Month Eleven

Sorry for the absence from my blogging about my monthly sacrifice. I was saving for a trip to the Land of Thousand Hills. Rwanda. I was able to witness the work of World Vision first hand in this beautiful country. I got to see the impact they are having in the communities. The highlight however of the trip was when I got to meet my beautiful Lea. I have been sponsoring Lea for 4 years and the visit left me beyond blessed. Lea is considered an orphan since her father passed away and lives with her mother. She has 2 younger brothers and 1 older sister. I met so many integral people in Lea's life. Such as the volunteer World Vision worker, who since Lea became an orphan advocated on her behalf to get her registered.  These selfless individuals who are volunteers to monitor the progress of about 80 families. These volunteers are chosen by the community not World Vision  but people of the community who know what individuals are committed, trustworthy, and love children. I got to meet Eugene another community worker who has written EVERY letter I have ever received from Lea. I was so happy to meet him because without him I wouldn't get to know who this special girl is. I just felt so much love and appreciation from these people and they are the ones who deserve the praise. I learned how much World Vision has helped this family. They recently received a new house. The previous was a small mud house with not enough room for 5 people. They have received a goat and school supplies, materials, gardening tools to name a few things. I am so grateful that God has blessed me so that I can bless others. It's so worth sacrificing that little bit of money to know that I am changing  peoples lives and giving them a future and a hope! If anything as this year winds down, I urge you to consider sponsoring a child!

Meet Eugene a community worker who writes for my Lea

My Lovely Lea

Goat she has received from World Vision

In front of the old house

In front of the new house 

With the volunteer workers on the left and the chief on the far right. It takes a village to raise a child.

Month Ten

Child Survival Program through Compassion is live58 focus this month. I have seen this program first hand when I went to Ecuador in 2011. This program is focused on mothers who are pregnant up to children 3 years of age. We spent an after noon with a young mother. I asked her what she liked most about the program. She told me that she loves the weekly visits by mentors. She loves the fact that someone is taking an interest in her life and the life of her 2 year old. She does not attend church but what an opening for the church to show love to this young woman and speak love and Christ into her life.I fully believe that with this continued work that she will come to know the Lord.

Compassion’s Child Survival Programprovides education for mothers or primary caregivers to ensure that children survive the early years. They are taught critical child development skills and how to administer them when children are most vulnerable to disease and malnutrition.

Compassion’s Child Survival Program educates mothers on how to provide a safe home environment and age-appropriate developmental opportunities so that their babies and toddlers have better opportunities for healthy growth. Mothers and caregivers are taught literacy and numeracy skills and many receive support for vocational training and income-generating activities to help improve the long-term economic capacity of their families. Mothers, caregivers and children also receive spiritual nurturing so that they can develop a dynamic lifelong relationship with Christ.

http://vimeo.com/49634561

Rays of Hope For Uganda

A few posts ago I mentioned my friends school in the Kaberamaido district in Uganda. Rays of  Hope for Uganda has enrolled 92 students in four class rooms. This dream was birthed by a young man named Francis Okullo. I hope to have him share your story with you on this blog shortly. An orphan himself, he heeded God's call to help out the same. Their mission: to meet the heart of God by educating, clothing, feeding and tangibly sharing Jesus Christ with these children.  Would you give something up to sponsor one of these children? The cost is only $20/month or $240/year. Half the cost of most sponsorship programs. If you are interested please comment below which child you would like to sponsor and email me at atbbankergirl@yahoo.ca for more details:

Letter to God

God,
Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your ministry of Compassion. I had no idea how much it would change my life to answer a call you placed on my heart. A burden for the needy and impoverished of the world. I had no idea 4 years ago how a relationship with a little boy across the miles would change my thinking and lead to 3 other sponsorships. I realize Lord that you have blessed me with so much that I cannot hold onto that. You have taught me that when I am open to give more that you will provide. Through the ministry of Compassion, I have seen how you changed lives of children who thought they were nothing. They bought into the lie of the enemy that they are not worth much but through sponsorship, God has revealed truth to these children that they are loved. That before they were born you matched them up with a sponsor that would encourage them, that would pray for them. You brought loving caring people to work at a centre that love them and teach them about Jesus and your love for them. I just pray Lord that you would speak to others to answer the sponsorship call. That they can change the entire destiny of small child for only $41/month. Thank you Lord for allowing me to be an agent for change and thank you Lord that children are being released from poverty in your Son's name!

Sponsor today

Month Eight

This is month eight of sacrifices. I dismally failed my laziness sacrifice in month seven. As I mentioned before finding stuff to cut when you have drastically changed your spending habits is difficult. I think I will go back to  the STARBUCKS fast. I will just have to extend my month till October 6th as I have indulged in this addiction of mine already this month. I don't spend as much on Starbucks as I used to. I have cut it in half since I started budgeting in July. Yet I still spend money there and will sacrifice my sweet cup of caramel goodness. This month the focus of live58 hasn't spoke to me. It's a challenge to the President to increase spending on foreign aid spent in the USA.  I truly believe our governments need to dedicate more funds to helping third world nations but as I am not an American, I am just not moved to donate to this cause ,however I will continue to pray for the movement and the work of Micah's challenge. I have recently been moved to donate to a friend's organization called Rays of hope for Uganda. He has built a school in Uganda and has the most amazing story. I have asked for him to write up his testimony for me that I will feature later this month. This man has a strong desire to help orphans in his community and had a strong calling from the Lord to start this school. They have started a sponsorship program to help these kids attend. Sponsorship is only $20/month. I will also feature some of those kids here once I receive their profiles. How many of us throw away this kind of money monthly? It's such a small amount to change a life of a little boy or girl in Uganda. If you are interested in sponsoring one of these cuties message me at atbbankergirl@yahoo.ca

Garbage

The other day I had to dig through the garbage at work to find something I had accidentally thrown out. After I went through just 3 bags of garbage I stumbled upon my missing item. All that was dirty was my hands but I felt dirty all over. It wasn't pleasant digging through rotting bananas, wet coffee grounds and who knows what else. After I was done, a very sad thought popped into my head. Thousands upon thousands do this everyday. However they are walking among heaps of garbage, trying to salvage something to eat or take home that they can use or even sell. They are walking among dead animals, sewage, rotting food, riddled with disease. I then read this Compassion blog about the Garbage Dump being "The Mall" for those in third world countries. Here's the link to that blog. We can do something about this. A lot of people think the problem is too big! What can I do to help? We can do something. We all have things we can give up to be able to donate or sponsor a child. No child or adult should have to live like this.
http://blog.compassion.com/going-to-the-mall-aka-the-garbage-dump/

Bangladesh

This month's donation is going to help the impoverished of Bangladesh. Bangladesh has a soft spot in my heart because it is the home of my sponsor child Sadia whom I sponsor through World Vision. This is my sweet Sadia and her family.

Eighty million people live in extreme poverty in remote areas of Bangladesh with little access to clean water, a toilet, a doctor or medicine, a bank, a job, land, or a basic education. More than half of the 156 million citizens of Bangladesh live below the poverty line in a country the size of the state of Iowa. It is the most densely populated country in the world. While rice is the main food and income source for most Bangladeshis, 80 percent of agricultural land is also floodplain, so that when monsoons, typhoons, and tornadoes cause the country’s three major rivers to overflow, poor families already relegated to marginal land are pushed underwater.

Like many areas of extreme poverty around the world, women and girls suffer the most:

• 65% of women in Bangladesh are malnourished.
• 2/3rds of girls ages 10 to 19 are forced into early marriage
• 55% of young women experience early, high-risk pregnancies
• 55% of married women are not free to seek medical help on their own--or to leave their village
• Half of Bangladeshi men and women are illiterate, making adult literacy education crucial

World renew is helping communities in Bangladesh by:

• Improving agriculture by increasing food production, food security, and education. This includes increasing rice crop yields, organic composting, and permaculture and cover crop development.
• Increasing family health through monthly childhood growth monitoring and immunization programs, training traditional birth attendants, improving health and hygiene practices, and family health education.
• Increasing literacy rates among men and women in their traditional languages by teaching basic reading, writing, and numeracy.
• Increasing financial skills, small group savings and loan funds, small business loans, bookkeeping, and business management skills. It also includes training in family law, human rights, and childrens and womens rights.
• Building community by partnering with churches and teaching Biblical principles of development to transform communities through local ownership of projects.