all come to the maturity of Christ,” Dr. Ernst explained. But at the end of the August meeting, he was unsure that maturity, unity or peace would ever come to the group.
But as they reflected on Ephesians 4 that day, something changed in the hearts and minds of the Chinhangane members. Most of them attended church – they reasoned – so why didn’t their fruit, both in their spirits and in their fields, match their belief in Jesus?
Several months later, Dr. Ernst visited the group again. To his great surprise the fields at Chinhangane were nearly unrecognizable. Compared to the other farmers’ groups, he said, “Chinhangane’s field was the best of all, with almost no weeds, healthy tomato plants stacked up neatly in their rows…their attitude was also different.”
The growth of fruit in their fields reflected a deeper level of change that had at last taken place in their lives. “I praised the Lord in my heart knowing that this could only be his doing,” Dr. Ernst said. Since the Chinhangane group’s transformation, 90 percent of the members have already made enough profit to pay back the initial costs to grow this seasons’ crops.
Stopping Slavery before it Starts – A Story from Cambodia
Human trafficking continues to flourish today in 167 countries – that’s 85 percent of the world. Every day, women, men and children of all ages and nationalities are captured and forced to work on farms, in factories, in hotels or in the commercial sex trade – generating billions of dollars of revenue each year. But the worldwide church has stepped into the fight against this gross injustice. World Relief stands with local churches in Cambodia and the United States and empowers them to protect their communities from human traffickers. Cambodia’s bustling capital city, Phnom Penh, is a hot spot for slavery and trafficking – but across Cambodia, there’s a growing movement of churches standing with their communities to end slavery. In 2014, over 400 Cambodian churches worked together to spread awareness about human trafficking. This crime flourishes in darkness, but when it’s brought into the light, perpetrators begin to lose their power.
Yim Srey Oun in Cambodia
Yim Srey Oun, a farmer and mother of three, lives just outside Phnom Penh. As a busy mom, she counted on her family to work together to finish the ever-growing list of chores. “My husband and I always encouraged our children to study and we worked hard to support them. However, many times we would need their help to do other work in the farm but I never had thought of letting my children have enough time to study at home,” said Oun.
Then, last year, she attended a human trafficking training session through World Relief. She learned she could love her children by allowing them more time to devote to their studies. Their education is an investment in the security of their future – and it could protect the children from situations in which they’d be vulnerable to traffickers.
“I hope the anti-trafficking project of World Relief will continue to help and train the rest of the parents in my community…Moreover, I am looking forward to seeing fruitful cooperation and more efficient and effective implementation to prevent human trafficking in our country and stand for vulnerable people who live in our community as well,” said Oun. Pastors, youth volunteers and village leaders are spreading awareness about human trafficking far and wide across Cambodia.
Until all are free, the church will stand strong in the pursuit of justice.
Helping Refugees in the U.S. – A Story from Columbus
Imagine fleeing your home only to find yourself being resettled in a new country with a new language, a new home, new schools, and practically new everything. On top of such an overwhelming transition, now picture being faced with yet another devastation that would change things yet again.
One quiet morning in Columbus, Ohio, a Nepalese refugee family recently resettled by World Relief woke early for their children’s doctor appointments. While eating breakfast, they looked out the window and saw smoke billowing from their building. Hearing no alarms, they rushed to the door to see if there was a way out, but with thick smoke filling the hallways, the only other option was to jump out the third-story window.
Sending the children first, then his wife, the father left no man behind and was the last to jump. Miraculously, everyone was okay.
But the neighbors below were trapped in their apartment, so the Nepalese family, after reaching safety themselves, put themselves in harm’s way and rescued their three small neighbors and their mother.
World Relief staff was then able to help this refugee family find a new apartment, purchase meals during their time of transition and donated furniture to help them get back on their feet.
Deeply moved by all of the support, the father of the family soon after got baptized and got involved in a local church.
Simple acts of kindness can make all the difference in the world. World Relief staff and volunteers help refugees like this family settle in the US throughout the year – bringing hope and reassurance in times of uncertainty.
To learn more about how you can be a part of what is happening at World Relief, contact a World Relief office near you.
Women Around the World Who #MakeItHappen – International Women’s Day
“There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women.”
-Kofi Annan
Women make up nearly half of the world’s population, yet in too many cases sexual violence is used as a weapon of war, the HIV/AIDS rate among women is far too high and vulnerable women are often prey to human traffickers.
But mothers and daughters are an integral part of society who not only deserve to be treated well, but also deserve a chance to empower others they already influence in their communities. Empowering women means families are cared for, good nutrition is provided, the growth of economies and reconciliation happens.
As the world celebrates International Women’s Day this weekend, we want to focus on some of the women we know who #MakeItHappen in their communities – normal, everyday women who have been empowered to change the world.
Heroes like Yalala in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) who defy the odds to overcome violence and bring healing to her war-torn country.
Or Emily in Kenya who serves as a community health worker ready to care for her neighbors living with HIV and educate her friends about preventing the disease.
And Orn Raim in Cambodia who’s leading her community against domestic violence and human trafficking.
These women are turning the tide of history as they use their skills, experiences and passions to influence their communities for good. They #MakeItHappen by simply and sacrificially loving their neighbors. These are the heroes of this generation who are making a better future.
Let’s honor these women.
Let’s celebrate them.
Let’s #MakeItHappen.
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Here and There
After years of violent warfare, a fragile peace shrouds the beauty of the Democratic Republic of Congo – but this peace is often shattered as conflicts continue to flare up. Over 2 million Congolese women, men and children have been forced to flee across their country, and more than 400,000 have sought refuge in countries like the United States. Both here and there, World Relief is committed to walking with the Congolese people as they rebuild their lives alongside local churches. When fighting broke out in Christine’s village in eastern DR Congo, her family had no choice but to flee into an overcrowded camp. Here, food shortages threatened Christine and her five children every day. And when they finally returned home, hunger came with them. Everything they’d owned was gone.
But Christine’s hope began to grow when she joined a World Relief farmers’ association. Here, she was trained in the latest agricultural techniques and studied God’s word with other farmers. And after the sale of her first harvest, Christine’s profits changed her whole family: for the first time, they were able to eat three meals a day. Her two daughters attended school. Christine purchased a new roof to cover their home and saved up seeds for next season. After years of chaos, stability slowly returned to their lives.
“For all of these things, we praise God for his blessings,” Christine said.
Phenias and Jacques’ journey began much like Christine’s – violence forced them across the border into a refugee camp in Rwanda. Here, they raised their eight children, but the tent they lived in was not home. When they were resettled into the US by World Relief, Phenias and Jacques looked forward to living in a place of stability and opportunity – but they’d also face great difficulty. Once again, they’d leave home and adjust to a brand new language, culture and lifestyle.
After several years of living in a refugee camp and 35 hours of flights, volunteers from churches near and far welcomed this Congolese family in their own language. When they reached their new apartment, Phenias and Jacques got down on their knees and sang a song of praise to God. He had fulfilled his promises to them, and at last, they were safe. They joined a community of fellow Christians and refugees who would walk with them through the challenging transitions ahead. Now, Phenias and Jacques await the day when they can warmly welcome other refugees into their new homes.
In the US, DR Congo and beyond, World Relief works alongside the local church to provide trauma healing to survivors of war, prevent conflict, reconcile relationships and restore livelihoods. The love and justice of God have no borders – and that’s why we’re standing with the most vulnerable both here and there. To learn more about how you can welcome refugees from countries like the DR Congo, get in touch with one of our US offices.
Shining a Light on Slavery – #ENDITMOVEMENT
27 million people are currently trapped in slavery.
That is enough people to circle the entire globe.
In the U.S., there are an estimated 14,500 – 17,500 people trafficked each year.
As agencies, churches and volunteers partner in combating the largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world, World Relief continues to educate the public and offer services to survivors of this injustice.
World Relief in High Point, North Carolina is one of our offices that combats trafficking through prayer, education and action. Staff and volunteers help human trafficking survivors heal, educate the public on human trafficking awareness and host events that highlight opportunities available for community members to be a part of this movement for justice. Local advocates share their personal stories, artists perform inspiring pieces and community members are empowered to act.
Continuing this powerful movement of change, we partner with like-minded coalitions and millions of advocates worldwide to shine a light on slavery and raise awareness for the 27 million people trapped throughout the world today. The #enditmovement brings awareness, prevention, rescue and restoration in the fight against human trafficking.
We can’t do this alone. We need you.
Gather your team.
Make your mark.
Get your hashtags ready.
#enditmovement is here.