DECEMBER 9-11, 2009 - FORUM ON RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT (ASSOCIATION OF EVANGELICAL RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS)

This annual event of CCIH member the Association of Evangelical Relief and Development Organizations (AERDO, http://www.aerdo.net) will include a keynote address by Joel Edwards of Micah Challenge. There will also be a gathering of Gifts in Kind practitioners on December 8. More information will be available soon on the AERDO website.

Philippine Project

GLOBAL CHE NETWORK

We held a meeting of the Global CHE Network in Indianapolis, Indiana on December 9-10, 2008

As Terry Dalrymple said, "The theme for our meeting will be collaboration - voluntary relationships between organizations that do not compromise autonomy but produce never before seen opportunities, capacity, and impact. I like Bryant Myers concept of transformational development as that of two stories coming together - yours and mine. Our separate stories come together for a time, we learn and grow together, and we both go away transformed by the experience. I hope that will be the character and quality of our time together."

Here are informal notes from the Global CHE Network meeting.

• Global CHE Network Meeting Notes 2008

And here are some PowerPoints from that meeting:

• CHE Scaleup
• Handout, Scaling Up CHE Programs
• Church Initiated Neighborhood Transformation
• Collaboration and Movement
• Collaborative for Neighborhood Transformation
• Committee Training
• New Lesson Plans
• Storying and Oral Learners

CHE Coordinators gather for Regional Conference in Southeast Asia
See the you tube video celebrating the occasion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od4th004dJo 

From Contreras, Mexico City (May 2009). See our Facebook page for photos of this ministry.

Contreras

The church in Contreras, started through the CHE ministry of Claudia and Karla, with David Martinez’ leadership, continues to grow in numbers and in leadership. They continue with their strong soy and amaranth micro-enterprise. The church decided not to build a building yet so they can continue with their outreach to families.

El Ocotal

Another group is meeting nearby in the less developed area of El Ocotal. This is a group that has followed through faithfully with visitation, and they have seen entire families come to Christ. Many come from a background of drugs or alcoholism, with many challenges within their families, and nearly all are first-generation Christians. They now have separate groups of adults, teens, and children meeting on Friday evenings in one of the homes (though they no longer fit in the home—we met outside under a tarp), with training for the leaders on Sunday. So they almost have planted a second church. They will hold a summer Children’s Club, with both Bible and health teaching.

From North Sumatra, Indonesia:
Hello everybody, I and my friend do CHE in North Sumatra, Indonesia, using Community Based Model. We mobilizing children and mother. We serve in dumping garbage area and other slum area. We started our program in July 2008 for both areas with mobilizing children. We teach them CHE physical and moral education. Beside that, we also train them music skill, especially using angklung as their instrument. We find how God be with us. When we started our program, a lot of parents don't allow their children to join with our program. But, when they saw their kids change in their manner, health, cleanliness and willing to obey and help their parents at home, they were so proud. Even their neighbors started to send their kids (not believers) to us every Tuesdays or Fridays. More than that, since February 2009, mothers come to us, and ask us to mobilize them. So far, we are trying hard to help them in changing their mindset that they can earn money not just from collecting garbage.

We do CHE works in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia.

- We do Vision Seminars and TOTs for churches and Christian NGOs
- We develop CHE program in our project areas

One of our project area is in a garbage dumping area. Parents, teenagers, and children in that community work as garbage collector. Each of them is paid maximum US$2 per day by the agent(depend on the amount of the garbage they able to collect). A lot of children don't go to school because they need to earn money to support their daily life. For your information, in Indonesia, citizens have to pay for their own education and health.

We started our project in this area in June 2008. We started with the children's work in this area. We taught them moral and physical education. At that time, not all parents allowed their kids to be trained by us, because they need them to earn money and also because they haven't trust us. By the time, especially 3 months after we did training in this community area (in the awareness seminar), we got feed back from some parents that they were thankful with our work. Their kids changed a lot, they obeyed their parents, cleaner than before, healthier than before, more self-confidence, cheerful, and wants to play together with their neighbors' kids. And more and more kids were allowed to be trained by us (even they are unbelievers).

Starting in November 2008, we also provide free music training to them, we use angklung as the instrument. The reasons why we choose angklung as the instrument are:
- it needs a collective way to play it (for their unity)
- kids can't use it to become singing beggars
- to build their self confidence
- to build their patience
- to earn some money which can they used to support their education fee
- to give them an additional skill

Because of their hardworking and discipline, in December 2008, during Christmas time, they were invited by banks and organizations in Medan. They gained US$1500 in two weeks. We were so proud with them! They can use the money to support their education by themselves. But, we still need a strategy to publish their performance to other possibility organizations.

We also do free English tuition for the children starting in March 2009.

With this children's work, mothers came and asked us to do mothers' work using CHE program. We started this program in February 2009. Now we almost finish in training committee and searching for CHDs to be trained before they do home visiting. We also find ways to answer the first list of their 3 biggest problem during the awareness seminar (financial problem, they need skills, and health problem)using fishes ponds (catfishes and patin fishes) starting at the end of March 2009.

We hope our story can be inspired others to do CHE program and please pray for our pilot project to be successful. We need your support! We are open for any input from you...

God bless you....

From Ellie Goolkasian, Foundation For His Ministry, Mexico (March, 2009)

“Blessed are the poor!“

Although it was Jesus Himself who said this, how many of us truly believe it? Sure, we may accept it in some unexamined way as we sip tea on our patio. But can we look into the face of suffering that poverty causes and echo Christ’s assessment, “Blessed are the poor?”

An indigenous woman came to our clinic last week looking for Dr. Avitia. A medical doctor as well as a pastor, Ramón Avitia has the heart of both. The woman told us her grandson had died on Sunday. Her hands moved feverishly, like wringing an invisible washcloth over and over.
“He’s in the casket and we were going to bury him this afternoon! But we think he may be still alive! One woman thought she felt his heart beat, very weakly, but…Please, doctor, come and check him!”

Other family members were with her and we followed their car to the two-room house. Cristofer, twelve months old, lying in an open white casket, was gorgeous. The second son of a teenage couple, indeed, he seemed merely asleep. His skin was still pink and in repose, super-long eyelashes gave his face a feminine touch. Otherwise he was all boy and his three-piece white suit felt wrong. He should have been in toddler’s jeans and a soiled sweatshirt proudly taking wobbly first steps.

But he was dead. As gently as possible the doctor confirmed it to the breathless family. And as if he had died a second time, they cried and let go of hope.

Had I turned to the young couple and spoke Jesus’ words, “Blessed are you who are poor, who weep now, who mourn,” it would have been heartless. Only in time could it become clear that in their great lack – of a son, of money, of understanding – could they arrive at a place of no false hope, no enticements of the world to hold onto.

“Your son is with Jesus,” the pastor said. “If you want to go where he is, be with him one day forever, you need to follow Jesus.”

The father answered in a soft firm voice. “My wife has already accepted Christ into her heart. Today I want to, also.”

Ramón, the pastor, led him in a prayer to become a Christian then asked God to comfort and bless the whole family.

Three people came to Christ this week through the clinic; all, poor, and all, ultimately blessed. Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk who lived in the wisdom of silence before God, wrote, “Poverty is the door to freedom…finding nothing in ourselves (or this life) that is a source of hope... we go out of ourselves and rest in Him in Whom alone is our hope.”

These three precious new believers can pray now as Merton did: “My Lord, I have no hope but in Your Cross. Why should I cherish in my heart a hope that devours me – the hope for perfect happiness in this life – when such hope, doomed to frustration, is nothing but despair? My hope is in what the eye has never seen.”

Blessed are the poor, then, whose faith does not depend on material comforts, health, or circumstances. How many rich people’s faith waxes and wanes with the ”felt” blessings of God? Take them away - will faith remain? “God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith,” James tells us, “and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him.”

I will say it again, “Blessed are the poor!”

Ellie Goolkasian, Foundation For His Ministry

From Jude Kelly, Calvary International APR (March, 2009)

In January 2009, we were privileged to have 8 CFNI Students attend a 10 week internship here in Iloilo City, Philippines. This internship allowed the students to experience first hand life on the mission field under the guidance of veteran missionaries from the Calvary International Asia Pacific Region. Part of the internship included TOT I training. All 8 completed this training and enjoyed the opportunity for practical application of what they learned. Part of this practical experience included surveying a 70 family member village. This survey will help the us make good decisions about the work in that area as we share information with the authorities responsible for this relocation site. It also have given us a way to make relationship with the families there.

Next we did a medical outreach for 165 children, ages 3 to 12. The most exciting part was that we took some of the health booklets, translated them into Ilonggo and used them to give education to the parents and grandparents about the diseases that were making their children sick. The parents just sat and cried when they saw the information in a language that they could understand. Then the Vice Mayor came for a visit and was most impressed when he saw the booklets. He was very interested in working more with us in the area of health education for all the barangays in the municipality of Iloilo.

Throughout the TOT I training we have identified a couple areas that are under further evaluation as a future CHE area. It has been very exciting and the interns said, "This program works!". To that I say, 'Yes it does!'.

Please continue to pray for the work here in Iloilo City, Philippines.
To God Be All The Glory. 
Jude Kelly, Calvary International APR.

The Ethiopia CHE team reported on what God has been doing in their communities (October, 2008 Quarterly Report)

God has been doing many encouraging and visible achievements among our communities.  We can mention one for this quarter. In Kerche Awraja (a church-based district of Kerche), goiter was known as a severe disease and nobody knew how to prevent it from happening. The LifeWind Ethiopia team on its first site visit saw that most of the girls had symptoms of goiter and advised the trainers to do a survey by random sampling and find what percentage of the girls and of the mothers had this disease. They found that about 70% of the community had a case of goiter. After the survey, Dr. Robert Haakensen had a short session with the Master Trainers. The trainers felt very responsible and started teaching what the disease is and how to prevent it. The Master Trainers, Ato Berhanu and Ato Asfaw, didn't stop with their teaching.   They further proceeded to purchase and distribute iodized salt from Addis Ababa which is 500 Km. from their place.  One of the changes that we see in this community is that they are using Iodized salt for their food after the awareness seminars in the churches and teaching in the home visits.  Previous to this training, many people had no idea the reason of goiter and the side effect of not using iodized salt, but now they understand the importance of using Iodized salt in their food. 

Now the demand is becoming greater than the capability of the church and the discussion is continued on how to distribute it in the future.    Now selling the salt has become a business project for some poor mothers and the church is providing them with credit, which they will pay back after they sell it. The Master Trainers told us this: "After we finished the training, the people asked us to bring the iodized salt so that they can buy it without difficulty.   Then we discussed about the issue.  Then we called to Addis Ababa (the head denominational office) to bring us Iodized salt, and we started to distribute it among the community.  We charged a lower price so that the poor people can buy it easily.   By now many people are using iodized salt.  One of the poorest community members asked us for credit for 27 small bags of Iodized salt and we gave it to her.  Now she is using it for herself and selling it to others. This has been happening in Kercha since May 2008.

Also, a model CHE is found in Yergacheffy, who started a savings plan after the Master Trainers starting talking about saving.   After some months, he opened his box and counted five hundred birr ($53) and this was enough to use as seed money to start a project. He is now a practical teacher to his neighbors and for CHEs to start saving. He now has some sheep and chickens to raise and sell for profit when they are ready for sale. Many people are going to his house to ask him how he is doing that.  

Third Latin American CHE Internship Equips leaders from Seven Countries (October 31, 2008)

Participants came from Argentina, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the USA.

Susan Carter, who took CHE training in 1983, reports results of 20 years working out of Tenwek Hospital in Kenya (Octoer 15, 2008)
We celebrated 20 years of Community Health and Development ministry just before I left the field in 2003.  At that point they had over 100 community health committees and had trained over 1200 village volunteers.  An unusual component of the ministry is preparing the community to be self reliant – meaning that Tenwek would not provide monthly supervision after a certain point.  Well-baby and antenatal care would still be available in the village, but program sustainability and growth would be dependent on the community leaders. I’ve been out of Kenya for 5 years now so do not have up-to-date info on the CH & D program at Tenwek but I believe it is still doing well.  They have a greater emphasis on HIV and micro-enterprise than when I was running the program.  The program leadership is nationalized now which, of course, pleases me. 

CHE Network website attracts users from 74 Countries (October 8, 2008)
In the first three months of operation, 2,268 unique visitors accessed the CHE website from 74 different countries. There were 18,052 page views. Pray with us that every visitor will find ideas, resources, and connections that encourage and enable them in the work God has called them to do.

Calvary International to begin CHE in Iloilo City (October 4, 2008)
Calvary International has been working with children in three squatter villages in Iloilo City through their Sonshine Center of Hope. Mrs. Jude Kelly says: "It is time for us to work with the whole family and CHE is the program we want to use. We are very excited to have the opportunity to help many families through the use of this program."

Prayer and Fasting Key to Success of CHE in Congo (September 20, 2008)
Programs in the Congo have doubled in the last year, expanding from 250 to more than 500 villages. Dr. Nzuzi Mukawa reports the following: It was a great joy for me to participate for the first time in prayer meeting organized by one of our teams in Dibungi region. 30 people including men and women came together. They started singing for almost 30 minutes, then one of them read a passage in the bible. After that they began praying for themeselves, their families, their communities, and their various tasks. They prayed for almost 2 hours. Then I noticed that they were also fasting for the whole day. When I see the success in the work in the Congo, I know that it is because of the importance of prayer in their ministries. If we want to see CHE movement spread let continue to pray as stated in I Thessalonians 5:17.

CHE taught at University in Northern Philippines (September 19, 2008)
Norma Manuel, working with SIFAT in the Philippines, reports that she is teaching CHE to students as part of the curriculum at Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University. The next class is scheduled for October 13-17,2008.

Broken communities finding new life in Albania (September 15, 2008)
Dr. Patriot Hoxhaj and his team have been serving two villages in the Korca region of Albania. Sixty five people from the two traditionally Muslim communities gathered for a picnic. Some new believers were present. Participants commented how they felt loved and welcomed the opportunity to gather with old friends for the first time in 20 years. "Only God and His people can offer such things to our broken communities" said Mitati a 72 year old man with tears in His eyes.

Urban program begins in the slums of Phnom Penh (September 6, 2008)
The first CHE programs in Cambodia were started by the Assemblies of God back in 1998. Today, more than a dozen organizations have CHE programs in hundreds of villages throughout the country. Sandra Perry, from the Mercy Health and Community Centre, reports that she has just commenced a church based urban CHE program in the slums of Phnom Penh.

Partnership between CHE Network and Joni and Friends Developing
(September 3, 2008)
Terry Graham and Diane Mood report that Directors at Joni and Friends are enthusiastic about the possibility of collaboration with the CHE Network. They see LePSAS learning methods as a useful tool, and recognize the need for wholistic community based organization if the disabled are to be fully integrated into community life. Opportunities for collaboration on the ground are being explored.    

Visitors to CHE International Network Website tops 1,000 (August 23, 2008)
Since July 3, 2008, there have been 1,007 visitors, 1,941 visits, and 11,140 page views. Visitors have come from 46 different nations.

CHE expanding in the Ivory Coast (August 23, 2003)
Bernie Bledsoe took TOT 1 in Colorado in 2002, and now has CHE programs in two villages and one urban community. Four new urban committees will begin their work soon, and a new training team has been equipped for work in Abidjan.

Program revived and thriving after 2006 riots in East Timor (August 21, 2008)
Yudha Duling says "Every step that we make here in ET is a step of faith, seeing every single opportunity as a way for us to build strong roots". He reports there is an active committee and seven active CHEs in the village of Vatunau. Mothers are learning to combat malnutrition by preparing nutritious meals with locally available resources. The community has built a clinic with permanent materials, and eight families are growing FAITH gardens (Food Always In The Home) on land made available by the church. The program is now beginning to multiply into a neighboring community, and materials are being translated for work among the Tetum people in cooperation with a Brazilian organization.

Five new churches planted in Nigeria in the last 10 months (August 18, 2008)
David Butare, Executive Director of Acts International in Nigeria, reports that using the CHE strategy they have planted five new churches in Agwara, Niger State, since October 2007.  

Number of Community Volunteers in CHE Network approaches 20,000
The latest reports submitted to the CHE Network by partners reveal 1,220 volunteer trainers, 8,270 committee members, 7,115 Community Health Evangelists, and 2,851 other volunteers. The network is serving nearly 2300 communities or about 2.3 million people.

Successful TOT in India (August 12, 2008)
Update from Myron and Lana Witmore: We had our first TOT program and it went very well.  Prabhat and Hiralal taught and there were 26 men and 3 women who attended. Prabhat and Hiralal said the group was ahead in that they already have target villages they can enter. We will meet again in 2-3 months.

"Joni and Friends" offers LePSAS Workshop (August 5, 2008)
Diana Mood and Terry Graham of the Global Transformation Network will teach a workshop at the Joni and Friends International Disability Center, August 27-28, 2008. Participants will learn to use the CHE LePSAS model to transpose complex disability focused concepts into simple lessons for any audience in any setting and culture. To register, contact Joni and Friends at 818-707-5664.

25 House Churches Organized in Urban Slum in Metro Manila (August 4, 2008)
Rebecca Biblanias has been doing CHE ministry in urban slums in Metro Manila for more than a decade. She reports that in Welfareville, one of the communities she serves, 25 house churches have been organized and are actively involved in CHE activities. Please pray that God will continue to provide support for this work in the Philippines.

CHE Program in the Congo reaching 500 Villages (August 1, 2008)
Dr. Nzuzi Mukawa reports that the CHE program in Mbuji Mayi has doubled in the last year, expanding its reach from 250 to 500 villages. That's multiplication!

Four Week Course in Community Health Evangelism to be Offered Online beginning August 6
Multiplying Light and Truth through Community Health Evangelism: This is a four-week book course starting August 6. This book was the pioneering document for the Community Health Evangelism movement, which is now widely used in more than 80 countries, helping villages and neighborhoods be empowered to solve problems while planting the church in the community. Stan Rowland, the author of the book, and Tom Cairns will be facilitating. This is a unique opportunity to learn in person from the author and pioneer of this very significant strategy, now being used in at least eight of our ReachGlobal fields. The book will be sent to you electronically for $9.95. equip.efca.org

Urban CHE taking Root in North America
Stan Rowland is calling it Neighborhood Transformation. Work is ongoing in