BRIGHT HOPE WORLD NEWSLETTER: AUTUMN 2012
From the Executive Chairman
Last month we held our second Summit where we reported on ministry developments, shared stories from our partners, talked about Bright Hope World distinctives and gave thanks to God for the exceptional partners and team he has given us. If you were there, thank you for coming – it was a huge encouragement to us.
Recently we began a new partnership in a new country – South Sudan. It’s a country that has emerged from a traumatic civil unrest that has left 90% of the population in utter poverty. We have started a micro-enterprise loan programme (SUD01). Read about our partners Thomas and Joyce and their niece Rose on our website by clicking here. It’s an incredible story! Also a new community farm is being established that we will report on in our next newsletter.
As well as South Sudan, this week we have agreed to commence two new partnerships in two new countries - a micro-loan programme helping 50 families in Madagascar and a skills training programme in Laos. We visited both of these countries several years ago and both countries are in desperate need of economic and spiritual assistance (the details will be posted on our website in the next few weeks). Thank you for your partnership with Bright Hope World. Please pray for the success of these new partnerships involving the resourcing of the poorest of the poor.
Rob Purdue
South Sudan Loan Recipients.
New Partnership in Uganda - Dairy Cow Income Generation Programme (UGA07)
A number of years ago, BHW sponsored 3 young men from Uganda to go to GLO Zambia to train. These men greatly benefitted from the training and went back to Uganda full of energy and enthusiasm to be effective for God’s kingdom. They have developed a vision to grow God’s kingdom and in the process have discovered the great difficulties of doing that. The major one is the requirement for resources. They need to support themselves and as they minister to people they have realised the great poverty that exists in their communities.
The vision is to assist low income families in the Rukingiri area become economically self-sustaining. The strategy is to start a programme that sees selected families given a pregnant cow. This will start with Christian families being given a cow in the first instance but over time will spread out into the community to benefit many people. Initially the people will use some of the milk for their own family use and sell some for income. As the number of cows increase, the plan is to start a business based around the milk production.
For more information - click here to read about the partnership.
Rukingiri Cattle Programme
Prayer and Praise Points
- Pray for our new partners in Uganda as they commence this income generation programme. Also for the two new partnerships in Madagascar and Laos.
- Praise for Joanna being able to complete her studies in the Philippines and now being able to lift her entire family out of the curse of poverty.
- Pray for our partners who are rebuilding their lives after wildfire devastation, particularly for the village in Thailand who so recently after having a water and sanitation system installed were then devastated by fire.
- Praise for the positive feedback from the recent Summit and for people catching the vision of Bright Hope World.
First Cappuccino Club Graduate (PHI09)
Joanna Marie Baloloy entered into The Cappuccino Club (TCC) programme as one of the first two students in June 2008. In fact TCC began with people like Joanna in mind. Here was a brilliant self-motivated young lady who longed for the opportunity to reach her academic potential and yet the cost to study ($3 a day) was prohibitive to her.
And so Joanna was dutifully doing what she could to support her 3 siblings and help put food on the table. She would work in the market from 2am to 8am dressing chickens, before heading off to school to complete her High School studies. It seemed unjust to us that a young person of Joanna’s calibre not be given the opportunity to reach her academic ability and fulfil her dream to study in university.
Last month Joanna graduated achieving a Bachelor in Education, English major. Today she is working as an Assistant to the Editor at a leading publishing house in Metro Manila. She is now on the road to lifting her entire family out of the curse of multigenerational poverty.
For more information - click here to read about the partnership.
Joanna Marie Baloloy
Tough Times for Partners
The last few months has seen a number of tragedies hit various partners:
- Wildfire destroyed 14 homes in a Lahu village in northern Thailand. A team from New Zealand had just returned from completing a water and sanitation project with our partner in this village (see story below) when we found out the fire had destroyed a large part of the village. The roofs of the homes the villagers live in are made of dried leaves so fire spreads quickly. These families lost everything: their rice stores, clothes, identification, cooking utensils and bedding. Thankfully nobody was hurt.
- A wildfire in rural Myanmar destroyed a chicken farm we support in the area (MYA02). After engulfing a nearby farm and monastery the farm caught alight and was quickly overrun with fire. Incredibly the workers saved the majority of the chickens but the farm itself was destroyed. Thankfully again no one was hurt.
- In Uganda a 14 year old girl from the Hope Restoration Centre (UGA03) died from poorly treated tonsillitis while she was spending time with relatives in their village.
Wildfire in Myanmar
Trip to Huay Sai Village, North Thailand
In February a group of people from City Bible Church in Hamilton and St Andrews Church in Waipukurau visited Thailand to install a water and sanitation system in the remote village of Huay Sai, North Thailand (project code THA06d).
I was really excited when I heard at church about a mission trip to Thailand. I went not knowing what to expect, sort of hoping for the best but expecting the worse. Arriving in the village I was rather surprised, it was a lot better than I had anticipated. A shower and toilet were there ready for us to use, all we had to do was get the piping put in place so that we could have running water. This meant it was straight to work and in one afternoon of full on labour we managed to get the water flowing. This moment was unforgettable. The villagers were amazed at what we had achieved and were so happy. Immediately they were bringing containers to full with water and taking them back to their houses. As time went by, the tank was built, trenches were dug for the piping, temporary taps installed so the villagers could access the water, and bathrooms were constructed.
One person who had a really big impact on me was our friend Beep Beep. We didn't know his real name but he ran around saying “beep beep”, mimicking the motorbikes that drove past. He had a disability and we could tell straight away that he was an outcast in the village. We were challenged to pray for him every time we saw him and soon noticed Beep Beep slowing down. He began sitting by the campfire at night and on the outskirts of the kids programme which we ran. I really felt that God was working in his life in some way. On our second to last day there he was limping really badly. We managed to get him to sit down and he showed us where he was hurting. We washed his feet and cut his very long toenails; we then bandaged his feet up and asked him to keep them dry. As we finished we could see the delight in his face, the simple fact that someone actually cared for him must have been new to him!
The day we left Huay Sai was sad for us all. After packing everything up a few of the villagers came to see us off. We had a time of prayer and Pastor Willy prayed for us in Lahu as he has "very small English but God understand Lahu". We taught some of the villagers how to give a goodbye hug as a hand shake wasn’t a good enough way of saying goodbye to our new family!
Rebekah Taylor
The CBC Team
'Beep Beep'
End of Financial Year Tax Rebate Receipts
All our 2011/2012 tax rebate receipts were sent to our New Zealand donors at the end of April. If you have not received yours yet then please email us as we possibly have an incorrect and/or no current address for you.
Annual Report
Our 2011/2012 Annual Report is now available. You can view this online here (click the 'Annual Report' link) or if you would like a hard copy mailed to you please email us or ring the office on (03) 341 0933
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