Archive for September, 2009
Philippines flooding update
After weekend flooding in Manila, Philippines, CFCA Manila staff members reported no deaths in the CFCA community. The flooding did damage an undetermined number of homes of CFCA families and left at least 10 families homeless. Read the full CFCA news update.
Sponsors wishing to help may donate to CFCA’s Disaster Assistance Fund. One hundred percent of donations to this fund are sent to CFCA projects to help individuals and families affected by disasters.
We ask that you keep in your thoughts and prayers the sponsored individuals and their families, the CFCA staff members and the Filipino people affected by this flooding.
September 28, 2009 at 2:14 pm Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) Leave a comment
How does sponsorship affect my sponsored friend’s siblings?
Q. My sponsored child has siblings. Are they upset or hurt if they are not sponsored?
A. It’s possible that one or more of your friend’s siblings are sponsored. Projects differ in their policies on sponsorship of multiple children in a family. Some projects prefer to limit sponsorship of siblings in order to help as many families as possible.
Though sponsorship is between one sponsor and one child or aging person, the benefits of CFCA sponsorship are intended to assist the entire family, not just the individual who is sponsored.
Some benefits, such as food supplies and home repairs, can be easily enjoyed by all family members. Benefits intended for the sponsored member alone, such as tuition assistance and clothing, still free up money in the family budget to be used for other family needs.
Nevertheless, if your sponsored friend is the only child sponsored, be assured that your sponsorship is received with joy and appreciated by the entire family as it lessens the financial pressure on the family, giving them hope and providing help.
September 23, 2009 at 9:21 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) Leave a comment
Seeing is believing…and I am a believer
By Kelly Demo, CFCA preacher
I have preached on behalf of CFCA for more than a year and a half now. I knew how CFCA worked and how it changed lives and transformed entire communities. I got it.
Or, at least, I thought I did until I went on a mission awareness trip to El Salvador. Only then did I truly understand the goodness, the Godliness of what is happening in our projects. I offer two examples.
On the first full day in El Salvador, our little band of travelers was taken to a small area in Santa Ana. CFCA has had a strong presence there for many years now. We were warmly welcomed by the sponsored children and their families and introduced to leaders who have risen up from the community to take on planning and visioning responsibilities. The atmosphere was one of excitement and pride. The mothers group was eager to show the skirts, purses and towels they were learning to sew. We were told about the community sewing co-op that is starting up, and children came forward to present each of us with a bag that had been sewn by the mothers.
I looked at the parents and children and saw a community of hope that was looking to the future and knowing that, while things may not be easy, there were others who were walking the journey with them.
Cut to scene two. CFCA has just entered into a relationship with the people of Chilcuyo, a town about an hour outside Santa Ana. We were the first group of sponsors to visit, and there were no sponsored children (yet!). We were again greeted by the beautiful children of the town, but there was anxiety underlying the excitement. They did not know what to expect. They had never received a group from CFCA, but more than that, there was a palpable anxiety to life in this town. There was fear. Fear of crime, of hunger, of isolation, and of the future.
When I compared these two towns, I saw clearly how CFCA is making an impact on entire communities, by impacting one person at a time. As each person develops, so develops the town, the area, the country and, in time, the world.
September 22, 2009 at 11:41 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) Leave a comment
Bob’s notes – visit to Bolivia
Mission awareness trip
Aug. 30 – Sept. 7, 2009
It’s a pleasure to share with you the experience of this mission awareness trip and the growth and excitement of CFCA Bolivia.
As background, the population of Bolivia is two-thirds indigenous—the highest proportion in the hemisphere. Evo Morales won presidential elections in December 2005, the first indigenous Bolivian to do so. A year and a half later, a draft constitution giving more rights to the indigenous majority and more autonomy to the nine states led to sometimes violent demonstrations. Among our sponsored families and especially the youth, the CFCA-lived doctrine of non-violent conflict resolution will play a key part in their attitude and behavior.
A mother’s testimony
In the Santa Cruz subproject of Los Bosques, 47 percent of the families are headed up by single mothers. A mother of five, Dominga, told us that belonging to CFCA and attending workshops on human dignity, self-confidence and conflict resolution turned her marital life around and actually brought the children’s father back home.
Home for prisoners’ children
We were privileged to spend a late afternoon and evening with the outgoing girls and boys at Hogar de la Esperanza (House of Hope). This home, dedicated to the children of prisoners, is owned by an association and run by Catholic sisters. We have 38 children sponsored in this hogar.
A tremendous refreshment
On Sept. 1 in Yapacani, we visited families who mostly live in homes made of rough-cut planks. Dads work hard in the fields. The sponsored families are deeply grateful.
Later in the day, we stepped into the cool and moderately lit parish church and found ourselves in the midst of a full orchestra and chorale made up of children and teens—with about half identified by their shirts as being sponsored in CFCA. The music, except for the Star Spangled Banner sung in English, was classical.
After the formal concert, the show continued outside on the basketball court with snacks and lots of dancing with the sponsored aging. My partner, Dona Isabel, had obviously worked hard all her life. She threw me around the dance court like a feather.
By land to Cochabamba
On Friday morning in subproject Sacaba, my group visited Dona Tomasa—an ailing grandmother who never attended a single day of school. Yet Dona Tomasa and her husband, Roberto, strive each day to raise and educate Brian, 10, Christian, 12, Norma, 15, and a fourth young girl who was in school. Only Brian and Christian are sponsored. Dona Tomasa spoke of what a fine student Norma has become. Norma spoke of her aspirations to study medicine, and sponsor Jane Kinney-Knotek offered to sponsor Norma.
Youth group impresses
At subproject Pucarita Chica in the afternoon, we were all tremendously impressed by the 50 or so sponsored teens assembled for a meeting. They invited the sponsors to their meeting. Martin, a CFCA scholar, communications major and group facilitator, was able to establish a good interchange between the youth and sponsors. I really felt a sense of “brimming with potential” in these teens.
From Cochabamba to La Paz
About an hour out of Cochabamba, we began our ear-popping climb. Eufronia Taquichiri, aide-coordinator of subproject Melga, Cristina and I traveled with Don Pablo in a Toyota van, which negotiated the mountain roads very well.
Our gathering at subproject Alto Pampahasi took place on a sun-baked, outdoor basketball court, packed with children, families, teens and the sponsored elderly.
I spoke with a young Aymara mother of four small children who was recently abandoned by their father. She earns a little money by washing clothes in the neighborhood and expressed great gratitude for the sponsorship of two of her children. I am told that 80 percent of the mothers in this area are heads of households but also that 80 percent of the parents in a nearby subproject now can read and write thanks to CFCA classes.
Subproject San Martin de Porres
We have been working in this neighborhood in the southern part of El Alto since 2000. We have 167 children sponsored, about equally divided between girls and boys. This figure is significant because a great number of the families had to move from rural Aymara areas, where boys were favored in opportunities to study. Life is challenging here. For the mothers, small incomes are generated by washing clothes and street vending—mainly food items and sale of macramé. For the dads, the work consists mostly of construction help and temporary day labor. They are all deeply grateful for the CFCA presence.
Bolivia has begun a Children/Youth Congress. One of our sponsored girls, Laura, 11, has been elected by her peers and teachers to represent the children of El Alto at this congress. She attributes her successes in life to her family, teachers, sponsors and CFCA.
On to Brazil
Cristina and I have been very fortunate to obtain visas for Brazil at the Consulado here in La Paz. They are quite strict about the requirements but, fortunately, we had everything in order. To scout the roads and conditions for my walk, we will drive the 637 miles from Santa Cruz to the Brazilian border at Corumba. There we will be met by the CFCA team from Mineiros, who will accompany us to visit the projects in Mineiros and Cipauba. Thank you for being with our mission awareness trip groups in solidarity and prayer.
God’s blessings,
Bob Hentzen
September 16, 2009 at 1:53 pm Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 2 comments
Maria sells newspapers in El Salvador
What kind of job would you do if your life depended on it? Would you dive to the bottom of a river to collect sand? Pound rocks into gravel? Chop sugar cane in the hot sun?
Maria, the mother of two sponsored children, sells newspapers on a busy street corner in Santa Ana, El Salvador, to support her family. She earns $4.50 a day, not enough to cover expenses.
CFCA sponsorship helps fill the gap between what she earns and what she needs not just to survive, but to get ahead. She receives health care and food provisions for her family. Sponsorship support also enables Maria to provide an education for her children in the hope that they can break the cycle of poverty.
That’s why Maria continues to brave rush-hour traffic, blazing heat and pounding rain to sell newspapers.
Related links
Breaking rocks for a living
September 15, 2009 at 1:05 pm Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 1 comment
Growing in our understanding
In this blog entry, Father George Knab, a CFCA preacher, reflects on last Sunday’s Gospel in memory of Jim Hentzen, CFCA co-founder. Monday, Sept. 14 marked the 16th anniversary of Jim Hentzen’s death.
By Father George Knab, OMI
Peter grew in his understanding of Jesus. According to Mark’s Gospel he knew ABOUT Jesus, “You are the Christ,” he declared. But to really KNOW Jesus, he had to get up close and personal and learn of the great love that led the Master to suffer greatly, be rejected and killed for the forgiveness of sin.
After he rose on the third day, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit who gave Peter such understanding that he was ready to deny himself, take up the cross and follow Jesus into the kingdom. As Americans, we know ABOUT the poor; we get it on the news. But to really KNOW the poor, up close and personal, we need the sponsorship program offered by CFCA. Blessed with a one-on-one relationship with people living in poverty, we are moved by compassion to deny ourselves and make the sacrifice necessary to share God’s work of providing for what they need.
Thank you, Jim Hentzen and CFCA, for helping me grow in understanding. Now I KNOW the poor; her name is Rael, a 15-year-old girl in Kenya, who is eager to make something of herself with a little help from a friend who is just as eager to make a little sacrifice.
September 15, 2009 at 10:22 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 1 comment
Notes from the Field #10 – Costa Rica
When Lilliana Seskis, Sponsor Services phone team manager, went on a mission awareness trip, she was in the midst of the very beautiful Costa Rican countryside. But it wasn’t the scenery that impressed her the most about her trip, it was witnessing the dedication of the Costa Rica staff members. Through their hard work and endless support, they have become a second family to sponsored members.
Watch more Notes from the Field.
September 11, 2009 at 9:48 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 1 comment
A day in the life of a CFCA social worker
By Leticia Salazar Fonseca, CFCA social worker in Costa Rica
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| Leticia delivering mail to children in Desamparados |
My name is Leticia, and I have been serving CFCA for more than eight years. It is early in the morning, and I get up thanking our Lord for another day of life. I put my life in His merciful hands as I prepare a cup of coffee.
To be part of the CFCA team has been an immense blessing for me. We feel that what we do is not just a job: it is a mission in our life. I get ready to visit communities in the morning and to distribute benefits in the afternoon. Today we will visit the communities of Desamparados, Los Alpes and La Managuita.
Los Alpes
In our home visits, we offer hope and dignity to all our sponsored families. This is why, early in the morning, we arrive at the community of Los Alpes. With the help of the mothers, we prepared breakfast for a little over 100 sponsored children and, while we do that, they all are talking about the trip to the water park they enjoyed last week. They had the opportunity to share with their friends and to enjoy the pools, horse rides, trails, etc. We had 12 buses full of smiling angels who waved at anybody who would look at them. To get out of their violent and aggressive communities and to be able to enjoy a healthy environment has a great meaning and value for them.
While we were with the children, we were notified that one of our sponsored elderly, Jose, had lost his home and belongings in a fire. Apparently robbers broke into his house the night before, while he slept at his relatives’, and decided to burn it to erase any evidence. We went to visit Jose and found him sadly looking through the rubble of his house and remembering his 50 years of marriage.
Last year, Jose’s wife passed away, and this has him very depressed, “I lost little things and memories that one saves,” Jose said with tears in his eyes. “God loves me; he did not let me die in this fire. No matter what happens, we must trust Him, because better things will come.”
Jose lost eight guitars he handmade. “The material things burned down but the formula to make my guitars cannot be taken away, it is saved in my memory,” Jose told us. Amidst the pain, it is incredible to see the solidarity of the sponsored families in the area who were already trying to find clothing and goods to help Jose. CFCA is already finding ways to support him, too. (more…)
September 10, 2009 at 12:53 pm Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 2 comments
‘God’s work done in God’s way’
Dear Blog readers,
Greetings from Bhagalpur!
My name is Joachim Hansdak. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to acquaint you of the journey I have been taking to visit families for the last two years. There is wonderful mixture of hardship and thrill in this work, and the work itself is very much fulfilling. It is my pleasure to give you the real stories, photos and other related information.
I have not deliberately avoided writing about hardships in this entry, lest the readers are moved with sympathy, but honestly I can say the eastern half of the project is relatively safe and smooth when traveling. The western half of the project is bit of concern, though to date nothing untoward has happen. But when I read newspapers, I do find some mishaps in these very places and roads I had just crossed. I just believe “God’s work done in God’s way will never fail,” and perhaps this is the reason I have yet to come across any hardships.
Challenges in reaching out to families
Traveling to the subproject office does not pose much of a problem, but when I visit individual sponsored children’s family home, it is. Further it also depends on what part of the year one is traveling. May and June are scorching months with temperatures soaring as high as 38 degrees Celcius or 101 degrees Fahrenheit.
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| Some of the roads Joachim must travel can be very narrow and bumpy, which can make traveling difficult and time-consuming. |
Most of the villages are situated in rural, hilly and forest area. The path leading to these villages gets narrower and narrower. Majority of sponsored families are living scattered in this forest and hilly areas. So reaching the sponsored families’ homes is very difficult, difficult in the sense that it is time consuming.
Monsoon commence from mid-June to mid-September. Since the roads are not concrete the motorcycle can get stuck in the loose soil. The families are engaged in cultivation so I avoid visiting for this period of time. Still if urgency is there I visit the family come what may, sometimes I leave my motorcycle in one village and walk to reach the concerned family.
Hospitality is warm as ever, and I forget the tiring journey I have just taken. I get to see elderly people working in the field, double or triple my age. Nothing can be more embarrassing than to say I am tired from the journey. There are some times I don’t find them at home because information of my visit failed to reach them. Also, some people do some unskilled jobs, which may happen to be available on the very day I visit, and people cannot resist a handsome wage of Rs 80.00 (US$1.77).
Mode of transport
Most of the visits I have made to the subprojects have been by motorcycle, with occasional walking. But when we travel in group we take our office jeep. Of course there is a big cost difference between journeying by motor cycle and Jeep.
Traveling time
The furthest subproject Chirkee (CKI) is around 264 Kilometers and time taken to reach it is six hours. By the time one reaches there, one will have visited or passed by no less than a dozen subprojects. Motorcycles give one a liberty to choose multiple routes, and that can reduce the cost, but time spent traveling is more or less the same.
Frequency of visit
Apart from urgent visit, on average I visit all the subprojects twice in a year. Apart from my personal visits, I join the team visits also. The subproject staff usually do most of the family visits as and when required.
Safety concern
Without being immodest, on my personal visits, safety has never been a problem. I have grown up with bad roads, rain, thunderstorms, scorching heat, chilling temperatures, traffic jams, noise and pollution. My own family members and others in my village work under these trying condition. As a young boy just few years ago, I had also worked in the field under these very conditions. Yes, I would say I am ill at ease for safety reasons when I have traveled with Ilene (a CFCA-Kansas staff member) or for that matter traveling with mission awareness trip participants. Now that cell phones are operational everywhere, my concerns have eased somewhat. As I noted earlier, the western half of the project continues to be challenging. I make sure that journey is completed before dusk.
In the end, I would like to ask what is a Pilgrimage? Who do I see the in the form of poverty-ridden and needy person? Who do I visit in hospitals? For whom do I devout my time and energy? What is “living one’s faith”? Come and see a piece of heaven created here.
Each new trip taken unfolds a new experience, a new facet like a well-cut diamond: whichever way one views it, there are new colors to behold.
Sincerely,
Joachim Hansdak
Bhagalpur field staff
September 9, 2009 at 10:47 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 3 comments
Walk with our staff
By Natasha Sims, blog administrator
Of all the roles I fill at CFCA in the communications department, the one I love the most is overseeing the CFCA blog, which means I plan the stories you read, edit everything and occasionally cajole my co-workers into writing something for the blog.
My goal for every post is to enhance your sponsorship experience (for those of you who are sponsors). For those of you who are not, I hope that each entry is a small window into the CFCA community of compassion. I value each and every one of our readers. These posts are my thanks for reading.
I began working for CFCA when I graduated from college two years ago, and I am continually impressed by this organization. I love the stories of the sponsored individuals who heroically fight poverty each and every day. I cheer for the sponsors when they open their hearts to someone they have never met. And I applaud all our staff members who work diligently every day to serve your friends.
After two years, it still never ceases to amaze me how hard our field staff work. They don’t have “office hours;” they have “every hours.” And I think they deserve our gratitude and admiration for their diligence.
This Labor Day, I want to honor how dedicated these men and women are to serving those living in poverty. This week through the blog, I invite you to walk with them and experience their determination first-hand.
I hope you enjoy the journey.
Learn about their work
God’s work done in God’s way
A day in the life of a CFCA social worker
Notes from the Field – Costa Rica
