Partnership Overview

Mathare Valley compound is located in an old quarry 2km long and 800m wide. This shanty village is 5 km (3.2 miles) from Nairobi city centre, the capital of Kenya. 600,000 people live in this area in very poor conditions, many of them children. Disease is rampant. It is estimated that up to half of the residents have HIV. The stream that flows through the centre of the quarry is an open sewer.

There is huge tension in the Valley, and it often boils over into gang like fighting. There is a lot of violence and criminal activity in the area. Fires frequently sweep through parts of the Valley and people are regularly made homeless or killed by the fires.

There are 1,600 children in the schools being run by the Mathare Community Outreach (MCO) team. Every day the children are fed a meal which brings a lot of stability to the attendance. They also are involved in the planting of churches in the Valley.

The main component of this partnership with MCO is the support of 115 school students and the support of a social worker.

History Of Partnership

Bright Hope World started a partnership with MCO in 2000. The first time we visited we realised that it was important to partner with the key person in the initial stages to maintain their enthusiasm and involvement in the project, so we started supporting Daniel and Magdalene (KEN01a).

The children who come to school are taught and fed every day, which is a mammoth task. The partnership is based in the Mathare compound and some of the other smaller compounds. In the past BHW was involved in both Mathare and Kariobangi. We were able to find a significant donor who took over our partnership in Mathare and we concentrated on Kariobangi compound, supporting the children that live at the school. This is a much smaller slum although the circumstances are little better than Mathare but over time the situation for the children in Kariobangi has improved.

In 2012 a major donor pulled out of the Mathare project. This brought increased pressure on the MCO team so in late 2012 BHW decided to recommence our partnership there by supporting a number of children to go to school. Along with this we have taken up a dialogue about how to assist the partnership to become self-sustaining.

Beneficiaries

The primary beneficiaries are orphans and vulnerable children in Mathare Valley compound. In addition, the families of these children are provided some support where resources are available.

What We Like About The Partnership

This partnership has been going since around 2000 and has developed a good reputation in the area. It is closely connected to local churches. The leaders are of high calibre and motives and there is a great sense of mission amongst the existing and emerging leaders.

Bright Hope World have been involved here for a long time, the longest donor in the partnership. We know the leadership well and have more than a working relationship. Through our partner we are able to have a huge impact in a community that resides in one of the most atrocious places on earth.

Key People

Leadership Profile

The main leaders and overseers of the project are Daniel Ogutu and his wife Magdalene who are very busy with the children’s work in Mathare Valley. They have five children, Reina, Herma, Bill, and Debra Imani. 

Magdalene resigned from her job as an accountant in 1994 to work with the people of Mathare. When she first started helping out the starving children in the village, she would prepare porridge for the children and teach them songs, Bible memory verses, reading, writing, and arithmetic. This grew very quickly from 15 children to 40 children within two weeks then after one month she was catering for 150 children. At this time, she called for help from the church and the work continued. 

Somewhere between 1910 and 1915 an American missionary ventured into the region of Kisumu Kenya near Lake Victoria to share the gospel of Christ with the Luo tribe. Among many others, a young boy was taken by the gospel story and was led to Christ and discipled by that missionary. That seven-year-old was Pastor Daniel's father. His father later pastored his small village church and raised a large family of devoted Christian brothers and sisters. One of his sons was Daniel Ogutu. After a successful career as an engineer, Daniel could no longer deny the calling that God had for him, and he and his wife gave up all that they had in 1994 to care for the abandoned in Mathare. Thousands of children and their parents have heard the gospel message through the work that God has done using Pastor Daniel and his wife Magdalene. 

Other People Involved

Gilbert Osumbu is second in charge and handles the administration. Gilbert was working as an accountant in a large petroleum company and resigned to help in the ministry. He provides a solid financial backbone to the leadership team and along with Daniel and Magdalene forms the leadership of the ministry. 

Vision and Annual Strategy

The vision:
The vision of the Mathare Community Outreach team is to have a responsible community, empowered to address their social, economic, physical and spiritual challenges to the glory of God. They dream that Mathare could become a much better place and we agree with their vision.

Strategy:
Each year we visit and work through a plan for the following year. Currently this involves the support of children at school, and the support of a social worker. 

Partnership Overview

Kamatipa, a small rural village of several hundred located in the Copperbelt of Zambia, is home to many orphaned children who are in desperate need of food, clothing, bedding and assistance with school fees. Kamatipa is on the outskirts of Chingola and is in a very remote area. Many children are unwell due to lack of food. 

Rebecca Kaumba and Faidess Chiyesu are friends. They were concerned about these vulnerable children in the little rural village in which Jeremiah and Faidess had settled so they decided to do something about it. They recognised the need to care for the children in the community who were orphaned due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. They work to find guardians for the orphans and identify children in the community that are in need of assistance. 

Together with them, Bright Hope World now supports vulnerable children from Kamatipa village. 

Sadly, Jeremiah passed away in 2016 after battling illness. 

History Of Partnership

Kamatipa is an hour from the main road, a 1½ hour drive from the closest town. However, the people of the village have no transportation. They must walk or bike with their produce to sell in the markets. The entire village gets their water from a tiny, difficult to access spring, a process that can take an hour. The extreme poverty of the area makes everyday living a struggle to simply survive.

BHW started helping here in early 2005 by assisting children to get to school. 

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries are the children who have been orphaned and who live with guardians in the village of Kamatipa or relatives in Ndola while at secondary school.  

Key People

Leadership Profile

Faidess Chiyesu
Jeremiah and Faidess (centre in photo) chose to live in this area. Initially they went there to farm and to plant a church which they did successfully. The church is now functioning well with more than 100 people in it but of course, many orphans turned up in church as part of church families or attending Sunday School and other programmes.

Faidess is a graduate of GLO Zambia and while there was challenged to give her all in ministry which she has done.  

Other People Involved

Rebecca Kaumba
Rebecca Kaumba (left in photo) comes from this area and is good friends with the Chiyesu's. She now lives in Chivuma where she has a house that she built for her retirement.

She is a single mother of a number of adult children. Her role in this partnership is to visit from time to time to make sure that the programme is running smoothly. 

Leonard Kapenta
Leonard Kapenta has also joined the group since 2019. He was one of the original orphans helped on the programme, and after completing grade 12 and spending five years in the capital Lusaka, decided to come back to Kamatipa to farm. He has a big desire to help others like himself, to bring them up in life. He is now married to Evette and has two children, Leonard junior and Victor. He is studying to be a brick layer and has a contract job recording data from 30 boreholes in the district.

Vision and Annual Strategy

1) Helping to set up farming training and guardian empowerment programmes to increase contact with the families in the community. 
2) Assisting the children to attend school - the children need school supplies and uniforms.

Personal Testimony

Nathan is currently boarding at Kakubula Basic School. He does find it difficult to walk five hours to get there every week. His family could not afford to pay so he is very thankful that Bright Hope World is able to help. He believes he is very blessed as there are many other orphans that need help.

When Nathan grows up, he intends to go to mission school and become a missionary. His current job is to assist his stepfather to cultivate and care for their vegetation.

Problems: Many other boys his age like to drink and steal, especially those who do not know God. This problem may be because some cannot go to school, have too much time on their hands and do not have parents or their parents cannot afford for an education. Sometimes these young people put pressure on Nathan to lie and register them for school.

Hobbies: Nathan likes playing football and studying.

Katemba lives with her father's elder sister. A few years ago, her mother died and her father became mentally disturbed and left her and three siblings alone. Katemba and her two younger sisters started to stay with her aunt after they were found, her baby sister went to another aunt. Soon after this Katemba’s father returned to reclaim the children. The three girls went with him to Chingola where he had a job cleaning the public toilets.

Although Katemba’s father had a job he had nowhere to stay and so her and her two siblings slept at the toilets behind some large barrels of water. Rebecca (from GLO) got word that there were some children staying in the toilets, so she went to see for herself. When she arrived there, she found the girls begging from the people entering the toilets and being watched by the day time toilet attendant. Their father was out drinking.

When Katemba’s father was found Rebecca demanded that he take the girls back to the village. He did take them back to live with their aunt who is old and sick and is no longer able to work in the garden. The family rarely has a meal. She wants to put the girls into an orphanage but does not know where to take them.

Katemba likes to go to school. When she grows up, she wants to be a teacher. She enjoys playing jack stones with her friends. She helps her aunt by carrying large loads of maize to and from the grinding mill.

Interviewer Comments:  Katemba had a cold when I talked with her. She was hungry and barely spoke above a whisper when asked a question. When observing her with the other children she sat alone on a log and did not move or interact with any of the children. She just stared into the distance. She desperately needs help. 

Partnership Overview

Oliver Mulenga and a few of his close friends became concerned at the number of children that were living on the streets of Kalulushi, a town in the Copperbelt of Zambia so he took action.

Power Christian Ministries (PCM) seeked to care for these orphaned and vulnerable children, some of whom used to live on the streets. The money provided by Bright Hope World assisted the children with feeding, schooling and spiritual input. There were also other very young orphans who came to the Saturday morning programme but were not funded into school.

Every Saturday morning the children came to Oliver's plot where he had built two classrooms. After biblical devotions they were fed, and three teachers came in to assist the children with extra tutoring in maths and English. They also played some games. The children’s school fees were being paid in full and they also received books, shoes, uniforms and bags. 

History of Partnership

PCM in Kalulushi, Zambia was officially registered as an Orphanage Centre in 2001, however the organisation originally started in 1999. The main emphasis at the time was to cut across issues of poverty among orphans and promote Christian principles.

They had become concerned at the number of children who were living on the streets of their town, so they started to get them together and care for them. 

Bright Hope World has been partnering with Oliver on this project since 2004. 

Beneficiaries 

There were vulnerable children who were benefiting from the money sent by Bright Hope World. 

Foundations for Farming was being introduced into the Kafuba area, with two headman men of the villages being trained. 

What We Like About The Partnership

Oliver was a trustworthy and faithful worker. He took the initiative and saw a growing need amongst the children in Kalulushi in the late 1990’s and has been working for their benefit ever since.

Key People 

Leadership Profile

Oliver Mulenga
Oliver was trained by the Bright Hope World New Partnership Director at GLO Bible College in Zambia in the mid 1980's. He is a colourful character and at that time had been involved in politics. After leaving training he shifted to the Kalulushi area and assisted with the development of a number of small churches and mentored a number of families. Many of them are now in ministry.

In the 1990's he shifted into Kalulushi and started a block making business from which he has gained a living, supporting himself in ministry and assisting others to access training. Along the way he has helped many people at great cost to himself. 

Vision and Annual Strategy

Oliver decided in 2024 that he no longer wanted to continue with the programs, as he had struggled to find anyone to take over the role and succeed him. At taht stage the number of orphans had significantly reduced, and he himself had reached a stage where he was unable to continue with the work.

Annual Budget

No further funds being sent.

Personal Testimony 

Newton Chewe
Newton is 18 years old and has lived with his grandmother, sister and brother since he was 7 years old. The most important thing he remembers his mother teaching him is to be humble and treat others well.

He is in Grade 12, which is the last year of school in Zambia. He studies English, maths, biology, chemistry, physics, geology and religious education. When he finishes school, he would like to become a heavy duty engineer. Newton lives in an area where there are a lot of mining opportunities. 

Somebody came to Newton and talked about the orphan programme and the opportunity to have sponsorship through school. He thought it would be good, so they then talked with the grandmother and put him on the programme three years ago. The programme has helped with school fees, uniforms, shoes and tutoring in maths and English every Saturday. Newton says that his friends have a lot of problems with having no funds to go to school; he tries to encourage them through this struggle.

Ennes
Ennes attends Mutobu Basic School. She enjoys attending school because she wants to be educated. Her favourite subject is English. When she grows up she wants to be able to look after her mother and be a doctor. 

Ennes’ father has passed away and she lives with her mother. Her mother doesn’t have a job and stays home to look after her younger brother. She is able to sell scones sometimes.

Ennes has five friends who all like to play netball and volleyball. Ennes also enjoys coming on Saturday because she likes to learn about God and get tutoring for school. She also appreciates the help she gets to pay for school.

Ennes says that there are many problems in Kalulushi. Some girls her age do not go to school and hang around the bus station selling or drinking beer. Ennes says she has no worries except she doesn’t like 'eggplant or social studies'.

Ennes is a delightful girl. She has lots of spirit and a sincere desire to help her mother and give to others.

Partnership Overview

On the border of Zambia and the DRC, near to the city of Ndola, lives a solo mother who has been trained in orphan care and how to set up care programmes. Doris Nkausu had identified vulnerable orphans who live in this border area and who come to her church. The original plan was to send the children to school, give them a meal once a week and run a programme with them, and ensure they are being well cared for.

They also run a Foundations for Farming training programme with the aim that the guardian families will increase their household income to help care for their own children. After training all the orphan's guardians they have extended the trainings to other people in the community including vulnerable youth. Doris' extended family help her with this work.

Sadly Lemon, Doris' father, who was heavily involved in the partnership passed away in 2017 but the family continues to help others in the community.

With the growing number of farming trainings having a great impact on the guardian families, by 2021 there was no longer the need to add orphans to the school funding programme, instead they continue to run farming trainings and have started a micro-loan project to boost families who already have a small business. They also have started a ladies discipleship group to encourage them through a book called "Knowing and Doing".

History Of Partnership

Doris Nkausu attended Teen Mission Training in 2004. On graduation she wanted to go to a rural area to care for children but could not raise the required funds to do so. She therefore returned to her father's house in Kaniki, Ndola. She became aware that in the community around her home there were many vulnerable children and she had compassion for them. Doris began helping a family that were destitute. 

After talking to the Bright Hope World Africa Director she realised she should look a little closer to home in terms of identifying vulnerable children to care for.  She started by assisting these children herself, getting them together on Saturdays and helping them grow a little garden. The plan was for them to gather each week for a programme at her home and to assist them to go to school.

In 2010 Doris and her father Lemon attended a Foundations for Farming training course at Maplehurst farm. Since then, they have been learning and using the techniques in both their own and the orphan's field. Since 2012 they have been running training courses for guardians of the orphans and provided them with small plots on Lemon's farm for them to start using the techniques. There have been great results lifting yields by up to 500%, thereby helping families to increase their household income and enabling them to fund the orphans into school.

Beneficiaries

Many ladies, and families, are being impacted through the farming training, business loans and discipleship programmes.

What We Like About the Partnership

Doris is a very active lady in her community. She sees people's needs and has the ability to think about how they can best be helped. She loves to write proposals that aim to empower people and shows her massive heart for the community.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Doris Nkausu attends the Baptist church at Kaniki and is a Sunday school teacher and choir member. She lives with her mother, sisters, and nieces. She has a son named Chisenga whose father died when he was just five months old.

Chisenga’s father died before he and Doris were able to get married. Doris passed through a very hard time having a small baby to look after and no income. It became increasingly difficult for Doris when Chisenga started to go to school. She said that she cried a lot because she couldn’t manage financially. At that stage in her life, she didn’t know God very well.

Doris attended Teen Missions for three years. This gave her sound Bible training and a lot of practical experience working with children and farming.

"I like God a lot, I love to sing. I am a business lady and have had small businesses in the past. In my life I would just like to be a mother to children who have no mother. I want to have a house and keep them. This passion started with my son. I saw how he felt not having a father. Then at Teen Mission I saw how children were even worse off with no parents. They were so poor, and I felt compassion, I wanted to help them. God put this burden on my heart. When I think of my son with no father, I feel bad. It is hard to lose parents."

Chisenga has now completed a mechanics engineering course after attending the GLO Bible college GAP Year (ZAM19c). He will complete a degree in theology in 2023 from the Teka college, and is getting married in December 2023.

Other People Involved 

Grace Nkausu (Doris' mother)

Vision and Annual Strategy

The vision is to care for the vulnerable in the Kaniki community through farming training, business loans, and the discipleship programmes. 

Personal Testimony

Natasha, Honesty and Mary

These three girls came to talk with us about the orphans' program and their lives. They are in Grade 10 and 11. They all speak great English and are well spoken young women. They all say they are so thankful for Patience Orphan Programme otherwise there would be no education in their lives.

They attend school in town which means they have to travel each day by bus which costs 15 ZMK each day (US$1.50). They all live near Lemon's house and visit Lemon and Doris regularly. In fact, Mary is the daughter of Joseph Kungwa who was in the very first intake of students at GLO Zambia when BHW's Field Director was the principal.

They find life can be a bit boring where they live with little in the way of recreation activities. They are able to play some football and netball at GLO. 

All of them are saying they would like to become nurses when they finish school as that way they can help people.

Mr Kafwala

Mr Kafwala was trained in 2012 in the Foundations for Farming methods. He has a daughter who is on the orphans' programme called Hidah. 

Hidah was disabled from birth and struggles with learning, but they are looking after her. She is currently 9 years old and in Grade 3. She has two sisters that live with her and her mum and dad. 

They rent a property on the Nkausu's farm and he has planted 1.5 limas of maize this year. It is looking good, but they need the rain to develop the kernels on the cobs. He planted on the 15th December and used D compound and urea fertilizers.

Partnership Overview

Dick and Anita Mumba run a Christian school for 23 street kids in a house in Chipata, Zambia. The programme includes feeding the children and giving them spiritual guidance. Dick and his family have gone there and are committing to stay there for five years at least. They are struggling to be effective because of lack of funding. Bright Hope World puts $2,000 towards staff support and $4,600 for helping the children. They operate out of a house which is not adequate and they need to shift to a better location. However, they have no resources, just a vision and a love for the children.

History of Partnership

Back in 2004 Bright Hope World became aware of a great woman in the city of Chipata, Zambia. Elizabeth was running a school for destitute children. She had well over 100 kids when we first visited. The conditions were appalling and they struggled to meet the needs of the children and the demands of the community and guardians. She had a number of voluntary teachers but the quality of assistance was low.

In 2005 BHW commenced funding, supporting the feeding of the children and supplementing the meagre income of the teachers. Then in December 2005 tragedy struck. Elizabeth died very suddenly. The project almost folded.  A couple of people held it together for the sake of the children but there was no direction or consistent management.

Part way through 2006 Dick and Anita Mumba came to Chipata. They were associated with YWAM as was Elizabeth. They had no resources but decided to take up the reins of the Community School. By this time there were many unhealthy things going on in the school so most of the people associated with it were put off and new people were brought in as volunteers. It quickly became obvious that the school needed a new start so they have had to rationalise and drop the number of children attending the school.

Therefore in 2007 the number of children was dropped to a manageable 23 and the plans are to grow it from there from year to year.

Beneficiaries

Children in the local area in Chipata who cannot afford to go to Government Schools.

What We Like About The Partnership

We particularly like the character of Dick and Anita. Their commitment to making this work is huge. They have made difficult but wise decisions about how to move forward and have developed a good strategy despite lack of support and resources.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Dick and Anita Mumba are the key leaders. Anita is a school teacher but they have few resources and very cramped facilities. She has been very unwell with anaemia from a miscarriage a couple of years ago. She has not been able to recover sufficiently and requires food that is not easily accessible or affordable. Dick has been roped in as a teacher as Anita cannot teach the younger children because she does not know the local language. He is not a teacher but feels he has to try.

Prior to coming to Chipata they were involved as church planters in another area of Zambia. They met at YWAM training in Hawaii, Dick is a Zambian and Anita is a Pacific Islander. They have five children, one is at boarding school and the others live with them in Chipata.

Other People Involved

They have had some help from YWAM volunteers, especially from Canada, but are severely under staffed. They are currently hoping to have some people come to help as teachers.

Vision and Annual Strategy

The vision is to have an effective school as a means to introducing children to Christ. They hope to have a new site eventually on which to build a new campus.

The strategy is to add about 16 new grade one children at the beginning of 2008 and then to add a new class each year into the future. They hope this will give them the time to develop their facilities as the school grows. Plans are being developed and research being done to see that happen in 2009.

School Now Closed

In 2010, after completing their five year commitment with YWAM in Chipata, Dick and Anita felt led to join All Kids Can Learn Zambia in Chisamba to continue their ministry to orphaned and vulnerable children there. The school therefore closed at the end of 2010 however all the children have been relocated into new schools.  BHW is committed to continuing to financially support Dick and Anita in this new ministry - see ZAM11b.

Partnership Overview

KERO farm has been set up to support the orphans in Beracah Orphan Care and to provide employment for people in the local area. The key person in this partnership has pulled together a team of people to establish a commercial farming operation in the Kawambwa District of the Luapula Province of Zambia. They are passionate about alleviating the poverty of their people, especially the orphans in their churches.

Their primary focus is to generate funds to support the orphans and to give opportunities to other poor people. Bright Hope World is assisting them to set up the farm and to get it to the point of generating a profit.

History of Partnership

Between 2002 and 2004, 300 hectares of land was granted to Bright Hope World and KERO Farms by local chief Kabanda. This land was developed into vegetable crops and fish ponds in order to create income to support orphans in the area. An assessment of the farm was conducted in 2005/6 where it was evident that growing vegetables was not providing a viable income due to the distance of the farm from the markets. 

A new strategy was developed that is currently being implemented. This strategy will see cash crops such as maize, beans, ground nuts and Irish potatoes grown to create some cash flow. As well as this, long term crops are being planted - bananas, pineapples, citrus and oil palms. Research is being done into eucalyptus and pine plantings as well.

A herd of approx 200 cows will be developed over a 5 - 6 year period. Currently there are 28 cows and each year more are purchased so that the herd is increasing. This is a long term project that will have the capacity to provide post harvest employment and funds to support Beracah and other ministry projects.

The farm has already supplied pigs and goats to some of the guardian families of the orphans in Beracah Orphan Care. 

Beneficiaries

The current beneficiaries are those working on the farm as employees. The primary beneficiaries will be the orphans and vulnerable people who receive help in the future. Currently these beneficiaries are registered by another organisation called Beracah Orphan Care that is being funded by Bright Hope World.

What We Like About The Partnership

We really like the concept of a farm that is self sustaining, creates employment and development in the area and that supports the local vulnerable people. We also have a lot of confidence in the key person and the team he has pulled together.

This partnership has all the ingredients to work. There are a number of barriers to it being effective that are and will need to be worked on. These include lack of support infrastructure for farming, resistance to new methods, jealously and lack of skilled employees.

Key People

Leadership Profile

The key person is Gershom Kasongo. Gershom has given his life to this area of the country. He shifted to the Mushota area in the 1980s and became a church planter. There were few churches in the area. He has been responsible for planting over 20 churches that form the backbone of Beracah Orphan Care and KERO farms. He and his wife Jenipher have eight children, two of whom have been lost to local sicknesses. It is not an easy life to live.

As well as being a church planter, Gershom is an entrepreneur who seeks to find solutions to the desperate needs of his people.

Other People Involved

Gershom has three other people with him on the board of KERO farm. The farm is a registered charity in Zambia and supplies accounts each year to Bright Hope World. 

Vision And Annual Strategy

The strategy here includes:
-growing 4 hectares of maize and 1 hectare each of potatoes, beans and groundnuts
-planting of 500 palm oil plants, 1,000 more pineapples and 2,500 banana plants
-selling all the existing pigs and buying goats
-purchase of 18 new cows and more barbed wire
-send a local person away for training in the care of bananas
-equipment such as a plough, bicycle, knapsack sprayers and an ox cart
-an irrigation pump

Annual Budget

The 2011 budget will require around $US8,000 but the plan is that by the end of 2011 the farm will be self-sufficient and contributing to the care for the orphans.

Update

In mid 2012 the Bright Hope Zambia Board made the decision to sell off the dairy operation at Maplehurst. Even though the dairy farm was profitable, a substantial rise in the value of the farm and some serious risks to the business made it attactive for Bright Hope Zambia to safeguard its investment and secure future returns for our Zambian partnerships by selling the farm.  

We have retained ownership of The Fig Tree Cafe and a number of houses on the property as a base from where Bright Hope World will continue its ministry activities (see ZAM21a).

Partnership Overview

Maplehurst Farm is a serious attempt to address the issues that face southern Africa in an appropriate way, that creates a number of side benefits. It is a commercial farming operation based in Kabwe, Zambia. The primary purpose is to create finance within Zambia that can be put into orphan care and other significant projects. The side benefits are:

1. Opportunities for Westerners to go to Zambia and become involved in practical ways: Already a team has gone and installed a milking plant in the cowshed. There are also usually two Western families based there at any given time as the farm manager and base manager.

2. Opportunities for Western farmers and donors to contribute: One farming family has put the proceeds of the sale of their farm into the initial purchase of Maplehurst farm. Someone else has donated an old milking plant which has been refurbished and installed.

Partnership Overview

Four missionaries have been sent by the mission group Segadores to the town of San Fausto in Peru to start church planting in the area. Macedonio Huamani and Gerardo Huyacallan, both Peruvian, and Marcus and Adina Dumitru, from Romania lead the work there. They want to put in a solar panel to assist with development in this area which is very remote.

History Of Partnership

Bright Hope World has been working with Segadores for a number of years. A number of their missionaries have been sponsored and some community development partnerships have been supported.

For four years Segadores has been involved with the vision and mission of planting autonomous churches in the interior of the jungle. They have been working with the Ashenika ethnic group in San Fausto Community recently. In the region of Ucayali there are about 100 associated communities under an organisation called ANAP. San Fausto is one of these communities that, like the others, had not been reached by the gospel, doesn’t have missionaries and there were no Christians or churches until recently.

Until now there have been few converts in San Fausto but they have programmes established for adults and children. The community has asked them to teach the Bible and other cultural courses in the state school as a support to the community. They had not anticipated this level of acceptance but they are teaching in the education centres.

The reality is that the native communities are in zones outside of the normal infrastructure services and there is no potable water, electricity supply, health services or other basic infrastructure.

Beneficiaries

The community of San Fausto, especially the children.

What We Like About The Partnership

Segadores is a great group of people who send good people and who have good systems in place for accountability. They have a clear vision and good strategies and leadership in place.

Key People

The key people are those mentioned above; Macedonio Huamani and Gerardo Huyacallan, both Peruvian, and Marcus and Adina Dumitru, from Romania.

Vision And Annual Strategy

The plan is for a one-off amount to fund the installation of solar panels. The solar panel will help to extract water from the ground, give power to the missionary house, use computers and teach a computer course in the education centre, and prepare dictation material for the biblical classes and cultural classes for the education centre. It would also be the means to power communication between San Fausto and Lima.

Partnership Overview

Sometimes you meet people who make an immediate impression on you. Dick and Anita are like that. BHW first met Dick and Anita in 2006 when they moved to Chipata to take over the running of Shalom Community School for disadvantaged children (ZAM11a). As they had very little financial support we started supporting them in this ministry as well as providing some funding for the school.

In 2010, after completing their five-year commitment with YWAM in Chipata, they felt led to join All Kids Can Learn Zambia to continue their ministry to orphaned and vulnerable children.

In November 2012 they finished this ministry and moved back to Chipata. There they have a personal farm where they wanted to set themselves up using "Foundations for Farming" to be fully self-funded, while using the things God has given them to help disciple the community. 

In 2015 they commenced discussions with GLO Bible College in Ndola (ZAM19c) about a role on the staff there to help with mentoring GAP year students, managing outreaches, being involved in church based leadership training programmes, and helping with farming the land GLO has. This role requires that they have their own financial support. 

In November 2016 the family moved to Ndola (a move of 900 km) to start with GLO. This assignment finished at the end of 2017, and Dick and Anita are exploring options with youth programs in Ndola.

Beneficiaries

Dick and Anita Mumba are the direct beneficiaries of this partnership, but it enables them to have a huge impact on the youth they disciple at GLO, as well as the many churches that they run programmes at.

What We Like About The Partnership

Dick and Anita are very passionate and hard-working people. They have five children of their own but have a real love, care and concern for the many vulnerable children in Zambia and have spent many years in ministry with children. The time they spent working with YWAM has given them good training for working with children. They have a very high level of integrity. 

Key People

Leadership Profile

Dick and Anita met at YWAM training in Hawaii, Dick is a Zambian and Anita is a Pacific Islander. Prior to going to Chipata in 2006 they were involved as church planters in another area of Zambia. They have five children – Jesse 21 yrs, Abraham 20 yrs (not in photo), Michelle 15 yrs and 12 year old twin girls Rachel and Esther.

Jesse and Abraham are looking at ways to further their studies (Jesse was a GAP year student at GLO in 2014). The three girls are staying with Dick and Anita at GLO and travel into town each day to go to school. 

Dick has attended Bible school and served as a pastor in several churches in Zambia. Anita is a trained pre-school teacher. 

Partnership Overview

Octavio and Justina live in the south of Bolivia in a city called Villamontes, where the Paraguayan and Argentinian boarders meet Bolivia. When they originally moved to the area they encountered a small church that had been struggling for many years with a range of trying issues. Once Octavio and Justina began working with the church old problems were resolved, people were reconciled, new young people were saved and the church came alive. That was in 2003 and, since then, the church has grown to around 70 members. This brought about the need for the church to expand its building, doubling the seating capacity.

In 2015 Octavio and Justina started a new church plant on the outskirts of Villamontes. They set up their home there and, with a base of a few Christians living in that area, began holding services in their house. They also lead outreaches known as "happy hours" in other areas of Villamontes where young people, and children in particular, are hearing the Gospel.  

Octavio travels to remote villages accessible only by walking around three hours to reach each one. This area of Bolivia is very remote and there is frequent danger from wild animals such as cougars.

History Of Partnership

Octavio and Justina were already evangelising and discipling before Bright Hope World became involved in the partnership.  We have been financially supporting them for a number of years. 

Beneficiaries

People living in the city of Villamontes and surrounding towns.

What We Like About The Partnership

Octavio has a real passion to share the Gospel and lives are being changed. Octavio is an evangelist and he and Justina are very involved in the training of Christians for their spiritual walk and outreach. They are passionate about seeing Bolivians accept the Gospel and their ministry and efforts are totally focused on that end.

Key People 

Leadership Profile

Octavio Alavarez is from Ipati, a small Bolivian farming community. Prior to becoming a Christian he played guitar and composed songs in the Chaqueno country style but following his conversion he promised to play only for the Lord. Octavio met his wife Justina, a believer from northern Argentina, at a Bible conference. Rght from the time of their marriage they have thrown themselves into the Lord's work, initially in Portachuelo, north of Santa Cruz where they worked for one year before serving the Lord for 15 years in Boyuibe, and then subsequently in Villamontes.

Octavio and Justina have four children: three daughters and a son. All of them are baptised and the girls are active in the Lord's work.

Vision And Annual Strategy

Ocatvio and Justina's vision is to evangelise the area of Villamontes and the villages surrounding it so that the locals have the opportunity to hear the Gospel.

They go door to door and village to village sharing the gospel and in 2015 started a church plant on the outskirts of Villamontes. They also disciple others to fulfil the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20.

Partnership Overview

Tino was one of the founders of a Bright Hope World funded dairy farm in Bolivia and for many years was co-manager of the farm project. The farm is now fully managed by Jaime, who was trained in farming methods in New Zealand. The farm sells milk locally for a good price and also produces ice-cream which is sold in a small shop in the town of Camiri. There are currently around 35 cows. The farm project supports a Bible Institute and its students who come from all over Bolivia. 

Tino and Nelda are now fully involved in the Bible Institute, as managers of the Institute, teaching some of the modules and mentoring the students. Tino is a mature Christian who is valued for his counsel and has developed considerable influence in the area.

Tino was also one of the visionaries of the new Trade School project (BLV03) which Bright Hope World helped to fund. The Trade School is set up to train Bolivians to become auto-electricians, giving previous Bible Institute students the ability and skills to be self-funding as they live and church plant in remote towns and villages.

Tino travels to many villages in the wider area of southern Bolivia to evangelise, facilitate church plants, and to encourage Christians in these areas. The Bible Institute students accompany him on these trips as part of their training.

History Of Partnership

Tino was already doing this work before Bright Hope World became involved in the partnership in 2005.

Beneficiaries

The primary beneficiaries of this partnership are Tino and Nelda in terms of the financial support provided for them but, indirectly, both current and former Bible Institute students from all over Bolivia also benefit.

What We Like About The Partnership

Tino has a great passion for people to hear the gospel and respond, and also to have Christians trained up and encouraged to share their faith with others.

Key People 

Leadership Profile

Tino is married to Nelda and their children are now all living away from home. They are members of the Upper Room Church in Camiri, a newly planted church which they helped to start in 2011. 

Other People Involved
Tino works with Mark Mattix, a Bright Hope World contact and American missionary. He also collaborates with Octavio, another Bright Hope World partner. 

Vision And Annual Strategy

The vision of this partnership is to see young Bolivians equipped to serve God throughout Bolivia. The annual strategy is to use the Bible Institute as a tool to train and equip the Bolivians to evangelise and church plant. The Bright Hope World funded dairy farm project is crucial here as it provides resources for the Bible Institute to function and the Trade School provides the skills to enable students to become self-supporting missionaries.

Partnership Overview

There are a number of key people involved in the development of new churches in Northern Ethiopia. It is important to continue developing and encouraging them so 3 to 4 training sessions per year are organised for the church planters and for existing and emerging church leaders. These give them new skills and develop them so they can be more effective in the difficult circumstances in which they live. 

It is really important that the current church planters and the exisiting and emerging leaders of the church receive ongoing training. None of these people have been Christians very long. Few, if any, have received any sort of theological training, many have not done a lot of schooling and some can barely read and write. They work in difficult circumstances and face a lot of persecution.

Getting them together regularly to encourage them and train them is vitally important. In fact, it is vital for the existing work and for the ongoing development of new people. 

History Of Partnership

In 2003 BHW personnel met a church leader in Auckland, New Zealand. He came to live in Auckland as a refugee from Ethiopia. While a refugee he came to believe in Jesus Christ. Now he was training to be a pastor and was very interested in returning to Northern Ethiopia to become involved in church planting.

In 2005 BHW and Worku Tafete went to Ethiopia. For Worku it was the first time back there for 21 years. It became very obvious that there were tremendous needs and opportunities in Northern Ethiopia. Worku introduced us to leaders of the evangelical churches in the North. They had developed strategies to reach their people but lacked resources. They had structures and vision but no funds. 

Soon after leaving Ethiopia BHW commenced supporting 4 church planters and this grew to 19 over subsequent months.

Since 2005 much prayer and thinking went on and a plan emerged that required the funding of training and the funding of more church planters. A large church in the USA approached BHW about becoming involved in a large partnership and their profile matched the opportunity. Therefore in 2007 that church came to visit and decided to fund the training of potential and existing church planters.

In 2008 around 70 people were selected as church planters, trained for 3 months and then sent out into rural towns and villages. Many churches were planted and a church planting movement began. The number of church planters being supported by the program diminished over subsequent years and the focus shifted to the Gumuz area.

From the beginning the ongoing training of the church planters has been an essential part of the program. Four times a year the key people are brought together for specific training and development.

Beneficiaries

The primary beneficiaries are the existing church planters and church leaders in these developing and growing churches.

What We Like About The Partnership
The people on the ground in Ethiopia and those leading the work are fully committed to the work and have shown a large degree of initiative and leadership already.

These people suffer a great deal of hardship and need as much help, encouragement and training as possible 

There is a great harvest going on now as a result of these initiatives. 

Vision and Annual Strategy

The vision is to give the key people ongoing training so they become more effective in their work.

The key strategy is to provide a five day training seminar 3 or 4 times a year. The first three days are for the church planters and then on the final two days, a weekend, all church leaders and some church members come into the training.  

This training is now focused in the Gumuz area. This training is for leadership, Biblical information and pracitical skills based arounf farming and self sustainability. 

Personal Testimony
Real "Life Change" Stories
Here is the testimony of one of the current church planters to give you an idea of the type of person the training will cater for and the type of situation they will minister in. The name and location have been concealed for security reasons.

My name is YD, I minister in a place called east B....., in the Gondar area. I am sent by the Full Gospel Church to G.... The total member of the fellowship at the moment is 29 and I am discipling them. There are eight others who have left the place and three others have given up their faith. 

I have witnessed to more than 300 people in that place. The problem in that area is that the community hates me. They accuse me and prevent people from approaching me or relating with me. They also force new believers to leave their beliefs and go back to their old life. 

Most of the time the place is in a drought. The people just expect support and they expect help only. To reach the other towns and villages there is a problem of transport. There is also spiritual warfare and demonic activity in the area. I am also lonely and need a friend who can work with me. 

Despite all of these things I pray for them and love them. I am privileged that the governor is on my side and supports me. Even though there is a transport problem I try my best to reach the other place far from G... where there are some believers. 

There is a shortage of water in the area. It would be a good thing for us to provide them with water so that we can minimise persecution and help them. There is also no clinic in the area so it would be good to help with this also.

I am newly married and my wife is going to have a child. Apart from that I am happy with what I am doing being a minister of the Lord. Even though there are a lot of problems and obstacles I am happy to do this work.

Partnership Overview

There are many widows living on the streets of Ethiopian cities. In Gondar our partners have done something about it. They approached the local council to identify some of the most vulnerable elderly people. They were allocated 58 and in partnership with the local Council, who designated a building, each day the widows come from begging on the streets for a meal.

History Of Partnership

In 2003 BHW personnel met a church leader in Auckland, New Zealand. He came to live in Auckland as a refugee from Ethiopia. While a refugee he came to believe in Jesus Christ. Now he was training to be a pastor and was very interested in returning to Northern Ethiopia to become involved in church planting.

In 2005 Worku Tafete returned to Ethiopia after many years away. It became very obvious that there were tremendous needs and opportunities in Northern Ethiopia. Worku introduced us to leaders of the evangelical churches in the North. They had developed strategies to reach their people but lacked resources. They had structures and vision but no funds.

Since 2005 much prayer and thinking went on and a plan emerged that required the funding of training and the funding of more church planters. A large church in the USA approached BHW about becoming involved in a large partnership and their profile matched the opportunity. In 2007 that church came to visit and decided to fund the training of potential and existing church planters.

It was very obvious to everyone that there are huge humanitarian needs in Ethiopia. Many widows thronged the streets as beggars to feed themselves and their families. One church in Gondar began to do something about it and when the church leaders from the US came they realised that caring for the poor had to be an integral part of the work they became involved in. Prior to BHW being involved, someone was giving some support to the widow care programme but that funding had stopped and the remaining money in the bank was drying up. Some short term funding was left to continue the programme and regular support of these widows was commenced.

A local church leader began renting a house in which the elderly could meet and for more than a year the programme was run from this building. But a dispute in the church meant that the man was not able to continue and so an approach was made to the local City Council to provide a building. They did so and the programme was shifted. Unfortunately the building is not very suitable, it is in a difficult place to climb up to for old people, it is a public hall and there are often other meetings going on, and there is no adequate kitchen. 

After using that building for a number of years other land was made available and the project was shifted again to a permanent location. The local government were so impressed by the care shown to the elderly and vulnerable that they built basic accommodation for them. Adjacent to the housing, a building has been erected to which the people come each day for their meals. This has been a huge benefit them as they now do not have to go onto the streets to beg. They are much more healthy and able to care for themselves and their dependents. 

Beneficiaries

Widows who are on the streets of Gondar begging for their survival needs and some of their dependent family members.

What We Like About The Partnership

This deals with a very real need in the city. There are many elderly people thronging the streets and begging. It helps them survive with some dignity. They get some fellowship and care.

It builds a good relationship with the local city leaders and breaks down barriers. 

Vision And Annual Strategy
The vision is to care for the vulnerable on the streets in the most appropriate way.

The current strategy is for the selected (by the local Council) people to come to the centre six days a week. There they eat their midday meal and spend a few hours together. On Saturday that are given a meal for Sunday. If they are unwell another person can collect their meal. If people don't come two consecutive days someone goes to find them.

Personal Testimony
Real "Life Change" Stories 

Alemitu Zerefa, age 72

Woizero Alemitu was married to a soldier and had six children. Her husband had died 25 years ago and after that all her children died one by one. She was left with nothing except poverty and loneliness. She had no income, no food to eat, no clothes to wear and no home to live in.

In September 2006, the local authorities sent her to the feeding centre.  From this time onwards she has been eating her lunch in the centre and taking her dinner home.  

Now she is happy and comfortable. When asked regarding the impact of the support, her eyes were full of tears and said “words cannot explain how you are making my life happy, God bless you, God bless you…” 

Wubet Kassie, age, about 60

When she was young she went to Sudan. She doesn’t know her exact age but thinks she is about 60. She came back from Sudan as a repatriate but did not have a job and as time went on, she sold all her property to pay for rent and accommodation and in the end she was left with nothing. She then tried to make a trade from cotton for cultural dressing to sell to people and so be able to pay rent and to have some food. She doesn’t know what exactly has happened but now she is sick. There is a swollen mass in her stomach and also in her neck. She went to hospital and waited for three days but her turn did not come. When she asked about it, a guard chased her out so she did not have any treatment in that government hospital. 

When she came to the feeding centre the first time she was starved and thought she was going to die but she had the chance to come to the centre having been considered by the local authorities. There are many poor people in this community, but she is one of the poorest of the poor, and so she was chosen. The numbers at the centre are limited. She had difficulty to see far, and even now she cannot see and her back suffers from bad aches. 

She doesn’t have any family apart from one son who is in prison in Gondar. He has been there for a long time, but even when he was not in prison he didn't help her. Her only hope is this shelter.  She says “thank you for the feeding centre here and for providing food and soap for washing, and for medical treatment.” So she is grateful for that. She is worried about her sickness, especially the swelling on her stomach.

Enat Berara, age 60

This lady has been blind since six years of age. Her husband is also blind. Both of them spent all their lives begging on the streets of Gondar. They have six children and the responsibility of raising all these children was a huge burden upon this blind couple. Unfortunately her husband became completely paralyzed and could not go out begging.

Enat tried to do the hard work of feeding the children and taking care of her blind and paralyzed husband. Life was so miserable for this lady. In 2006 she was sent to the feeding centre by the local government. Now she is so happy. She is eating her lunch and taking her dinner home to share it with her husband.

Gelayefu Mulaw

When she was younger, a long time ago, she was married with five children. Four of them died and now she only has one. She lived in a place near the Sudan border for a long time. She was successful there and had a farm and a hotel. She was doing well while she was there. After that, they came upon very bad times because of the war and they lost everything. After that, her husband died and her only daughter is sick. “We are in a very bad situation, we don’t have anything.” While she was in that situation, the feeding centre started. 

Then in October, soon after she had been coming here, her eyes went funny. One day her eyes were fine, and another day her vision started to feel different and her pupils started rolling around and going upside down. She did not know what was going on. After she arrived home one day, she went completely blind. The next day, her friend led her to the feeding centre, completely blind. For sixteen days she was helped by her friend to come to shelter. After that, she spoke to one of the leaders who took her to hospital. They had to pay four hundred birr, and they cleaned her eyes and performed cataract surgery. Then she was able to see again. She came back and joined her friends and was able to see again. She rejoiced and shared with her friends what happened to her. 

She thanks God, Bright Hope and Chase Oaks Church for helping her to see and for everyone to be able to have proper meals every day.
“For the future, we don’t have any families – you are the only ones we have. When we starve, when we are thirsty, when we sick, you are the only hope for us to look for. We think of you like parents, you are like our fathers and mothers.” 

Mulu Mekonen, age 73

Mulu lived in a town called Debretabor; she was married and had five children. Three of her children died and finally her husband died. At this time her mother advised her to marry another man. Mulu did not want to marry but her mother pushed her so much so she left Debretabor town and come to Gondar.

At her young age she was a daily laborer but when she became old a time came where she could not do hard work. Life became very difficult. A catholic organization was giving her 10 kgs of wheat and 1 litre of oil per month. Even this help was discontinued and finally she ended up in the feeding centre.

As all others she was screened by the local government and sent to us. Now she is one of the happiest widows of the feeding centre.

Partnership Overview

At the heart of the Ethiopia partnership is the desire to grow the church in Northern Ethiopia. This growth is two-fold, to see existing leaders develop more skills and to empower them, and to facilitate the establishment of churches in new areas by sending out and equipping people to plant new churches. 

The two focus areas are the rural villages of the Amhara region and the towns and villages of the Gumuz people.

History of Partnership
In 2003 BHW personnel met a church leader in Auckland, New Zealand. He came to live in Auckland as a refugee from Ethiopia. While a refugee he came to believe in Jesus Christ. Now he was training to be a pastor and was very interested in returning to Northern Ethiopia to become involved in church planting.

In 2005 BHW and Worku Tafete went to Ethiopia. For Worku it was the first time back there for 21 years. It became very obvious that there were tremendous needs and opportunities in Northern Ethiopia. Worku introduced us to leaders of the evangelical churches in the North. They had developed strategies to reach their people but lacked resources. They had structures and vision but no funds.

Following this visit a partnership was commenced. An essential part of this was to train people from the few evangelical churches in the north of the country and to send them out to establish and develop new churches. In 2008 a number of new church planters were trained and sent out into the rural towns and villages of Northern Ethiopia. Their purpose was to help local people understand about the message of the Good News and to introduce them to Jesus Christ and His kingdom.

Over time many of these people have successfully planted new churches. Some have stayed on in those churches, others have moved to other locations and some have left this as a full time position. As the new churches have grown, these churches have taken up the responsibility of supporting their workers and in some cases have sent out other missionaries for training and for church planting.

Because of this, the number of people being financially supported has dropped significantly. In the Gumuz area there is an ongoing need to support and subsidise those who are full time developing new churches. The people in this area are very poor and have been resettled into villages from a nomadic lifestyle so the key people here continue to be supported. 

Over time the support of all this work will have to come from within Ethiopia so it was clear that it would be dangerous to continue growing the number of those supported to unsustainable levels. Along with this, those going out to do this work are encouraged to be bi-vocational and not dependant on others to support them.

Beneficiaries

There are currently about 25 church planters being supported, mainly in the Gumuz area.

What We Like About The Partnership
There are many great aspects of this partnership opportunity:
- The people being reached in the Gumuz area are very responsive, this has become a Church Planting Movement
- There are a good number of churches coming in behind this initiative to support the work and the workers
- Real transformation is happening in the villages. God is very much at work and the testimonies are amazing.

Key People

Leadership Profile

The key person is Worku Tafete. He oversees the work here and has developed a number of key people to help him.

Worku spends most of the year in Ethiopia even though he is now a New Zealand citizen. 

Vision and Annual Strategy

The vision is to continuously plant new churches in Northern Ethiopia to the point where it becomes a spontaneous church planting movement, not requiring much external imput. 

The strategy is to select and train local people who are willing to go out and become church planters. 

Personal Testimony

Real "Life Change" Stories

M (Church Planter)

M was 29 years old when he did the 3 months missionary training time in 2008. During that time he was very sick with appendicitis and underwent surgical treatment.  When he first went to the area that he now ministers in, he was very much challenged to get a rented house. After a time he found a house but the people who knew he was a preacher of the gospel opposed the owner of the house giving him the house to rent. However he was praying persistently about the people who opposed him and the people who lived around him.

A big conflict happened in the midst of the people because of him. After a while M prayed and testified about the beautiful love of God to the owner of the house which he had rented.  This man and his family received Jesus as their Saviour and Lord and now this man worships God with M. Another day he told a girl who prepares food for him about Jesus and after a month of praying and discussion she received Jesus. People are now coming to him to ask him about Jesus and asking him to pray for their problems. The number of Christians is now increasing every day. Praise God!

AT (Church Planter)

A's ministry area is A which is located near to the town of D. He is 31 years old and before he became a believer he was the Orthodox priest in that place. Some years before he received Jesus as his personal Saviour and Lord. A year before he came for training he started ministry as a missionary in that place. From that time until now he has passed through different persecutions from the area people but God protected him.

Recently 30 new people have been added to the kingdom of God by his ministry. God is using him in a very special way to rescue that area. As his leader said “we never expected this kind of ministry and fruit in his life, but God is just doing things in an unexpected way. He is just a blessing for our church and our people.” There are a lot of people who have decided to come to the kingdom of God.

GE (Convert)

G grew up, learned and finished high school and is now living in Dangela. He is 25 years old and soon after he finished high school, he joined a college and graduated as a school teacher but he could not get any work.

Because of this and other life pressures, he felt discouraged and hated life on earth so he started drinking a lot, chewing chat (a local drug) and smoking cigarettes. He says, “One day I was chewing chat and smoking cigarettes in a small house with some of my friends, just in the midst of that M entered the house where I was sitting. A while after M approached me in a very polite and touchable way and he started to tell me about God’s love of the world and for me too. As minutes passed, I was impressed very much by what he was telling me. Then I start crying and was very much touched. On that day I made a decision to receive Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Praise God starting from that day I am experiencing a kind of peace that I never had before.”

This happened 3 months ago and now he is free from any kind of alcohol and smoking and other drug addictions. M is teaching and praying for him regularly. Things have changed. “I have started to live a life that Christ intends for me. I am very happy and delighted; I want to thank God for what the Lord has done for me. Things are becoming bright for me now. I am finding a job now to work in my profession. I am very eager and hot to tell people about the life, the peace and the joy that I got. Praise God. “

TS (Convert)

TS lives in P M. He has lived with his family but some time ago he developed bad habits, he drank and smoked and fought with different people. He disturbed his family very much so he started to live and sleep in the street just outside the house. A told him about Jesus a lot of times and prayed for him. Out of the blue and surprising everyone, T turned up at church. Willingly he received Jesus as his personal saviour. Now he has gone back to his family and his life is completely changed. He has started worshipping God with Christians in P.

Partnership Overview

The Full Gospel Church in Debre Markos was supporting five vulnerable people but there were many more who needed assistance. With the start of this programme to supplement the resources of the church it will allow them to increase the number of beneficiaries to around 30.

History Of Partnership

Debre Markos is one of the northern cities of Ethiopia. It is 300 km from the central city of the country, Addis Ababa. It is an unreached area of the country in terms of the gospel and in addition to this the area is a very dogmatic Orthodox dominated area. The Christians who live in the towns and rural areas are persecuted from the Orthodox and from the Muslim people. The church is growing day by day in spite of all these problems. Debre Markos Full Gospel Church is preaching the gospel to the area and also doing social work by helping the very aged and widows who are the poorest of the poor. 

In 2006 BHW staff visited this church, heard their vision and saw their commitment. They were assisting five very vulnerable widows and children; they lived on the church site in a little cottage. It became very clear that the church wanted to increase the number of people being cared for and it was agreed to include this as an essential part of the engagement in Ethiopia.

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries are 25-30 of the most vulnerable people in Debre Markos. Some have been identified from the extended church family, others have been selected in consultation with the local government. One of the main reasons for involving the local government is to show that the church is very keen to contribute to the local community and to serve those who are in authority. The beneficiaries are mainly women and a few men who cannot support themselves.

We have brief profiles on all these people and their stories are very sad. Most have found themselves abandoned and are trying to scrape a living together by begging. The church wants them to live their years out with dignity, not shame.

What We Like About The Partnership

There are many great aspects to this partnership:
1) The local church had already noticed the need and were doing their best to assist with the poor and vulnerable 
2) There is a strong will in the church to care for these people
3) This initiative comes from the leaders of the church, it's not just a peripheral ministry
4) There is a good group of local people willing to minister to the beneficiaries

Key People

Leadership Profile

Pastor Melaku has been serving the Lord in the Debre Markos Full Gospel Believer’s church for many years. He is preaching, teaching, counselling in the church and planting churches in places where there were no churches before. He has graduated with a BA from Addis Ababa Bible College together with Global University in America and now he is continuing his MTH from the South Africa theological seminary. At present in addition to pastoring the church he is coordinating northern Ethiopian missionaries by training them and guiding them. He is very devoted and a concerned brother for the gospel of Jesus Christ and His kingdom.

Vision And Annual Strategy

The vision is to care for the poorest in the community. Apart from caring for those who need it, they want to show to the community that the gospel includes everyone and causes people to care for the poor and vulnerable.

The strategy is to provide basic housing, food and school supplies for those in the programme.

Personal Testimony
Real "Life Change" Stories
BT
One of my daughters asked her friend to share with her about being a Christian, and they testified to her about Christianity being the better way to follow. My daughter became a Christian first. She was a student then and at times would say she was studying with her exercise books but really she was reading the Bible. One day I saw that she wasn’t reading her exercise book and asked her what she was reading. She told me, “If you believe me, this is Jesus Christ who will save you.” I said to her, “If he saved me, why is there no other thing to protect me to follow Christ?” My husband was a police man in Gonder and my son was in College at this time. 

Then my children and I started reading the Bible. We received Christ and for two years we worshipped Christ in secret. No one knew, not even my husband. Then one time, my neighbour found out and she said to my husband, “There are two religions in your house, you can’t stay there.” 

On New Year’s day, he took his salary and left me and three children with nothing. One of our boys also left, but three of our children were willing to follow Christ. Because my husband left us, we had no money and we were starving. 

When the leader of our church heard about our situation he explained to the church and asked why they had left us to starve. Then the church started to give us 100 birr (US$10) a month to help support us. From then, we tithed 10% which left us with 90 birr. 

Then our neighbour told my husband, a policeman in another region, about this. He came and shot our daughter because she brought another religion into our home. He shot her in the head but it was only on the side of her head, so she fell to the ground and the blood poured all over the floor. This was at a time when there was a lot of persecution of Christians, and we were shouting but no one came to help us. The Christians did not come because they were too scared. Everyone else was celebrating because of bringing death to a Christian. 

Because she was shot at night, no people, no friends could help us and there was no one to take us to the hospital. We were at home all night. The next day, the husband of the neighbour who was against us, came and took my daughter to the hospital. 

After that, until the new government, came we suffered a lot. We were frightened all the time because of what my husband had done. He was determined to kill her. When the new government came, three years later, everything settled down. I was also getting stronger with the Lord. I have been 19 years in the prayer group ministry at church. I have been saved for 20 years. 

We did not have our own house – we were in a government house – and my husband was a policeman so he used the local authority. He went to the local government to chase me out of the house but the local government said to him, “Why should we chase her out, she has children?” And they didn’t. 

My daughter survived. This year she graduated from teacher’s training school. She recently started work so my daughter, every month, gives me 100 birr in addition to what is sent from the church and this is how I survive. God bless you for helping to save me.

We bless you and thank God for you and your mission to look after the widows and orphans. Whenever we have a meal we thank God and we thank you. For you look after what God gave you and you share it with us. We pray for your church and for your country for God to bless you and what you are doing.

Partnership Overview 

Nguluni is a small town east of Nairobi. It is open grassland, very dry and short of water. Many of the people are very poor and resort to collecting ground water for their needs. By the end of the dry season only mud is left in the pools, the water is contaminated, crops have often failed and the people are even more hungry. Like many parts of Kenya, HIV/AIDS is rampant. Many schools are substandard.

However, things are slowly changing.

Because of the urban sprawl from Nairobi, wealthy people are buying large tracts of land in the area and building homes. This is changing the demographics of Nguluni.

In the past, many of those who lived there had few options about where they lived and there was widespread poverty. These were the conditions that Robert and Rose Gitau found when they arrived to begin to plant a church in the area. During the early stages of developing the church they realised the many needs of the community. They formed their church not only to be a place of teaching and worship but created it to be a place of holistic ministry. 

History of Partnership

Robert and Rose began identifying the greatest needs and immediately worked to meet them. These included the development of a school, a new borehole, a health clinic, job creation programmes and a church.

They are very compassionate and felt a heavy burden for the people in their community. Despite the challenges they faced, Robert and Rose were hopeful that there would be long term transformation in many lives and families and in the whole community. 

BHW first visited in 2002 and soon after began to partner with this ministry. The partnership began by assisting with the salaries of the teachers and the needs of the boarders. A micro-enterprise fund to assist people to get ahead and develop self-sustaining lives was also commenced.

The micro-loan programme grew and was shifted to Nairobi (KEN03c). The school grew and over time other small developments occurred; a fish pond was developed and a greenhouse for growing vegetables was built (KEN03d). The clinic grew and a full time medical staff member was brought in. The one main church planted other smaller churches in surrounding communities. More and larger buildings were added to house the boarders during the school term.

Over time the needs also grew. A series of bad harvests caused even greater poverty and more young people and children were not going to school. There was pressure to keep adding more and more students until they found themselves overstretched. As a result, more leaders were brought in and the whole ministry was restructured. One outlying school was closed and the small secondary school was also closed. 

As the restructuring commenced in 2014, Rose died, leaving Robert to carry the burden and lead the transition. Both Robert and Rose had a lot of faith and a deep love for children, so it was always hard to say no to the needs. The process of restructuring contributes to this being a much more sustainable work in the long term.  

Beneficiaries

There are a number of beneficiaries including the children and families of the local community who come to the church and to the school. A number of poor children without families also benefit from the home the church provides. Many local poor people also benefit from having this ministry in the area. They have access to a clinic and to clean water from the school site. 

What We Like About The Partnership

We love this partnership because of the quality of Christian love the children are receiving. Robert is chaplain to the school and pastor in the church. He is frequently at the school, talking to the children about Jesus, playing games and leading Bible studies. Robert has a vitality of life and genuine love for the children that is very obvious.

Leaders are being developed now and taking up roles within the programme. 

Key People 

Leadership Profile

Muthui Kisau
Muthui heads up the Board that now governs the school. He is married to Hannah. They have two children and live in Kimathi, Nairobi. Muthui is the Pastor of Kimathi Chapel and Director of a number of schools run by the FOB churches. He trained in Zambia in the mid 1980's and has both passion and experience in assisting people. He also oversees the FOB Revolving Fund micro-loan programme (KEN03c). 

Other People Involved 

Isaac and Maria Basegere 
Isaac saw Robert and Rose as his surrogate parents and thanks God for their involvement in his life. He would not have been able to get married without the financial support of Robert and Rose. Getting married in Africa is a costly affair and with this expense they used up their savings which has prevented them achieving their goal of returning to Congo for further study.

Isaac is heavily involved in the church with Robert and other leaders and is passionate about sharing the message of Christ. One of the things he enjoys about living in Kenya is that he has the opportunity and time to share the gospel. In Congo there is not this opportunity to do so due to all the fighting and war.

Isaac also plays music in the churches and was previously teaching music at the school. He is in charge of the clinic as the medical officer and since Rose's death has taken on a further role as the treasurer of the school.

Isaac was born in the DRC and had to flee after racial tensions erupted into war and the destruction of Nyakunde Mission Station in 2003. His brother was killed during the massacre. Since coming to Kenya his life has changed greatly and he has become an integral part of the leadership team. 

Vision and Annual Strategy
The vision is to provide schooling for children so they get access to education. In the process of this they hope the children will discover salvation in Jesus Christ and become good citizens of Kenya.

Their strategy is to provide good quality education by hiring teachers who are capable of teaching well. Quality is important to them. This sees about 200 children in school, about 50 in preschool and about 70 boarding in hostels.

Personal Testimony 

Real "Life Change" Stories

There are hundreds of stories of life change. Four of the teachers in the school are Robert and Rose's 'children'. Others are living all over the world and many are in Christian ministry. Some are lawyers and accountants and they frequently come back home. 

Joyce has a terrible history of abuse and arrived at school having been raped a number of times by her father. He is now in jail. Her mother became a prostitute and is very sick and not expected to live long. Her grandmother is responsible for her but cannot help much. 

She has been so traumatized that she has struggled at school from the time she came but she has started to improve. The Ministry of Education is pleased with the rehabilitation that has taken place and the signs of increased interest in life and education. She is now a lot happier and plays and smiles with the other children.

Partnership Overview 

Robert Gitau and his late wife Rose have been instruments of transformation for many years in the Tala/Nguluni community. They chose to go and live there to plant a church. Finding great poverty caused them to start a school as well and over the past years have mentored and assisted many families and individuals. 

History Of Partnership

After their marriage, Robert and Rose began to serve God by travelling to different villages preaching and teaching. Eventually they bought a small plot of land in Nguluni and launched a small church. The church began to grow and they started to not only help the community with spiritual needs but to help economically and physically as well. Robert and Rose adopted many children whose parents had died from AIDS or who had been abandoned. At one stage they took in six orphans when their parents, relatives of Robert and Rose, passed away. Robert and Rose became responsible for raising them along with their previously adopted children.

BHW personnel first met Robert in 2002 at a conference. On the next visit to Kenya a visit was paid to the church and school. It was very obvious from the first visit that Robert and Rose were key people and making a significant contribution to their community so an application was presented and accepted to commence funding. This commenced in 2003.

Robert and Rose's ministry is based around being available to people. Their home is open 24/7.

Each year since 2003 BHW has visited Robert and Rose and observed their ongoing compassion and love for their community. A number of Western young people have gone to stay with them in their home to help with the children in the school.

Robert and Rose started a school, a boarding home, built the school buildings and a preschool, put in a borehole for the community, started a clinic, started a micro-finance revolving fund and built extra accommodation at their home for long term visitors who have nowhere to stay.

Robert also leads a ministry called Fellowship of Believers. There are a number of churches and church planters involved in this. They have mentored many young people in education, ministry and church planting.

Early in 2006 Rose became quite unwell and her eyesight was affected. She was in hospital for two weeks and was finally diagnosed with diabetes. Her blood pressure was very unstable. Because of this she had to slow down a lot. Robert also had to slow down to care more for her. Since then Rose struggled with ill health and in May 2014 she passed away. This was a severe shock for all those involved in the work. However, the team that they were building have rallied around and within weeks were making many of the decisions for the ministry. 

Beneficiaries

Robert is the primary beneficiary of this partnership now that Rose has gone. They are extremely generous people and give away most of what they have for the benefit of those to whom they were called to serve. Finances for them and for the work have always been a real challenge. 

Throughout their ministry they rarely had regular support until BHW began partnering with them. They are key people and Robert will continue to be for the foreseeable future. 

What We Like About The Partnership

This partnership is effective, not because of the organised way it is run, but because Robert is a dispenser of grace to all who come near him.

Children are being loved, the school is growing and many families are being helped. Along with this, the needs of the community are being met through the church he leads, a clean water well, the clinic, and job training programmes. To allow Robert to continue the spiritual care to the children and the community, trained people have been brought in to run the clinic and school. 

Robert and Rose invest their lives in the community and are fully engaged.

The ministry is operated by the local church allowing the community to be aided not only physically and economically, but spiritually as well. The jobs in all areas are delegated to very capable staff allowing Robert to concentrate on being the chaplain to the school, focusing on the spiritual needs of the children.

Key People 

Leadership Profile

Robert and Rose were physically childless but they have as many 'children' as it is possible to imagine. Wherever you go in Tala people call out “jambo” to Uncle Robert.

Robert is a visionary, there is always a new thing on the horizon. Rose was too, but she was also the accountant. Robert will struggle without Rose there. Fortunately other people are stepping into crucial roles since Rose's death.

Vision And Annual Strategy 

It is hard to calculate the real needs that Robert has. Apart from the fact that he would be very reluctant to talk about it, he just shares everything he has. As long as he is there he will be helping large numbers of people.

The school can be budgeted for and good records are kept but the real needs are those of the scores of people that are being helped. He helps them when there is money, “when the Lord provides”.  Robert is relatively unstructured and we do not want this to change.

It is important for the morale of the ministry that Robert continues to be assisted in some way. Life was tough before, it will be more so since Rose's death. Supporting him is a very practical way of helping many people and encouraging him.

Personal Testimony 

Real "Life Change" Stories

Esther Kitari
Esther’s mother Rose Dinda lived with Rose and Robert. She was banished from home by her husband and lived there with four of her children. She has four other children also. These other children were educated by Rose and Robert. The two boys have dropped out of high school and are now labourers. The other daughter has dropped out of high school also due to a lack of money for fees. Another daughter has a mental disability due to Rose being beaten by her husband while she was pregnant. This daughter is now in a special school for children with special needs.

Esther is seven years old and is in standard three. She is a day student and enjoys school. She likes reading, particularly books in English and her favourite subjects are English and Kiswahili. She enjoys playing with her friends, especially playing football, and her best friend is Sharon.

Esther started at CEC school in standard one. She loves school, all subjects, and would like to become an English teacher. She also enjoys helping her mother at home washing utensils and cleaning and would like to help her mum “always”.

Partnership Overview

This is a micro-enterprise fund for small scale loans that will provide employment and income for ministry in the future. The loans are mainly for medical emergencies, school fees, buildings for small business, furnishings or business boosts.

History Of Partnership

After their marriage, Robert and Rose Gitau (KEN03b) wanted to serve the Lord, and began by travelling to different villages preaching and bringing aid to the poor. Eventually they bought a small plot of land in Nguluni and launched a small church. The church began to grow and they started to not only help the community with spiritual needs but economically and physically as well.

Each year since 2003 BHW has visited Robert and Rose and seen their ongoing compassion and love for their community. They have started a school, a boarding home, built the school buildings, a preschool, put in a borehole for the community, started a clinic and built extra accommodation at their home for long term visitors who have nowhere to stay. 

They also lead a ministry called Fellowship of Believers. There are a number of churches and church planters involved in this. They have mentored many young people in education, ministry and church planting. As they became more involved in this they saw a real need to set-up a micro-enterprise fund to assist Christians in their community lift themselves out of deep poverty and attempt to become self-sufficient.  

Beneficiaries

Members of Fellowship of Believers (FOB) who are given a helping hand out of their poverty and assisted to support themselves. Fellowship of Believers is an evangelical denomination of around 90 churches in Kenya. The fund is available to members of FOB and other Christians who are willing to join the fund and go through the application process.

What We Like About The Partnership

A good process has been set up with good accountability. It is helping people to grow and develop and as it grows it will penetrate to many more people on the margins of society. This is already beginning to happen. There is a clear plan for development and this has the ability to become a very empowering programme.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Muthui Kisau is the director of the fund.  He is married to Hannah. They have two children and live in Kimathi, Nairobi. Muthui is the Pastor of Kimathi Chapel and Director of a number of schools run by the FOB churches. He trained in Zambia in the mid 1980's and has both passion and experience in assisting people.

Vision And Annual Strategy
The programme grows by word of mouth, this is the best way. The development strategy is to grow the fund around the current and new centres that Fellowship of Believers is developing. 

The fund also has the purpose (from it's profits) of assisting with the establishment of table loans. A number are being set up, slowly at first, but there is great potential in these. 

Personal Testimony

Real Life Change Stories

Kiringa is a teacher at Twin Birds Academy in Kamulu.  He lives in the Ruai community and is single.  He joined the Fund in February 2006 and saved K/=5,500 ($US80).  After 11 months he got a loan of K/=75,000 ($US1,100) and bought a piece of land.  He has fully repaid the loan and is saving around K/=500 ($US7 per month).  After paying back the first loan he then took out a second loan for K/=60,000 ($US850) to start a small business.  He buys sweets and other small wholesale items in Nairobi and sells them to the retailers in the area he lives which is about 30 kms outside Nairobi.  It has turned out to be quite a profitable little business.  He has paid back the second loan now and is planning to get another loan to boost the business to another level by increasing the amount of stock he can purchase and perhaps get further discounts because of larger orders.

The Fund has been a great help to Kiringa so that he hopes now to become self sufficient.  Before this he had no hope of improving his living standards as he had no security so was unable to go to a commercial bank for a loan.  He intends to continue saving with the scheme and using it as he needs to.  It has made it possible for him to learn many things as well by being involved in business, things he would never have learned without this opportunity.

Noah Otieno is an interesting guy, full of enthusiasm and hope.  He is 25 years old and lives and works in Njiru, a small town just outside Nairobi.  His dream is to have an electrical repair and sales shop in the centre of town one day but presently he has a mobile telephone accessories shop in Njiru.  He also fixes electrical appliances, TV's, CD players and anything else people bring in.  If he can't find a spare part he'll make one!  He learned how to do this sort of thing from a friend while he was a young boy.  He is good at business and employs one other guy to help him.  There is a lot of potential to develop the business.  To start his business he saved K/=5,000 ($US70) and bought the first accessories in 2007.

From the shop he is now able to support five siblings who are dependent on him.  They also support an orphan who has no one to help them. 

He has known Muthui Kisau for a long time and sometimes goes to the church he pastors.  Muthui helped him to save the money in the first instance to become part of the loan scheme.  He started saving and struggled to keep it up.  With Muthui's help he saved enough to become eligible for a loan and borrowed K/=10,000 ($US140).  With this he bought more stock for his shop.   This has increased his business and made him more efficient.  Once he has paid back this loan he expects to get another as he needs even more stock.  He struggles to make the repayments and to save money as well towards the next loan but he understands he has to work hard in these early days of starting a business.  He wants to build the business on the basis of good relationships and good service.  With Muthui's help he has also purchased a computer and does a lot of research into the problems and how to fix them on the web.  He has what it takes to be a successful businessman!

Partnership Overview

Godofredo and Teresa Rubio are involved in pastoral care, teaching, counselling and evangelism. Godofredo has written the Life Course which is a five part evangelistic Bible study used extensively throughout Peru. Recently they have been involved in a church plant in Curahuasi in the south of Peru. Godofredo and Teresa have been leading church planting in the Cajamarca area.

History Of Partnership

Bright Hope World has partnered with Godofredo and Teresa since 2001. They were recommended by Guy Pembroke, an English missionary working in Cajamarca city. Guy and his wife, Jocelyn are known to Bright Hope World's South America Partnership Facilitator through previous missionary work. Godofredo is a gifted Bible teacher and evangelist and both these gifts have been used by God to plant churches in the Cajamarca region. Teresa has a significant input into the women's ministry in the area and is involved with Godofredo in giving marriage counselling. Godofredo is an elder in the local church. They live in the northern mountain area of Peru.

Beneficiaries

This partnershiop primarily benefits the people in the city of Cajamarca and the regional towns of Cajamarca in the south of Peru. Through Godofredo’s talent of writing discipleship material and other Bible study materials, many Christians in Colombia have also benefitted.

What We Like About The Partnership

This partnership has a wide as well as deep individual influence. The influence is wide because Godofredo and Teresa reach the unreached throughout various regions of Peru, have planted five new churches in the area and spiritually teach and build up Christians both within Peru and outside of it.

They have a deep influence through the individual spiritual input they have into the lives of local church members by way of pulpit teaching, marriage counselling and discipleship. They are key leaders in the church in Peru and has a passion to see new churches established in Peru.

Relationship To Other Partnerships

Godofredo is the contact for the other Bright Hope World partners in the Cajamarca region. He distributes the financial support to Serberino Malimba (PER13) and also requests the reports from Seberino and Jose Isabel (PER03a).

Key People 

Leadership Profile

Godofredo and Teresa have two adult daughters. Before committing their lives to Christ they ran a tourism business. Godofredo is an elder in the local church, “Centro Biblico”. Teresa has a ministry among the women of the church where she gives marriage counselling as well as being involved in evangelism of cities and towns both in the Cajamarca region and in coastal and southern regions within Peru.

Vision And Annual Strategy

Godofredo and Teresa have a vision to plant new churches within Peru, to disciple believers and to train and build up the church to be a reproducing church.

They want to identify towns and villages that have no current church and to evangelise those areas. There is also a strategy to identify areas in the south of Peru - they currently live in the northern mountain area of Peru - where there are opportunities to evangelise and see new churches established.

Partnership Overview

Jose Isabel works with Quechua speaking people in the mountain region of Cajamarca, in the north of Peru. His village is situated some 18km outside of the city of Cajamarca, a city of 280,000 people. Jose works with a local church, teaching and discipling, and also travels to a number of outlying villages up to two days travel from his home, these villages previously had no churches or Christians. 

Jose Isabel is an evangelist with a passion to see the Quechua speaking people of his region come to know Christ as their Lord and Saviour. There are 19 different Quechua languages in Peru and Jose was involved in translating the Bible into the particular language of his region.

History of Partnership

Bright Hope’s relationship with Jose was initially as a partner but that changed some two years ago when Bright Hope financed a project for Jose, a small carpentry shop. The project has grown big enough to sustain both Jose and his wife in their missionary work as well as providing a living for Jose’s son and his wife and Jose’s daughter and her husband. There are also funds from the business that are made available for the local church and its outreach into the local community.

Beneficiaries

Jose Isabel and his family.

What We Like About The Partnership

We are enthusiastic that this project provides a means for the Gospel to spread into formerly unreached villages in this region. A positive of the project is that it provides financial support for three married couples directly and a local church, to a lesser extent, indirectly.

Another exciting thing about this project is that as a result of the evangelistic efforts of Jose Isabel churches are being planted in approximately 3 -4 remote villages and people have committed their lives to Christ. Bright Hope is most excited about this.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Jose Isabel is married to Candelaria and they have three children.  He is an elder in his local church in the village of Calvario, this is a Quechua speaking church. He and his family attend this church where his brother is also an elder. The church has commended Jose Isabel to evangelise and church plant in the towns and villages near to and further a field. Jose has been an elder there for longer than the time Bright Hope has known him, since 2001.

Other People Involved

Jose Isabel is partnered in the Lord’s work by his wife mainly although his son and daughter-in-law and his daughter and son-in-law also help out. Jose is backed by his local church who provide manpower when needed and constant prayer.

Vision and Annual Strategy

The vision is to see new Christians in villages where there are none at present, also they desire to see churches established and the believers in these churches discipled and for them to reach their own people.

Jose Isabel formulates a plan that sees him visiting the villages he has targeted in the region on a rotating basis. These visits need to be planned as some are two days travel away and that travel is not always by car sometimes they walk.

Annual Budget

As Jose Isabel is now self-supporting we are no longer sending any financial support to him.

Partnership Overview

Jorge was part of the initial team charged with planting a new church in one of the suburbs of Cajamarca.  They originally formed part of the congregation in the central part of Cajamarca city called Centro Cristiano Evangelico. Jorge is a mathematics teacher by profession and initially gave private classes to support his ministry for the Lord.

Bright Hope began its partnership with Jorge once the new church plant was under way and the new congregation numbered around 70 Christians. Jorge is one of the two elders in that church and is responsible for a good majority of the teaching and pastoring of the church.

History of Partnership 

Bright Hope started partnering with Jorge around 2004.  He was recommended to us by an expatriate missionary working in Cajamarca at the time.

Beneficiaries

Jorge, his wife and their son are direct beneficiaries but the church that Jorge works in, Centro Vida, would be indirect beneficiaries in terms of the spiritual input that Jorge has into their lives.

What We Like About The Partnership

The church plant that Jorge has been involved in. Also he and the church have a great passion for planting another church in a village called San Juan. As well as the church planting there is a lot of evangelistic outreach work that the church does through their home groups.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Jorge is a maths teacher by profession and gives some private classes.  He was married on 10 December 2004 and has been a Christian since he was 17 or 18 years old.  He is one of the two elders in the local church and so is involved in pastoral duties in the church. He also runs a home group and coordinates the worship team. He is a driver for the planting of a new church in a village that has no evangelical church.

Other People Involved

Jorge's wife Cecilia. Also the other elder in the church, a fine Christian man named Wilser. Other key people would be all the members of the church “Centro Vida”.

Vision and Annual Strategy

To see people come to faith in Christ in their immediate community and then to see the same happen in a village that the church has targeted.

Annual Budget

The chicken farm established by Centro Cristiana Vida church (PER05b) now provides financial support for Jorge and his family so we no longer provide any funding from Bright Hope World.

Partnership Overview

Saul and Clara work with a Peruvian mission group called Segadores, which is dedicated to reaching the unreached tribes of Amazonian Peru. They form part of the core mission group and Saul has been a past president. Currently they are committee members. Their ministry takes place in two geographical areas, one is the Amazononian jungle where they endeavour to reach various tribes with the Gospel. The other area is Lima, the Peruvian capital, where they are involved in Segadores' training school.

At the training school they coordinate the Cross-Cultural Missionary Training (ETAE) where native tribal missionaries are trained in how to effectively reach their own people. Saul’s role is to organise, promote, and direct the training programme for missionary candidates between the months of January and March. Clara is in charge of preparing the food for the students.

As a Bible teacher, Saul also gives Bible training with the Precepts Inductive Bible Method to pastors and Christian leaders six times a year in different parts of the country, from April to November. He does this mostly in tribal communities of the jungle and Andes. He also teaches cross-cultural subjects in city churches and at pastors’ conferences. Together he and Clara also give marriage counselling to families and disciple them. 

Currently they work 50% with Segadores and 50% with a church in Pariachi, Lima. The church is involved with migrants from the Andes and the Amazon who come to Lima to work, find there is none and set up life in shanty towns in Pariachi. 

History Of Partnership

Development of this partnership began in 1999.  They were initially considered for partnership by Bright Hope World's Executive Chairman. 

Beneficiaries

This partnership directly benefits Saul and Clara and their family, providing financial support so they can continue their ministry with Segadores.  However this thereby indirectly benefits various tribes of the Amazon. These tribes speak their own languages and a number of them have never had, until very recently, any contact with people outside their tribes. The ministry of Segadores has a spiritual content as well as a physical health and wellbeing content.

What We Like About The Partnership

This ministry provides a holistic approach in that they not only endeavour to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ but they also provide for the physical needs of the people they are reaching.

Key People 

Leadership Profile

Saul is from a Quechua village in the Andes of the State of Lima. His parents were Christians and when he was 14 years old, God worked in his heart convincing him he was a sinner and needed salvation. 

In 1976, at the age of 18, God called Saul to serve full-time. Leaving his village, he went to the city of Huancayo to study the Bible for four years. In 1979 he met Peter Hocking, Director of Segadores, and then left to work with Segadores among tribal communities in the jungles of Peru.

Saul began by working with the Yanesha tribe, and with Quechuas of the Huanuco region. He worked for 8 years training Christian workers and Sunday School teachers. From 1988-1991 he studied in the Evangelical Seminary of Lima.

Clara grew up in the Andes of Peru, in the State of Ancash but subsequently went to live in Lima. While working in the home of the Hockings, she heard the gospel and received Christ as her Saviour. Later, she felt God’s call to prepare herself in the Evangelical Seminary of Lima in order to serve God.

Saul and Clara were married in 1989 and have three children; Yeremias (born 1989), Yudith (born 1991) and Yuliana (born 1994).

Other People Involved

Saul and Clara’s are accompanied by a number of fellow workers including Manuel and Luci, Melchor and Augustina, Peter and Martha, Macedonio and Nita, Antonia, Oscar and Aura, Marcos and Adina.

Saul and Clara’s three children also all have a vision to reach the unreached tribes of the Amazon. 

Vision and Annual Strategy

Saul and Clara's vision is to reach the unreached tribes of Amazonian Peru. Their strategy is to make initial contact and progress with community projects to the point where they are able to share the Gospel with them.

The annual strategy is to progress from where they have reached, which varies from tribe to tribe, to the next point, moving closer to the goal of introducing them to the saving grace of Christ. This is a long term work as, in some cases, tribes speak a language that no one has ever heard or learned previously. There have been a number of tribes discovered over the past 10 years or so that civilisation did not know existed.

Partnership Overview

Manuel and his family have taken on the considerable challenge of starting up a new ministry in a new field of service. Manuel is in charge of developing a missionary training centre in the jungle town of Atalaya, strategically located for helping prepare workers from the churches of five nearby tribes in the region; the Chipibos, the Ashaninkas, the Piros, the Asheninkas, and the Amahuacas.  There are also three unreached tribes in the region that require missionaries.  

History Of Partnership

Manuel and Luci have been Bright Hope World partners since 2001. The partnership was initiated through Bright Hope World's Executive Chairman in conjunction with Peter Hocking, the founder of Segadores, an Indigenous Peruvian Missionary organisation dedicated to reach the yet unreached tribes of Peru.  

Initially they were involved in ministry to the Incawasi people group who live in the northern most mountain region of Peru. However in 2010 they decided to take a break from the Segadores ministry and took up a pastoral role in their local church in Chiclayo as Manuel was keen to gain some pastoral experience.  In 2012 they returned once more to work with Segadores and commence this new ministry. 

Beneficiaries

This partnership provides financial support for Manuel and Luci to enable them to carry out their ministry. The people of Atalaya and surrounding tribes will also be indirect beneficiaries. 

What We Like About The Partnership
Bright Hope World is encouraged by the fact that this training centre will be reaching out to help workers in five nearby tribes and also training people to reach the three unreached tribes in the region. Manuel and Luci are very competent and have a deep passion for these unreached groups. 

Key People 

Leadership Profile

Manuel was born in 1961, is married to Luci and they have two daughters, Stephanie (born 1996) and Sue Abigail (born 1999). He received Christ at the age of 15 and since then has served the Lord through helping churches in several parts of Peru. Manuel studied theology in Maranatha Bible Institute in Chiclayo then later at the Evangelical Seminary of Lima.

Manuel is gifted at teaching and in leadership. Soon after graduating from the Bible Institute, Manuel was introduced to the Segadores missionary training programmes and participated in them. This opened his eyes to the needs of the unreached in Peru and he became convinced this was the kind of work that God wanted him to be doing. 

Luci Berru was born in 1962, and grew up in a Catholic family in the city of Chiclayo. At the age of 12 she became a Christian and became active in a Christian Missionary Alliance Church in her city. She did most of her studies in Chiclayo, then later moved to Lima with her family. There she got to know about Segadores, and attended one of their training programmess. She then helped in Segadores as a secretary which was where she and Manuel met. 

Vision and Annual Strategy

The vision of Segadores is to reach the unreached tribes of Peru, see people commit their lives to Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and then see churches planted. The training centre Manuel and Luci are seeking to establish will prepare workers to reach unreached tribes and plant churches in that jungle area. 

Partnership Overview

Antonia works with the missions group, Segadores, a group that is dedicated to reaching previously unreached Amazonian jungle tribes. She has a deep love and vision for ministering to the needs of missionary children in Segadores and also to the children in the Amazon jungles of Peru. 

Antonia's ministry is called “Heirs of Grace” (PER10a). She frequently visits the Amazon jungle and the work being done among the Asheninka tribal group. Antonia also works with the tribal women training them in home skills such as sewing.

Antonia’s ministry consists mainly of taking the gospel to neglected children in tribal villages, mostly of the Asheninka tribe. Her work with them involves the following: 

1) They are taught the Word of God in school and in the church. 
2) Every Sunday the children that attend the church are given a nutritious breakfast. 
3) Vitamin supplements are given to the children studying kindergarten in the school, as well as to the children in the village that live in extreme poverty. 
4) A feeding programme for school children provides breakfast for all of those in primary school (it was found that most of the children with poor grades have not had breakfast). 
5) Orphans and neglected children are given school supplies at the beginning of each school year. 
6) Some of the families are taught how to raise chickens, and are given chickens and a chicken-coop, so that they can feed their children eggs. 
7) Teacher-training is given to native teachers of tribal children twice a year. 

Her ministry to the children of Segadores missionaries involves the following: 

1) Sponsors are sought for each child. These commit to pray for the child on a regular basis, and to give them a call when their father is on a missionary trip. The sponsor also provides a gift to the child on their birthday and Christmas. 
2) They are helped with school supplies. 
3) The parents are given instruction on important subjects that help them be a better parent. 
4) Once a year (usually near the end of the year) the children and their parents are taken on a short outing to a recreation centre, and new clothes are bought for the children. 

She also helps needy children in a poor section of Lima in the following ways: 

1) Bible classes are given to them every Saturday afternoon in the Segadores Centre for Mission. In this way many of the children have come to know God. 
2) The children are served a plate of food every Saturday because many of them come to the classes without having had lunch. 
3) Their birthdays are celebrated and they are given a gift. At Christmas they also receive a gift.

History Of Partnership

Antonia was involved in the work of Segadores before Bright Hope World became involved. Our partnership has helped her to meet her financial outgoings and so enabling her to be more focused on the work that the Lord has called her to.

Beneficiaries

This project directly provides financial support for Antonia but the Amazon tribal children and women and missionary children in the jungle also indirectly benefit from this project.

What We Like About The Partnership

Antonia has a deep passion for the women and children of these unreached Amazonian jungle tribes and frequently visits to preach the Gospel. This has changed lives and been a blessing to the children she shows God’s love to.

Key People 

Leadership Profile

Antonia was born in 1960 into a Catholic family in a rural community in the state of Amazonas. She has three sisters and one brother. All the family worshipped idols so she never heard about Jesus. However, her mother had a Catholic Bible that Antonia read secretly. In 1977 she became a Christian at an evangelistic campaign in a nearby town. After finishing her high school studies she studied theology through extension courses at the Evangelical Seminary of Lima (1992-1996) and graduated with a Diploma in Pastoral Theology. In Lima she attended a Christian Missionary Alliance Church and began working with small children.  

In 1993 Antonia learned that Segadores trained missionaries. She participated in one of their training programmes that year, in the theory and field practice; then continued participating during her summer vacations until finishing her seminary studies. After graduating from seminary (in 1996), Antonia joined Segadores, and entered a ministry of sharing God’s love to children of exploited and forgotten tribal villages of the jungle. Through her cross-cultural experiences, she felt God’s call to help forgotten (or neglected) children in tribal communities. Soon she called her ministry “Heirs of Grace”.  

She is the treasurer of Segadores and a member of the Board of Directors.  She suffers from a back ailment following a fall from a horse, our financial partnering with her helps with these medical needs.

Vision And Annual Strategy

Antonia's vision is:

1) For children and women to be presented with the gospel in the jungle regions of Peru and shown God’s love as well as training them in various practical life skills.
2) That as many people as possible in these small villages have the opportunity to respond to the gospel and that new Christians will in turn become disciplemakers. 

Partnership Overview

In 1995 Macedonio left the Ashaninka tribe, an Amazonian tribe, to pastor a small jungle church with a mixed membership of Yaneshas, Ashaninkas and mestizos (mixed race). He visits frequently the Ashaninka tribe in order to train pastors and missionaries among them. He is also working with Segadores part time, helping in the search of unreached tribes, for which he has a special burden. Within this goal, he has been asked to look for and to train a native missionary couple, willing to go to those unreached tribes. He is also teaching other pastors in his town how to use the inductive Bible study method in their ministry.

The work that Macedonio and Nita are involved with is community based, they, along with their fellow Segadores missionaries, have been working on setting up drinkable water for some of the communities they live in, they have also been running medical care missions in the form of dental clinics with the donated services of Christian dentists from within Peru. The aim of these kind of services is to break down barriers between the jungle tribes and outsiders, this way the long term goal will be to preach the Gospel and to plant churches. They are well on the way in some communities but only just starting in others. There are a number of jungle tribes that have only had recent exposure to people from outside of their tribe and there are still tribes that have not had any outside contact at all! Segadores want to reach all of these ethnic groups with the Gospel.

History Of Partnership

Macedonio was already doing all this before Bright Hope World became involved. He had been periodically visiting the tribal villages with Oscar Tello (another missionary Bright Hope is supporting), learning the language and showing God's love through their words and actions.  Bright Hope has now helped him financially for a number of years thereby relieving financial pressures and enabling him to be more actively involved in outreach work.

Beneficiaries

Directly this project financially supports Macedonio but indirectly the unreached tribal groups of Amazonian Peru are also beneficiaries.

What We Like About The Partnership

Macedonio has a real desire for people to hear the gospel and respond and also to be built up in their Christian walk.  He has been involved in this work for many years and is very effective in the work he is involved with.  By partnering with Macedonio the financial needs of being in the Lord’s work are lessened and it is easier for him to travel to the various villages.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Macedonio was born in 1969 and at the age of 16 received Christ as his personal Saviour.  At the age of 20 the Lord called him to a preaching ministry.  He has worked for many years with jungle groups and is regarded as an “expert” among the Segadores group on tribal outreach. In 2006 he married Nita. After their marriage they were traveling on a bus from the jungle with around 20 other people when their bus was held up by armed robbers who took all the possessions that everyone had, including all of the wedding presents and the wedding photos that Macedonio and Nita had! The police have since shot dead one of the robbers but the rest got away. This kind of danger is an everyday occurrence in the Amazon area.

Other People Involved

The Segadores missionary team Macedonio is part of is involved along with Macedonio in the evangelistic work.  A number of these missionaries are Bright Hope partners.  

Vision And Annual Strategy

For as many previously unreached people as possible to have the opportunity to hear the gospel in the jungle regions of Peru and that lives will to be changed with God’s love and the gospel.

Update

In June 2012 Macedonio and Nita made the decision to discontinue working with Segadores for a time. This was a difficult decision for them to make but a result of various circumstances.  Bright Hope World has therefore currently ceased its financial support of Maceonio and Nita.

Partnership Overview

Jose Isabel Ayay, a Bright Hope partner working with the Quechua people in the Cajamarca region, submitted a project idea to start a carpentry shop. He had some land with some trees that he will use for the timber shop and he will rent a small premises to carry out the work. The shop will support Jose's missionary work and in fact enable him to do more in relation to frequency of visits to the villages he goes to and at the same time provide food for him and his family.

History of Partnership

Jose Isabel commenced as a Bright Hope partner in 2002.  During that time he has come up with the project idea of a carpentry shop.  This has enabled Jose Isabel to become self-funding and Bright Hope has been able to pass on Jose Isabel's previous support to a new partner.

Beneficiaries

Jose Isabel Ayay and his extended family.  Other missionaries in Peru.  The local church. 

What We Like About The Partnership

This particular project will provide financial support for three married couples directly and a local church indirectly. It will enable Jose Isabel to be self funding and to help him achieve his goals of travelling, more often, to the outlying towns and villages to evangelise. 

Key People

Leadership Profile

Jose Isabel is an elder in his local church in the village of Calvario, this is a Quechua speaking church. He and his family attend this church where his brother is also an elder. The church has commended Jose Isabel to evangelise and church plant in the towns and villages near to and further afield. Jose has been an elder there for longer than the time Bright Hope has known him, since 2001.

Other People Involved

Jose Isabel's family are involved in this project, his son and son-in-law run the carpentry shop.

Vision and Annual Strategy

- To buy a set amount of carpentry machinery, to rent a workshop, and to mill timber.
- That the project will support Jose Isabel and his family.
- To provide employment for one or two people from Jose’s local church.

Annual Budget

No further funding is required to support the carpentry shop - it is now up and running and providing financial support for Jose Ayay.

Partnership Overview

The church at Centro Christiana Vida is currently running a trial chicken farm in Cajamarca. The purpose is to generate some profit to fund church planting in the Cajamarca region. The intention is to expand the chicken farm to fully fund Jorge Asto and his family as church planters. The chicken farm should be self supporting in six months.

The church of Centro Cristiana Vida since its inception has been focused on reaching out to the community and the surrounding area with the good news of the Gospel. They have a passion to plant another church in one of the surrounding towns as well as reaching out to their local community. They were very keen to expand their chicken farm. They believe that this project could provide financial support for the church planter or planters they send to San Juan a town in the Cajamarca region where there is no church and where they have a desire to see an outreach work established and eventually a church planted.  Also the proceeds of the project would go to supporting Jorge in his full time work thus meaning that Bright Hope could eventually withdraw its monthly partnership support.

They are currently trialing a chicken farm on a small scale on a piece of land adjacent to the church building.

History of Partnership

Jorge became a Bright Hope partner when the church plant of "Centro Cristiana Vida" was about six months old, that was in 2004.  The church is now well established and they are now looking to plant another church, the project will facilitate this.

Beneficiaries

Jorge Asto and other church planters.

What We Like About The Partnership

This church has a real heart for missions and a desire to reach out to their surrounding district with the Gospel.  They had already taken the initiative and started a small scale chicken farm to provide some financial support and so we are keen to help them develop this.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Jorge Asto and his wife. They live in the city of Cajamarca in the northern mountain area of Spain, a city of 180,000 people famous for Spains deception and slaughter of the Incas. Jorge is an elder in the Centro Vida church which is a church plant of approx 3 years ago. The church there has 70 members. Jorge is a mathematics teacher but has been full time with Centro Cristiana Vida for nearly 3 years, he is gifted in teaching, evangelism and leadership in general of the local church.

Other People Involved

Working closely with Jorge is a fellow elder, Wilser, who has a passion to see the church evangelise and plant other churches in the region.

Vision and Annual Strategy

The vision is to evangelise their town and other villages in their region and to plant at least one other church.

Annual Budget

The total amount required was USD$9,000. This included the construction of a building to house the chickens, the purchase of the chickens, the feed and all the costs involved in the setting up and the running of a chicken farm. They plan on selling 3,150 chickens in the first six months after setting up the farm which should realise USD$12500 approx. This suggests that the farm will be self supporting six months after starting sales of chickens.

In 2009 the chicken farm is now self-supporting and no further funding is required.

Partnership Overview

Rudy and Flor pastor two churches and are involved in a number of outreach Bible studies that have the potential to become new churches. They have been working in Ranao-Ranao, in Ligao City, since 1993 and there is a group of 90 people meeting in the church.

This project is providing financial support for Rudy and Flor so they can spend more time in ministry and do not have to worry about daily financial needs.  It also means that pastoral care is being provided to churches that have no resident pastor.

History Of Partnership

Len and Mary Savill are from New Zealand and went to the Philippines many years ago. While there they were part of establishing Emmaus Church Planting Ministries (now Empowered Christians in Partnership and Ministries). ECPM trains people in church planting and then sends them out to areas where there are no churches.

Some years ago Rudy and Flor went to Ranao-Ranao to plant a church. As of now, there are 90 believers regularly attending the church. Rudy and Flor Ortiz are thankful to God to see how the believers are improving in their Christian faith. 

The church at Ranao-Ranao have been involved in establishing a number of new fellowships / churches with Rudy and Flor leading this. They visit these groups regularly and Rudy is training more leaders from the church to assist him with leadership.

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries are the Ortiz family and those they minister to.

What We Like About The Partnership

We like this because the leaders are long term and have proved themselves. There is also a good structure around them for accountability and encouragement.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Rudy and Flor converted to Christ after being part of the New People's Army (the communist insurgency in the Philippines) during the Marcos era.  They were used to living in extremely rugged conditions as teenagers, when they formed their common-law "marriage" and had their first child.  After several years away from the region where their reputation was not good, they have returned as Christian missionaries to their own people. They are respected by both the people in the villages of the plains and also by the rebels who live in the hills.  As long as they avoid any direct relationship to the politicians and the military they have access to villagers for the sake of the gospel.

They were trained in an Emmaus church-planting team and have added skills in discipling to their natural gifts of evangelism.

Rudy and Flor have six children, four of whom are married, two still at home. Cristy Cyril is at college taking mechanical engineering. She also is leading ministries in the church so this is a family team. Natanael is at high school. Flor has had two strokes and is not well.  She is therefore unable to do hard work which puts extra pressure on Rudy.

Flor often goes with Rudy to the difficult areas to help him and this is sometimes dangerous.  There are many poor people in the area and sometimes Flor wants to quit but she stays because of the needs of the people.  They believe the Scripture that God has promised to be with them. 

On the church property they have developed a small Christian camp site. Groups come to use it and they run camps for young people. They live between their adjacent house and the camp site. Their life is a 24/7 available affair. 

Vision And Annual Strategy

The annual strategy is to continue doing evangelism, Bible studies, running a Sunday school and youth programmes at Ranao-Ranao. 

They will also mentor the leaders of other nearby church planting teams. 

Partnership Overview

Elvin Buenviaje is the Executive Director of Empowered Christians in Partnership & Ministries (formerly Emmaus Church Planting Ministries). He is on the full time staff of ECPM directly overseeing the operation of church planting activities and at the same time is involved in teaching church planting teams.  He also visits church planting teams on the mission site to provide pastoral care and to coach the team in implementing the church planting programme. 

Elvin has a vital role in every church planting project of ECPM in partnership with the local assemblies.  His basic responsibility is to ensure the effiicient implementation of the programme that will result in the birthing of new churches.  His influence and encouragement to the team who are in the frontline of gospel proclamation is invaluable.

He is also often invited to speak at evangelistic and leadership seminars during which he contributes to the spiritual and skill development of many church leaders.

History of Partnership

The partnership goes back to the days of Len and Mary Savill being missionaries in the Philippines. They introduced us to ECPM, a church planting movement. BHW has been supporting this partnership for a number of years. Elvin is the leader and supporting him provides stability and leadership to the ministry.

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries are Elvin and his family and indirectly those he leads.

What We Like About The Partnership

There is a clear church planting and growth outcome in ECPM. Elvin provides some of this but every year new initiatives are commenced and churches are planted. 

Elvin is passionate about the planting of a sustainable indigenous church in the Philippines as 86% of 80+ million people have not heard a meaningful presentation of the Good News.

He is very highly respected by the wider church and the people on his team.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Elvin is married to Fritzie (a school teacher) and they have three children, Amzi Tiel, Ezek Omri and Jazer Peter.  They live about an hour from the ECPM office.  During the first quarter of 2007 he suffered a stroke but fully recovered from this and was again actively back to work, overseeing the ministry of ECPM and providing pastoral care and mentoring to the church planting teams. Elvin is passionate about training and growing church leaders.

In 2014 Elvin had a more serious stroke and has been sidelined for many months. However, he is slowly recovering again. 

Vision And Annual Strategy

ECPM is committed to partnering with the local churches in equipping potential church leaders and in planting new assemblies in unreached communities. ECPM’s vision is to establish a campus ministry training programme. This is also in partnership with the assemblies and with the same aim of providing training opportunities to young leaders and to strengthen their youth ministry outreach programme.

Note

On 3 August 2016 Elvin sadly passed away following suffering a heart attack. ECPM are very thankful to the Lord for Elvin’s passionate contributions in church planting and praise the Lord for the many communities that came to know the Lord through ECPM while he was Executive Director.

After much prayer and deliberation, the ECPM Board have decided to continue providing financial support to Elvin’s family for a further two years to assist them in adjusting to the loss of their beloved husband and father and the financial implications of this. Elvin had given almost 27 years of his life to this ministry and he made ECPM very much a part of his family so it was considered appropriate to continue their financial support for a period.  

Partnership Overview

This fund was created as an emergency fund to help with medical and calamity assistance to the church planting teams of ECPM and their contacts in the area where they are ministering.  It has proved very useful in assisting the church planting teams to implement basic compassion to assist the building of relationships and provide a small resource so small responses can be made in the new communities.

History Of Partnership

Bright Hope World's partnership with ECPM goes back to the days of Len and Mary Savill being missionaries in the Philippines. They introduced us to ECPM, a church planting movement, and it has been a privilege to be able to partner with them for a number of years now.

Beneficiaries

Anyone involved in a church planting team associated with ECPM is eligible to apply for assistance from this fund. 

What We Like About The Partnership

ECPM is a well established church planting and leadership training organisation with strong Christian leaders who have a real heart to see the lost won for Christ.  The church planting teams often make huge sacrifices to shift into areas where there was previously no church and seek to share the Gospel so it is great to have this fund available to assist them in times of difficulty.

Vision And Annual Strategy

To continue to provide emergency funds and medical assistance for ECPM team members.

Personal Testimony 

Homar Boragay

In February 2008 one of the members of the team in Polillo, Homer Boragay, required surgery due to appendicitis.  There was no hospital on Polillo Island so Homer and his wife Beth had to go to Lucena Provincial Hospital which is a long way from where they live.  Considering the resources they have, it was not enough to pay for all their hospital bills so ECPM was able to provide financial assistance through this fund.  The couple was very thankful for the help they received.  It was a time where their faith and dependence on God was tested, now knowing how to raise the funds they needed.  The experience only showed that really God is the great provider.  It taught them how to trust in God for their daily needs.

Sheralyn Aldojesa

In June 2008 Sheralyn, from the church planting team in Himamaylan, Negros Occidental, in the southern part of the Philippines was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and appendicitis.  She suffered from severe pain for many weeks.  She is thankful she didn't require surgery to remove her appendix.  Her doctor gave her prescriptions for various drugs she had to take.  ECPM gave her medical assistance and bought the medicines she needed. 

Church Planting Teams

Dr Carmen Rodis is a doctor who is also one of the Board of Trustess of ECPM.  She periodically visits the church planting teams and checks the medical conditions of the team members, their families and their contacts.  Many contacts are able to benefit from this free medical check-up where they are also given medicines.  With the financial assistance coming from the Compassionate Relief Fund, ECPM is able to help fund the medicines she takes.

Partnership Overview

ECPM (Empowered Christians in Partnership and Ministries) is an organisation in the Philippines that seeks to train people in church planting and then sends them out to areas where there are no churches.  A team is generally sent to a particular region for two years where they will develop relationships by getting alongside people and helping them with their everyday work, fishing, gathering copra or burning coal, with a view to starting a Bible study with them.

Many people in the Philippines have a solid belief in their Catholic faith and many still believe in charms and amulets. Christians are often persecuted by their neighbours and relatives for accepting this new faith that the ECPM team brings. 

The church planting teams often sacrifice a lot to minister in these places but they are encouraged to continue by the many people being converted and lives being transformed.  This partnership seeks to provide financial support for one church planting team. 

History Of Partnership

Len and Mary Savill, former New Zealand missionaries in the Philippines, introduced Bright Hope World to the work of ECPM a number of years ago and since then Bright Hope World have financially supported a number of church planting teams in different areas of the Philippines as well as supporting a number of key personnel. 

Beneficiaries

This partnership directly supports the team members of one church planting team but indirectly impacts on whole communities as they are shown the love of Christ.

What We Like About The Partnership

ECPM has a strong commitment to training church planting teams and also continuing to pastor and encourage them once they are on the mission field.  The teams commit to serve for two years and have been prepared to make a significant sacrifice to bring the gospel to various regions of the Philippines.

Key People

Leadership Profile

The church planting team members we support change every two years.  To see the current team being supported please look at the latest Report.
 

Vision And Annual Strategy

To develop relationships with local people, getting alongside them, sharing their faith and encouraging them to come to Bible studies. 

Partnership Overview

ECPM has started a new training programme designed to reach high school and college students in partnership with the local churches that are situated near school campuses. The thrust is to help churches establish campus ministry and at the same time assist them in training their youth leaders. This is a one-year and two-year training programme for teams of youth campus leaders composed of 2 to 3 members. The prospective team members are Christian students studying in the target school.

These training programmes establish a team to work on university campuses. Youth in Missions for Christ visit the campuses, run evangelistic events and Bible studies and disciple people who respond. They work in cooperation with local churches. They often use sports events to gather people together and develop fellowship groups.

They initially started with a pilot test of campus ministry in the University of Rizal System, in Morong Rizal.  Following this, in the June 2007-March 2008 school year two new campus ministries were started.  One is in Puerto Prinsesa, Palawan, which was started in partnership with the church in Brookes Point, Palawan, where most of their youth members studied in Puerto Prinsesa and rarely returned home because of the high cost of transportation.  It would take almost five hours to travel from Puerto Prinsesa City to Brookes Point.

The other campus ministry is in Tarlac State University in Tarlac City (located in the northern part of the Philippines).  This ministry is in partnership with San Rafael Gospel Chapel in Tarlac City.  All four team members come from the same church.  Two of the campus ministry team members had been actively involved in campus ministry prior to their partnership with ECPM.

Both campus teams believe that they can inspire more and more students and they have started building relationships with other Christians on campus.  The teams are aiming to grow alongside the young Christians and together help other students encounter Christ.

History Of Partnership

Bright Hope World has supported various ministries associated with ECPM for many years as a result of Len and Mary Savill's (NZ missionaries) association with ECPM.  In 2006 we were approached regarding this new venture they were looking to start, reaching out into universities with the gospel of Christ.

Beneficiaries

This project provides financial support for the team leaders of the two campus ministries.

What We Like About The Partnership

ECPM has realised the importance of youth in growing God's kingdom and has taken the initiative to implement not only programmes in the universities to reach young people but also training programmes for the leaders.  We also like the fact that they seek to partner with local churches in this endeavour so the team leaders have spiritual support and new Christians have a local church they can become a part of.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Ella Santos coordinates the YMC Campus Ministry at ECPM (see PHI04).  She initially volunteered in different mission activities through the youth programme of ECPM. In 2005 Youth in Missions for Christ was created as the youth missions arm of ECPM and because of her passion to minister among the youth, ECPM asked her to be part of the YMC core that organise and plan the programme for YMC. In 2006, the YMC Campus Ministry was started and Ella took on the role of Coordinator of the Campus Ministry. She now coordinates the training and campus evangelistic activities of the two campus ministry teams.

Other People Involved

The team members that are involved in running the two campus ministries.

Vision And Annual Strategy

As well as the monthly training programmes for the leaders they are keen to start having specialised seminars/training programmes that other young people can attend as well as the leaders.

They have a real desire to reach more and more young people for Christ and start more Bible study groups and also to set up teams in three more universities.

Personal Testimony

Real "Life Change" Stories

In Palawan, two members of the team, Liezel and Shera, were inspired to start a Bible study group among their boardmates.  Just the thought of other students attending the Bible study gave a glimmer of hope in the lives of these two Christian girls.  Jeff, a team leader as well, had always been afraid to lead the team.  He said that he would do all the logistic stuff but never the leading part.  Since the group voted him as the leader, he has tried to really assert himself and little by little is developing his character, skills and gifts.  They are even praying that this campus ministry will open up opportunities for them to start a youth church in the city of Palawan and that they will have a greater part in the kingdom building after they finish their college studies.

According to the team members of the Tarlac team, they are greatly inspired by their team leader, Gem.  His zealousness to work for God's kingdom has encouraged them to review as well their passion and motives for joining the campus ministry.  Sometimes they have struggles regarding when to meet because of their different class schedules but the friendship within the team has enabled them to compromise and meet in the middle when deciding where and when they should hold their team meeing.  It is also very encouraging that the partnering church In Tarlac shows a lot of interest, checks how the team is doing and even asks them to report to the congregation their activities on campus and their prayer needs.

Partnership Overview

Thomas Lubari and his wife Joyce Gaba are extensively involved in various ministries and activities in Jinja where they live. They lead a church in Njeru, which is a very poor slum area of the city, and are also involved in church planting, Foundations for Farming training, running trauma healing workshops, a micro-loan programme, and overseeing a vocational training programme for both young Ugandans and South Sudanese refugees. Thomas is a godly, passionate man, and his wonderful wife Joyce shares in the ministry with him. Their determination, love and commitment are impressive. 

History Of Partnership

Bright Hope World's Africa Director had been emailing Thomas for over a year before they first met in person in 2006. He met Thomas in Jinja and learned about Thomas and Joyce's story. Thomas and Joyce are both refugees from Sudan who escaped the war in 1990 and settled in Uganda. They have pursued education and done well in both the work sector and at Bible school. They have five children of their own and at that stage had another three children who they took care of because their parents had abandoned them or died.

They first started a church in Koboka, a town in the west Nile that borders South Sudan and the DR Congo but had to leave when rebels attacked Koboko.  They moved to Jinja and founded a church in Njeru, a slum area, in February 1996. They still lead the local church in Jinja, but their hearts are often for the refugees from South Sudan and also those who are caught in the war-torn country. Despite significant challenges to his personal safety and his own traumatic experiences, Thomas often goes back there to help the country and the church grow. 

After the meeting in 2006, BHW started to help them as a family and planned to increase the support of the ministry as the relationship grew stronger. BHW team members visited them again in 2007 in their home in Jinja and were again impressed by their enthusiasm and diligence.

Thomas is dedicated to serving the Lord full time - he trains God's people at a local church level in Jinja and has done similar training in Sudan, with a great desire to continue that once the situation in that country stabilises. Joyce works as an administrative assistant in an American Christian ministry to support the family's daily needs and also oversees all the women's and children's ministries at church. Besides leading the church, they also run a micro-loan income generation programme in Jinja to help the church members improve their socioeconomic position. Joyce also practises Foundations for Farming there and Thomas travels a lot teaching and training in Foundations for Farming and related matters along with discipleship. The church in Njeru consists of people who have suffered from the war in northern Uganda and South Sudan and are squatters who are constantly displaced with no place to go, children from broken families and orphans, and widows/widowers, so it is essential they have a holistic approach to their ministry. It is a very transient place, but they continue to press ahead despite big challenges. 

Initially, South Sudan was a big part of the focus of Thomas’ ministry. His heart beats for that country and, in particular, for the refugees that have flocked to northern Uganda, and now comprise some of the largest refugee camps in the world. There are huge issues in these camps, particularly as the refugees have suffered extreme trauma, all of them have stories of loss of family members to the war, and ongoing violence. The World Food Programme has not been able to maintain food levels at a reasonable level and many refugees have found their allocations significantly reduced. The situation is dire, but Thomas has built a dedicated network around Foundations for Farming and is training many people, including local leadership.

In addition to doing Foundations for Farming training (UGA08), Thomas also leads trauma healing workshops (UGA04f), and they oversee a vocational training programme (UGA04C) in Jinja. This benefits both Sudanese refugees and Ugandan nationals. 

Their lives have not been without trauma themselves. Aside from both being refugees at various times and having lost extended family members to the violence and conflicts, in 2021 their eldest son Taban Emmanuel was brutally murdered. Bright Hope World has endeavoured to support them through this enormous grief and loss.

Beneficiaries

The Lubari family and the many people they minister to. They are developing a network of leaders around them and despite some setbacks they are seeing good progress with this.

What We Like About The Partnership

Thomas is a very broad, visionary thinker. We are totally impressed with his dedication and focus on, improving the lives of those people in his care. He has a very broad vision both for northern Uganda, and also South Sudan.         

Their absolute commitment to the work in Jinja and South Sudan.

Key People

Leadership Profile

"I sometimes feel weighed down. You know I was an orphan and suffered that trauma right from childhood until when I started working to fund my schooling. My father died when I was eleven (my mother had already died when I was 2). I laboured from that age to the time I completed my A' level in 1983. Within which year I married after being employed with an Agricultural Development agency in Sudan." Thomas - part of his written story.

This gives you a sense of Thomas and Joyce's character and personality. They are both very diligent. Thomas travels a lot to train people, while his family lives in Jinja. Joyce works part time at a Bible School to get some extra money to look after the family when Thomas is away. It is a difficult life, being apart for long periods.

Other People Involved

There is a network of Christian leaders in the refugee camps in the north of Uganda that Thomas works with, trains, and supports. They form the nucleus of the Life Gospel Network, which is a registered NGO in Uganda. Thomas also now includes other leaders as part of the training team when he travels and teaches. However, this particular partnership simply supports Thomas to carry out the work that he does.

Vision And Annual Strategy

Uganda has been significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and, as at the end of 2023, is suffering from extreme poverty and a lack of basic infrastructure and resources. This has not prevented Thomas from being active in seeking to alleviate poverty, and in Foundations for Farming and trauma alleviation training.  Bright Hope World is wanting to support and strengthen our involvement with Foundations for Farming training as we see this as foundational for successful development in the country.

Thomas and Joyce’s vision is much wider than this, and we support it. We are continuing to support them as a couple as their ministry is extremely effective, and they have had to overcome enormous challenges. The provision of personal financial support is supplemented by support of some of their individual leadership and training activities which is done on a project-by-project basis.

Partnership Overview

Helping at the Hope Restoration Centre in Lira (UGA03a) are 30 widows and single mothers. They are all victims of the internal conflict with the LRA. Most are stationed in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp although some are doing well enough to move into their own rental accommodation, small huts around the location of the IDP. Most are members of the Anglican Church (evangelical) that the children from the Home attend - a few are not Christians. Their ages range from old (60-70) down to around late 30's. These women are desperately poor. They come and help at the home and sometimes even give to the orphans. Their camaraderie and joy is infectious. They don’t have much to do so they come to the home in Lira to help with the children.

They all collected a small amount of money together and set up a loan programme. They collected about U/-450,000 ($US265) and started giving loans to each other. Each person devised their own idea for a business and then got a loan from the group. The loans varied from person to person but are between U/-20,000 to U/-100,000. As the loan money comes back they then lend to the next person. These projects range from selling small items, trading food and charcoal, to small restaurants.

The widows help each other as they can, but none of them has much. They pray together, share stories and laugh a lot, they meet formally once a week on a Sunday for fellowship.

In 2015 two further micro-loan sub-groups centred around a local Lira church (Kirombe Pentecostal Church) were commenced as part of this partnership. Kirombe Pentecostal Church has a strong focus on caring for the surrounding community. Anna has identified two leaders from this local church who have received training and support to lead each of the newly established groups. One group has 14 people, the other one 8. These new groups run on exactly the same processes as the existing loan programme and use the same loan books. They are assisting local women, widows and single parents to support their families by establishing and growing their small businesses.  

History Of Partnership

In the late 1990's and into early 2000 the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels came to the villages in the North of Uganda capturing hundreds of young people and children and killing their parents because they were too old to convert into rebels, sometimes in front of the children.  Many people who weren't killed had their homes and farms destroyed by these rebels and had to flee their villages.  A lot of these people are still living in IDP camps as they have nowhere to go. 

Bright Hope World first heard about some of these atrocities in 2005 from Anna Ocen, who was working in another partnership being developed. At that stage we gave some funds to get 28 children out of the IDP camp and into better accommodation and in 2006 we commenced regular funding of the Hope Restoration Centre (UGA03a).  

During a visit by the BHW Field Director to the Hope Restoration Centre in July 2008 the plight of these widows was brought to his attention and their desire to set-up a loan programme.  Following a further visit in September 2009, by which time the widows had their loan programme up and running, it was decided to assist these ladies take their income earning to the next level.

Beneficiaries

The 52 widows and single mothers who will be helped by the ability to access larger loans.  This will also then have a flow-on effect to their families and the children they help look after. 

What We Like About The Partnership

These women have had such a hard life and have experienced horrific trauma and violence.  It is so encouraging to see them taking some initiative and finding a way to not only help themselves but also help others.  There is huge potential here for a relatively small amount to significantly improve the lives of these ladies. 

Key People

Leadership Profile

We have been very saddened to hear that Anna died following surgical complications on 13 January 2024. We have been supporting Simon and the family and our prayers are with them. We will update this page shortly with changes to the leadership in the partnership. 

Vision And Annual Strategy

The opportunity here is to set up a loan fund to help these women establish themselves financially. 

Personal Testimonies

Justina Omar

Justina is 70 years old and quite frail. Her husband died of asthma in 2008 at 90 years of age. She had two children and her daughter was killed in the war. Her son is a drunkard and is no help. She has been left with nine grandchildren to care for. She has no land for a garden and usually only has one meal a day. She has an old bed and mattress, all that is left after the relatives of her husband took all her possessions when he died, this included a bicycle and some cattle.

It was after her husband died that she became a believer in Jesus. She now goes to the All Nations Pentecostal church. Her Christian friends have become her family and she gets a lot of help and encouragement from them. She doesn’t have a Bible. She has many needs and asks everyone to pray for her. She has arthritis and ulcers on her legs. She has started a little business buying and selling charcoal, soap and small items of food.

Florence Ojwang

Florence has been a widow since 1988, her husband died of liver cancer. She is 50 years old and had seven children, two of them have died. She is trying to care for her five grandchildren whose parents have died, they range between 14 and 4.

They are very poor and usually only have one meal per day; sometimes all they have is a cup of tea for a meal. Her church helps a little but not much. She became a believer in 1987. Her faith is the most important thing in her life, without that she would have lost hope and committed suicide.

Florence has bad knees and struggles to do some chores. She makes mats and has a small garden. She has started a small business as a produce seller. From time to time she goes to a village and buys vegetables and brings them back into the city on a truck to sell.

Semmy Awio

Semmy is just 27 years old. She has five children ranging in age from 11 down to a one year old. Semmy is a widow, her husband was killed a year ago while she was pregnant with their fifth child. He was a seller of skins and hides and he fell off a truck in 2008 while on the way to Kampala. On the death of her husband she had to leave her husband’s village and leave everything behind.

Her husband’s death made her very angry and bitter but she has come to a place of forgiving the people who caused her husband’s death. Her mother sometimes helps her but she is a poor woman too and a widow. Her friends also help her and she buys and sells produce.

She has no garden and even though she makes a little money she has very little left after paying rent for her house. Her house rental is around UGS15,000 ($US8-9) per month and her income is around UGS20,000 ($US11).

She is part of the widows programme and wants to increase her ability to make more money. Her eldest child is now in Primary 5 at school and the costs for sending her children to school is only going to rise in the future.

Pascolina Odero

Pascolina is 60 years old. Her husband was killed by the rebels in 2003 and she has been trying to support her family alone since then. She has five children and the fourth child is disabled and needs a lot of care. She seemed okay when she was born but did not develop normally. She does everything for the girl who is a very quiet person, she is able to walk but has limited mental capacity. In 2001 her daughter was raped and for a long time she wished her daughter would die and then she would die too.

She has been a believer since 1985 but her husband was not.  Before she became a Christian she would have fits but since that time she has not, God helps her every day and comforts her. She has a small business selling food. Some days she can make 6,000 Uganda shillings but other days not much. She usually has to lock her daughter in the house to go out and sell.

Before her husband was killed they had land and cattle but the raiders took it all. She could grow produce if she had land again. When she was chased from her home she managed to get somewhere to live that is rent free. Moses is her youngest son and is 15 years old. It appears he will have to finish school at the end of 2009 as she has no job and no money.

Florence Oboga

Florence is 59 years old and had 11 children, four of them were killed in the war. Her husband was a soldier and he was killed in the internal conflicts with rebels in 1986. At the moment there are five adults and two grandchildren living in her house. The mother of the grandchildren is dead and now Florence is a mother all over again.

Before her husband was killed they lived in a village and they were farmers, they grew maize, beans and millet and had cattle. But that was all stolen by the rebels. They now live in a cousin’s house and she has a small business selling vegetables and millet porridge to her neighbours if it’s not raining. When it rains they don’t buy. She can make about 4,000 ($US2) UGS per day and about 7,000 ($US3) if it’s not raining. She eats once a day and tries to feed the children two meals per day. She has a small garden. With help, she would like to buy material and make and sell table cloths. It would be useful to have budget training to help with managing the house.

In 1984 she became a believer but not her husband, she was very bitter after her husband died and again later when she found herself in a refugee camp, but she says she now has peace.

This project has now been completed - please see the November 2025 report for a final update

Partnership Overview

History Of Partnership

This is personal support of a key couple who are change agents in their community. Bright Hope World have supported them for a number of years and they have proved to be very effective partners. They are growing their influence and continue to have influence and impact.

Their ministries include pastoring the village church with around 150 members; leading a ministry called Chifundo (ZAM07b) that cares for 50+ orphans and some vulnerable older people in the community; overseeing the ongoing church planting in the Eastern Province; coordinating four other churches who have started looking after 45 orphans. As well as this they have been running some excellent trainings by discipleship teaching "Foundations for Farming" to many people in the community with great results. They are parents and grandparents of many children. Lonard is also the local tooth extraction specialist!

Lonard and Rose have a number of their family involved directly and indirectly in the ministry. They have four of their own grown up children involved in different ministries. Island is a school teacher and recently married. He is in a neighbouring town and helps in a church there, he attended GLO Zambia about three years ago. Mercy lives in the Kabiya area with her husband and is part of the new church there. Steven is fully involved in Chifundo and Gift is living at home and helps with the children's ministry.

Beneficiaries

There are a number of individual families in the community that Lonard and Rosemary help on a regular basis. The church members, the children and their families directly benefit from the work the Daka's are involved with in the community.

What We Like About The Partnership

Wherever you go you find people talking about Rosemary and Lonard. The head teacher of the local community school came and talked to the Field Director on a recent visit. She spoke about Rosemary and Lonard and says they are the most influential people in the community. They help many people in their community. Many people are counselled in their home, struggling families are helped and the Daka's are involved with many aspects of the church and the orphan care project in their community and another village. 

Key People

Leadership Profile

Rosemary and Lonard Daka

Other People Involved

Gift Daka
Gift is involved with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) and runs programmes in the local schools for the children. She learnt about this while at GLO Zambia in 2007. She is 19 years old and wants to be a Clinical Officer or nurse. She is looking at the options for training. She is obviously a gifted student and gained distinctions and credits from her study in Grade 12.

She wants to help people, especially children. She sees involvement with CEF as a possible full time ministry opportunity as well. she has a very strong faith but still struggles with peer pressure. She reads her Bible consistently and loves it. 

Currently she runs 3 programmes per week in the schools in the area. She uses the CEF materials. Many of the Chifundo kids come to the programmes.  She supports herself by buying and selling groceries and household items. She has a nice personality and is easy to relate to.

Annual Budget

The Dakas have been continually faithful with what they have. Through farming of crops such as cotton, soyabeans, maize, groundnuts and now a newly developed chicken run they are becoming self-supporting. Bright Hope World helped them in January 2013 with a lump sum payment to boost their business enterprises which will enable them to be completely self-supporting and we anticipate no further financial support being required after 2013.  

Partnership Overview 

Rosemary Daka and her late husband Lonard have been church planting in this area of Zambia for about 35 years. As they developed churches they were swamped by the needs of the vulnerable children and their guardians. They started 'Chifundo' to care for the children, to resource and encourage the guardians, to get the children into school and assist the community.

The Daka’s son, Steven, is the lead role in the partnership. He is a local church elder, and lives in Chipata with his wife and two children but spends most of his time in the village where he sustains his family through farming.

History Of Partnership

In 2003 Bright Hope World first visited this area of Zambia at the invitation of Lonard and Rosemary Daka. They had been known to Bright Hope World for many years and we observed their church planting programme. They worked very hard to establish a number of small rural churches in this area. Their conviction is that local churches would be the most effective agents of change in the community.

In the village from which they operate, Mchacha, there is now a church of over 130 members. This is a large percentage of the population of the village. As the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic moved with full force into the rural village, the church was not able to cope with the numbers of orphaned children. They did not have the resources to deal with the numbers or the degree of poverty. This is also a drought prone area although with the introduction of Foundations for Farming yields have shown significant increase.   

Beneficiaries

There are now 17 children and their guardian families in the Chifundo catchment area who directly benefit from this partnership through school fees, a higher education programme and farming programmes.

What We Like About The Partnership

There are many things Bright Hope World appreciates about this partnership. Steven and Rosemary are well known to us and are well regarded in the community

Key People 

Leadership Profile

Steven Daka, along with his mother Rosemary, is now managing the partnership. Steven has trained in accountancy and business and has his own business buying and selling goods from Malawi. Steven attended the OM missionary training school in Kabwe in 2017.

Steven and Rosemary will regularly visit with Norman Tonga (ZAM23) and discuss the issues they face in the partnership. 

Other People Involved

Steven Daka and Norman Tonga form the executive team that oversee the daily operation of the Chifundo partnership. This team also oversees the Chipata Rural OVC’s (ZAM23) programme.

Vision And Annual Strategy 

Sending the children to school is the major component of this partnership. There are also small and irregular food and household supplements including blankets given from time to time to those in need.  

The leadership team have started agriculture training based on the "Foundations for Farming" system. They have been achieving very good results by discipling people to improve yields. Setting a fine example, Lonard was often seen bent over with his hands in the ground explaining farming principles. Steven has now taken on this mantle, focussing on soyabean production as a cash crop to train and help families have a more sustainable income. He has also started a fishpond programme, where the team hope to create sustainable income for the partnership ministry activities, and to train others.

School leavers can find it difficult in the area in regard to what to do next. The leaders have assisted school leavers in a variety of activities from shop keeping, farming, small scale manufacturing of goods and becoming teachers. 

Personal Testimony 

Real "Life Change" Stories

Abraham Phiri
Abraham is one of the orphans who finished Grade 12 in 2011 and then went onto teachers training course. He funded most of his teachers’ training by farming.

After finishing his training, he was waiting to be deployed by the government, so he continued to farm. His first crop was tomatoes, which he secured 8,000zmk profit. This he reinvested into maize and soybean crops. After harvest he ended up with a profit of 22,000zmk which he then purchased his own motorbike.

Finally in 2022 Abraham was deployed as a teacher and started teaching at secondary school.

This year, when the big floods in Malawi happened, the storm also came across the Chipata area, although it was mainly wind and less rain. The wind destroyed the iron roof of the CMML brethren church in the village, which has been a big problem. Everyone was very astounded when Abraham came to the church and donated 19,500zmk to buy all the materials needed to fix the roof. No one had seen a church member be so generous. The members provided the labour and now the church roof is fixed.

Abraham told the church that God has been so faithful to me with my schooling requirements and the farming that I needed to be faithful with my resources when I see a need in His kingdom.

Partnership Overview

Jeremiah and Faides are the key people on the ground in Kamatipa. They tend their own farm, lead the small church of about 100 people, and care for the orphans. Jeremiah is originally from Angola and from time to time goes back there to help his people and teach in the churches.

History of Partnership

For a number of years Jeremiah and Faides have been church planting in this community. They came here after training at GLO Training Centre at the beginning of the 90's. We met them again in around 2001 and we then heard their story. Soon after that we began to assist them by supporting the work. As the work developed their involvement in ministry compromised their ability to support themselves as farmers.

Beneficiaries

Jeremiah and Faides Chiyesu

What We Like About The Partnership

The high calibre of these people is very obvious. They have given their lives to their community and will do whatever it takes to reach them. Whenever people meet them they come away impacted by their character and hospitality.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Jeremiah and Faides have chosen to live in this area. Initially they went there to farm and to plant a church which they did successfully. The church is now functioning well with more than 100 people in it but of course, many orphans turned up in church as part of church families or attending Sunday School and other programmes.

They have four of their own children and numerous other children “live” at their place.

Jeremiah and Faides are both graduates of GLO Zambia and while there were challenged to give their lives in ministry which they have done. As Jeremiah is a refugee from Angola, he still yearns to go back but only for visits at the moment. 

Vision And Annual Strategy

The strategy here is to continue supporting this strategic couple as they work in their community and bring change and transformation into people's lives.

In 2013 BHW decided to set Jeremiah and Faides up with a business to enable them to be self-supporting. They were given a lump sum payment to help establish a solar retail business, and were also given a micro-loan to fund purchase of material for Faides' sewing business. It is therefore anticipated that after 2013 no further financial support will be needed from Bright Hope World. 

Personal Testimony

Real "Life Change" Stories

Here is the story of one little girl into whose life Jeremiah and Faides have intervened. She and her two sisters spend a lot of their time hanging around Jeremiah and Faides' home.

KATEMBA CHIYENGA
Grade 2  Age 7
Katemba lives with her father's elder sister. A few years ago her mother died and her father became mentally disturbed and left her and three siblings alone. Katemba and her two younger sisters started to stay with her aunty after they were found, her baby sister went to another aunty. Soon after this Katemba’s father returned to reclaim the children. The three girls went with him to Chingola where he had a job cleaning the public toilets.

Although Katemba’s father had a job he had no where to stay and so her and her two siblings slept at the toilets behind some large barrels of water. Rebecca (from GLO) got word that there where some children staying in the toilets so she went to see for herself. When she arrived there she found the girls begging from the people entering the toilets and being watched by the day time toilet attendant. Their father was out drinking. 

When Katemba’s father was found Rebecca demanded that he take the girls back to the village. He did take them back to live with their aunty who is old and sick and is no longer able to work in the garden. The family rarely has a meal. She wants to put the girls into an orphanage but doesn’t know where to take them.

Katemba likes to go to school. When she grows up she wants to be a teacher. She enjoys playing jack stones with her friends. She helps her aunty by carrying large loads of maize to and from the grinding mill.

Katemba had a cold when I talked with her. She was hungry and barely spoke above a whisper when asked a question. When observing her with the other children she sat alone on a log and didn’t move or interact with any of the children. She just stared into the distance. She desperately needs help. 

Partnership Overview

Rebecca Kaumba is s retired lady who lives in Chivuma. In the church she used to attend in Chingola, Lulamba CMML, she has a number of friends. One of them, Elizabeth Palata, mentioned to Rebecca that there were a lot of vulnerable children in her neighbourhood, and she encouraged her to get them together and try to help them. Bright Hope World now assists these children to go to school.

History Of Partnership

Since commencing the funding for this programme BHW personnel have visited on numerous occasions. The leaders of the ministry are increasing in confidence in how they deal with the children. They have seen an improvement in the way that the guardians are relating to the children through their input. ‘Many families did not like the children but do now that they are supported and not such a burden’. They are still having difficulties with distant relatives and uncles mistreating the children and not providing anything for them even clothes.

Partnership Overview

Charles Chibale Chola lives in the remote rural village of Kaishe where they formed an association to care for the vulnerable children in their community. There are six churches in six small villages covering about 5 kms of the road. They originally discovered 193 orphans and registered them into the organisation.

2014 saw the last of the orphans in the programme complete Grade 12. The focus then shifted to empowering the guardian families to be able to afford to provide for all children under their care. The Skills Training Centre (ZAM14c) helped with programmes run for pre-schoolers and extra lessons for children to have help with education.

History Of Partnership

Charles had been working as an evangelist in this area for a number of years. As in many other areas, a lot of orphans have come into the churches as members receive children from their extended families and as the number of orphans in the village increases. There was no infrastructure in the village communities to care for these children.

BHW was approached in 2005 and in 2007 commenced funding. In the first year 100 of the 193 registered children were sent to school and in the second year this number rose to 145 children. In 2011 it was realised that when the orphans finish primary school and need to go to secondary school the costs became very high. The Board therefore decided to reduce the number of primary school fees paid for and aim at helping families with secondary boarding school fees. (Note: the students have to board as the nearest secondary school is 100km away.)

In 2007 a Skills Training Centre was built by the local community to assist with training the children who leave school (ZAM14c). Training commenced in 2008 and they ran extra lessons, farming training, and a preschool. 

Beneficiaries

The orphans and vulnerable children in the Kaishe community, as well as their extended families and in fact the whole community benefits as more children are at school. There is a basic medical box available as well as the training at the Skills Training Centre.

What We Like About The Partnership

There are two great aspects of this partnership. Charles is a good man; we have known him for a long time and he is an agent of change. 

Key People

Leadership Profile

Charles is an interesting man. When you turn up to his place it's tidy and clean. Every piece of his land is planted in something. He and his family are hard workers.

Charles studied at Samfya Bible School and after graduation went into Christian ministry. He travels this area preaching and teaching. On many occasions he travels into the DRC as the border is nearby. As he moved around the churches in the area, he became aware of the issue of orphan care in the churches. There were too many children at Sunday School not going to school and not able to read or write. He therefore did something about it. He approached BHW after seeing what was going on in Samfya (ZAM05). He is a leader in the community, he is an agent of change and transformation.

Vision And Annual Strategy

Currently the financial support of orphans has completed, and the skills training centre is closed. The skills centre trained many people in carpentry, tailoring, brick laying, and farming that has helped the community in many ways. "We no longer have material for doors, but actual wooden doors and proper roofs!". 

The preschool closed in 2022, as the government decided to make preschools compulsory for each school, rather than allow community ones.

Currently Charles is living back in Kaishe after a two-year stint in Samfya. He has moved back to try and help his local church through discipleship and mentoring. On his own farm he wants to show people the benefits of Foundations for Farming and have some interns come and learn how to grow crops and look after livestock. 

They are investigating the growing of sunflowers for oil as a potential empowering business model for the area.

Personal Testimony

Real "Life Change" Stories

Kunda Kamuntu  
Kunda is 15 years old and would like to be a policeman. We visited Kunda at his grandmother's where he was staying in the holidays. This is his home where he lives with his father and stepmother and another brother and sister. His father doesn’t work other than in the family field. The land in the field is not very fertile and they don’t get very good crops. The family struggles to support itself from the land. They grow mainly cassava. Not much relish is grown. They eat sometimes less than once per day.

He enjoys going to school and wants to get a good education to ensure himself a better living in the future. He is able to read in both Bemba and English. He thinks the teachers at school are very good; they turn up every day. The school has no story books, and only a few textbooks; not enough to have one each. Most teachers would have a textbook but there would be at least four students to a textbook in the classroom.

He goes to a youth group at the Church of Christ where they are taught lessons from the Bible, and they do a lot of singing. Kunda really enjoys youth group. He has plenty of friends around his house. They like to read (his own schoolbooks), and play some football in their spare time. They help his parents around the home. They don’t get involved in fighting.

Issues Faced:
• There is not much to do in Kaishe for young boys. There is nowhere to go and nothing to do.
• Some of his friends are into smoking cigarettes.

Interviewer’s comments: There were plenty of people around the interview area. The grandmother didn’t like being in Kaishe. She felt that there was a lot of “back biting”. There is a problem with the local land; it is very sandy and not fertile.

Luimba
Luimba is 19 years old and is in Grade 7.  He attends the Kaishe Government School and there are 55 children in his class.  His favourite subjects are English, maths and science and he enjoys playing football, volleyball and swimming. 

Luimba is a single orphan with one brother.  He lives in a house with 20 people and his guardian does not have a job.  They don't have a garden of their own but do take part in the community garden.  They only eat once a day, in the evening, which leaves them hungry most of the time.  Luimba likes to fish in the river and to help his guardian but says he gets bored. He would like to read at night but there is not enough light. 

Luimba seems healthy with no past health issues.  When asked about health concerns he said he is concerned about malaria and there are too many mosquitos. 

He attends the Catholic church and enjoys hearing the choir and praying to God.  He knows about HIV but not in detail.  The church does not teach on this, but the school does.

When asked about any concerns Luimba mentioned the fact that he didn't have enough food, clothes or blankets for cold nights. 

Partnership Overview

Charles is the key person in the partnership at Kaishe. He has an ideal little farm plot to look after himself. He also travels extensively to preach the gospel, frequently into the DRC which is a few kilometres from his village. We have been providing a small level of support to supplement his income.

History Of Partnership

Charles Chibale Chola was born in 1967 and was kept well by his parents up until 1973 when he was enrolled to start Grade 1 the following year.  His father bought everything for him to use at school.  However his father later died in December of the same year.  At that stage Charles started to suffer terribly.  His mother remarried and his step-father didn't consider Charles to be his dependent.  Mr Chibesa (his step-father) didn't bother buying him school uniforms, books or paying school fees for him.  This led his mother to start brewing munkoyo so that she could earn some funds to support him at school.  Charles also started doing some odd work to give his mother a hand.

Because of this, when he went to secondary school he failed to do well in his examinations.  In those days students needed to have extra tuition.  His friends were going for these but he couldn't because he lacked funds.  Finally he failed to do well with the Grade 12 examinations.  He tried to find employment but couldn't because he had no skills to support himself which made life difficult. 

Despite this, in 1983 he received Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour and the Word of God through his brothers and sisters in the Lord encouraged him during this suffering. 

In 1995 he became an evangelist/teacher working in the Samfya District.  In this work he became more and more aware of the number of orphans, particularly in his area Chitundwe, who were suffering almost in the same way he used to.  This got him thinking and he started to support them with the little he could afford.  One day he gave K1,000 to the head teacher of Kaishe Basic School to help one orphan who he could see was in much need, another day he gave a pencil and so he continued with the little support he was able to give.  He became increasingly frustrated with the minimal support he was able to give and the fact he didn't have any skills. 

He shared the need with his wife Janet who was also burdened by the need around them.  She encouraged him and got involved, pounding cassava mealie meal to give to some of the orphans.  The help was little and only what they could share from their home.  Later Charles and his wife talked to the brothers and sisters in their church whom they felt had the same spirit of assisting and they agreed to help by giving Charles and Janet the little they could afford. 

In 2005 Bright Hope World met Charles - he cycled for 8 hours to come and see us with his wife on the back of the bike!  We were impressed with his desire to help the orphans in his community and the steps he had already taken to do this.  Charles has two gardens, one for the dry season and one for the wet season, and tries to make a living by cultivating but as the Training Centre and Orphan Care projects develop this is taking up more of his time and limiting his ability to support himself.

Beneficiaries

This partnership provides a small level of personal support for Charles and Janet.

What We Like About The Partnership

Charles is a good man and has a real desire to make a difference in his community.  He knows firsthand what a lot of these children are experiencing and wants to give them opportunities he didn't have.  He is a leader in the community, a hard worker and has a real love for God and for people.  He has also surrounded himself with a good team of people from various nearby churches.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Charles is married to Janet and they have 8 children.  In 1998 he went to Samfya Bible School and following that became a church planter / evangelist / teacher.  He lives in Chitundwa village in the Luapula Province of Zambia but travels regularly preaching and teaching, even into the DRC as the border is nearby. 

Vision And Annual Strategy

Bright Hope World wants to help set up Charles to increase the income he makes from farming so he can concentrate on both church planting and also overseeing the orphan project and skills training centre. In 2012 he started a few business ventures, such as buying a Yager press to press sunfloweer seeds into oil, creating a fish pond, and using soyabeans to create different products. In 2013 we will help him in these areas by giving him a lump sum from his personal support and a micro-loan as a top up to kick start his income generating ideas.

It is anticipated that this will then enable him to be completely self-supporting and no further financial support will be required from BHW. 

Partnership Overview

Early in 2007 BHW commenced an orphan care project in Kaishe (ZAM14a) and in the first year more than 100 orphans were sent to school.  However, there are few opportunities for school leavers in the Kaishe area and a real need was seen for a Skills Training Centre to train these young people in practical skills that would enable them to support themselves. Riccarton Community Church in New Zealand partnered with the community of Kaishe to establish a Skills Training Centre. 

From 2008 until 2014 the Skills Training Centre offered courses in tailoring, bricklaying and carpentry. These courses have currently been placed on hold as the number of students was falling. There have been quite a few people however who have benefitted from the trainings, with comments such as “now we have doors on houses, not just Chitengis (the local term for a ladies dress)”.

The focus then shifted to Foundations for Farming training, extra lessons for school children and a preschool programme. Currently no programmes are being run from the Skills Centre.

History Of Partnership

Charles Chibale has been working as an evangelist in this area for a number of years. As in many other areas, a large number of orphans have come into the churches as members receive children from their extended families and as the number of orphans in the village increases. There is no infrastructure in the village communities to care for these children.  BHW was approached in 2005 and in 2007 commenced funding of the orphan care project (ZAM14a).

In 2007 a Skills Training Centre was built by the local community to assist with training the children who leave school. The training continued until 2014, with around 5 to 20 students in each course. 2009 saw additions to the Skills Centre with a new carpentry wing opened, and two dormitory blocks built by the community to house boarders who are coming to be trained. 

In 2011 the Skills Centre also started to run short courses for farming, extra lessons for primary school aged children, and adult literacy to teach some adults reading and writing in English.

The community has not always been supportive of the Skills Centre with many jealousy and cultural elements needing to be worked through but as the Skills Centre has remained faithful, the community has come to see the benefits. 

Key People

Leadership Profile

Charles Chibale studied at Samfya Bible School and after graduation went into Christian ministry. He travels this area preaching and teaching. On many occasions he travels through into the DRC as the border is nearby. As he moved around the churches in the area, he became aware of the issue of orphan care in the churches. There were too many children at Sunday School not going to school and not able to read or write. He therefore did something about it. He approached BHW after seeing a successful orphan care project not far from this community. He is a leader in the community, he is an agent of change and transformation.

As well as heading up the orphan care project (ZAM14a) Charles is currently also the coordinator for the Skills Training Centre.

Vision And Annual Strategy

At some stage in the future, Charles would like to use the Skills Training Centre to train more people in farming, after demonstrating on his own farm and running an intern programme.

Partnership Overview

The rural areas around Chipata are very poor and have increasing issues each year as the climate seems to be getting drier and drier. The HIV/AIDS pandemic there has also created a number of orphaned children in the area. Churches have seen these issues and want to make a difference by teaching new farming techniques (through Foundations for Farming) and also by providing help for orphan’s education (school fees, uniforms and other requirements). Partnering with them creates opportunities to directly help the most vulnerable and facilitate change amongst some of the poorest of the poor.

A soyabean programme has been established that helps farmers to provide inputs, training and a market through Share Africa Zambia. A maize microloan programme also helps famers with inputs and training.

There are also still many new churches being planted in the area, as the current churches keep evangelising and leading many people to Christ. Suppling bibles has greatly helped this evangelism.

History Of Partnership

Lonard and Rosemary Daka, along with Norman Tonga, have been church planting in this area for more than 20 years. As the first church they planted at Mchacha developed it was swamped by vulnerable children and their guardians. They therefore started Chifundo Orphan Care (ZAM07b), to assist the children to go to school and help them in other ways. 

In 2004, Greerton Bible Church in Tauranga, New Zealand, and an individual family in their congregation began a partnership with Chifundo. This involved personal support for Lonard and Rosemary as the key people and the support of children into school. It also involved the purchase of a motorbike to enable Lonard and Rosemary to move around the district to help the newly formed churches grow, to train them and encourage them. This project in Chipata is the direct result of that investment.

There are now more than 30 healthy churches in this part of the Eastern Province of Zambia. Almost every family in this area has had at least one orphan join their family. In 2007 BHW was asked to help with the establishment of this new partnership as a group of churches wanted to start caring for their orphans too. 

Lonard and Norman attended the Foundations for Farming courses at Maplehurst Farm in 2009. Since then, they have been training many people in the churches, some by scheduled courses and others simply by talking and mentoring them. There have been increases in yields up to 500% in maize crops with those who have been following the methods well.

With sadness, Lonard passed away on 19th January 2015 after a one-year battle with a stomach illness. Norman Tonga now carries on the baton for this partnership. Norman shows his commitment to church planting by bicycling up to 80km in a day with his wife on the back to visit a newly planted church. 

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries are the orphans and vulnerable children and their guardian families who are assisted with school fees and requirements. Many families have been trained in Foundations for Farming and receive inputs as loans with follow up to ensure they are following the techniques well.

What We Like About The Partnership

There are a number of very positive aspects to this partnership:
1) There is good cooperation between the churches and each church is committed to making the partnership work 
2) Good processes and structures have been established for registering, monitoring and identifying the issues and the most vulnerable people
3) There is good leadership and clear identification and development of emerging leaders 
4) The children are being monitored well and visited regularly 
5) The leaders are committed to farming and teaching people in the community 

Key People

Leadership Profile

Norman Tonga is the leader of the partnership in the villages. He attended GLO Bible College in the early 1990's and then returned to this area to start working with the local churches. Norman is a good farmer, growing cotton and maize for sale, plus he has a bullock and cart as a transport business. He has a heart for Muslim people and has been encouraged to see how the Gospel through Foundations for Farming has helped to convert people to Jesus.

Other People Involved

Moven Tonga: Normans brother and his wife who are helping with the day to day running of the patnership 

Vision And Annual Strategy

- To become a self sustained partnership through farming enterprises such as soyabeans.

- To continue to plant churches and look after vulnerable children.

- To train farmers to enable the family unit to be sustained through their own hard work.

Thursday 8th May, 2008

Dear Friends of Bright Hope 

I am writing about the tragic cyclone in Myanmar (formerly Burma) earlier this week. Many thousands are dead and millions are homeless and hungry. Myanmar has a population of 53 million and is ruled by military dictatorship. Aung San Suu Kyi was elected leader 18 years ago winning 80% of the vote but has been in prison or under house arrest for most of that time. In a recent pro-democracy demonstration led by monks 31 people were killed by the junta. 

Myanmar is one of the world’s poorest nations despite huge reserves of natural and human resource. Its only successful export is illegal – opium and teak. The average income in Myanmar is $24 a month!

We have significant partners in Myanmar who are in touch through their networks with millions of Christians.

PLEASE HELP THESE PEOPLE IN THIS DESPERATE SITUATION

Here is an email I received from one of our partners yesterday:

Dear Brother,
So far what I could think about is that to buy rice for the people in Myanmar. I will be busy in visiting the most affected areas especially in Yangon. I plan to do it for three weeks when I get home. What I will do is to request various churches and individual friends to donate rice and others such as potatoes, onions, garlics and other basic food to provide for the most needy people. May I humbly request you to get involved with me in this special project.
Aung.

Another partner who I will call Brother R is said to have planted 128 churches, runs a church of 1000 people and a Bible school. He is 75 years old and for the past 30 years has produced two weekly radio programmes that are beamed from FEBC Philippines into Myanmar. It is believed millions of Burmese have become Christians through these programmes.

These people are our brothers and sisters and right now need our help.

As of April 1st this year your gift will be totally tax deductible as Bright Hope has ‘Listed Status’.
Our account number is: 02-0800-0733739-02
Please mark you gift ‘Myanmar Cyclone’

On behalf of our partners in Myanmar I’d like to thank you for your partnership in this crisis.

Blessings

Rob Purdue
International Director
Bright Hope World

Please see the latest Report (June 2009) to see how your funds are being used to help the people in need due to the cyclone crisis.

Partnership Overview

History Of Partnership

For a number of months the Bright Hope World Field Director had been in touch with Lawrence Williams about the situation developing in Papua New Guinea. Lawrence had been on the staff at the Christian Leaders Training Centre in PNG and had been involved in training people to grow rice. This was necessary as rice is a staple part of the diet and the locals are used to eating it. However, recent floods in Oro Province and the huge increases in food prices have made it imperative for local production to increase.

In this area the price of rice has doubled and it continues to rise. One of the issues facing the use of locally produced rice is that there are few facilities for processing the rice once it is harvested and dried. Lawrence approached BHW to assist with the funding of some rice mills.

There is a need to address rice production at the macro level and this will become part of another partnership opportunity in the future. In June 2008 BHW will commence this partnership by putting two rice mills into the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

This is seen by BHW as a pilot and if successful many more of these mills could be installed as the industry develops. Lawrence had introduced us to the SISITI Trust, a newly formed PHG Non Government Organization who will be the ones who facilitate the development of the partnership with the communities in which the rice mills are placed.

Beneficiaries

There are a number of beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries. The churches who initiated this partnership will benefit along with the people who gain employment from operating the mill. The local community will benefit as their rice can now be processed more efficiently. Having the mill will encourage more people to grow rice and those who do will benefit by having less costs and another income source. It is estimated that around 10,000 people will benefit from each mill.

What We Like About The Partnership

There are many things to like:
- The fact that this is initiated from the local area. They selected the people to go for training in how to grow rice and develop a small scale industry.
- The leaders are well trained in rice growing and in machinery operation. They are men of high calibre.
-There is a strong structure on the ground.

There is a good relationship between the local church sponsoring the mill and the local community. The mill will enhance that relationship.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Lawrence Williams
Lawrence with his wife Elaine is a New Zealand missionary and development consultant with service in PNG and elsewhere since 1972. With degrees in agricultural science and divinity, Lawrence taught agriculture at CLTC for 11 years in the 1970s before moving to South East Asia. Returning after some 25 years in various countries, he brought his experience in rice growing as a means of food security for the growing population in PNG. God guided him to establish the Rice Growing Training Programme (RTP) to help meet the needs of the people where some 37% of the people live below the poverty line. In November 2007, eleven trainees including Pastors James Sobe and Yeipa Hamua graduated as foundation RTP graduates and are now serving their communities.

Now that the world faces a crisis in food supply, their services are in great demand. Lawrence’s involvement in 18 countries and wide experience in project design, implementation, management and evaluation have prepared him for this challenge of helping to establish a new industry for the people. PNG imports 150,000 tonnes of rice annually and with prices doubling, there is huge opportunity and need now for farmers to grow more rice for the nation’s food security.

Other People Involved

Pastor James Sobe Paraye
James Sobe, 55, is a pastor with the Christian Brethren Churches (CBC) in Kelabo, a distant community in the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. He has many years of service and is married with 5 children. His people selected him in January 2007 to go to the Christian Leaders Training College (CLTC) Rice Growing Training Programme (RTP) to learn all aspects of rice growing. Since returning home in November 2007, as manager of the Kelabo Rice Growing Project, he has mobilised his people and community to cultivate and plant 1.9 hectares (4¾ acres) of land in rice with no equipment other than spades. This first crop will be ready for harvest in July 2008 and the people are expecting a good harvest.

Pastor Yeipa Hamua
For more than ten years Yeipa Hamua, 48, has served the people of Arou as a pastor in the Koroba – Lake Kopiago District of Southern Highlands Province. After completing his training last year at the CLTC RTP, he has shown the people of Arou how to grow rice on 1.7 hectares (4½ acres) of land that they have cultivated completely by hand. Their harvest is ready for harvest in July 2008. Like Pastor Sobe some 30km away, they now need a small, robust, diesel-powered rice mill to enable them to mill their crop.

Vision And Annual Strategy

Each church in the different communities develop their own strategies. The SISITI Trust liaises with them and with BHW to bring about efficient interface between the partners.

Annual Budget

Each mill will cost around $US2,227. This partnership is for two mills and the total amount is $US4,455. This amount includes: the purchase of the mill and spare parts, two days training for the operators, accommodation and transport costs for the operators and the mill. The mills have to be transported from Lae to their new homes. 

Important Bio

SISITI Trust
In November 2007, challenged by the devastating and fatal floods in Oro Province, a small group of people responded by establishing SISITI Trust. Now it has a small office in Port Moresby and is currently being officially registered. Its Board of Trustees and staff are being established along with its operational processes. 

Its purposes are to provide to the people of PNG a wide range of development services, facilities and training, for emergency relief and disaster rehabilitation, the promotion of small enterprises and other charitable purposes. Grounded in the teachings of Jesus Christ, its vision is to see the people of PNG having a high quality of life, liberty, dignity and freedom of worship, empowered by the delivery of educational, physical, social, and spiritual services.

Although it was unable to respond to the Oro floods as it wanted to, its plans for the economic and social rehabilitation of the province remain intact. Confronted by the present global food crisis, it sees the empowerment of the rural poor farmers as the most effective way ahead at present. Some 37% of PNG people, 2,250,000 or more, live below the poverty line, and about 80% of the people, almost 5 million, depend on food-growing for a livelihood. The Trustees have concluded that PNG enjoys all the main requirements for significant rice production as a means of food security and of contributing to the national and international economy. Consequently, assisting farmers and rural people in response to their requests for help to grow more rice is a natural priority for SISITI Trust.

How Can I Help?

This partnership has been funded and the two mills have been installed.

Partnership Overview

There are many communities in Nepal that are not developing and in which there are inadequate facilities and incentives to grow. Nawal Parasi was developed to provide opportunities for agriculture and medical growth by the Ray of Hope Society.  

History Of Partnership

Bright Hope World first met Niranjan in 2003 while he was a student at the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS) in Bangalore. Since his return to Nepal we have supported one project in Saptari. Bright Hope World staff visited Nepal on a number of occasions and in 2008 returned again to discuss future plans.

A new community development partnership was developed that was very exciting. It has components of medical intervention, agriculture development, job creation and micro-enterprise loan support.

Beneficiaries

The immediate beneficiaries are the people of Nawal Parasi who have access to the clinic. The clinic consists of treatment, access to specialists, affordable medicines and training in basic nutrition and health. Other beneficiaries include people who become members of the Society who have access to loans and other income generation and job creation projects.

There are 580,000 people in the Nawal Parasi District. This clinic serves more than 8,000 people in the seven villages and the workers housing compound.

What We Like About The Partnership

Bright Hope World particularly appreciates:

- The strong leadership structure and the generosity of the leaders
- The clear strategy that has been developed
- The holistic nature of the whole partnership
- The strong network of trainees that provides the context for this partnership 

Key People 

Leadership Profile

The key people are Niranjan and Sonu Adhikary. They live in Kathmandu. After training at University Niranjan was employed by Campus Crusade for Christ. He developed into a leadership role there, especially in training people. After marrying, they decided to go to SAIACS for further training and while there decided that, on returning to Nepal, he would look for a totally different model of doing ministry. He was and is very concerned about the dependence that much Christian ministry in Nepal has on outside funding and resources. He has subsequently developed a Nepali way of doing and funding ministry and training people in a different way.

Many of these people have gone out into difficult areas to plant churches. There are now 17 of these churches in various parts of the country, often in small towns.

Another person is now in charge of training, but many issues come back to Niranjan, especially leadership issues. Niranjan and Sonu are also involved in leading a small church near their house.

They have two small children and live in their own house.

Vision And Annual Strategy

The vision of this partnership was to create a Resource Fund that would generate many self sufficient projects to resource the poor and enhance the health and growth of the church in Nepal. In Nawal Parasi the project has the following components and strategy:

1) Establishment of a medical clinic in the community to treat at least 200 patients per day. This has created a profit that goes into the Resource Centre Fund.

2) Establishment of a model farm to show new farming methods and generate a profit. 

3) Establishment of other related businesses to benefit members of the Society

4) Establishment of a Society, the members of which are able to access loans and funds for the development of their own businesses and farms for the purpose of increasing income to the Resource Fund and to create new employment opportunities

Annual Budget

There was an initial requirement for US$25,220 to establish and support the clinic

US$18,450 was then required over two years to establish the farming operation.

There was also a need for around US$18,700 to boost the Resource Fund over three years to provide a strong capital base at the start.

This project has now been completed and is self-sustaining and no further funds are required.

Personal Testimony

NN (name withheld) is a mother of two children. Below her house there is a small room on the street from which she runs a sewing business. She is an expert tailor and makes a good living from her work. She has two people come in part time to help her. She sews for other people makes clothes and, from time to time, makes garments to sell.

She has a plan to expand her business so she can train other people, employ six more and open a shop for the sale of material and clothing. This would involve renting a larger building with a shop, stocking the shop and decorating it, and buying some more machines.

Her desire is to help more people become self sufficient as she is and to be able to give more so that Christian missionaries can be supported. To achieve this she wants a loan of around $US4,000. There is nowhere she can find that sort of money. It's exactly the sort of person who would benefit from the Resource Fund.

Partnership Overview

About 70 kilometres into the bush (or 3 hours drive) from Kalulushi is the town of Katembula. It is the main town in a growing area and there are many very poor people. There is little infrastructure in the community. There is a school and a few shops but little else. Few of the local people have jobs. Subsistance farming is the main activity in the area for families, but yields are very low.

One of our partners has been visiting the area for a long time and has identified many children and families that need help. A number of children are being helped into school, and the children are visited to ensure they are doing well. Our partner is also training key community members in Foundations for Farming, so that they can start to train and disciple the community.

History Of Partnership

Our partner, Oliver Mulenga, and some friends became concerned at the number of children that were living on the streets in Kalulushi so they started to bring them together and care for them (ZAM09a). This work has now also spread to Katembula. Oliver is a strategic man and Bright Hope World also previously supported him in his work as an evangelist (ZAM04). 

Bright Hope World has been working with Oliver since 2004.

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries o fthis partnership are the children of the community and their families. These children are selected from the community, not just the local church.

What We Like About The Partnership

We like this partnership because the children in the area are very poor and this is meeting a desperate need. There are passionate people overseeing the programme; people Bright Hope World have known for a long time. It is also an area where there are few other groups working to help the children and families. The neediest children and those showing great promise have been identified and have started school.

Key People 

Leadership Profile

Oliver was trained by the Bright Hope World Field Director at GLO Bible College in Zambia back in the mid 1980's. He is a colourful character and at that time had been involved in politics. After leaving training he shifted to the Kalulushi area and assisted with the development of a number of small churches and mentored a number of families. Many of them are now in ministry.

In the 1990's he shifted into Kalulushi and started a block making business from which he has gained a living, supported himself in ministry and assisted others to go for training. He has helped many people at great cost to himself.

Annual Budget

Each year the partnership will be assessed and the community leaders talked to. A small number of children are being funded, and some funds will be required for helping to train farming.

Personal Testimony 

Nelson Wapamesa

Nelson is 18 years old and is in Grade 11. He attends Chati High School which is in the Katembula district. He has been part of the orphan programme since 2008. To go to school he has to rent a small house that he shares with his friend Jackson as there is no boarding school in the area. Every weekend he walks three hours back to his home in Chimoto where he stays with his grandmother. He brings his food from home every weekend.

His grandmother is about 65 but she is but she is unable to support him into school. His parents both died when he was 2 years old. His grandmother tries to support the family by brewing beer called makoyo and she does a little farming of maize for consumption.

His subjects are English, civics, geography, physics, biology and mathematics. When he finishes school he would like to become a solider and be able to help defend his country.

He loves to play football but because he lives just with his friend at school there is no time to do so. After school he must walk for 1km to get water and then make the supper and clean the dishes. By the time this is all done it is dark. Nelson has a lamp but often cannot afford the batteries so cannot study at night, which is problematic for him.

In his holidays Nelson gets some work that helps to pay for the rental of the house. The orphan programme is paying for his school fees and uniform.

Nelson attends the Pentecostal Holiness Church and loves to preach the word of God. He recently preached from Galatians 6:1 “if you see someone doing wrong you can tell them”

Partnership Overview

History Of Partnership

For a number of years BHW has been supporting a partnership in Chisasa, ZAM15. This involves the support of vulnerable children and getting them into school. The leadership want to develop self-sustaining programmes to start generating their own funds and have a number of plans to do that. 

One of the great problems places like Chisasa faces is that there is little infrastructure provided to encourage development. This is especially true in the agriculture sector. They are able and willing to produce, but they cannot then easily process, distribute or sell their produce.

For a long time the team at Chisasa have been trying to develop self-sustaining projects. A key component of development for the team has been the installation of a grinding mill. This will be an encouragement for the other local people to grow grains like maize and rice as well as cassava. 

Partnership Overview

Severino has been committed to taking the Gospel to the villages of the Cajamarca province since 1983. God has used him to plant many churches. Severino also visits and encourages established churches throughout the Cajamarca countryside. He is committed to training, teaching and evangelising.

Severino sells Christian literature on his journeys to help supplement his income. 

History Of Partnership

Bright Hope World has partnered with Godofredo Rubio (PER01) as he seeks to evangelise in the Cajamarca region of Peru since 2001. In mid 2008 he approached us regarding the possibility of financially supporting Severino as he seeks not only to plant churches but also encourage and strengthen the existing churches.

Beneficiaries

Directly this project supports Severino and his immediate family.  However the wider church and local communities also benefit as he has more time available for evangelism, training and teaching.

What We Like About The Partnership

Severino is a Godly man with a real heart for people and a desire to see God's kingdom grow in Peru. He has been committed to this work since 1983 and we are glad to be able to support him in this way, enabling him to spend more time in this ministry without the concerns of having to financially provide for his family. 

Key People 

Leadership Profile

Severino was born in 1947 and is married to Maria Tafus Toledo.  They have one adult child, Juana, who lives with them. They also have a grandson, Juan Carlos, who they have adopted as their own son and who lives with them.

Vision And Annual Strategy

Severino has a vision to plant new churches within Peru, to disciple believers and to train and build up the church.

Partnership Overview

Lahore is a huge city, there are many young people growing up there. Jobs are scarce. Many of the young people are Christians and this makes it even more difficult to find employment. First they find it difficult to get good education, then, because they are Christians it is more difficult to get a job. They have to be outstanding to gain employment.

History Of Partnership

In 2007 BHW was contacted by a group of people in Lahore. They have commenced a programme of church growth and development. EGM (Evangelistic Gospel Ministries) have a great understanding of holistic ministry and seek to tell people about the Christian message and at the same time to help the poor and vulnerable.

After a period of months and a great deal of dialogue and questioning, it was decided to visit Lahore and see what was going on there. In October 2008, the Bright Hope World Field Director visited for two days and discovered that these people had a clear vision and a great plan for development.

They had already commenced a number of sewing centres to assist women to train and to learn skills that would give them opportunities for employment. Their proposal was to commence more sewing programmes and a computer training centre. Both are legitimate opportunities. A decision was made to commence the computer centre as a first point of engagement.

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries are the young people who will train to use computers. This is primarily targeted at young men, but not entirely. At first the Christian people will be given priority but it will be open to all people, regardless of religion or gender.  Some of these young people are well educated and speak good English but are very frustrated.

What We Like About The Partnership

There is a clear commitment by the leaders to invest in the young people. They have developed a good strategy and have the people in place to lead this new project.

They have shown their commitment by funding the existing sewing projects from their own resources.

There are many young people involved in this church planting movement. Many of them are the ones who will initially benefit from the training and the access to the internet.

It's important to realise that there are many Christian people living in Pakistan and they are a frustrated underprivileged minority. They want this sort of training to better themselves, but they also see it as an opportunity to break down the barriers that exist in their communities between Christians and Muslims.

Key People

Leadership Profile

EGM was started by Rev Manzoor Jalal (JM) as a response to the poverty of Christians and the lack of education among church members. Because of this they often only ever get menial jobs and so they cannot afford education for their children. Many return to Islam because it appears to offer economic hope.

JM was brought up a Catholic but in 1993 left and joined a charismatic Presbyterian church. There he became a Christian and he went on to study a BTh for 4 years at a Korean College in Pakistan. While there he discovered the house church concept and this has become part of the ethos of PEGM as well. Along with this and over time the need for vocational training has become part of their basic strategy for equipping their people.

A number of ministries have already been established including sewing classes and education in churches. He has a holistic vision and a group of good pastors. His family is also involved, especially his eldest son Edward Qasar.

JM works as an electrical engineer at a large clothing factory. The owner, though a Muslim, respects him and he gets opportunities and time off when required to do his ministry. Many people from his employment have become Christians, been healed, released from demonic oppression or been able to get pregnant because of his prayers. He has a lovely family, Azira his wife is the organiser of the home. They have been married 28 years.

Other People Involved

Edward Qasar – is 26 years old and is the son of JM. He is a secondary school teacher in maths and science. He teaches part time and does ministry with the other members of the team. He has a lot of potential. The father is dependent on him for English and communication. They all understand some English but struggle to communicate. He has studied and completed at least 12 Emmaus courses in Urdu and has a Diploma of Theology from the Evangelical College of Western Australia.

Daniel Barkat is an older man whose wife was killed seven years ago in a motor accident. He has been a Board member since 2002 and moves around the churches doing ministry. He has a healing gift and does a lot of preaching. He witnesses and speaks to anyone, Muslims and Christians. Prayer is a large part of his ministry and there is a lot of demonic activity confronted. He is willing to go wherever he is invited. He spends every minute of every day amongst people doing evangelism.

He has two sons and two daughters - one is a nurse and another is doing an MBA.

Shockat Lal is an elder in the church at Bushra. He has been there for 26 years and is a general councillor with the city. He is an elected member and has been involved in politics for 10 years. He drives a rickshaw to earn a living.

Everyone said it was important to have people like him in politics to present the Christian perspective as they have little voice in the community. He works in the Muslim League Party and faces a lot of opposition. There are quite a number of Christians involved in politics. There is a National Assembly Politician who is a Christian. “Why shouldn’t Christians be involved, we are Pakistanis!” says Shockat Lal.

Vision And Annual Strategy

The vision is clear and well established.  At regular meetings of the key people, strategies are discussed and decisions are made concerning the most appropriate ways to achieve their vision.

The strategy is to establish sewing centres as an entry point into a community. This gives them an opportunity to talk to people and share the Christian message as well as help the most vulnerable in the community. Sewing is the best option for women; the computer training assists young men.

In regards to the computer centre the idea is to develop a centre near to JM's house for security. 15 computers will be put in and an internet cafe will be established. This is to earn money to support the training and teaching. Typing and printing will be done at commercial rates as well to generate income. The computers will be used to train people in the use of software so they are able to obtain good or better employment.  They plan to run two classes a day in the morning and evening and anticipate more than 120 students will attend classes to obtain either a three month diploma, six month diploma or one and two year certificates of Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education of Lahore.

Annual Budget

There was an initial set up cost of US$4,950. After this there will be no further funds required but other centres will be developed after this pilot is established. Other sewing centres will also be established.

Partnership Overview

This partnership requires a one-off amount to enable Pastor Bob and his wife to re-establish their tailoring and materials business after it was destroyed in the post-election violence.  They need to replace an embroidery machine, table, chairs, and materials.  It is by this means that they become self-supporting in their ministry for God.

History Of Partnership

Bob Abdalla is a church planting pastor in the west of Kenya near Kisumu, Lake Victoria. He was introduced by BHW to Harvest Partnership who have trained him and his leaders to plant multiple churches based in houses.  

In the Kenyan post-election violence in 2008 they had to leave their home and both their house and his wife's materials and tailoring business were destroyed.  One lady in their church was shot and about five other people disappeared (presumed dead).  In fact during that time they were unable to go to church because of all the corpses.  Their church is made up of people from all different tribes and all those from Kikuyus were taken to a police camp.  Bob's wife was injured in the violence and most people were in fact killed by the police.  The violence and destruction was relentless - they even stole the railway lines - and it went on for three to four months.  Everybody was rioting and people were forced to participate.

Harvest Partnership approached BHW in mid 2009 for help to re-establish their business as its destruction took away their only source of income. This business provided 50% of their household income. They are managing to do a bit of work from home but the income is only about 20% of what they need.

Beneficiaries

This project directly benefits Bob Abdalla and his wife.  By enabling them to re-establish the tailoring business, they will once again be able to be self reliant as this business provides enough money for them to feed themselves and provide an education for their children.

What We Like About The Partnership

Pastor Bob is a zealous and dedicated leader.  His main church meets in a tent that is raised and lowered each Sunday.  They are establishing many house churches both in the town near the Kisumu airport and also in hill country villages half a day's journey away.  His wife, inspite of a recent road accident, is willing and able to run this business which will meet their personal and family needs, thus freeing Bob to focus fully on the development and outreach of the church.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Bob Abdalla is married to Lilian and they have three children, one girl and two boys.  Their youngest boy was just born in early August 2009, six weeks before the above photo was taken.

Vision And Annual Strategy

To re-establish Lilian's materials and tailoring business so they are once again able to financially support themselves and enable Bob to continue his ministry as a church planter/pastor.

Annual Budget

This partnership requires one-off support of US$1,210 to get the business up and going again.  At that stage they will once again be self-supporting.

How Can I Help?

This partnership has been funded by a family in New Zealand so no further funds are now required.

Partnership Overview

The Fame Children's Home was started by Mr Dunlop from the United Kingdom in 1998.  It is situated 8 km from Maseno University near Kisumu City in Kenya.  Currently there are 53 children living at the home, 5 pre-schoolers, 35 who are in primary school and 13 who are in secondary school.  The children in the home are mainly from nearby surrounding villages with a few from other areas in Nyanza Province.  The majority of their homes are poverty riddled and HIV/AIDS affected with one or no biological surviving parents.  Most of the homes they come from are managed by aged grandparents or guardians and the social issues are grave with a high incidence of child defilement, violence and unequal opportunities for female children.

Most of the children were being brought up in an environment of moral decay and religious confusion.  The Fame Children's Home has endeavoured to answer some of these issues.  The home is a role model and show case where the children not only enjoy a secure Christian environment but also live with mature, loving Christian staff.  Over the years the home has emphasized good nutrition in feeding the children and created a learning environment that has improved the children's academic levels. Children in the home go to public schools which are around the home.  However those who have passed Standard 8 go to secondary schools where they have been invited to join. 

However, because of the quality of care provided by the Home there has been a huge demand on the Home to accept more children.  In view of this they want to expand, improve and integrate the various aspects of the home.  This will help provide food security, give excellent educational facilities and provide a vocational training programme for the children who complete their schooling and are over 18 years old, both from Fame Home and elsewhere in the larger community. 

As the community is in a poor spiritual state they would also like to provide leadership/discipleship training which would benefit not only the home but also the local churches and the community, seeking to protect Christian family values which are constantly under attack.

When Outreach Community Centre took over the Home they had to dismiss all the staff and start over again with a new culture and operations. Some were re-hired. One of the team from OCC in Nairobi came out for eight months to set up the procedures and it seems to be running efficiently. There is a need to have a permanent social worker on the team here.

Each child has a detailed file with all their information. They are known by the staff and seem very happy in their environment. The Home is a beautiful place with a lot of large trees around it. The older children go to boarding schools. Fame pay for their daily needs and tuition fees and the family or guardian is responsible for the boarding component of the costs.

History Of Partnership

Since the formation of the home in 1998 it has been financially supported by the man who founded it, however due to financial constraints the home was officially handed over to the care of Daniel Ogutu and the Outreach Community Centre in July 2008.  Bright Hope World has had a long association with Daniel (KEN01) and as the Outreach Community Centre did not have the funds to financially support the Fame Children's Home he approached us regarding the possibility of partnering with the home. 

Beneficiaries

The 53 children who live at the Home benefit directly from this partnership but children and families in the wider community will also benefit as the Home is expanded/developed and more components added. Most of the children stay in the Home and some are supported outside the Home. When they turn 16 they leave and go to live with guardians.

They determine vulnerability using the following criteria:
1) the age of the child
2) a report from the local area chief about the status of the family
3) if they have some land or not - depends if their parents have left them any when they died
4) family income or lack of income
5) the size of the family

Challenges

They face a number of challenges in the area. BHW is not intending to address all of these but in writing them it helps us to understand the situation:
1) They are vulnerable in the area of funding. The total cost of running the Home to full capacity is around US$1,800 per month. The original donor is still supplying some of this but it will not continue. The interest of BHW is to try and assist them to become self sustaining financially.
2) Schooling is a problem for them. The quality of education in the area is quite poor and they would love to start a school.
3) Food is always an issue for them, especially variety in the menu. They have started a small poultry project and want to expand it. They grow some maize but have to purchase extra.
4) Water is an issue in the dry season, they would like a borehole and hand pump to get them across that time of the year.

What We Like About The Partnership

Bright Hope World has had a long association with Daniel Ogutu and has a good working relationship with him.  He and his wife are having an amazing impact in their community and we have huge respect for him.  We have confidence that this Home will be well overseen and the proposed developments carried out in such a way that many people's lives are changed for good.  We like the fact that the Home not only seeks to help the children from a physical and educational point of view but is also seeking to shine God's love into their lives and impact them spiritually.  They have also not restricted themselves to just helping the children living there but are also wanting to reach out into the wider community.

There are very nice facilities at the Home. There is a dining hall, 3 dormitory blocks that have room for more children, a kitchen block, flush toilets, offices, food and general stores, and staff quarters for four families. Two semi-permanent classrooms have also been built for the preschool which has 72 children in it, 3 of them from the home and the rest from the community.

There are two huge water harvesting tanks sunk some 6 metres into the ground and this is a very valuable addition to the facilities. These give gravity fed water to the toilet blocks. There are septic tanks to deal with waste. There is a solar system that gives light to the rooms at night. This is a cloudy area of the country so this is not very efficient all year round.

These are hard working people. They have a large garden already and grow Napier grass in anticipation of having cows in the future, rape, tomatoes and mitoo (a local Luo vegetable). They have leased 2 acres of land on which they grow maize and beans. Last year they produced 30 sacks of maize and use about 1 bag per week. 

They have a concern for the spiritual welfare of the children. They have devotions for the students and staff morning and evening and a Sunday Fellowship. The local church is quite suspect and they cannot attend that even though it is on an adjacent property. The leaders there have taken money out of this partnership in the past and are not very helpful in any way!

Key People

Leadership Profile

Oscar Oningo is the manager of the Home. Oscar is married and has 2 children. His wife does not live on site and has employment with the Centre for Disease Control near to Kisumu, about 50 kms away. She comes each week for a few days. He is a born again Anglican and has a very strong faith.

He has a farming and marketing diploma and looking around the place he is passionate about the environment. He has a small tree nursery and a huge garden which means the place is almost self sufficient in vegetables. He has leased more land and is growing grass for cows and maize for the Home. Oscar got the job by applying for it and easily won the race for the position. He seems like an ideal person for the position.

Other People Involved

Daniel has put a board of management in place who live in close proximity to the Home. There are six people on the team and they meet regularly to oversee the Home and visit monthly.

Some of the board members are:
1) Bob Abdullah - Bob is a pastor in Kisumu and is married to Lillian
2) Rodger Ade - Rodger is from Nairobi but works in South Nyanza Province with an educational NGO. He is married to Grace who is the house mother at the Kariobangi partnership in Nairobi (KEN01b)
3) Patrick Mito - Patrick is married to Phoebe and is a voluntary pastor of an Elim church in Kisumu. He works in the Government veterinary department. 

There is 7 staff ranging from an Early Childhood Education teacher, cooks, groundsman and watchmen for security.

Vision And Annual Strategy

There are a number of things that could be done here but the strategy of BHW is to assist with helping the Home become self-sufficient in terms of food production and finances.  We have committed to putting in US$7,000 per year for three years and will reassess the situation at the end of 2012, see what has been achieved and develop a future strategy. 

The vision is that by the end of the three year period (December 2012) the following will have been achieved:
1) A borehole will have been put in along with a hand pump. Currently the children go to the nearby stream each day for water in the 2 months (July - August) dry season.
2) They will have developed more land for food production/cash cropping.  This will include seasonal crops and security/fencing etc
3) They will have 4-5 dairy cows producing milk and this includes housing and adequate cow fodder being grown
4) They will have a broiler unit for chicken production
5) They will have purchased an Amiran kit for vegetable growing (The kit consists of a greenhouse, water tank, drip irrigation system, sprayer, seeds and fertilizer)

Personal Testimony

Real "Life Change" Stories

Judith Aurah is from a nearby village and came to Fame Home in 1998, the year it started. Her father died in 1995 and her mother is still alive. She came to the school because her mother could not care for her and she had no school fees or personal effects. Her mother had eight children to try and care for. She went to the local school.

She enjoyed living at Fame and found it to be a safe place. She was treated well and while here learned about the Bible. She became a believer in Form 2 while at boarding school. Jedidiah, the staff member who retained her job, was the house mother from the start and is like her mother. She is a wonderful woman.

Judith is now training to be an early childhood teacher in Maseno. She started in April '09 and is 20 years old. This is a two year course but she wants to follow this up with a diploma and a degree.  She is a day scholar and it costs around $160 per year to do the course.

Judith is a really nice, confident young woman and quite capable of communicating in English. She has come back to Fame Home to do training / work experience placement with Jedidah in the preschool. It was lovely to hear her story and that she is now training to be able to care for herself in the future. She cannot imagine what life would have been like if she had not come to Fame.

Partnership Overview

The IN Tertiary Scholarship Programme, formerly the Cappuccino Club, aims not only to place squatter children into university but also to provide a mentoring programme through the context of the local church. Their desire is to develop young men and women of influence from within some of the most impoverished environments imaginable and to see these young leaders grow up to become agents of change in their communities and beyond.

The original name 'Cappuccino Club' came about because for the same price as a cappuccino a day a Filipino student can attend university.

History Of Partnership

Mark and Valerie Smith are New Zealanders who lived in the Philippines from 1990 until 2002.  For the last five years of their stay, they lived in a squatter community in the provincial town of Baliuag, approximately one hour north of Metro Manila. Living amongst some of the poorest people in Asia allowed them the opportunity to express the love of Christ in some very tangible ways. During their time there they established a high school sponsorship programme that provided high school education for more than 20 deserving children. They envisioned that such a programme would go some way to alleviating poverty by providing better employment opportunities for the graduates.

On their first return visit to this community in April 2008 they were saddened to see these bright children, having graduated from high school, still working in the open markets selling fish or worse still, working as bar girls in night clubs. It soon became apparent that high school education alone, although extremely beneficial, did little to alleviate multi-generational poverty in the home. It distressed them to see brilliant children living under the curse of poverty usually through no fault of their own. They determined to do something tangible to help these children flourish.

The Cappuccino Club was born and in June 2008 two students were funded to university. Both Lorenzo and Joanna Marie excelled academically through the course of the year and developed in character. In September 2008 Mark and Valerie approached Bright Hope World with a view to partnering in this venture. 

In 2013 Mark and Valerie ceased to be involved in the partnership and a new team was formed in New Zealand to promote fundraising. Subsequent to that, the sponsorship programme was absorbed by a Christian NGO, International Needs, and the students are now part of that structure. The name on the BHW website was changed from The Cappuccino Club in 2022. 

Beneficiaries

Filipino squatter children who have graduated from high school and who have an aptitude and a desire to study further are the direct beneficiaries however this partnership will also have a flow on effect to their families and communities.  The full impact of this investment in a student's life may not be fully realized for many years to come. 

What We Like About The Partnership

There are great people on the ground who really know the children and have concern for them.
The programme is church based so there is accountability for the students to stick to their studies and continue contributing.
The structure is well set up and there are many volunteers involved in identifying, selecting, and mentoring the students.
The students are doing really well, and many have gained employment.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Arnold Mercado is the key person on the ground in Baliuag. He is a pastor in the local church on the edge of the area where most of the students live. As well, he is the coordinator of TCC and oversees the growth and development of the students, mentors them and runs the organisation. He gave up the role of associate pastor in a large church to come to this place and loves the hands-on involvement with the young people. 

Ruth, his wife, is a teacher and works in an education publishing company. They have two children. Ruth's father is the pastor at the church and her mother runs a school in the church building. They are in the process of building a school on the church property which will provide employment for some of the graduates from the programme. 

Other People Involved

The local branch of International Needs is involved in the oversight of the programme and the children. 

Vision And Annual Strategy

The aims of the IN scholarship programme are:
- to provide better employment opportunities for Filipino poor
- to serve to alleviate multi-generational poverty amongst impoverished families
- to develop future leaders through education, mentoring and transformation

The strategy involves:
- providing university level education to Filipino young adults who would otherwise, due to financial constraints, be unable to pursue tertiary level studies. 
- moulding the candidates into influential people of integrity through a contextualized mentoring programme, in order that they might be developed as leaders in their immediate communities and beyond

Candidate Selection Criteria
Academic considerations: The tertiary course to be studied must not exceed the academic ability of the candidate in question.  A suitable course must be found that is most suited to the academic ability and ambition of the candidate.

Ethical considerations:  The candidate has shown in the past a good work ethic, discipline and self-motivation and has a genuine desire to further their education and assist their family out of multi-generational poverty.

Financial considerations:  The candidate must be incapable of meeting the costs for university level education due to their impoverished circumstances.  

Annual Budget

Bright Hope World is currently sponsoring six students through university.  

Partnership Overview

Largely on account of its isolation, Hauna village and the Wokoma area of the Sepik Valley have suffered from benign neglect.  Consequently the 3,000 people (approximately) who live in Hauna and the surrounding villages are facing big financial difficulties now and will face even more in the next ten years as the population rate is now increasing much faster than in the last ten years.  There are simply insufficient funds to meet children's school fees and other expenses and this means that most people of this area suffer considerable hardship to survive. 

However, the strong and growing demand for rice provides good economic opportunities for individual farmers, as well as for the community as a whole, to become more self-reliant in food production and income.  They own a very large area (well over 1,000 ha) of largely unused native jungle and swamp land bordering the river in Sepik Valley.  All the landowners agreed that this land was very suitable for growing rice since it is fertile and could be utilised for the best economic interests of this isolated rural community.

In the first year the plan is to establish at least 4 hectares of rice paddies.  Practical training and demonstrations will be conducted and the local people will be educated in rice growing techniques.  A rice mill will also be purchased so once the farmers have harvested their rice it can be milled and packed ready to be sold.  The mill will be operated by Hauna-Wokoma Rice Company Ltd, a new company that will be established which will be a community-owned and operated business.  It will process farmers' rice for their own consumption as well as purchase paddy rice from the farmers at fair prices, process and sell the rice to existing community stores.  Any profits made will be put back into community projects.

History Of Partnership

In 1992 the Sepik Christian Ministry (SCM) was set up to help educate Sepik children aged 3-12 years at preschool to prepare them for elementary level learning.  Their aim was to improve the quality of life of Hauna and Sepik people through education and these aims have largely materialised.  Currently they have 93 village workers, operate health care facilities, workshops and educate more than 300-400 children a year. However they are now facing issues of insufficient revenue to cover their costs as expenses have been rising while income has been falling. 

They therefore started discussing the option of setting up agricultural projects to help the people in a number of ways.  It was proposed that such projects would achieve their aims by helping the people with food, employment and income, as well as sustaining the educational programmes' financial needs.  In particular, such community work would enable the people to improve their diet and income by generating money to support themselves rather than relying on overseas donors' money. 

Lawrence Williams has had a long association with PNG, in particular the Christian Leaders Training Centre where he taught agriculture for a number of years and was involved in training people to grow rice.  He is now based in New Zealand but visits PNG regularly.  He has been very involved with Reuben Meiyao in developing this project and contacted BHW about the opportunity to partner with these people.

Beneficiaries

The project beneficiaries will be all the people of Hauna and surrounding villages that will do rice farming.  There will be no discrimination as to who can participate.

What We Like About The Partnership

This project has been initiated by the local community.  They are so isolated but are keen to improve their standard of living and are committed to this project.  There has been a lot of thought and planning go into this proposal by SCM and a committee has been established.  Reuben Meiyao is not only extremely well qualified to oversee the project but also is from this community so speaks the local langauge and knows the environment in which these people live. 

Key People

Leadership Profile

Reuben Meiyao
Reuben grew up in Hauna and received training in agriculture at the Christian Leaders Training College (CLTC) in the Western Highlands district of PNG.  In 1982 he attained his Certificate in Agriculture and after working in various capacities returned to CLTC as a farm manager n 1984.  For some 25 years since attaining his certificate Reuben had increasingly wanted to put something back into his home village, this poor, isolated, distant and needy community.  He realised that the people are very poor with little to no means of regular income, subsistence farmers by necessity; that they are in a desperate condition. 

Being rice manager at CLTC, with responsibility for the production and sale of at least 20 tonnes of rice per year from CLTC's Rice Growing Training Programme farm, Reuben has the knowledge, experience and insight necessary to oversee this project. 

Other People Involved

Julius Sauperii 
Julius is a prominent leader in the Hauna community and is Chairman of the 12-person HREDP Committee, which represents all Hauna groups in overseeing the programme.
Vincent Luk
Vincent is the Programme Manager in Hauna. He is responsible for achieving the stated goals and objectives of the programme.
Lawrence Williams 
Lawrence is an agriculturalist who since 1972 has worked in agriculture in 18 countries in SE Asia, starting with Papua New Guinea. Now in New Zealand, he is adviser for the programme and a fundraiser for it. 

The whole village has been involved in the discussion and decision to proceed with and to plan this rice growing project.  In villages in PNG nothing is done secretly and the community has been fully involved in all the discussions, both formally and informally.  Because it involves using people's land there has been much discussion in the village. 

Vision And Annual Strategy

1) To establish sustainable rice production in Hauna and the Wokoma area through new farming practices, i.e. growing rice and milling for consumption and sale
2) To establish a rice mill as a community business entity as a source of socio-economic change in the community
3) To produce rice for the people to eat and to sell
4) To enable the people to increase their cash income, leading to a better quality of life for all
5) To enable parents to be able to provide school fees for their children's education

Annual Budget

This project requires a one-off amount of NZ$8,000 to purchase and install the rice mill and will then be self-sustainable.  

Partnership Overview

The Christian Leaders Training College (CLTC) in Papua New Guinea has been running a rice growing training programme since 2006 and as part of this programme they were keen to install a rice mill so trainees could also learn how to mill the rice they were growing.

History of Partnership

Lawrence Williams is a New Zealand missionary and development consultant who has worked in PNG and elsewhere since 1972. He has a degree in agricultural science and taught agriculture at CLTC for 11 years in the 1970's before moving to South East Asia. In 2006 he returned to Papua New Guinea and established the Rice Growing Training Programme (RTP) at CLTC to help meet the needs of the people.

PNG imports approximately 150,000 tonnes of rice annually and with prices doubling due to the worldwide economic crisis, there is huge opportunity and need now for farmers to grow more rice for the nation’s food security.  The Rice Growing Training Programme is starting to meet that need and in 2009 will produce at least 30 tonnes of rice.  However, knowing how to grow rice alone is not enough.  The rice also needs to be milled and so Lawrence is now concentrating his efforts on getting rice mills into remote villages.  The mill at CLTC will be used not only to process the rice grown at CLTC but also to train people there who can then go back and use the mill in their villages. 

Beneficiaries

CLTC directly trains approximately 10 people each year in rice growing skills and techniques, with many more learning the same skills by observation.  These people will now also be taught how to use the mill therefore indirectly thousands of people will benefit from this mill as when these trainees return to their villages the value of their training will be huge.  

Villagers will now have an opportunity to participate in farming rice for themselves to eat but also to increase their cash income leading to a better quality of life.  Rice growing is taking off among the villagers around the College and along the Waghi Valley and elsewhere.  People like to eat rice and it is in high demand so this project is spreading rapidly.  Many farmers are getting into production now. 

What We Like About the Partnership

CLTC is seeking to address the real needs of the people in PNG.  In Papua New Guinea some 37% of the people live below the poverty line.  Rice is such a staple food and the climate in PNG is suitable for growing it - as there is no winter they are getting into a pattern of planting a paddy field or two every month and therefore are harvesting every month.  The local farmers are the beneficiaries, as well as the consumers who can get rice cheaper than imported rice.  The storekeepers and carriers also benefit.  It has fostered a real sense of partnership and support from the local communities in the valley and elsewhere.  It will continue to grow.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Reuben Meiyao is the farm manager at CLTC and oversees the rice growing training programme.  He initially received training in agriculture at CLTC and in 1986 he attained his Certificate in Agriculture.  After working in various capacities he returned to CLTC as farm manager n 1994. A busy man, he carries big responsibilities. 

Other People Involved

Elijah Meriba was trained in rice growing in PNG and in Japan.  After instructing trainees for 10 years he is now the training manager.  Although Lawrence Williams now lives in New Zealand he regularly visits PNG to encourage and assist.

Vision and Annual Strategy

To equip village people with the skills and training necessary to not only successfully grow rice but also to be able to mill, package and sell their rice.

Annual Budget

The cost of this mill is US$2,227.  Orewa Community Church in New Zealand has provided the funds required for this mill.

Partnership Overview

The town of Rawat is the gateway to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, and is an old historic town. In the past, subcontinent king's armies took rest in Rawat Fort although now a Muslim mosque is there. There are approximately 20-25 thousand people living in Rawat, all fundamental Muslims with only approximately 30-40 Christian families in the town. Because of the Muslim domination all the Christians are very poor and the only employment they can find is cleaning jobs - streets, hotels, shops, homes etc - or repairing shoes beside roads.  No Christian from Rawat has finished high school. 

This partnership seeks to provide hope for these Christians by teaching women how to sew and giving them a way of gaining worthwhile employment and financially supporting their families. The course will run for two hours a day, five days a week for one year. 

History Of Partnership

Azam and Barbara Gill have been visiting Rawat at least once a week since the late 1990's endeavouring to encourage the Christians there. Azam has a real desire to lift that Christian community up, spiritually, physically, economically and socially because times are very hard currently in Pakistan. Their dream is that the Christians there will receive blessings from the Lord in all aspects of life. 

BHW has had a relationship with Azam and Barbara since 2002 after our Field Director met them at an international conference.  In August 2008 we funded a pilot sewing programme in Islamabad where 20 women were trained and this had an incredibly positive impact in that community as for the first time many of these women are now able to support themselves and their families.  Azam was therefore very keen to run a second programme in Rawat. 

Beneficiaries

The 10-15 women who will be trained at this centre each year are the direct beneficiaries but the flow-on effect will be huge throughout the community as these women are then able to gain worthwhile employment and provide financial support for their families. 

What We Like About The Partnership

The pilot programme in Islamabad has shown what a difference a course like this can make in people's lives. Life is very difficult for Christians in Pakistan and it is exciting to be able to empower them in this way. 

Azam and Barbara have a good reputation in Rawat due to their input into that community over so many years.  Several pastors have come and gone from Rawat but Azam has a real love for these people and a desire to help them. 

This is a church based programme and it will have the ability to empower the church families and help them to become more influential in the Rawat community. 

Key People

Leadership Profile

Azam and Barbara Gill
Azam has been in ministry for more than 10 years and is very passionate about the gospel. He is married to Barbara and they have three children, two boys and one girl. He gave his life to the Lord in 1987 and in 1991 joined Bible School here in Pakistan. The Gill family is well known and has served the community for many years, especially in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. He has a heart for evangelism but can see the benefits of providing training and education to the poor in his community.

They both come from Christian backgrounds, Azam from Christian Brethren and Barbara from Baptist. They are passionate about seeing communities transformed by the power of the gospel and the presence of local churches. Barbara is a school teacher and is leading the development of the training and poverty reduction programmes. Azam is fearless in his proclamation of the gospel and travels around a lot preaching and training people.

Other People Involved

Mrs Fozia Darshan
Mrs Fozia is the teacher who will be running the sewing classes. She is married with one young daughter. She has two years teaching experience in a sewing centre and has earned a one year training certificate from an institute.  Both her and her husband Imran are a Godly couple and she will have a Christian impact on her students.

Vision And Annual Strategy

An initial group of 10 women were selected to commence the first course in August 2009.  All the women were Christians but in subsequent courses it will be open to Muslim women as well to learn the art of sewing. A certificate will be given to the women who complete the course. Some machines are available for the students to learn on and at the end of the course each graduating student receives a sewing machine.

Subsequent courses will take around 12 - 15 students per year. 

Annual Budget

The budget provides the sewing machines, scissors, material, thread, needles, teacher's salary, food/refreshments, rent, administration costs and transport.  They are able to use the tables and stools that were used in Islamabad so there isn't the need to purchase them for this course.

Partnership Overview

History Of Partnership

BHW has been partnering with Thomas and Joyce Lubari (UGA04a) since 2006. They are based in Jinja, Uganda, the source of the River Nile. They are refugees from Sudan and have lived in Uganda for many years. Their family has all grown up in Uganda.

Thomas and Joyce have proved themselves to be very committed to ministry to the poor in the time we have known them; they spend all their money on others and give their lives to help people. This development of a micro-loan programme in Jinja, based around the church they have planted is an exciting development. It has emerged over a period of two years.

The plan is that this will be a pilot project and as it develops other programmes will be started both in Uganda and in Sudan. Thomas travels back there frequently and is very keen to set up a similar programme amongst the rural people of Sudan. There are many issues to face there, so this pilot is a test.

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries are mainly families with little or no chance of employment. They are church members and have been selected from the church as those with potential. They have all attended a seven week training programme before obtaining their first loan.

What We Like About The Partnership

We like the enthusiasm and strength of the key leaders; they are experienced, and have agriculture and financial training. They have selected a team to oversee the running of the project. 

This partnership deals with some of the poorest people in Uganda. Most have significant trauma to deal with and have been displaced from their places of origin with no likelihood of return. They are the victims of abuse and genocide and need a helping hand.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Thomas and Joyce Lubari have lived in Uganda for many years. Thomas has a background in agriculture and theology and is currently pastoring the church they planted in Jinja. Joyce is trained in accounting and currently works in the administration department of a Bible School. She is the only one earning a salary. Joyce will be the manager of the loan scheme. 

They have 5 children and live in Jinja. They are also responsible for many other children from Thomas’ family. A number of his siblings have died and he is left responsible for their children.

Other People Involved

A team from the church has been selected to oversee the loan programme. Their role is to meet regularly and discuss membership, issues that develop and follow up with the beneficiaries. They will be able to access loans along with other people. 

Judith Ajidiru
Judith is a young woman with a lot of personality. She has six sisters and four brothers and in families like hers life is very difficult. Her mother is a believer but not her father. Her parents are farmers and some years it is very difficult, especially with so many children to feed and care for. She still lives with her parents. 

She became a Christian in 1998 and goes to the church Thomas started. Around 75% of the people in church are women. She wants to be a nurse in the Jinja area. To become a nurse she needs a loan to start a business. She would start by selling clothing and grow her business to support her training.

Winnie Among
Winnie wants to study HR management. Her family would be able to help her with some funds for education but she wants a loan to make food to sell to other students. She has a lot of drive and enthusiasm. She became a believer in 2002 through Scripture Union. She fully trusts Jesus she says and he never fails her, he remains firm. Her parents are not believers and there are six children in the family. 

Rose Ato
Rose was married in 1983 and has six children and one grandchild. Her husband is a policeman. She became a Christian at Life Gospel Church in 1997. Her husband is not a believer yet. Her children are all believers. 

She has been involved previously in the leadership of a loan programme. She left it two years ago and it is still operating. She thinks that a loan programme is very important for people to help lift them out of poverty, every person should be able to access something like this. 

Moi Zarav
Moi is a local body councillor. He’s a very busy man and could only come to the meeting briefly. He is totally convinced that this sort of programme is the way out of poverty and the best thing any donor can do is support the establishment of this sort of programme.  

Vision And Annual Strategy

The strategy is to run this pilot for two years. Each participant will have to attend the training sessions and pay a deposit to join the programme, the deposit will be around Uganda Shillings (U/=) 50,000 or $US25. The deposit will be brought in over a period of time. 

Once they are approved, they will then be allowed to take the first loan. To get that they have to submit a proposal. The paperwork for the loan programme has been borrowed from the BHW partnership in Busia (UGA02), only about 2 hours away. Thomas has been there to observe how it operates. 

The maximum first loan would be U/=200,000 or $US100, but most of them would be less than that. According to the committee, most people will start with small kiosks, fish trading (Jinja is on Lake Victoria) and farming. The scheme will start with between 30 and 50 people but many more than that have signed up for it. To become a participant they have to have a letter of recommendation from their local community and two other witnesses.

Partnership Overview

Num Nueng Children's Hostel was started by Takberg Church under the leadership of Pastor Ponchai Banchasawan so that Hmong tribal children on Takberg mountain could get an education that was not available in their home village. Pastor Ponchai has motivated Hmong leaders to build a hostel for their children opposite a school in Phechabun province, Northern Thailand.  This hostel means these highly at-risk children have the chance of an education to break out of the poverty trap. Tribal children with no education are the ones most often trafficked into prostitution. 

There are now over 100 children in the hostel.  They currently are cooking meals over an open fire as they do not have a kitchen at the hostel and the children are eating on a cement floor covered by plastic vinyl.  They also play and study in this same area.  This partnership involves a one-off amount to build a kitchen/dining room for the children.

History Of Partnership

Good News Ministries was started in 1978 by two World Outreach missionaries from New Zealand, Lorraine Dierck and Valerie Bateup.  Bright Hope World has been partnering with them since 2001 and it was Lorraine Dierck that first brought the needs of this children's home to our attention in late 2009. 

Beneficiaries

The direct beneficiaries are the cooks and the children at the home who will have much improved facilities to prepare the meals and will also have a much nicer environment in which to eat.

What We Like About The Partnership

Pastor Ponchai and the Hmong leaders have a real heart for these children and a desire to do all they can to give them an education and lift them out of the poverty stricken lifestyle they are currently trapped in.  It is great to be able to partner with people like this who are doing all they can to help their community.  

Key People

Leadership Profile

Pastor Ponchai is a highly respected leader who as well as pastoring a church in Takberg has also been elected as the leader of the Hmong Christian community in Thailand.  Before becoming the pastor of the Takberg church he was an intern at Muantong Church in Bangkok which is where Lorraine first met him.  As well as setting up the children's home Pastor Ponchai also has a vision to build a mission centre and to plant churches in Hmong villages that don't have churches in Laos, Cambodia, China, Burma and Thailand.

Other People Involved

There is a committee of Hmong leaders that has been formed to oversee the running of the home. 

Vision And Annual Strategy

To build a kitchen and dining room for the Num Nueng Children's Hostel.

Annual Budget

This requires a one-off amount of US$10,000.

Partnership Overview

Anna Ocen has been working with a group of widows and single mothers in Mbale where she lives. These women are not war victims, a number of them are HIV/AIDS widows. These women have set up a small loan programme but are needing additional funds to take their businesses to the next level.

History of Partnership

Anna Ocen has been in partnership with Bright Hope World since around 2007. Initially the partnership involved connecting with her and Hope Restoration Centre in Lira (UGA03a). This was a ministry that was involved in housing 28 children who had been captured by the Lord’s Resistance Army in 2003, and whose parents or guardians had been killed during the conflict. 

In 2010 Bright Hope World commenced assisting with this project involving a group of widows and single mothers, many of whom are HIV/AIDS positive as well, in Mbale which is a city in central Uganda and is Anna’s home. 

This loan programme initially started off receiving funds from a local Non-Government Organisation (NGO). However, when that organisation became more aligned with another faith practised in Uganda it became unwise to continue with them and Anna approached a commercial bank. This arrangement went well for a while and Anna is an extremely competent leader and has a background in finance but became unviable after she was brutally robbed in her home in October 2008. Because of the growing connection that Bright Hope World had with Anna already through the Lira partnership, she approached us. This project was born after a visit by BHW's Uganda partnership facilitator in September 2009. It was during that visit that Anna asked whether BHW might be able to support this micro-loan programme and its beneficiaries. 

Beneficiaries

The women involved in the loan programme are the direct beneficiaries here but obviously there is a significant flow on effect as they are able to better provide for their families, send their children to school and have a positive impact in their community. As the loan programme funds increase, they will also be able to include other women in the programme.

Until 2022 all of the beneficiaries have been women but in mid-2022 the first two men joined the programme. Historically it has been quite difficult to get men to ‘buy-in‘ to microlending arrangements for a number of reasons so this is quite an exciting development, and both of these men are proving to be reliable.

As a general rule many of the loan recipients have very small subsistence businesses and need additional funding support to start to grow the business and make it more robust and sustainable. 

What We Like About The Partnership

The beauty of this programme is that it has supported a large number of women, but the “ripple on” effect on their families, children, and the local community has been significant. 

The beneficiaries of the programme are incredibly resilient, even during heartbreaking setbacks. Anna has a real gift in bringing a group of women together who maintain a cohesiveness and care for one another which is quite remarkable. 

The loan programme is now structured in such a way that there is emerging leadership and full responsibility for the programme does not fall entirely on Anna.  

The loan programme is open to women of all faiths and many of the beneficiaries, over time, are drawn to the Christian faith, and have found significant support and care within that framework.  We love the organic and non-coercive nature of that process.

Key People

Leadership Profile

We have been very saddened to hear that Anna died following surgical complications on 13 January 2024. We have been supporting Simon and the family and our prayers are with them. We will update this page shortly with changes to the leadership in the partnership. 

Anna Ocen (left) is the key person for us in this partnership. Anna is married to Simon, and they have adult children. They live in Mbale but Anna travels to Lira once or twice month to visit the children at Hope Restoration Centre. She is an accountant so is able to keep good records.

Other People Involved

Sarah Muzaki (right) is a single mother, who is an enterprising businesswoman and farmer, and someone who provides mentoring and care to the second group of loan beneficiaries on the far side of the city. She is faithful and reliable.

Sarah has a number of businesses including buying second hand clothes and on selling them and purchasing and then on selling beans to make a profit. She also grows some of her own maize and sells this in the community and to local schools. 

Vision And Annual Strategy

The vision here is for these ladies to continue to grow their loan programme, establish their businesses and help other women, thereby lifting them out of their life of poverty.

Personal Testimony

Norah

Norah (left) is one of Sarah’s (right) protegees in Eastern Mbale, about 5 km from where Anna lives (Norah is on the left and Sarah Muzaki on the right). She has a first loan of 300,000 UGX (US$90) which is helping her with the inputs to enable her to farm her land. She has two children and a husband who also helps with the land preparation. Norah is clearly interested in Foundations for Farming and works extremely hard on her land, growing tomatoes, maize, rice and sweet potatoes. She is passionate about farming and a great candidate for Foundations for Farming training.  

Elisha of Kuzukira Snacks 

Elisha is the first male loan beneficiary. Anna had been a customer of his when he was starting out and one day said to him something like “One day one of your customers will become your angel”.  Elisha says Anna had become that angel to him. 

Elisha had a very troubled background. He had been growing rice on someone’s land, but his rice crop failed and he lost 7m UGX (about US$2,000 - a huge amount of money). After that he relocated to Mbale with his family and obtained very basic employment in the Bugere market on the outskirts of the city. He lost that job because the employer mistreated him and fired him. In this job he was being paid 3000 UGX a day (US$1) and still had a family to support. His wife is a teacher, but teachers don’t always get paid and can go months without their salaries.

Subsequently he moved to this market and started a business making foodstuffs in 2021. He makes chapatis and samosas etc. This business has grown hugely and there are now 17 young people in full-time employment in the business. In addition, he provides financial support for a number of infirm or crippled people. The young people that he employs were street people, and vulnerable or troubled people. 

When he started this business, he was located in the centre of Mbale, near the bus park. Unfortunately, two of his first trainees ganged up against him and he was chased out of that market. He subsequently relocated to his current location and business is thriving.

Kuzukira means “resurrection”. He feels that his life has been resurrected and is for service to other people. He sells his chapatis, and other foodstuffs that they produce, not just in the marketplace but to local schools, hospitals, police, and the university. Many of the young people are his “salesmen” and out travelling around.

He is highly enthusiastic about mentoring young people and he has a great relationship with them. Maureen Johnson was his first employee. She is a young mother and describes a very challenging background during which she suffered both mental illness and demonic activity such that she lost her memory. She has now regained her memory, is very articulate, works for Elisha, and is also active in a local church.

One of the other young people had been rejected by his family and tried to hang himself. He is now actively employed, earning money, and clearly enthusiastic about what he does. These are wonderful stories of restoration and new beginnings. 

This project has now been completed - please see the November 2025 report for a final update

Partnership Overview

Many Thai church planters are working in small villages where the new church is not able to fully support them and their families.  Mushroom cultivation has proven to be an effective means of providing partial support for pastors and church planters as it does not require full-time commitment to working on the project.  A pastor working on a mushroom cultivation project finds he or she has plenty of time left over for evangelism and pastoral care of new believers. 

Thailand has ideal environmental conditions and a long history of successful mushroom growing.  The warm climate is ideal, and the equipment required is readily available.  The most popular type of mushroom is the straw mushroom which is highly nutritious and sells in the market for 90-120 bahts/kg.

The mushroom shed is built of concrete blocks with two rows of shelves inside.  These houses are highly tolerant of severe heat treatment during in situ pasteurization.  Being secondary decomposers, straw mushrooms need compost and need to be pasteurized to protect them from disease.  Six sheds are needed for a fully fledged project because of the life cycle of the mushrooms which means they will be in different stages, for example while some are growing, you need another house to plant a new crop of mushrooms etc.

The straw mushroom is a high temperature mushroom and the mushroom that is most popularly grown in Thailand.  Thai farmers have grown straw mushrooms since the 1940's and have found that the Thai temperature range of 30-37 degrees is very favourable to the mushrooms' growth.  The spoors are easily available and the mushroom is able to be cultivated on shelves.  There is a huge market for these mushrooms. 

Indoor cultivation of straw mushrooms can be performed throughout the whole year.  Straw mushrooms grow well in organic compost where the ingredients are partially decomposed or highly degraded.  The compost is placed on the shelf and steam is blown into the house with the temperature maintained at 60 degrees for 4-6 hours.  After cooling, the mushroom grows with a cultivation yield of 50-60%.  

This is a pilot project and once we can assess how this is going we will look at duplicating it in other areas. 

History Of Partnership

Bright Hope World has partnered with World Outreach in Thailand since 2001 (Good News Team, Top Kids, Heart of Mercy) and in 2010 started financially supporting three church planters (THA01e) associated with the Thailand Evangelism and Mission Centre.  In dialoguing with Lorraine Deirck regarding this, the discussion was held as to whether there was some sort of income generation project we could introduce to enable church planters to support themselves.  In May 2010 one of their church planters approached Lorraine with the idea of starting a mushroom cultivation project. 

Appropriate research and figures were done and we believe this is a viable project to enable Thai church planters to financially support themselves.

Beneficiaries

Initially one church planter will start the mushroom cultivation project but as the mushroom farm begins to be profitable, he will then share the profits with other church planters so they can support themselves.  We anticipate this pilot project will enable six church planters to support themselves. 

What We Like About The Partnership

Some church planters have successfully used mushroom farming already as a way of supporting their families and they are willing to serve as resource people for Thai leaders who are looking for a way to generate more income. We believe this is a viable project where we can help Thai workers with start-up finance so they can serve the Lord and take care of their families at the same time. The mushroom farm will work as a co-operative venture so will not only provide for the church planters needs but also bless the village where he is working. 

Key People

Leadership Profile

Pastor Tossapon is the church planter who will start this pilot project.  He is married with two children and very pastoral.  The churches he is working with are very small and the communities are mired in poverty.  He has enough room on his own family land to use for this project. 

Other People Involved

For many years Lorraine Dierck, a World Outreach missionary from New Zealand, has been involved co-leading the Good News Team (THA01a). However in 2008 her role changed significantly and she started a new work with church planting teams at the Thailand Evangelism and Mission Centre. The major activity is training and strategy development in partnership with the Good News Team and Muangtong church.

Vision And Annual Strategy

To assist church planters to build a sustainable income that helps the whole community rather than depend on ongoing support from outside. 

Annual Budget

The total start-up cost for this pilot project is US$4,900.  This includes
1) Six cultivation sheds
2) One heater
3) Implements, e.g. mushroom shelves
4) One load of compost inoculated with mushroom spoors

After the initial investment, the project should be sustainable without the need for any additional finance although there is the potential to start up more projects in other areas.