Have a heart for a child…

The Chadian Government has launched a campaign to prevent childhood deaths from Malaria. They have issued a matching challenge to our Jordan Health Center in Dono-Manga, Chad. They will provide 300 mosquito nets if we will do the same. That means that a $10 mosquito net will actually be a net cost of only $5. That is a bargain anywhere in the world. Here is how you can help:

1. Donate yourself at our Website: www.hopespringsint.com Or click the Shop now button above. Donation by checks to Hope Springs Intl. 118 Wessington Place, Hendersonville, TN 37075.

2. Share this post on your Facebook wall. If everyone will share hundreds of others will learn of this great opportunity to save a child’s life.

If you would like to learn more about this disease and its prevention check out this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQjZI6AkUq8

Here is the goal $10 X 300 by February 14th. Will you help us meet this challenge? We will keep you posted so check back often!

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A frantic cry for help!

The wailing cries of a frantic mother holding a child with convulsions and an extremely high fever interrupted worship on Sunday the 16^th of February in Dono-Manga. Eloi, our resident nurse, rushed the mother and child to the Jordan Health Center next door and began treatment.  

Everyone initially breathed a sigh of relief that the Health Center was so close. The convulsions and fever were brought under control, but it would not be enough to save this 5 year old little girl named Pandjelta. Monday morning would begin with the news that the Pandjelta had died, and a funeral

Our nurse Eloi treating Pandjelta.

and burial would follow that afternoon.

We would learn later that the parents had been treating Pandjelta with a common local home remedy of herbs mixed with alcohol for two days until they saw the situation was out of hand and ran seeking help at the Jordan Health Center. Had these parents brought Pandjelta to the Center first, she could have been easily treated, like hundreds of others, and would have in all likelihood recovered.

Long lines are typical most every day.

Superstitions and home remedies are hard to overcome in these remote areas of Chad. Until our health center was build the people of Dono-Manga had no other option. But it is such a different story today. In the last 10 months of 2013:

·       2619 people were treated at JHC.

·       Of that number 1156 were children.

·       Another 120 children were born there.

·       And 729 received their vaccinations.

I can assure you that without the Jordan Health Center many of these people, especially among the children, would have died needlessly of easily treatable diseases.

The Jordan Health Center is just one of the many works your donations make possible. As you can see from the above figures your gifts are bringing lasting change to one child at a time.

Stay tuned, more important news is coming your way over the next few days!

A Goal To Bring Lasting Change…We are making progress!

Preventable Disease By the Numbers

1.5 million kids die annually from diseases that are easily preventable through routine vaccinations. (World Health Organization)

1 million people die of malaria each year. (Compassion.com)

30,000 people die weekly from illnesses caused by unclean drinking water. 90 percent of these deaths are children. (Charity Water)

17 million kids were orphaned because of AIDS in 2011 (globalhealthfacts.org)

As discouraging as these figures can be, we are making progress!

The global mortality rate from malaria has dropped 25 percent since 2000.

In Africa, the malaria death rate has fallen 33 percent in the same time frame.

Vaccination programs have resulted in a 74 percent decrease in measles deaths worldwide.

God calls us to not only meet these needs, but to empower people for sustainable and lasting change. Hope Springs International provides deep water wells, affordable health care, training in dry season farming and animal husbandry as a means to accomplish these goals. Each project is planned with an exit strategy in mind and a time line when each work will stand on its own with minimal or no ongoing support will be needed. Even our orphanage is being structured to one day be able to function without the need of outside support.

“If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.” Isa. 58:10, 11.

Your gifts are bringing lasting change. Donate here: www.hopespringsint.com

Can you imagine paying a week’s salary for a mosquito net?

We will be making the wire transfer of funds for treated mosquito nets one week from today. Each net cost only $10 each. That is about the price to two cheap meal deals at McDonald’s. In Chad families live on about $2.00 a day, or about $600.00 per year. $10.00 is a week’s salary in Dono-Manga, Chad. Can you imagine paying a week’s salary, considering what you make per week, just to protect your child or pregnant wife? You and I could do that and still feed our family, the Chadian family could not.

There is still time to make a donation through PayPal at our website: www.hopespringsint.com (Click on the PayPal symbol in the upper right hand corner of any page), or by snail mail to: Hope Springs International, 118 Wessington Place, Hendersonville, TN 37075.

You won’t miss the $10.00, but a pregnant mom or child in Dono-Manga, Chad will.

Here is the link in case you missed the story that started this emergency appeal: “Our children are dying every day from Malaria. Please pray for our orphans!!”

CAN OUR GENERATION END EXTREME POVERTY?

I was blessed to be able to attend Catalyst in Atlanta last week. One of the speakers was Dr. Scott Todd one of the leaders of 58 and the author of “Fast Living: How the Church Will End Extreme Poverty.” The data he shared was eye opening. People living in extreme poverty dropped from 52% in 1981 to 26% in 2005. In just a 30 year period there was a 50% decrease. But that is not all. In the past 20 years child mortality rates have been cut in half as well.

Todd showed a video where people from a number of different countries were asked the question, “Do you think that extreme poverty can be eliminated in our generation?” People from country after country responded with a resounding yes! But when Americans were ask the same question they did not believe it was possible. Todd said that low expectations and a wrong interpretation of Jesus’ statement, “For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.” (Matthew 26:11), have led to low expectations and in turn has fed apathy toward the possibility.

Here are some more compelling figures. There are 138 million committed Christians in America who have a total income of $2.5 trillion per year. But that group only gives away 3% of their income.

Todd challenged us with the words of Isa. 58:6, 7, “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” Todd then said, “God has given us everything we need to end extreme poverty. No question. And it’s clear what He wants. The question is, what do we want?”

At Hope Springs International we have seen the change that Todd speaks about first hand. We have seen funerals for children under the age of five go from one a day to seldom just by providing potable water from deep wells that have be drilled. We have seen sick children get well because of the availability of drugs from our dispensary. We have seen scores of people come to Christ because they have experienced firsthand the no strings attached love of Christ as they were taught about the salvation that is only available through Him.

We believe that God has given us a mission that has only just begun that will spread from our work in Dono-Manga to all of southern Chad. Will you join us in making this a reality?  Your sacrificial gifts will continue to save lives and enable ministers on the ground to share the Good News that Jesus Christ is Lord.  You can make donation on line at: www.hopespringsint.com or mail your gifts to Hope Springs International, 118 Wessington Place, Hendersonville, TN 37075.

Our Dispensary Continues To Bless Hundreds

Our dispensary in Dono-Manga continues to be a blessing to more and more people. Word has now spread beyond Dono-Manga and people are coming from miles away seeking treatment. Our nurse treated 122 people in June and 149 in July. Patients were seen for a number of different ailments including, but not limited to dental needs, eye problems, and children suffering from diarrhea, malaria and guinea worm infections. The vast majority of women in Dono-Manga give birth at home so there were a number of post natal checkups which are saving the lives of many mothers and their children.

While the number of people being seen may seem small, what you have to realize is that we have only one nurse who works part time with no one to assist him. For the price of a cup of Starbucks Coffee a day we could provide full time daily care for hundreds more. If you would like to know more contact us through Hope Springs International website.

When we first came to Dono-Manga it was common to see two or three funerals a week, sometimes more, and most of them were for children under the age of 5. Today funerals are an infrequent event. Your gifts to Hope Springs International have changed that picture, by provided clean drinking water and a dispensary that is saving lives daily. But they are receiving more than just treatment for their physical bodies. While they are experiencing the love of Christ, they are also being taught about a God who loves them and sent His Son to die on a cross for them. Many who came because of a physical need returned home with both physical and spiritual needs met.

Thanks for continuing to be Jesus to the people of Dono-Manga, Chad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A DIFFERENT KIND OF POVERTY

In Sub-Saharan Africa, poverty is not the result of laziness or unwillingness to work. It is poverty without the knowledge, means or opportunity to make lasting change.

I can’t tell you the number of times someone has told me, “We have plenty of needy people right here in our country.” The implication is, if I have to choose between the poor here and the poor there, I choose here.  Let’s talk about poverty for a moment. I will use a comparison between the U.S and the Nation of Chad, where we do a majority of our work right now. The following information if from the CIA website.

INDUSTRY

	United States: Farming, forestry, and fishing: 0.7% Manufacturing, extraction, transportation, and crafts: 20.3% Managerial, professional, and technical: 37.3% Sales and office: 24.2% Other services: 17.6%		Chad agriculture: 80% subsistence farming, herding, and fishing (Defined: farming that provides for the basic needs of the farmer without surpluses for marketing). Industry and services: 20% (2006 est.)

PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION BELOW POVERTY LINE

                                United States 12%  Chad 80%

So what is my point? In every city in America there are newspapers filled with help wanted ads. In nations like chad there is not even a newspaper outside the capitol city. To add insult to injury the growing season for farming is roughly 4 to 5 months. For 7 to 8 months there is NO rainfall in a country where 80% depend on farming to live.

Add to this the lack of clean drinking water, no medical care, or opportunities for education all of which results in a life expectancy of about 50 years of age. This average is so low because of a number of factors not the least of which is a death rate of children below the age of 5 at near 50%.

When a person wakes up to a new day in Chad the goal is not to find a job, it is survival. How will I live today? Tomorrow, next week or next month is not on the radar. Survival today is the only concern.

Hope Springs International is about bringing lasting and sustainable change to countries like Chad.  The combination of new wells, training in dry season farming, food preservation and raising small animals for food, followed by providing basic medications at an affordable price enables people to stand on their own two feet.

It is an often quoted statement, which is still filled with truth. “You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or you can teach a man to fish and feed him for a life time.” Your support of Hope Springs International is more than a gift; it is an investment that will bring change today and tomorrow.  Your gifts will effect generations to come.