Kiva is a non-profit website that allows you to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world. You choose who to lend to - whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq - and as they repay the loan, you get your money back.
ORB CARE has a lending team at Kiva to help alleviate poverty, started by ORB member Emily Tang. Once you're a part of the team, you can choose to have a future loan on Kiva "count" towards the team's impact. The loan is still yours, and repayments still come to you - but you can also choose to have the loan show up in our team's collective portfolio, so our team's overall impact will grow!
If you are interested, e-mail chris@theorb.org, and I will make sure you will get a registration e-mail from Kiva! Also, join the "Make loans that change lives -- The ORB CARE Kiva Lending Team" Facebook group!
Special thanks to team captain, Emily Tang!
-cdlc
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
AWARENESS: "Poverty and Poor health" podcast
PRI's Global Health and Development Podcast covers stories on health and the developing world. Topics include as the state of AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis worldwide; the myriad efforts to provide healthcare and other aid in the developing world; and ways to grow and deliver food to the poor.
Poverty and poor health
A new report by the World Health Organization focuses on the social factors -- like poverty and unemployment -- that determine people's health. Lisa Mullins speaks with Michael Marmot, chair of the WHO's Commission on Social Determinants of Health.
Poverty and poor health
A new report by the World Health Organization focuses on the social factors -- like poverty and unemployment -- that determine people's health. Lisa Mullins speaks with Michael Marmot, chair of the WHO's Commission on Social Determinants of Health.
AWARENESS: "Why They're Dying in Congo" podcast
From Public Radio International, PRI: The Changing World is a series of radio documentaries that examines issues in-depth. "The Changing World is a special collaboration between the BBC World Service, Public Radio International, and PRI's The World."
The Changing World: Why They're Dying in Congo, Part 1
The civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo ended six years ago. But as many as 45,000 people continue to die there each month, largely from a lack of basic medical care. BBC World Affairs Correspondent Mark Doyle examines the current state of health care in Congo -- and comes face to face with personal tragedy.
The Changing World: Why They're Dying in Congo, Part 2
Congo's situation now makes it arguably the world's most deadly crisis since World War Two. Mark Doyle visits the General Hospital in Kinshasa, the capital. Several decades ago it was considered to be one of the best hospitals in Africa. Now, doctors there have trouble getting even basic supplies, such as bandages.
-cdlc
The Changing World: Why They're Dying in Congo, Part 1
The civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo ended six years ago. But as many as 45,000 people continue to die there each month, largely from a lack of basic medical care. BBC World Affairs Correspondent Mark Doyle examines the current state of health care in Congo -- and comes face to face with personal tragedy.
The Changing World: Why They're Dying in Congo, Part 2
Congo's situation now makes it arguably the world's most deadly crisis since World War Two. Mark Doyle visits the General Hospital in Kinshasa, the capital. Several decades ago it was considered to be one of the best hospitals in Africa. Now, doctors there have trouble getting even basic supplies, such as bandages.
-cdlc
Monday, October 13, 2008
AWARENESS: Christians Persecuted in India for Belief
For many, the threat of persecution for faith in Christ is real. Let us in America be grateful that we have the freedom to practice our belief.
Pray for our brothers and sisters in other places of the world that do not have that luxury.
Pray also that they be given the strength and wisdom from God to proclaim the Kingdom of God in such circumstances.
Pray also that we as a community can announce the Lordship of Jesus Christ to a broken world that yearns to hear that hope, specifically through advocating for social justice and fighting for true peace for the poor and oppressed.
-- cdc
From New York Times:
Hindu Threat to Christians: Convert or Die
The family of Solomon Digal was summoned by neighbors to what serves as a public square in front of the village tea shop.
Please read the full article at The New York Times.
Pray for our brothers and sisters in other places of the world that do not have that luxury.
Pray also that they be given the strength and wisdom from God to proclaim the Kingdom of God in such circumstances.
Pray also that we as a community can announce the Lordship of Jesus Christ to a broken world that yearns to hear that hope, specifically through advocating for social justice and fighting for true peace for the poor and oppressed.
-- cdc
From New York Times:
Hindu Threat to Christians: Convert or Die
The family of Solomon Digal was summoned by neighbors to what serves as a public square in front of the village tea shop.
They were ordered to get on their knees and bow before the portrait of a Hindu preacher. They were told to turn over their Bibles, hymnals and the two brightly colored calendar images of Christ that hung on their wall. Then, Mr. Digal, 45, a Christian since childhood, was forced to watch his Hindu neighbors set the items on fire.
“ ‘Embrace Hinduism, and your house will not be demolished,’ ” Mr. Digal recalled being told on that Wednesday afternoon in September. “ ‘Otherwise, you will be killed, or you will be thrown out of the village.’ ”
India, the world’s most populous democracy and officially a secular nation, is today haunted by a stark assault on one of its fundamental freedoms. Here in eastern Orissa State, riven by six weeks of religious clashes, Christian families like the Digals say they are being forced to abandon their faith in exchange for their safety.
The forced conversions come amid widening attacks on Christians here and in at least five other states across the country, as India prepares for national elections next spring.
The clash of faiths has cut a wide swath of panic and destruction through these once quiet hamlets fed by paddy fields and jackfruit trees. Here in Kandhamal, the district that has seen the greatest violence, more than 30 people have been killed, 3,000 homes burned and over 130 churches destroyed, including the tin-roofed Baptist prayer hall where the Digals worshiped. Today it is a heap of rubble on an empty field, where cows blithely graze.
Across this ghastly terrain lie the singed remains of mud-and-thatch homes. Christian-owned businesses have been systematically attacked. Orange flags (orange is the sacred color of Hinduism) flutter triumphantly above the rooftops of houses and storefronts.
India is no stranger to religious violence between Christians, who make up about 2 percent of the population, and India’s Hindu-majority of 1.1 billion people. But this most recent spasm is the most intense in years.
It was set off, people here say, by the killing on Aug. 23 of a charismatic Hindu preacher known as Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, who for 40 years had rallied the area’s people to choose Hinduism over Christianity.
The police have blamed Maoist guerrillas for the swami’s killing. But Hindu radicals continue to hold Christians responsible.
In recent weeks, they have plastered these villages with gruesome posters of the swami’s hacked corpse. “Who killed him?” the posters ask. “What is the solution?”
Behind the clashes are long-simmering tensions between equally impoverished groups: the Panas and Kandhas. Both original inhabitants of the land, the two groups for ages worshiped the same gods. Over the past several decades, the Panas for the most part became Christian, as Roman Catholic and Baptist missionaries arrived here more than 60 years ago, followed more recently by Pentecostals, who have proselytized more aggressively.
Meanwhile, the Kandhas, in part through the teachings of Swami Laxmanananda, embraced Hinduism. The men tied the sacred Hindu white thread around their torsos; their wives daubed their foreheads with bright red vermilion. Temples sprouted......
---
Please read the full article at The New York Times.
Monday, October 6, 2008
The Allie Update!
Hello! Allie Naskret has become a dear friend to many in the ORB community, and a good friend to me personally. As many of you know, her heart is in serving the poor and needy and addressing issues of global poverty.
She decided that God was calling her to a year in Guatemala. And she is blogging about it regularly. So I would like to post all her posts on the ORB CARE blog so we as a community could all follow her adventures!
This will be some catch up. Here are her last three posts:
After a few days of getting acquainted with Antigua, we packed our things once again to go to San Juan del Obispo, which is where we have been staying for the past week and a half for Spanish school. San Juan is a small town, with cobblestone and dirt roads, and lots of stray dogs in the streets. Across from the school, there is a little shop where you can hear a lady making tortillas all morning. We will be in San Juan until October 13, when our group will split up and we will all go out to our individual placement sites. It has been strange to be in this sort of transitory period, but I am trying to just live each day and soak in as much as I can. I still don't quite feel like the experience is real, and it hasn't completely hit me yet that I am going to be here for a whole year. But I am trying to take things as they come and focus on being here now.
In San Juan, I am living with a host family, and it has been a very humbling and challenging experience. My host mother and father are named Maria and Mario. They have two children living with them, Mario Jr. and Patricia, and Patricia has two small children, Melanie and Diego, who are the cutest kids. I have been welcomed into the lives of these people with love and grace - they have opened their home to me and they take care of me. It is very awkward a lot of the time, because my Spanish skills are not very good; I feel like most of my conversations with my host family have been about food and the weather. It is hard to not be able to communicate much beyond the surface-level, to not be able to express my heart and what I'm feeling and thinking. But I think that feeling awkward and uncomfortable is an important part of this experience - I need to be broken and humbled a bit before I can be remolded into the person I am meant to be.
Here is what a typical day in San Juan is like: I wake up at about 6:45 (or actually, much earlier than that, because I am scratching at my bug-bitten feet or have woken up suddenly, wondering where I am). I proceed to get ready for a shower; I collect my soap and shampoo and try to balance my change of clothes delicately on the toilet. My shower usually doesn't last very long at all - the water is ice cold, and I just stick my head under long enough so that I can soap up my hair. After a nice icy shower, I eat breakfast, usually with my host mother and/or Diego and Melanie. After breakfast, I get my books and head to language school, where I sit with my teacher Mirian and talk for about an hour or two in Spanish (with a lot of effort and concentration on my part), before proceeding to some grammar, reading, and writing notes in my cuaderno. It is a very slow, frustrating process learning Spanish, but I guess we have only been here for two weeks, and I shouldn't expect it to come so quickly. My brain usually hurts by the time I have to head home from school - four hours of Spanish school and intense concentrating really takes it out of you. At the house, I have lunch with my family (which usually consists of some kind of veggies, rice, and tortillas - mmm, there is always a basket of warm tortillas in the middle of the table). After lunch and a bit of awkward conversation with my host mother, I head off to meet the other girls for our afternoon activity in Anigua. The school plans activities for us in the afternoons, to help us learn more about the history and culture of Guatemala. Some of the activities have included watching a movie about the recent civil war, taking a salsa class, going to visit the ruins of the San Franciscan church in Antigua, and walking the Cerro de la Cruz, a path which goes up to a huge cross on a hill, overlooking beautiful scenery below. From the hill, you can see all of Antigua and San Juan in the distance. After the afternoon activity, I return to San Juan on a crowded caminoneta (in English, a "chicken bus"). I have a delicious meal with my family and attempt a bit more conversation, but at this point in the day, I am usually so exhausted and overwhelmed that I soon retire to my room to do some homework and fall asleep, sometimes with a book in my hand and the light still on.
Some highlights of my time so far in Guatemala:
1. Climbing the Volcan de Pacaya!!! - Last weekend, our group climbed Pacaya Volcano, and saw lava up close! It was a terrifying and thrilling experience. The 2 hour hike up was completely in the rain - it was bone-chilling and super windy, weather more like you would picture in Northern Ireland than in Guatemala. The fog was so thick that we couldn't see anything of the supposedly beautiful view. Toward the top, we were climbing almost straight up, over the volcanic rock (one tumbling rock hit my leg, and I still have a big scrape). All of the sudden, it got really warm, because we were near the lava, and my soaking wet clothes dried almost instantly. It was certainly a crazy adventure - I feel like now that we've hiked that volcano, we can do anything. I think it was a good way to start off our Guatemalan experience. :)
2. The delicious food...the homemade corn tortillas are muy delicioso!
3. How friendly the people are - everyone says hello and buenos dias when walking by in the streets.
4. Playing tag with my host brother and sister after school some days
Some lowlights:
1. The scuttling noises I hear on my roof at night, and the family of spiders living in my room
2. Having a man throw up next to me on a very crowded caminoneta one night
3. Being stranded in the bathroom without toilet paper sometimes
4. How the food is sometimes not so friendly on the stomach...:(
Overall, my experience so far has been a mixture of many different emotions, and I am trying to appreciate and live in every moment, whether good or bad, because all these moments are going to shape me. It has been very overwhelming at times, because so much is unfamiliar and unknown. I feel like for the first time, I am not just looking at poverty from the outside, or visiting it for a brief time, but I am actually experiencing and living it, being with the people in their struggles and joys and day-to-day realities. There is so much more to say and I don't know the words to say it. I'm sorry this is so long and rambling, but so much has happened and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface. I will try to be better at writing from now on...
I will have more stories soon!
1. If I jiggle the shower nozzel several times and postion it just right, I get about 30 seconds of (luke)warm water - it is amazing.
2. Yesterday my friend Celeste said that she bought a ball of soap (jabon en bola), and she loves the smell of it and wants to just carry it around like a baby all day long. Since then, I have been trying to take note of different smells, because these are the things I am going to remember. I´ve noticed that the bathroom in my house definitely has a distinct smell ( I know this because I have spent a lot of time in there recently...) - it´s not really a bathroom smell, but it´s a smell nonetheless.
Also, it has been raining for the past three days and probably will never stop. I washed some of my clothes by hand yesterday in the pila (a stone basin divided into three sections) and hung my clothes up to dry, but I think they are just going to grow mold instead. It is very wet; I live on the top of a hill, and there is a river of water running down my street.
Everyone in the community was so welcoming and gracious and kind, and I was so touched by the open and loving hearts that met me there. When we first arrived in Chocola, we met with some of the elders from the Horeb Presbyterian Church (where I will be working), and they were incredibly warm and welcoming. They kept calling me their hermana (sister), and talking about how we are all one because of the love of Christ - we are all part of the same family and same body. There were so many moments throughout the day when I was just so overwhelmed , overjoyed, and grateful for the outpouring of love I felt - tears welled up in my eyes.
After being welcomed by some of the elders from the church and talking about some of the possibilities and responsibilities I will have during the year, we ate a delicious meal together that was prepared by some ladies from the church. Then, we went to meet my host family!!!! They are wonderful and were so excited to have me there - I feel like I am really going to be accepted into the family as a daughter and a sister. The parents, Juana and Miguel, have 14 children (!!), although I think only 8 or 9 are currently living in the house. I´m so excited to have so many brothers and sisters - I think I will never be without someone to talk to! My first challenge is going to be learning everyone´s name...
I also got to see my room - it is painted a bright, cheery blue and has a big window that opens to the outside. On the bed is a red, shiny beadspread, with a heart in the center, that looks kind of like it should be in a honeymoon sweet...haha. I think I am going to feel very much at home here, am so excited to become part of the family. I can picture myself really coming alive here...I was imaging myself making all these drawings and covering the walls of my room with artwork, and singing each morning in my room, and playing music at the church, and really feeling like part of the community there.
ahhhh, also, my family has a PIG and chickens and two turkeys...i´m super excited! except i don´t want to become too attached, since they will probably become dinner one night...
After meeting my host family, we went back to the church to go to the afternoon service. Just as the service was starting, it started downpouring, and the rain was so loud on the metal roof that we could barely here anything. The woman who was leading the songs was singing at the top of her lungs over a microphone. It was such a genuine way to be praising God - I think that if it weren´t raining so hard, we wouldn´t have had to listen so intently or sing our praises so loudly, straining to lift our voices up to God.
I´m so excited to head off on my own to Chocola in less than two weeks!
(Her blog site is http://allie-adventuresinguatemala.blogspot.com/)
She decided that God was calling her to a year in Guatemala. And she is blogging about it regularly. So I would like to post all her posts on the ORB CARE blog so we as a community could all follow her adventures!
This will be some catch up. Here are her last three posts:
Monday, September 15, 2008
So I have been in Guatemala for almost two weeks now, and it has already been a whirlwind of emotions and new experiences, of hopes, excitement, fears, and being very much out of my comfort zone. After a week-long orientation in Louisville, our crew of six set off for the airport bright and early at 4:30 in the morning. After a few layovers and much anticipation, we arrived in the airport in Guatemala City that afternoon, overwhelmed by the barrage of new smells, sounds, and sights. Our director Marcia picked us up at the airport, and took us to our first destination, an old Catholic monastery which is now a retreat center, located in Antigua. For the first few days, we took some time to settle in, and to get to know Antigua and each other. Antigua is a very strange place - an old colonial city, with red, yellow, blue, and white buildings and cobblestone streets, surrounded by breathtaking volcanoes and mountains. Although the city itself is fairly small, it is much more international than I expected, and there is a strange blending of cultures that is sometimes confusing. There is a large expatriot community here, which makes Antigua feel sort of like a bubble, disconnected from the realities which are very much a part of life in other parts of the country.After a few days of getting acquainted with Antigua, we packed our things once again to go to San Juan del Obispo, which is where we have been staying for the past week and a half for Spanish school. San Juan is a small town, with cobblestone and dirt roads, and lots of stray dogs in the streets. Across from the school, there is a little shop where you can hear a lady making tortillas all morning. We will be in San Juan until October 13, when our group will split up and we will all go out to our individual placement sites. It has been strange to be in this sort of transitory period, but I am trying to just live each day and soak in as much as I can. I still don't quite feel like the experience is real, and it hasn't completely hit me yet that I am going to be here for a whole year. But I am trying to take things as they come and focus on being here now.
In San Juan, I am living with a host family, and it has been a very humbling and challenging experience. My host mother and father are named Maria and Mario. They have two children living with them, Mario Jr. and Patricia, and Patricia has two small children, Melanie and Diego, who are the cutest kids. I have been welcomed into the lives of these people with love and grace - they have opened their home to me and they take care of me. It is very awkward a lot of the time, because my Spanish skills are not very good; I feel like most of my conversations with my host family have been about food and the weather. It is hard to not be able to communicate much beyond the surface-level, to not be able to express my heart and what I'm feeling and thinking. But I think that feeling awkward and uncomfortable is an important part of this experience - I need to be broken and humbled a bit before I can be remolded into the person I am meant to be.
Here is what a typical day in San Juan is like: I wake up at about 6:45 (or actually, much earlier than that, because I am scratching at my bug-bitten feet or have woken up suddenly, wondering where I am). I proceed to get ready for a shower; I collect my soap and shampoo and try to balance my change of clothes delicately on the toilet. My shower usually doesn't last very long at all - the water is ice cold, and I just stick my head under long enough so that I can soap up my hair. After a nice icy shower, I eat breakfast, usually with my host mother and/or Diego and Melanie. After breakfast, I get my books and head to language school, where I sit with my teacher Mirian and talk for about an hour or two in Spanish (with a lot of effort and concentration on my part), before proceeding to some grammar, reading, and writing notes in my cuaderno. It is a very slow, frustrating process learning Spanish, but I guess we have only been here for two weeks, and I shouldn't expect it to come so quickly. My brain usually hurts by the time I have to head home from school - four hours of Spanish school and intense concentrating really takes it out of you. At the house, I have lunch with my family (which usually consists of some kind of veggies, rice, and tortillas - mmm, there is always a basket of warm tortillas in the middle of the table). After lunch and a bit of awkward conversation with my host mother, I head off to meet the other girls for our afternoon activity in Anigua. The school plans activities for us in the afternoons, to help us learn more about the history and culture of Guatemala. Some of the activities have included watching a movie about the recent civil war, taking a salsa class, going to visit the ruins of the San Franciscan church in Antigua, and walking the Cerro de la Cruz, a path which goes up to a huge cross on a hill, overlooking beautiful scenery below. From the hill, you can see all of Antigua and San Juan in the distance. After the afternoon activity, I return to San Juan on a crowded caminoneta (in English, a "chicken bus"). I have a delicious meal with my family and attempt a bit more conversation, but at this point in the day, I am usually so exhausted and overwhelmed that I soon retire to my room to do some homework and fall asleep, sometimes with a book in my hand and the light still on.
Some highlights of my time so far in Guatemala:
1. Climbing the Volcan de Pacaya!!! - Last weekend, our group climbed Pacaya Volcano, and saw lava up close! It was a terrifying and thrilling experience. The 2 hour hike up was completely in the rain - it was bone-chilling and super windy, weather more like you would picture in Northern Ireland than in Guatemala. The fog was so thick that we couldn't see anything of the supposedly beautiful view. Toward the top, we were climbing almost straight up, over the volcanic rock (one tumbling rock hit my leg, and I still have a big scrape). All of the sudden, it got really warm, because we were near the lava, and my soaking wet clothes dried almost instantly. It was certainly a crazy adventure - I feel like now that we've hiked that volcano, we can do anything. I think it was a good way to start off our Guatemalan experience. :)
2. The delicious food...the homemade corn tortillas are muy delicioso!
3. How friendly the people are - everyone says hello and buenos dias when walking by in the streets.
4. Playing tag with my host brother and sister after school some days
Some lowlights:
1. The scuttling noises I hear on my roof at night, and the family of spiders living in my room
2. Having a man throw up next to me on a very crowded caminoneta one night
3. Being stranded in the bathroom without toilet paper sometimes
4. How the food is sometimes not so friendly on the stomach...:(
Overall, my experience so far has been a mixture of many different emotions, and I am trying to appreciate and live in every moment, whether good or bad, because all these moments are going to shape me. It has been very overwhelming at times, because so much is unfamiliar and unknown. I feel like for the first time, I am not just looking at poverty from the outside, or visiting it for a brief time, but I am actually experiencing and living it, being with the people in their struggles and joys and day-to-day realities. There is so much more to say and I don't know the words to say it. I'm sorry this is so long and rambling, but so much has happened and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface. I will try to be better at writing from now on...
I will have more stories soon!
Friday, September 19, 2008
New Discoveries
So today, I discovered two things:1. If I jiggle the shower nozzel several times and postion it just right, I get about 30 seconds of (luke)warm water - it is amazing.
2. Yesterday my friend Celeste said that she bought a ball of soap (jabon en bola), and she loves the smell of it and wants to just carry it around like a baby all day long. Since then, I have been trying to take note of different smells, because these are the things I am going to remember. I´ve noticed that the bathroom in my house definitely has a distinct smell ( I know this because I have spent a lot of time in there recently...) - it´s not really a bathroom smell, but it´s a smell nonetheless.
Also, it has been raining for the past three days and probably will never stop. I washed some of my clothes by hand yesterday in the pila (a stone basin divided into three sections) and hung my clothes up to dry, but I think they are just going to grow mold instead. It is very wet; I live on the top of a hill, and there is a river of water running down my street.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Visit to Chocola
So much has happened since my last (very exciting) post...let´s catch up. Last Sunday we visited Chocola, which is where I will be heading off on my own in two weeks (!) to live and work for the rest of the year. The whole day was amazing, and I was so encouraged and excited and overwhelmed all at the same time. Before our visit to Chocola, I was feeling a little discouraged and struggling to understand why I´m here and what my purpose is in these first few weeks. It seems like my main purpose and goal right now is to learn Spanish - I´m in sort of a preparation stage for what is to come. It has been difficult to feel like I haven´t quite started my "work" here - I´m ready to go out on my own and start building relationships with people and truly becoming part of a community. It seems like Chocola is going to be the perfect place for me to do this.Everyone in the community was so welcoming and gracious and kind, and I was so touched by the open and loving hearts that met me there. When we first arrived in Chocola, we met with some of the elders from the Horeb Presbyterian Church (where I will be working), and they were incredibly warm and welcoming. They kept calling me their hermana (sister), and talking about how we are all one because of the love of Christ - we are all part of the same family and same body. There were so many moments throughout the day when I was just so overwhelmed , overjoyed, and grateful for the outpouring of love I felt - tears welled up in my eyes.
After being welcomed by some of the elders from the church and talking about some of the possibilities and responsibilities I will have during the year, we ate a delicious meal together that was prepared by some ladies from the church. Then, we went to meet my host family!!!! They are wonderful and were so excited to have me there - I feel like I am really going to be accepted into the family as a daughter and a sister. The parents, Juana and Miguel, have 14 children (!!), although I think only 8 or 9 are currently living in the house. I´m so excited to have so many brothers and sisters - I think I will never be without someone to talk to! My first challenge is going to be learning everyone´s name...
I also got to see my room - it is painted a bright, cheery blue and has a big window that opens to the outside. On the bed is a red, shiny beadspread, with a heart in the center, that looks kind of like it should be in a honeymoon sweet...haha. I think I am going to feel very much at home here, am so excited to become part of the family. I can picture myself really coming alive here...I was imaging myself making all these drawings and covering the walls of my room with artwork, and singing each morning in my room, and playing music at the church, and really feeling like part of the community there.
ahhhh, also, my family has a PIG and chickens and two turkeys...i´m super excited! except i don´t want to become too attached, since they will probably become dinner one night...
After meeting my host family, we went back to the church to go to the afternoon service. Just as the service was starting, it started downpouring, and the rain was so loud on the metal roof that we could barely here anything. The woman who was leading the songs was singing at the top of her lungs over a microphone. It was such a genuine way to be praising God - I think that if it weren´t raining so hard, we wouldn´t have had to listen so intently or sing our praises so loudly, straining to lift our voices up to God.
I´m so excited to head off on my own to Chocola in less than two weeks!
(Her blog site is http://allie-adventuresinguatemala.blogspot.com/)
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
AWARENESS: Relief needed in Haiti after storms
If you feel called to do so, you can donate for emergency relief efforts for Haiti by going to their website:
Text From WorldVision.org
As rains from Hurricane Ike drenched northern Haiti, World Vision continued its relief activities for communities still suffering from the effects of Hurricanes Hanna and Gustav. Our staff also assisted people as they evacuated to higher and safer ground in northern Haiti on Sept. 6.
"The only good news here is that Hurricane Ike's path was far enough north that Haiti did not take another direct hit," said Wesley Charles, World Vision's national director in Haiti. "But the rains from Ike have made it even more difficult for aid workers to get into some of the worst-flooded areas. People are becoming increasingly desperate."
Access to many of the hard-hit areas remains a critical challenge, Charles emphasized. In the devastated city of Gonaive, 10,000 people are crammed into 115 shelters. An assessment found that just 10 of the 115 shelters had food. Flying into the cut-off areas will be difficult, as it's believed that all but one of the runways in the northwest are flooded. Helicopters are needed, but few are available in Haiti.
'Distraught and burdened families'
Despite ongoing access challenges, World Vision managed to provide 10-day food rations to about 450 families on the island of La Gonave, 1,100 hygiene kits to displaced people in the Central Plateau, and clothing and shelter materials to 300 families in Jean Denis, which became cut off from the capital overnight when rains from Hurricane Ike washed out the last remaining bridge into the area.
"In Jean Denis yesterday, I met scores of distraught and burdened families," said Steve Matthews, World Vision's emergency communications manager. "With the last bridge now destroyed, the needs in that cut-off region will continue to climb.
"Dirty water was everywhere as we traveled to Jean Denis," Matthews continued. "Children played in the filthy water. Women were washing clothes and dishes in overflowing streams. The farmland was absolutely drenched. Everything has become waterlogged, making it nearly impossible to cook, even for those who were able to salvage some of their rice."
Damaged crops
Because cooking is currently a challenge for flood-affected families, plans are underway to provide ready-to-eat food such as high-energy biscuits.
"Bread is scarce and will soon be gone, and much of people's stored brown rice got wet when Hurricane Hanna went by," explained World Vision relief coordinator Elvire Douglas. In a brief period of no rain on Saturday, people were trying to salvage their wet rice by drying it on tarps laid out on roads and in fields.
Storms exacerbate food crisis
World Vision plans to scale up its relief efforts in the week ahead in close coordination with the United Nations and other humanitarian groups in Haiti. We plan to distribute 40 metric tons of food in the city of Mirebalais beginning Tuesday, along with 150 hygiene kits and 250 cases of water.
Haiti has been hit hard by a succession of hurricanes and tropical rains over the past two weeks. Tens of thousands have been displaced. Overland access to a large portion of the northwest of Haiti is cut off by washed out bridges and roads, making food scarce. Meanwhile, the beginning of the school year has been delayed for at least a month, creating an additional hardship for children growing up in the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
The storms have also damaged the next mango crop, the only viable export crop from Haiti. The loss of this income will hurt farmers, even as much of the country struggles to feed itself in an ongoing food crisis caused by higher global food prices, among other factors.
Two ways you can help
Please pray for children and families affected by the multiple storms and severe flooding that has pounded Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Pray for organizations like World Vision that are working hard to bring life-saving relief to those who need it most.
Donate now to help World Vision respond quickly and effectively for children and families who are suffering in the wake of the recent flooding in Haiti.
Visit Worldvision.org for more information and how you can donate.
Text From WorldVision.org
As rains from Hurricane Ike drenched northern Haiti, World Vision continued its relief activities for communities still suffering from the effects of Hurricanes Hanna and Gustav. Our staff also assisted people as they evacuated to higher and safer ground in northern Haiti on Sept. 6.
"The only good news here is that Hurricane Ike's path was far enough north that Haiti did not take another direct hit," said Wesley Charles, World Vision's national director in Haiti. "But the rains from Ike have made it even more difficult for aid workers to get into some of the worst-flooded areas. People are becoming increasingly desperate."
Access to many of the hard-hit areas remains a critical challenge, Charles emphasized. In the devastated city of Gonaive, 10,000 people are crammed into 115 shelters. An assessment found that just 10 of the 115 shelters had food. Flying into the cut-off areas will be difficult, as it's believed that all but one of the runways in the northwest are flooded. Helicopters are needed, but few are available in Haiti.
'Distraught and burdened families'
Despite ongoing access challenges, World Vision managed to provide 10-day food rations to about 450 families on the island of La Gonave, 1,100 hygiene kits to displaced people in the Central Plateau, and clothing and shelter materials to 300 families in Jean Denis, which became cut off from the capital overnight when rains from Hurricane Ike washed out the last remaining bridge into the area.
"In Jean Denis yesterday, I met scores of distraught and burdened families," said Steve Matthews, World Vision's emergency communications manager. "With the last bridge now destroyed, the needs in that cut-off region will continue to climb.
"Dirty water was everywhere as we traveled to Jean Denis," Matthews continued. "Children played in the filthy water. Women were washing clothes and dishes in overflowing streams. The farmland was absolutely drenched. Everything has become waterlogged, making it nearly impossible to cook, even for those who were able to salvage some of their rice."
Damaged crops
Because cooking is currently a challenge for flood-affected families, plans are underway to provide ready-to-eat food such as high-energy biscuits.
"Bread is scarce and will soon be gone, and much of people's stored brown rice got wet when Hurricane Hanna went by," explained World Vision relief coordinator Elvire Douglas. In a brief period of no rain on Saturday, people were trying to salvage their wet rice by drying it on tarps laid out on roads and in fields.
Storms exacerbate food crisis
World Vision plans to scale up its relief efforts in the week ahead in close coordination with the United Nations and other humanitarian groups in Haiti. We plan to distribute 40 metric tons of food in the city of Mirebalais beginning Tuesday, along with 150 hygiene kits and 250 cases of water.
Haiti has been hit hard by a succession of hurricanes and tropical rains over the past two weeks. Tens of thousands have been displaced. Overland access to a large portion of the northwest of Haiti is cut off by washed out bridges and roads, making food scarce. Meanwhile, the beginning of the school year has been delayed for at least a month, creating an additional hardship for children growing up in the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
The storms have also damaged the next mango crop, the only viable export crop from Haiti. The loss of this income will hurt farmers, even as much of the country struggles to feed itself in an ongoing food crisis caused by higher global food prices, among other factors.
Two ways you can help
Please pray for children and families affected by the multiple storms and severe flooding that has pounded Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Pray for organizations like World Vision that are working hard to bring life-saving relief to those who need it most.
Donate now to help World Vision respond quickly and effectively for children and families who are suffering in the wake of the recent flooding in Haiti.
Visit Worldvision.org for more information and how you can donate.
Monday, August 11, 2008
New ORBCARE Projects, plus updates on other projects
Hello!
This is Christopher Dela Cruz, from ORBCARE, the service group at ORB. I wanted to let you know that fellow ORBer Susan Haugenes and I recently met about the future of ORBCARE and our renewed focus and direction. Here are three things we concluded:
1) ORB CARE would specifically focus on needs outside the immediate ORB Community.
This is Christopher Dela Cruz, from ORBCARE, the service group at ORB. I wanted to let you know that fellow ORBer Susan Haugenes and I recently met about the future of ORBCARE and our renewed focus and direction. Here are three things we concluded:
1) ORB CARE would specifically focus on needs outside the immediate ORB Community.
ORB does a great job of really running to help those inside the community in need. So Susan and I concluded that ORB CARE would focus on bringing members of our community to serve those in Red Bank and beyond that they may not be familiar with -- perhaps even making people uncomfortable.
2) ORB CARE, in the next coming months, will focus on a few projects, rather than spread ourselves thin -- but projects that require a commitment and are uniquely ORB's.
3) For ORB CARE to work, the whole community needs to be informed, a good number need to be at least occasionally involved, and at least a few need to make real commitments.
....
So here are the projects that we are focusing on for the rest of the year:
* Delivering Communion outside Service *
I'm glad to say that this young ministry is going great! The goal is to take Sunday Service to those who physically cannot make it to service - whether because of sickness, old age, disabilities. We have been serving communion to Vivian, an elderly woman in a retirement home, for a few months now. From personal experience, I know she has moved my heart and revealed Christ to me just as much as we have been serving her.
PLEASE, Let us know if there are other people that want us to come to them and bring Sunday Service to them. Also let me know if you're interested in either going once or joining the regular rotation -- chris@theorb.org
* Food Drive for Red Bank Soup Kitchen "Lunch Break" *
We are going to regularly collect canned good and other non-perishable items for the local Red Bank soup kitchen "Lunch Break." Paper bags with a list of items to collect are available every Sunday at the back bench. You can drop off the items at the same place.
Take a bag to work, and ask co-workers to bring in even just one can! Give it to family members, friends, etc etc.
I'm glad to say that this young ministry is going great! The goal is to take Sunday Service to those who physically cannot make it to service - whether because of sickness, old age, disabilities. We have been serving communion to Vivian, an elderly woman in a retirement home, for a few months now. From personal experience, I know she has moved my heart and revealed Christ to me just as much as we have been serving her.
PLEASE, Let us know if there are other people that want us to come to them and bring Sunday Service to them. Also let me know if you're interested in either going once or joining the regular rotation -- chris@theorb.org
* Food Drive for Red Bank Soup Kitchen "Lunch Break" *
We are going to regularly collect canned good and other non-perishable items for the local Red Bank soup kitchen "Lunch Break." Paper bags with a list of items to collect are available every Sunday at the back bench. You can drop off the items at the same place.
Take a bag to work, and ask co-workers to bring in even just one can! Give it to family members, friends, etc etc.
* Ronald McDonald House *
The Ronald McDonald House of Long Branch provides "home away from home" for the families of seriously ill children undergoing medical treatment at area hospitals. They offer a safe, comfortable, supportive haven for families during a time of uncertainty, stress and difficulty. We go serve dinner the first Tuesday of every month, 4 - 6 p.m.
If you're interested in joining this group, or even for just coming out once to check it out, call Susan at 732-887-0511 or email shaugenes@comcast.net
*** NEW PROJECT: Lunch Break Lunches for Sunday ***
Here's the big project we want to focus on in the fall. The "Lunch Break" soup kitchen in West Red Bank serves big lunches Monday through Friday. On Saturday, St. Leo's Church goes to the parking lot of Lunch Break to serve sandwiches. But there's a hole for Sunday. ORB CARE should fill that hole and make lunches on Sunday at the Lunch Break parking lot. What makes this a good project is:
Here's the big project we want to focus on in the fall. The "Lunch Break" soup kitchen in West Red Bank serves big lunches Monday through Friday. On Saturday, St. Leo's Church goes to the parking lot of Lunch Break to serve sandwiches. But there's a hole for Sunday. ORB CARE should fill that hole and make lunches on Sunday at the Lunch Break parking lot. What makes this a good project is:
a) It is local
b) It is not ORB giving to another project but uniquely ours and requires a commitment. In other words, people can't just bail out.
c) It will make communities from different sides of the Red Bank divide to interact with each other
d) It does not require our building.
The Lunch Break Board is talking about the idea at their next board meeting, Wednesday. We will keep you posted, but ORB CARE wants to know who would be interested in that project, and what resources and time people could give.
PLEASE let me know your talents, time you could give, resources (ie house, food, business connections, etc) you have, or even if you're just interested in helping out once a year!
We will have a meeting in the next couple of weeks to discuss the project. chris@theorb.org
PLEASE let me know your talents, time you could give, resources (ie house, food, business connections, etc) you have, or even if you're just interested in helping out once a year!
We will have a meeting in the next couple of weeks to discuss the project. chris@theorb.org
*** LONG TERM PROJECT : Missions trip to West Virginia ***
Next summer, we have been thinking about a possible week-long missions trip to a Christian organization in West Virginia that deals with rural poverty. For those who would love to go on a missions trip but cannot go to the DR, or for those who feel called to deal with poverty in our own country, this would be great. Is there anyone out there interested in possibly helping organize this? And who would be interested? chris@theorb.org
Next summer, we have been thinking about a possible week-long missions trip to a Christian organization in West Virginia that deals with rural poverty. For those who would love to go on a missions trip but cannot go to the DR, or for those who feel called to deal with poverty in our own country, this would be great. Is there anyone out there interested in possibly helping organize this? And who would be interested? chris@theorb.org
Chris Dela Cruz
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