2016 Spring Sponsor Issue

SPOTLIGHT ON CAMBODIA

How one brave group of women is seeking a better life for their children.

ONCE-SPONSORED CHILDREN GIVE BACK TO THE COMMUNITIES WHERE THEY GREW UP. Updates on HOLT-SUPPORTED PROGRAMS around the world!

ISSUE FOCUS: Children born HIV-positive in China at risk.

Holt International Sponsorship Magazine | Spring 2016

in this issue

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6

4 Around the Globe Updates on sponsor-supported programs.

6 Issue Focus Children born HIV-positive are among the most vulnerable in China.

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8 A Gift Beyond Measure Sponsor Ginny Moffat reflects on 14 years of serving orphaned and vulnerable children.

13 The Brave Women How one brave group of women in Cambodia is seeking a better life for their children.

21 A Gift for Music, a Heart for Children The Annie Moses Band uses their talents to advocate for orphaned and vulnerable children.

24 Coming Full Circle In India and the Philippines, once-sponsored children give back to their communities.

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Cover Photo: In February 2016, a group of elementary school students in Cambodia show off Christmas cards they received from their Holt sponsors.

Holt International seeks a world where every child has a loving and secure home. Since our founding in 1956, we have worked toward our vision through programs that strengthen and preserve families that are at risk of separation; by providing critical care and support to orphaned and vulnerable children; and by leading the global community in finding families for children who need them and providing the pre- and post-adoption support and resources they need to thrive. Always, we focus on each child’s unique needs — keeping the child’s best interest at the forefront of every decision. Visit www.holtinternational.org to learn more.

Holt International Magazine is produced in print and online by Holt International, a nonprofit child welfare organization founded on Christian principles. While Holt International is responsible for the content of Holt International Magazine, the viewpoints expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the organization.

Copyright ©2016 by Holt International. ISSN 1047-764

2 www.holtinternational.org

OUR VISION A world where has every child a loving and secure home.

Fyou. Thank you, dedicated sponsors. irst, I would like to simply say thank

Because of your partnership, orphaned and vulnerable children can dream of a better future.

Right now, you are reading the very first Holt International child sponsorship magazine, filled with stories that we hope will inspire you, fill your day with joy and tell you more about us.

In our feature story, a Holt staff member shares about her journey to Cambodia, where Holt sponsors are helping to empower women so they can independently provide for their children. You’ll read about a college student in the Philippines and a schoolteacher in India, both of whom were once Holt-sponsored children. You’ll also discover what inspired one family to sponsor their first child and what inspired another sponsor to go above and beyond for the children and families we serve.

Have you recently joined our child sponsorship family? Perhaps through a Winter Jam concert? We would like to offer an enthusiastic welcome to you! You are among thousands of individuals who have made the wonderful decision to sponsor a child at a Winter Jam concert this year.

Our partnership with NewSong and Winter Jam is incredibly meaningful. It connects us to individuals like you, who have a heart for the world’s most vulnerable children. It means the world to us that you are helping to achieve our vision of a world where every child has a secure and loving home.

Psalm 119:50 says, “My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.” Because of the promise you have made, a child will be empowered to reach his or her full potential in life.

We hope you enjoy this, the first edition of our sponsorship magazine. And once again, we say thank you. Thank you for your promise to the children in our care. Thank you for providing comfort, warmth and hope.

Blessings,

In 2013, Phil visited many of Holt’s sponsor-supported programs in the Philippines.

Phil Littleton

•

President & CEO

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AROUND THE GLOBE

UPDATES ON HOLT PROGRAMS

ETHIOPIA A Holt-funded health center in the rural area of Shinshicho has now opened its doors to patients! This major project began in 2010 when Holt renovated a small clinic in rural Ethiopia for a region of 250,000 people — many of them families in Holt’s family strengthening program and children supported by Holt sponsors.

But the community needed more than a clinic. They needed a hospital equipped to provide advanced medical care for everyone from women facing complications in childbirth to children born with surgically correctable conditions. Recognizing the need, Holt partnered with the local community to begin building a full maternal-child hospital. And now, for the first time, this community is receiving the care it needs.

“Thanks to donors and our partners in Ethiopia, children and families have hope for the future,” says Phil Littleton, Holt president and CEO. “We were blessed to be a part of this meaningful project in Shinshicho, and are so grateful that the people of this community will now receive the medical care they need.”

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In Haiti, Holt is now partnering with the nonprofit organization Fondation Enfant Jesus (FEJ) to empower women through microenterprise. Through the Chache Lavi program, women receive the resources, education and support they need to create and sustain small businesses — enabling them to independently support their children. “The program’s aim is to break the cycle of poverty experienced by children and their families,” says Mike Noah, Holt’s director of programs for Haiti and Africa. “We want to help women create or expand small businesses, while providing them with the required technical and financial tools to increase their earnings and meet the immediate needs of their family.” Holt is providing training and micro-loans for 68 women, and their children are paired with sponsors to help meet their everyday needs — a vital source of support that allows each woman to focus on building her business. “Sponsorship provides the needed backbone for the women to build self-sufficiency,” Mike explains.

“Upon completion of the Chache Lavi program, the women will be in a much better position to care for themselves and their families.”

MONGOLIA

In one of the poorest districts of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Holt partnered with the community to open a much-needed library and after-school program. “The children in this area love to read and need a safe and warm place to go when they aren’t in school,” says Paul Kim, Holt’s director of programs for Korea and Mongolia. Paul hopes that the new program will also address some of the longstanding issues in the region, including schools that are filled beyond capacity — forcing children to attend in shifts. “There are no resources for these children.

If they have parents, their parents are working or trying to find jobs and the children are much more at risk of becoming involved in illicit and unhealthy activities, leaving their homes and living on the streets,” Paul says.

Along with giving children access to books through the library, Holt also plans to provide study programs, art and music instruction, language class and other activities. The children will receive hot lunches, health monitoring and hygiene support, and counseling and intervention, as needed, by local advocates. Ultimately, Holt hopes that this special after-school program will provide a gateway through which we can partner with child sponsors to serve a much greater number of families and children in the district.

VIETNAM & PH ILIPPINES In Southeast Asia, Holt continues to expand daycare for sponsored children and their families. For the past four years, the daycare programs in Vietnam have provided critical early education and socialization opportunities as well as a safe place for children to stay while their parents work. Holt has also tailored programming to meet the specific needs of each community.

In five provinces, Holt provides daycare services that include specialized therapies for children with special needs — with the newest special needs daycare opening last year in Binh Duong province.

Nutrition is a critical issue as well.

At one daycare center in southern Dong Nai province, free milk and

nourishing school lunches have dropped malnutrition rates from 7.5 percent to less than 1 percent — progress that makes Thoa Bui, senior executive for Holt’s programs in South and Southeast Asia, enthusiastic about the future of daycare services in other Holt countries.

Holt currently supports six daycare centers in the Philippines, and expects to add another in September. “Access to daycare does not just create opportunities for early access to education and stimulation, but also allows parents to go out and seek jobs, increasing financial stability for families,” Thoa says. “This addresses the needs of children and families in a holistic approach, and helps keep families together.”

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ISSUE FOCUS : HIV

TO HAVE A LIFE THROUGH SPONSORSHIP AND ADOPTION, CHILDREN BORN HIV-POSITIVE IN CHINA FIND A FUTURE FULL OF HOPE.

H

e was 6 years old. And he lived alone.

He had a small garden, some pots to cook with, and a dog — “Old Black.” His mother and father had both passed away, and his only living relative, an 84-year-old grandmother, was afraid to take him in.

He was not welcome at school. He was not welcome anywhere. He had HIV. “There is no worse stigma,” says Jian Chen, Holt’s vice president of China programs, of the discrimination faced by anyone who carries the HIV virus in her native China. “It is worse than leprosy.”

ABOVE: Brady had to fend for himself before coming to live at a group home for children who have HIV. Today, he has a sponsor and Holt is actively seeking a family to adopt him.

Jian compares the current HIV/AIDS crisis in China to the 1980s in the U.S. — when the disease was still not well understood, and a positive diagnosis came down like a death sentence. But the HIV virus itself is nothing new to mainland China, first emerging in the early 1990s.

Over the past decade, the Chinese government launched public awareness and prevention campaigns across the country — significantly reducing the spread of the disease. But progress has lagged in two critical areas — reducing mother-to-child transmission, and addressing misconceptions that perpetuate the stigma against people living with HIV. Contrary to what many in China believe, HIV is not isolated to an underworld of drugs and prostitution.

The most vulnerable victims of HIV were born with this stigmatizing disease. They are just children.

“In some regions of China,” says Jian, “I’ve been told that there are 5,000 kids with HIV.” Holt first began working with families and children affected by HIV/AIDS in China in 2005 in the central province of Shanxi, where a large number of people had contracted the disease through blood transfusions. With few antiretroviral drugs available at the time, many people in this impoverished community died of AIDS — leaving their children in the care of relatives, often elderly grandparents.

By partnering with child sponsors in the U.S., Holt was able to provide educational support for the children and stabilizing resources for their families. But it wasn’t until three years ago that Holt found a way to help orphaned and abandoned children who are living with HIV themselves — children who not only lost their parents to the disease, but lost their entire families, homes and communities due to pervasive and unfounded fear. For the first time, Holt would be able to serve these hard-to-reach children.

“We learned about a local orphanage that would send children to these HIV group homes,” Jian explains. Started by the organization AIDS Care China, the group homes provided nurturing care for children who no one else would care for — not even orphanages. When Jian first visited a group home in southwestern China, she was moved by the compassion shown by the staff and caregivers. She also saw that they needed help.

With nearly 30 children in care, ages 2-17, the group home struggled to meet the needs of each child. The government covered their HIV medications, but not their overall medical care. Enrolling the children in public school was also not an option. If their diagnosis was discovered, they would

not only be turned away at the school door — they also risked the group home’s landlord finding out. Already, the children and their caregivers had been evicted several times and forced to move to a new location where no one knew their health status.

To avoid exposure, the children attended private school — a tremendous expense that stretched the group home’s resources to next to nothing.

Fortunately, Holt already had a model in place to meet the everyday needs of orphaned and vulnerable children. Partnering first with one group home, Holt went to work finding sponsors to help meet each child’s daily living expenses, and began seeking donors to meet additional needs like training for social workers to counsel the children.

“These children have all gone through a lot of trauma and neglect and loneliness,” Jian says, explaining the need for social work support. “They lose everything — their parents, their home, their school and friends.”

Through the group home, the children have regained some of what they’ve lost.

They have some semblance of family life with their caregivers and other children.

They can go to school. They have a loving home environment. But their future is uncertain if they come of age in China, where they will almost certainly experience discrimination when seeking work or higher education.

“The group home does all they can, but what comes next?” Jian asks. “Nobody knows. That’s why we think of adoption.”

Jian hopes that one day, HIV will no longer carry the stigma it does in China. With greater education and understanding, she believes the fear will abate — and children who are HIV-positive will be able to grow up in the loving care of their birth families, in the country and culture to which they were born.

But until that day comes, we will do everything we can to ensure a stable, loving family for children who are HIV-positive.

So far — and with great support from the Chinese adoption authority, the CCCWA — Holt has matched nine children from one HIV group home, and continues to seek families for two more children. Once their paperwork is complete, more children with HIV will become eligible for international adoption to the U.S.

“THESE CHILDREN HAVE ALL GONE THROUGH A LOT OF TRAUMA AND NEGLECT AND LONELINESS. THEY LOSE EVERYTHING — THEIR PARENTS, THEIR HOME, THEIR SCHOOL AND FRIENDS.”

One of the two children Holt is now home-finding for is an 11-year-old boy named Brady* — a boy who became famous across China five years ago after a news story broke about his life growing up alone with his dog. This boy no longer lives alone. He no longer cooks his own meals or washes his own clothes.

He is now in school, has compassionate sponsors in the U.S. who help meet his needs, and is surrounded by people who love and care for him. Hopefully one day soon, he will also have a loving family to call his own.

“In the U.S., they can do things like other kids. In China, it’s not even possible for them to have a home,” says Jian.

“That’s why adoption is so important for these kids — to find a future. To have a life.”

Robin Munro • Managing Editor

Support children with HIV by sponsoring a child, giving a gift to the Molly Holt Fund for Children with Special Needs or advocating for children with HIV who are waiting for adoptive families. Contact Rose McBride at rosem@holtinternational.org to learn more.

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SPONSOR GINNY MOFFAT REFLECTS ON THE CHILDREN AND THE PROGRAMS SHE HAS SUPPORTED

A GIFT BEYOND M EAS U R E

Wsure that I was supposed to adopt hen I was in my late 30s, I felt

a child internationally. It was a feeling that would not leave, like this was God’s plan for my life. But it soon became very clear it was just not going to work for our family. I was stunned.

ABOVE: Ginny plays with a baby recovering from surgery at Peace House, Holt’s medical foster home in Beijing, China.

ABOVE RIGHT: On her last trip to China in April 2012, Ginny met a family she helped keep together through sponsorship support.

FAR RIGHT: Ginny meets babies new to the Special Baby Care Unit at an orphanage in Nanchang, China.

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I was so sure that this was what was supposed to happen, like there was something I was definitely supposed to do to help a child or children internationally. Finally, it dawned on me that we could use the money it would have taken to raise another child to try to help children waiting for families, through Holt.

That’s when I started sponsoring kids, in 1992. I started with seven children,

OVER 14 YEARS OF PARTNERSHIP WITH HOLT INTERNATIONAL.

and I loved having their pictures up on the refrigerator and reading their profiles. I loved the details about them, how they sounded like just your average kids (“Wipop climbs on the furniture and runs away giggling…”). We rejoiced when a child was adopted and a new one took his or her place. Days when my job was especially draining and I wondered why I was doing it, I would come home and look at those kids’ faces and be glad that my job meant that I could help support them while they waited for their forever families.

For years, I just kept sponsoring kids, up to ten at a time. Then in 1997, I was invited to travel with a small group to see Holt’s programs in Guatemala. We

“ Sponsorship

led me to wonder what

else I could do for kids waiting for families. ”

jumped at the chance! When we arrived, I searched for a little boy named Manuel, who a friend was sponsoring. He was an adorable kid whose body seemed unusually stiff. I plopped him on my 12-yearold son’s lap and Manuel sat looking up into his face, reaching up to touch him.

I snapped a picture of the two of them.

Several years later, my friend received a letter saying that Manuel had been adopted by a family in the United States.

Holt put his mom in touch with me, and I got to share a picture of her son, long before she met him, sitting in my son’s lap.

She said he was running around outside as she spoke, happy, limber and carefree.

Sponsorship led me to wonder what else I could do for kids waiting for families. After the Guatemala trip, I kept traveling to see Holt’s programs around the world. I went to Thailand to help rehab an orphanage playroom. My son and I went to Romania to visit families in their family preservation program and visit a home for unwed mothers and their babies in Bucharest. On a trip to China and Vietnam, I visited orphanages, met foster families, and met families who were able to keep their children only because of Holt’s robust family preservation programs.

I always came away from these trips convinced that Holt employees are making the absolute best use of whatever funds I can donate. They are making the kind of decisions that will have a lasting, positive impact for children and families for all of their lives, the kind of decisions I would make if I had their knowledge and expertise.

My last trip to China with Holt a few years ago was a special one. We visited Peace House in Beijing, where orphans who need surgery are cared for in a loving home environment. We met children living in group homes, met children in foster families, and got to visit several families in their family preservation program. One of those visits was very special to me. It was to a teenage boy living with his grandmother in a poor, rural area. I knew a fair amount about them, because that boy’s picture had been hanging on my refrigerator for several years. To get to meet him in person, take his stooped grandmother’s hand, show him the picture I had of him in my home, and hand him a few gifts from Chicago… that was a moment I will never forget.

As the years have gone on, sponsoring through Holt has led me to support many unique programs. About a year ago, I

received a call from Holt about a group home project for children with HIV in China. I was able to pitch in with a donation that enabled the staff to prepare up to ten of the 30 children for international adoption. I cannot think of one single thing that I could have done with that money that would have made me happier.

Since 1992, I have sponsored over 100 children and gotten to find out what happened to some of them. That’s been such a gift. But more important even, sponsorship has led me to a whole different level of involvement with Holt’s programs. That involvement has been a gift beyond measure in my life. I started with the idea of using the money I would have used to raise another child to try to help children waiting for adoption, through Holt. It seemed like a decent fallback plan from where I thought God was leading me, though not my first choice. Now, I feel that giving back through Holt all these years was God’s plan all along and I am grateful beyond words to be able to continue to do it.

Ginny Moffat • Chicago, IL

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ABOVE: Jeff and Lindsay Babcock arrived home from Korea with their son, Ari, in April 2014, joining sister, Zion, and brother, Judah.

BELOW: While in care at the Ilsan Center in Korea, Ari grew close to Ji Yun — the little girl the Babcock family now supports through sponsorship.

A

Bond

of

Two Hearts Becomes Four

THE MEANINGFUL CONNECTION THAT INSPIRED ONE FAMILY TO SPONSOR A CHILD THROUGH HOLT.

Our sponsorship story began while waiting for the right time to move forward with adopting a child. Although our family was not yet ready to adopt, my daughter and I began praying for children on Holt’s waiting child photolisting. We called ourselves their “praying family.”

There were two children in particular who we could not stop thinking about.

They were both at Holt’s Ilsan Center in South Korea, which provides ongoing care for residents with special needs. As the months progressed, God did an absolutely amazing thing and one of those two children we were praying for found his forever family!

To my greatest joy, he found his forever family in our family and he became our son.

When God gives you the opportunity to answer your own prayer, words cannot express how awe-inspiring it is. Yet throughout the entire process of bringing our son home, I felt a hint of guilt for little Ji Yun, the other child who we had prayed for and longed to see with a family. Because of her circumstances, beautiful Ji Yun is not eligible to join a family through international adoption.

Unlike our son, no mom or dad came for her.

When we finally traveled to Ilsan to meet our son, we were overcome with emotion when he took our hand to show us his sweet friends. We instantly

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recognized the little one laying in our son’s crib napping. It was sweet Ji Yun. This little angel we had felt so connected to was right there, sleeping peacefully in the same place our son had slept every night. We realized that the connection we felt towards her was because God was bonding our hearts to someone our son’s heart was bonded to!

We watched as our son did little errands to take care of her. He wiped her face and got blankets for her and helped her caretaker wrap her up on her back.

It was so moving to watch his love and commitment to her.

As a family, we all felt a strong desire to stay connected with Ji Yun. I mentioned to Holt’s sponsorship team that we were interested in sponsoring a certain child at Ilsan and asked if they could find her. Within no time, I received a picture of sweet Ji Yun. Our hearts jumped when we saw her! We decided that for Christmas, sponsoring Ji Yun would be one of our gifts to our son.

The day we got our sponsorship information, we explained to him what sponsorship meant. The look on his face was priceless! Our sponsorship of Ji Yun opened up a part of our son’s heart that was conflicted, and it gives him the freedom to love the important people in his life before us, and to know that we truly love them too!

Lindsay Babcock • Omaha, NE

Three Ways to Go ABOVE AND BEYOND! ON THEIR BIRTHDAY, FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL AND CHRISTMAS, YOU CAN GIVE AN EXTRA SPECIAL GIFT TO YOUR SPONSORED CHILD. As a child sponsor, you already do amazing things for your sponsored child. Each month, you meet vital needs such as nutritious food, an education, medical care and the opportunity to thrive within the loving care of a family.

And three times a year, you have the opportunity to go above and beyond for your sponsored child, celebrating them and making them feel extra loved and cared for.

Most sponsored children live with their families, who would love nothing more than to celebrate their child by giving them something “extra.” But they are simply unable to afford a small gift, special meal or even provide essentials like school uniforms and supplies. For children living in care centers or with foster families, a gift to make them feel individually noticed and celebrated can mean the world!

Birthday Every year on June 1, the International Day of the Child, Holt teams up with our partners around the world to throw a huge birthday celebration for the children in our sponsorship program! Complete with decorations, sugary snacks, goodie bags and a special outing or activity — this is a day they look forward to all year long. And you can help celebrate your sponsored child by sending a card and making a gift to support their birthday bash on June 1!

Education

Few things can change a child’s life as drastically as an education. But many obstacles stand in their way of receiving an education and reaching their potential. When you give a little extra to your sponsored child in the fall, you ensure that he or she will have the school uniform, shoes, textbooks and school supplies that they need for a great year!

Christmas

Christmas is a day to be with loved ones and to share our many blessings with those in need. And every December, you can share the spirit of Christmas with your sponsored child by helping to provide a special holiday party, meal and gift. Children sing and dance and laugh as they experience the joy and hope of this season. It’s truly the most wonderful time of the year!

In spring, summer and fall, watch for your special birthday, back-to-school and Christmas packets in the mail.

THANK YOU

for going above and beyond

to make your sponsored child feel extra special and loved!

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Your

PRAYERS

are Requested

OUR ON-THE-GROUND PARTNERS SHARE A FEW SPECIFIC PRAYER REQUESTS FOR THE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES WE SERVE AROUND THE WORLD.

Pray that Cambodian children can continue schooling without child labor, that their families are able to earn a good income and that families grow enough rice to eat throughout the year.

Holt Cambodia

Please pray for Tuyatsetseg and for the strength and good health of his grandfather, who is the only caregiver of his grandson, who has cerebral palsy. Pray for single mothers who are struggling to support their families. Pray for premature babies to gain weight, and pray for children to find their forever families.

Naidvar Center, Mongolia

Pray for Sagrika as she continues to be treated for Tuberculosis. Pray that this child may be healed completely, and that she can continue with a good healthy life.

Pray for the good health of all the children in our care and that their foster families may be able to provide food, shelter, security and love.

Shishu Sangopan Griha, India

Kaisahang Buhay

Foundation, Philippines

In addition to prayers, a few of our partners sent requests for specific items they need for the children and families they serve. Given limited resources, these items are often out of reach for our partners. If you would like to help meet one or more of these needs, please give a gift with the enclosed envelope or call 1-888-355-HOLT. Bach is a 7-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who was born premature with very low birth weight. Bach was prescribed a special formula to help her gain weight, but it is very expensive and Holt Vietnam is struggling to provide it for her.

Our long-time partner in Bangalore, India, Vathsalya Charitable Trust (VCT), needs a laptop and projector for the training programs they offer in local schools, at a care center for girls with special needs and as part of their community outreach program.

Although sponsorship covers basic school fees and supplies for children, our partner in Pune, India, Bharatiya Semaj Seva Kendra, would also like to provide a school bag with a lunch box, water bottle, drawing sheets and coloring materials for each child in their educational sponsorship program.

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TO SEE ADDITIONAL PRAYER REQUESTS AND WISH LISTS FROM OUR OVERSEAS PARTNERS, GO TO HOLTINTERNATIONAL.ORG/WISHLISTS.

Please pray for Chantra, a 5-month-old baby in HSF foster care who was born premature. Pray that she is protected from long-term defects, especially in the areas of her hearing, vision and overall development.

Holt Sahathai Foundation, Thailand

The number of hungry Ethiopians needing food aid has risen sharply due to poor rains. One of the areas suffering from drought is where our sponsored children and their parents reside. We believe your prayer on this issue will make a big difference.

Holt Ethiopia

SPOTLIGHT ON CAMBODIA

THE

Brave

Women They call themselves the Brave Women.

Sitting in a circle on a large, green tarp under the shade of cashew nut trees, many of the women sit with their legs bent under them to one side, calves parallel, in the way so natural to Cambodians. It’s bright and hot, and little clouds of dust rise under the fidgeting feet of the children lingering to watch. Some women hold smaller children on their laps. Nearby, two large, cream-colored oxen graze on dry brush, their ears and tails swishing at flies.

The leader of this group is an older woman with strong hands and a small streak of gray hair near each of her temples. She speaks softly, but confidently in Khmer.

“We call ourselves the brave women because everyone has to be brave and speak up.”

Her explanation of the name draws a nervous laughter, as if the idea of brave women is a laughable concept But, it’s true. Given Cambodia’s recent history, the act of gathering together as a group of women is nothing short of brave.

From 1975-1979, more than one in four Cambodians were killed or died during CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

»

LEFT: Two mothers in the Brave Women gather at another member’s home with their children. Women in self-help groups tend to rely on each other for support, child care and friendship outside of group meeting times.

RIGHT: A meeting of the Brave Women. The two men on the left are Pola Ung, the director of Holt’s on-theground partner Cambodia Organization for Children and Development, and a member of his staff.

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TOP: A Brave Woman group member with her son.

MIDDLE: Buth, the director of Holt’s on-the-ground partner Child and Life Association, walks with children in Holt’s sponsorship program.

BOTTOM: The Brave Women laugh during a self-help group meeting.

the genocidal revolution orchestrated by Cambodia’s communist party, the Khmer Rouge. When the Khmer Rouge seized national power, Cambodians had already endured years of secretive, U.S.-led airstrikes that killed more than 600,000 people against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. But the revolution just brought more violence. Within days of taking over the government, Khmer Rouge leaders forced everyone to join ranks. Families were separated. Schools, hospitals and historical landmarks destroyed. Buddhist places of teaching, pagodas, were turned into prisons and interrogation centers. Many people starved or died of hunger-related disease.

Tens of thousands of people were unjustly arrested, tortured and forced to confess treason. Cambodians were encouraged to denounce their peers. And entire families were killed without ever understanding what they had done wrong.

There is no way to overstate the destruction of the Khmer Rouge. In four years, more than 2 million people died — and those who survived were left to deal with the aftermath. Today, Cambodia still struggles to recover, and very few victims of the Khmer Rouge have received justice.

But the Khmer Rouge didn’t just kill people. By forcing villagers to turn on each other, the brutal regime destroyed entire social structures. Community support became a foreign concept. People grew afraid to work together to solve common problems. And that fear remains today.

Today, more than half of the population is younger than 22. Pervasive poverty continues to threaten the safety of children and families. National education systems are lacking. Access to quality healthcare is weak. Economic opportunity abysmal.

Holt began working intermittently in Cambodia in 1991. In recent years, we’ve bolstered our programs that aim to strengthen families vulnerable to separation. We partnered with local NGO Cambodian Organization for Child Development (COCD) in 2013 and Children and Life Association (CLA) in 2015. Together with our on-the-ground partners and child sponsors in the United States, we seek to protect children from trafficking and exploitation, increase educational opportunities and keep at-risk families together by holistically addressing their needs.

When we began working in Cambodia,

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one of the first problems we recognized as a threat to children was the strong individualism among villagers.

Buth, the director of CLA, says that during the Khmer Rouge, the elite exploited the close-knit nature of communities to enslave the peasant class and force them to work for the revolution. As a result, people opted to work individually to protect their rights. Even today, villages are afraid to trust one another — a fear that makes it easier for traffickers to prey on children and more difficult for families to sustain a profitable business. When families fear working together, the whole community suffers. Children suffer.

“There’s no collaboration in the villages,” Buth says. “So when families face trials, they don’t know what to do or where to turn. They may take out a high-interest loan to pay for healthcare.”

To begin repairing trust among villagers, Holt helped form community groups in every village where we work, open to the mothers or grandmothers of children in child sponsorship. These groups empower women by teaching sustainable agriculture and income-generating skills, creating a community-based savings and loan program, and by teaching women how to work together to solve problems and keep their children safe.

Soon after, the Brave Women were born.

They started with 15 members, but the Brave Women have doubled in less than two years. Each month, 30 women meet to discuss common hardships, share wisdom about child and animal-raising, and add a small amount of money to their savings and loan account. Holt’s on-the-ground partners visit frequently, and share information about keeping children in school, preventing child trafficking and reporting abuse. They provide trainings to help the women improve rice yield and host workshops about topics like composting or vaccinating baby chicks.

Holt-sponsored children often attend, too, just to play with friends or watch what their mothers or grandmothers are learning.

With some initial capital provided by Holt child sponsors and monthly deposits and interest payments from every member, the women have an account with nearly $2,000 they can borrow from in small increments of $100-300. Borrowers repay their loan through weekly payments, with 2-percent interest. With their loans, the women are able to cover emergency medical expenses, pay off other high-interest loans, or invest in

LEFT: Phanny is a mother of four and a member of the Brave Women. She’s borrowed money to buy chickens, pigs and garden supplies.

TOP RIGHT: Kosal Cheam, Holt’s director of programs in Cambodia, walks with children in Holt’s sponsorship program.

BOTTOM: Saywen, a member of the Brave Women and mother of two, borrowed about $100 to open a small grocery stall near her home.

income-generating agricultural activities.

One of the Brave Women opened a repair shop for tractors with her husband. Saywen, a 29-year-old mother of two sponsored children, expanded her small grocery stall, and now she stays home with her children while her husband travels for construction jobs.

“I always dreamed of owning a shop like this,” Saywen says. “I never went to school. I can’t read or write. My son started school late,

so he is only in the first grade, but I hope all my children can stay in school.”

Once Saywen pays off her first $100 loan, she wants to borrow again and add an electricity source and small refrigerator to her shop so she can keep produce fresh longer and sell cold items.

“The poor feel hopeless, excluded and discriminated against,” says Pola Ung, the young founder and CEO of COCD. “At self-help

groups, they feel confident and strong.”

Phanny is 35 years old and the mother of four children under the age of 11. A member of the Brave Women, she’s easy to recognize by her warm, dimpled smile and thick, shiny black hair.

Phanny lives just a few hundred yards along a dusty path from where the Brave Women meet each month. Her house is CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

» 15

ABOVE: Phanny with her four children. Her oldest three are sponsored through Holt.

Her daughter is too young to attend school, and does not have a sponsor yet.

built on low stilts with walls made of tightly thatched bamboo or scrap wood planks.

In front of the home is a clay water pot as tall as Phanny’s waist with a tray of fish resting across the rim. Behind Phanny’s home is a stall where four pudgy pigs lounge about, sleepily oinking at each other.

Phanny begins cutting up a watermelon to share, a smile spreading across her face.

“She looks so happy,” says Kosal, Holt’s director of programs in Cambodia, smiling with satisfaction. “It’s a big change from the last time I saw her a couple of years ago.”

The indicators of wealth in Cambodia are usually visible, tangible items — tin roofs instead of thatch, electric lights, pumped-water versus open-pit, access to irrigation instead of reliance on rain.

Animals are like bank accounts, since they cost a considerable amount to purchase, but they also generate large amounts of wealth

16 www.holtinternational.org

and food security. The larger the animal, the more wealth it can generate for a family.

Chickens produce eggs, which families can eat and sell. Baby chicks grow into chickens, and

“BEFORE, KIDS WERE HOPELESS ABOUT THE FUTURE. NO ONE ASKED THEM WHAT THEY WANTED TO BE.” can be sold for about $5 each. Piglets can be sold for $20 each about 20 days after they are born. Cows produce fertilizer and can help reduce the labor of growing rice — the main source of food for all families in Cambodia.

“For families who have lived 40 years without a savings account, a cow is life-changing,” Pola says. “It gives hope.”

The savings and loan aspect of the women’s self-help groups is critical — and so successful that mothers of children in Holt’s child sponsorship programs around the world often receive similar support.

For around $100, women are able to purchase several hens or a pair of piglets. This investment, while large for the families Holt works with, can pay off big. The animals will eventually produce offspring, generating income that families can use to access medical care or medications or to pay school fees — keeping children from dropping out at a young age. For very successful families, animal-raising and farming can be their primary source of income, and even generate enough income to cover “additional” costs like children’s school books and uniforms, which Holt child sponsors usually provide through their monthly gifts. More impor-

tantly, having the ability to generate income and care for their family gives parents hope for the future­—hope that they pass on to their children.

“Before, we didn’t know how to improve our position,” the Brave Women’s leader says.

“To get a loan is very efficient now. Before, we only had bad options.”

Two years ago, life was bleak for Phanny and her children. Phanny’s husband left for work one day and never came back. Her only way to make money was by selling traditional Khmer medicine, which she would make from plants, leaves and other foraged ingredients.

She would sell her medicines to neighbors and make less than $1 per day. Her children were undersized. She worried how she would feed them enough. They were often sick, but she could not afford a doctor. And without funds to purchase required school supplies, Phanny wondered how long it would be before one would have to drop out.

But, when the Brave Women formed, their fate changed.

Phanny passes out chunks of watermelon, even sharing with a group of older, neighborhood Holt-sponsored girls lounging on her front step. Phanny recently learned how to compost during a COCD training, and she proudly shows off her compost pile. So far, Phanny has taken three small loans, all of which she’s repaid. She purchased two pigs with her first $125. After she repaid her first debt, she borrowed again to buy five chickens and a rooster. Now, it’s hard to count the number of hens strutting around the dusty yard, some with a small flock of baby chicks in tow. With her third loan, she purchased some items to sell for profit — like the fish drying on her water pot. Soon after, she sold some of her chickens to buy another piglet.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

TOP: Phanny feeds scraps of watermelon to her chickens. Her pig pen is in the back right of the frame.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Phanny borrowed $125 to purchase two of her pigs. By raising animals and farming, Phanny can afford all the basic needs of her family.

» www.holtinternational.org 17

A Day in

the

Life

What is life like for children in Holt’s sponsorship programs? While every child’s story and circumstances are different, some similarities exist from child to child and country to country. Most children, about 80 percent, live with their families and receive ongoing support to ensure they remain in school, have access to medical care, and receive nourishing food while an advocate — usually a social worker or teacher — works with the entire family to help them recover from life-altering hardships or pervasive poverty. In this way, child sponsorship uplifts not just children, but their mothers, fathers and siblings, too. Here is what a typical day looks like for one extraordinary girl growing up in rural Cambodia — and the single mother who is raising her to be a strong, confident woman.

Brian Campbell

•

Multimedia Manager

1 1. This is Kanhna. She is 12 years old and lives with her mother, Phally, 14-yearold brother, Sambath, and young niece in a rural village in Kampot province, Cambodia. Both Kanhna and Sambath have received support from Holt sponsors for two years.

2. Sambath is in the 7th grade. Here, Sambath rests in a hammock with his niece after school.

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2

3. Kanhna’s mother, Phally, is 48 years old. Phally has an elementary school education and has never worked for income — only to help grow and harvest rice on their small plot of land.

4. Several years ago, Kanhna’s father fell ill and died shortly after surgery. After he died, Phally didn’t know how she would care for her five children and she relied on her oldest daughter’s income to meet Kanhna and Sambath’s most basic needs.

Today, one of the few photos Phally owns of her family is a portrait of herself and her husband on their wedding day. It’s displayed on a shelf in her single-room home.

4

5. Everywhere Holt works, we focus on the most vulnerable members of the community — often single mothers and their children like Phally, Kanhna and Sambeth. When Holt came to Phally’s village two years ago, we enrolled Kanhna and Sambath in Holt sponsorship, and invited Phally to participate in a monthly women’s self-help and savings and loan group. Every month, Phally meets with a group of 30 women who are also striving for a better life for their families. Through the savings and loan program, Phally has been able to borrow a small amount of money to purchase two hens, which have since hatched about 20 chicks. When the chicks grow to full size, Phally will sell them for about $5 each. In the future, Phally hopes to borrow again — perhaps to purchase a pig or cow, which can help her earn even more income. Here, Phally and her granddaughter participate in a monthly group meeting of the “Brave Women.”

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6

Kanhna and Sambath have three older sisters, but because job opportunities are scarce in rural Cambodia, they’ve all been forced to migrate from their home to find work. Most families survive on subsistence farming —growing enough rice and other crops to eat all year, with a little extra to sell in markets. Many Cambodian families in Holt’s sponsorship program survive on $1-2 per day. Kanhna’s oldest sister is 20 years old and has one toddler-aged daughter, who she left in her mother’s care while she works as a farmer near the Laos border. Kanhna’s 18 and 16-year-old sisters both work in garment factories in the nation’s capitol city, Phnom Penh. Sponsorship is critical for Kanhna to ensure she can stay in school and not leave early to begin working. Here is a picture of Kanhna’s home, taken from the dirt road that connects her house to her school and other homes in her village.

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8. Kanhna helps her mother with cooking, washing and other housework. This also means gathering water. Kanhna and her family drink from a man-made water hole about 200 yards from their home, following the path that cuts through the family’s rice paddy pictured here. They carry water in buckets and store it in 100-gallon ceramic pots. Before they can drink their water, they boil it over a wood-fired pit outside their home.

7

8

7. “It will take time for Phally to change her mindset.

It’s very hard when you’re poor. You believe you will be poor forever. Kanhna will struggle with that mindset, too,” says Pola Ung, the CEO of Holt’s incountry partner, Cambodian Organization for Child Development. “Phally’s starting with two chicks, but we need to be patient. I hope she will do more.”

9 9. Based on a government classification system, Phally and her children used to be considered “extremely poor.” Kanhna and Sambath’s sponsors helped replace the family’s thatched roof with tin and Phally took a small loan from her self-help group to replace the thatched walls. Not only is the family now protected from leaks during the rainy season, but they are also no longer living in extreme poverty. In this image, Pola compares the paperwork that described her family as “extremely poor” to her latest report, classifying their status as simply “poor.” Phally says she’s very proud of her progress, and it gives her hope that one day, she and her children will escape the cycle of poverty. By June 2016, Phally will have repaid all of her self-help group loans, and she can borrow again if she chooses.

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10

10. Although Sambath and Kanhna attend the same school pictured here, Kanhna is in 6th grade and Sambath is in 7th, so they study in different classrooms. Because there are not enough public schools in Cambodia for every student, children only attend school for half the day — including Sambath and Kanhna, who arrive at 7 and end the school day at noon. Every child in Cambodia wears the same uniform — a white, button-up collared shirt and black pants for boys, black skirts for girls. While public school is free to attend, uniforms, books and supplies are very expensive. However, Kanhna and Sambath receive these materials for free, with help from their sponsors.

A

Gift

Music

a

for

and

Heart for

Children

The Annie Moses Band uses their talents to help orphaned and vulnerable children in Holt’s programs.

BELOW: Robin Wolaver embraces her daughter Zoe, recently adopted from China.

RIGHT: “We researched Holt and felt called to present their sponsorship program at our concerts,” lead singer Annie Wolaver says.

A

nnie Wolaver, lead singer and violinist, steps onto the stage. Her violin tucked comfortably under her chin, a microphone placed in front of her, she begins to play.

Encompassing Annie are her two brothers, Alex and Benjamin, and two sisters, Gretchen and Camille — each holding instruments of their own. Together, these Julliard-trained siblings make up the Annie Moses Band, a folk and classical music group founded in 2001 by their parents, Bill and Robin Wolaver.

Just before intermission, as the audience begins to shuffle in their seats, a photo of a little girl appears on the screen above the stage. Annie introduces Zoe — her 9-year-old sister, adopted from China — and explains to the audience how generous sponsors helped Zoe thrive while she waited to come home to a loving family… her family.

Zoe joined the Wolaver family through Holt’s China adoption program in 2014. But Holt’s partnership with the Annie Moses Band actually began two years earlier, when they began sharing Holt’s vision of a world where every child has a loving and secure home. As Holt artists, the band encourages their audience members to take action by signing up to sponsor a child.

“I’d wanted to adopt for a long time when we were first made aware of Holt,” Robin says. “So our interest in partnering with [Holt] through our concerts was piqued.”

Since Zoe became their little sister, the band members have found new meaning in their efforts to find sponsors for orphaned and vulnerable children. “We saw in Zoe’s life what a huge difference sponsorship made,” Annie says. At just 10 months old, Zoe came into the care of a Holt foster family, who nurtured her with the monthly support of a Holt sponsor. “They transformed her,” Robin says of Zoe, who has cerebral palsy.

“Considering her special needs, I don’t think she would have survived without Holt and the compassion of Holt sponsors. They saved her.”

The band’s heartfelt message — inspired

by Zoe’s adoption — is clearly making an impact. Over the past four years, over 700 individuals have committed to sponsoring a child at an Annie Moses Band concert.

“When a person says, ‘I’m giving 75 cents a day to support a life,’ it’s incredible,” Annie says. “In the here and now, that means that a child may get a roof over their head, and food and clothes. But in the larger perspective, you will see generations changed forever.”

Ashil Keyser

•

Staff Writer

A

MOMENT

I will

NEVER FORGET

WHILE TRAVELING ON HOLT’S CHRISTMAS GIFT TEAM TRIP TO SOUTH KOREA, HOLT SPONSOR DAVID KAUFMAN MAKES A SPECIAL DELIVERY. On day three of Holt’s 2015 Korea Christmas Gift Team trip, we traveled to the Jeonju Babies’ Home. About sixty children live at this Holt-supported care center for children whose parents are unable to care for them. The hope is that one day, they can return home or in some cases join an adoptive family.

Like the two girls I currently sponsor, So Mi and Yun Seon, each of the children I have sponsored through the years have lived at Jeonju. I was excited for the incredible opportunity to share Christmas with So Mi and Yun Seon, and I brought them some special gifts.

As we entered, we saw some children sitting patiently in bright costumes. After seeing the third face, I froze. There she was. Without a doubt, I thought, that’s So Mi. I was stunned. She’s here…

She’s grown so big. I managed to keep walking and was a bit overcome by how real it just became. She was not just a ABOVE: David meets one of the girls he sponsors at the Jeonju Babies’ Home in Korea.

22 www.holtinternational.org

photo, not just a report updated from time to time. She was here, as she had been for the past four and a half years since she was just a week old. And now, I was here also.

I waved to So Mi and called her name.

She was shy at first and I could not help but sense a bit of sadness in her eyes.

We talked a bit, laughed and joked, using the little Korean I knew. I gave her some of the gifts I brought from home and she put on her new soft pink fleece sweater. Immediately, her eyes brightened and lit up with a huge smile from ear to ear. Handing me her toy cellphone, I answered it in Korean to her amazement.

There was some momentary confusion when I asked one of the teachers about Yun Seon, slightly mispronouncing her name — Yun like Sun. Perhaps she no longer lived here. I showed the teacher a photo and she smiled, correct-

ing me — “Yun as in Yoon!” She grabbed my arm and raced me upstairs. Again I was stunned. There she was, unmistakable, Yun Seon… How big she’s grown.

We played with some toys and it was clear she was a smart and inquisitive little girl. She was so serious at times with her toys that it looked like she was trying to figure out how to build one. It was time for the special presents I had brought. Yun Seon was now all smiles, the seriousness in her eyes abated to pure joy. She hugged her new stuffed golden retriever puppy tightly, and our hearts melted. After a while, the teachers reminded her to say thank you for the gifts. She stood straighter, looked directly into my eyes, and bowed respectfully. It was one of the sweetest things I had ever seen, and a moment in time I shall never forget.

David Kaufman • New York City, NY

BEYOND BORDERS While sponsorship isn’t permitted in North Korea, Holt sponsors can still send lifesaving food to the country’s orphaned and vulnerable children.

Children living all around the world are subject to traumatic circumstances and heartbreaking needs. As a sponsor, you are meeting these needs by uplifting your sponsored child and giving them the resources and opportunities they need to thrive!

One of the greatest places of need, however, is a place where sponsorship is not permitted — North Korea.

When children are orphaned or abandoned in North Korea, they are placed in government-run care facilities where they are just one among hundreds of other children. With few resources, a harsh climate and recurring food shortages, children in orphanage care are especially vulnerable to malnutrition and hunger-related illness. But since 1998, when first welcomed into North Korea, we have fought for the lives of these children — providing food, supplies, medical care, clothes and other critical resources.

Although our friends and supporters are unable to sponsor the children we serve in North Korea, God has blessed us with a unique and powerful way to partner with you in service of these most vulnerable children.

orphanages and one daycare center that we support.

Nine years ago, Paul Kim, Holt’s director of programs for Korea and Mongolia, traveled to visit the children in North Korea. “When I first got to meet the orphans that we were supporting, their conditions were heartbreaking, to say the least,” Paul says. They were severely malnourished and didn’t have energy even to play.

He is sometimes asked how we know for sure that these children are receiving the supplies we send. The assurance of this lies in the eyewitness stories of Holt staff members who visit the care centers, the reports of our partners who deliver the food and the photo and video evidence they bring back.

“In the photos,” Paul says, “their bodies are becoming fatter, their faces are filling out and the light of life is returning to their faces. You can’t fake that.”

Megan Herriott • Staff Writer

ABOVE: Children at an orphanage in North Korea greet a visiting Holt staff member.

MIDDLE: Staff from our partner organization in China unload food and supplies at one of the care facilities.

BELOW: The children receive carbohydrate-rich survival food such as corn, grains, noodles and infant formula.

When you go above and beyond your regular monthly sponsorship by giving to children in North Korea, you will truly be saving lives in the five

TO GIVE TO CHILDREN IN NORTH KOREA, GO TO HOLTINTERNATIONAL.ORG/ORPHANS-AT-RISK.

23

TOP: Usha (right) stands outside the DEESHA with Mahananda, a fellow Montessori schoolteacher and also a former sponsored child.

MIDDLE: In addition to teaching, Usha is an advocate for 76 children in sponsorship — regularly visiting the children and their families to ensure they have the resources they need to succeed.

BOTTOM: Today, a 12th-grade education is standard in India. But when Usha earned her degree, it was quite exceptional for a girl from the slums of Pune to graduate the 12th grade.

Coming Full Circle Sponsorship empowered Usha to finish her education.

Today she teaches another generation of Holt-sponsored kids.

On a mid-summer day in Pune, India, a group of teenagers sit in quiet meditation. They have gathered at the DEESHA — a Holt-supported community center that occupies a single, classroom-sized space in the heart of the slums. For the children of this community, the DEESHA is an escape from the constant struggles and needs of their families. It is a sanctuary where they can just be kids, and where they find the guidance, compassion and support they don’t always receive at home.

Among the DEESHA staff, one woman in particular has a special understanding of what life is like for children growing up in the poverty of Pune slums.

Ten years ago, Usha joined the DEESHA as a Montessori schoolteacher. But long before that, Usha was just a child herself, living with her mom and two sisters in the same community where she now works. At a time in India when most lower-income families would pull their young daughters from school to begin working, Usha’s mom urgently wanted her daughters to become educated. So she reached out to Bharatiya Semaj Seva Kendra (BSSK) — Holt’s long-time partner organization — and BSSK enrolled her daughters in educational sponsorship.

In the early 1980s, completing the 10th grade was a major achievement for a girl from the slums. “A very small percentage [of girls] completed their education until 10th grade in the lower so-

24 www.holtinternational.org

cio-economic strata,” explains Vaishali Vahikar, BSSK’s director of sponsorship.

“The girls were married off or made to leave school.”

Usha was not satisfied with a 10thgrade education, however. To cover her school fees, she found a job working as a caretaker for an elderly woman. And once she graduated from the 12th grade, Usha enrolled in tailoring and computer courses to help her start a small business.

But she never forgot where she came from. And in 1999, she returned to BSSK with a desire to work with disadvantaged children. Today, Usha often shares her story with the girls at the DEESHA. “They feel her to be one of them,” Vaishali says. And in many ways, they are just like Usha. Although India has seen dramatic change in the 30 years since Usha was herself a sponsored child, many gender inequities remain — and girls from poor families continue to face obstacles to their education. But they have a strong role model in Usha, and a powerful ally in their sponsors.

Usha also recognizes the vital role that her own sponsors played in her life. If she could talk to them now, she would express her gratitude for empowering her through education. “Thank you to the sponsor,” she says, “for the opportunity they gave me to enlighten my life.”

Robin Munro

•

Managing Editor

Setting the Example Through hard work and help from sponsors, Joanna graduated college. Now she shows her younger siblings how to reach the same educational milestones.

Joanna wakes up before dawn most days, and dresses for a day of class and teaching by 5 a.m. She’s quiet as she prepares to leave, careful not to wake the whole family, but privacy is a luxury she does not have.

It’s Joanna’s final year of college, and in June 2016 she will graduate with a degree in math and teaching. She’s also student teaching, sometimes in classrooms with as many as 50 students, without pay.

Joanna shares her 250-square-foot home with 15 other people — four nieces under the age of 5, her teenaged brother, her two sisters and their husbands, both parents, and an aunt, uncle and two cousins. The house is so small, it’s hard to imagine where 16 people would possibly sleep. The main floor is both the kitchen and living room, and you can touch both walls with outstretched arms. Every blank space is lined with storage crates and stacks of clothing and bedding.

“My challenge is balancing my workload and also learning to manage so many students,” Joanna says.

Joanna steps into a thin alley lined with homes on both sides. She ducks under clothes hanging on wires, and climbs up about 50 yards of stairs to the main road.

It’s an hour ride to school through bustling Manila, and sometimes, because traffic is so bad, it can take much longer.

Joanna is a “scholar” — a student chosen

by Holt’s partner in the Philippines, Kaisahang Buhay Foundation (KBF), to receive educational support all the way through college graduation. With the help of Holt sponsors, Joanna’s tuition, books and supplies are all covered. She also has access to mentors and advocates, and Joanna’s social worker does everything she can to ensure that she, like all Holt-sponsored children, has the resources she needs to be successful.

The program is designed to help promising students stay in school as long as possible, gain skilled employment and create generational change in their families — hopefully escaping poverty forever. For

Joanna’s family, the fact that she will graduate with a four-year degree is tremendously exciting. “I’m very proud of Joanna,” her oldest sister says.

Carol, Joanna’s mother, is hopeful that if Joanna can land a steady teaching job, she may make enough money to help her little brother and four nieces stay in school.

“Joanna is the example,” Carol says. “I want my son to stay in school as long as he can, too.”

Joanna says she hopes she can work in a government school next year, and she says she is deeply grateful to her sponsors for their ongoing support.

Billie Loewen

•

Creative Lead

ABOVE LEFT: Joanna, a Holt-sponsored scholar, will graduate in spring 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in math and teaching. TOP RIGHT: The living room of Joanna’s home, which she shares with 15 family members. Her mother is standing at left, in a teal-colored shirt. BOTTOM RIGHT: Joanna with three other Holt-sponsored scholars.

25

Before Us,

You Were There A HOLT ADOPTIVE FAMILY REACHES OUT TO THE SPONSORS WHO SUPPORTED THEIR SON WHILE HE WAITED TO COME HOME. ABOVE: Chattrapat, now Robert, with his little brother, Jadon, adopted from South Korea.

Maybe you just signed up to sponsor a child at Winter Jam. Looking at the table of sweet faces staring back at you, your eyes locked with one in particular.

You felt an instant connection, and when your sponsorship packet arrived in the mail, you posted their photo magnet to your fridge as a reminder to pray for them every day. Or maybe you are a long-time Holt sponsor with a mosaic of beautiful faces covering your fridge. But whether you have sponsored one child or 100, it’s never easy to say goodbye.

care of devoted caregivers while we work diligently to find them a permanent, loving family through adoption. And when we do find that perfect match — that perfect family to meet your sponsored child’s needs — we rejoice together!

Children leave sponsorship for a number of reasons. Most of the children in sponsorship — about 80 percent — live with their families. And most often, the reason children are no longer in Holt’s sponsorship program is because their families have regained their stable footing. Because of your support, they have grown strong and self-reliant, and able to independently support their kids.

When Robert and Kathryn Gray learned that their son received support from several Holt sponsors before he joined their family, they felt compelled to reach out and say thank you. They wrote a letter, and included several photos of their son now home with his mother, father and younger brother. For the kindness and generosity shown to their son by sponsors like you, they will be forever grateful. And they will never forget.

Every year, however, a small percentage of children in sponsorship join adoptive families in their birth country or in the U.S. Your monthly gifts cover everything from food and shelter to the nurturing

LEFT: Through regular progress reports, Chattrapat’s sponsors learned about his life and watched him grow.

RIGHT: Robert and Kathryn Gray sent these photos to their son’s former sponsors to show a glimpse of his life now that he’s home with his family.

26

The moment a child leaves sponsorship can be bittersweet. And although you will soon begin to sponsor another child who needs your support, you will likely never forget the child you sponsored before. But trust us when we say that your sponsored child’s family will also never forget you.

READ THEIR LETTER ON THE OPPOSITE PAGE

»

Dear Sponsor, Thank you so much for your support of our son! We really appreciate that you were there for him before we were able to bring him home. Chattrapat Phonpayung is 4 years old and has been home for a year and a half now. He is doing very well and has adjusted quickly to being a part of our family.

Chattrapat is now usually called Robert, but we still often use his Thai nickname as well. He is in a head start program at his daycare and he is a fast learner. He is very inquisitive and loves to play with cars, planes and blocks. He also likes to read books and has memorized the beginnings of several of his favorites.

Chattrapat has been very healthy since coming home and has caught up developmentally very quickly. We know this is in large part due to his excellent care in Thailand. Thank you for helping support him during his time in foster care.

Chattrapat recently became a big brother. His little brother came home from South Korea and they are enjoying learning to be brothers and having someone to play with.

The boys are only 17 months apart and we hope they will be very close as they grow up.

If you would like, we would appreciate hearing from you. We’d love to have some messages for Chattrapat to look at as he grows up so that he knows how much he was loved and prayed for as a child.

Thank you again, The Gray Family

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The Nutrition Revolution

Training caregivers on modern feeding and nutrition screening is reducing one of the biggest killers of children in developing countries — malnutrition.

A help to meet the most vital needs of round the world, sponsors like you

children — including love in abundance, and plenty of nourishing food. But for a growing child, nutrition is so much more than just food. That’s why, three years ago, Holt launched a groundbreaking new program to improve the lives of children through optimized nutrition and feeding in the care centers and communities in

which we work. Because many children struggle with nutrition-related health problems or have special needs that require specialized feeding, this program is meeting a huge need.

The Holt International Child Nutrition Program is now implemented in India, China and Vietnam and we will soon expand our reach to children in Ethiopia and Mongolia.

While this program is scientific and involves research, testing and trainings, the heart of Holt’s child nutrition program is the individual child — each boy and girl who will now be a survivor of malnutrition or never have to experience it in the first place. Together with sponsors like you, we are striving for a world where every child can grow healthy and strong, and reach their fullest, most thriving potential.

CHECK-INS Throughout the year, Holt staff checks in with the care centers to offer encouragement and guidance — presenting refresher trainings as needed.

CHART GROWTH Throughout this process, children are tested for anemia and other nutritional deficiencies and children’s height, weight and head circumference are regularly measured.

This data is entered into a database so that care centers can track the long-term growth of each individual child.

FEEDING METHODS Caregivers begin to implement what they’ve learned — using the feeding method most appropriate for each child’s age and special need.

6

Start here:

5

1

How 4

does it work?

TRAIN CAREGIVERS During an intensive training, caregivers 3 learn about the effects of malnutrition, how to feed children with special needs, and the steps they must take to improve the health of children in their care.

DETERMINE THE NEED Holt’s child nutrition program begins by assessing the care facility. It’s kind of like a health inventory of the children’s needs and the caregivers’ abilities to meet them. To do this, a team of Holt staff and our nutrition partners from the SPOON Foundation travel overseas to screen children for nutritional deficiencies and observe how they are fed.

2

DEVELOP A PLAN Next, we create an individualized plan for the care center with goals and implementation steps that are sensitive to their culture and unique to their needs.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOLT’S CHILD NUTRITION PROGRAM, VISIT WWW.HOLTINTERNATIONAL.ORG/NUTRITION.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

»

Now, Phanny’s income is enough to meet the needs of her family. Their hygiene is better, Phanny says, even though they don’t have access to running water or electricity. Phanny says she’s learned many skills, and she feels more confident that she can care for her children and encourage them in their studies.

Like most Cambodian children, Phanny’s three sons and youngest child, a 4-year-old little girl, are a bit shy and modest. Cambodian children are taught to be humble, polite and quiet, so they often hide their smiles or avoid doing anything to draw attention to themselves. The boys are wearing the school uniforms that were purchased for them by their sponsors — black pants and a white, collared shirt for boys, calf-length black skirts for girls. Every student in the country wears this same uniform, regardless of province or age — a small nod to the communist history.

The three eldest children attend a school about a mile away, a distance they walk with their mother or classmates each morning.

Many of the children in their classes are also sponsored through Holt.

“I like social studies, arithmetic, playing ball and skipping rope,” Phanny’s oldest son, a sixth grader, says. “My sister wants to go, too, but she’s too young.”

The fact that he can so easily discuss what he likes about school is a good sign.

“Before, kids were hopeless about the future,” Buth says. “No one asked them what they wanted to be. Now they have to think about it. They know it’s important.”

Even today, discussing collective issues in a public setting remains brave — especially for women. But, while conceptually new, gatherings like the women’s groups are actively reversing one of the most long-standing outcomes of the Khmer Rouge regime — the crushed ability to dream of a better future.

This changing legacy is especially important for children. When we ask children or parents simple questions about their future, they seem perplexed. Children have never been asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” No parent has ever responded to the question, “What do you dream about for your children?”

When we pose these questions to the Brave Women and their children, a whispering murmur breaks out among the women. Kosal fills the quiet. “They haven’t been asked this,” she says, “so they are just realizing this must

ABOVE: Three of Phanny’s children pose and giggle for Holt’s photographer outside their home.

be a very important question.”

The women’s answers are similar to what you might hear anywhere. Both children and parents hope that kids will grow up to be doctors, teachers or policemen. Many children say they hope to work for an NGO like Holt, which shows the meaningful impact Holt sponsors have had on the lives of children in this community.

Pola asks another question to the women, unprepared for the depth of their answer.

“Will you let men join?”

“There’s no need,” the leader says. “We can do it.”

The women laugh, but not apologetically.

They laugh in agreement, with confidence not only that they can learn new skills and provide for their families, but that they already are.

Billie Loewen

•

Creative Lead

www.holtinternational.org 29

From Sponsored Children

MANY CHILDREN LOVE TO SEND HANDWRITTEN LETTERS AND WORKS OF ART TO THEIR HOLT SPONSORS. SEE WHAT YAO FROM CHINA AND MAI FROM VIETNAM SENT TO THEIR SPONSORS! Name: Yao

• Age: 10 • Country: China

Yao lives with her mother, a single parent who had a difficult time meeting her daughter’s basic needs. Now a part of Holt’s family strengthening program, Yao also has a sponsor in the U.S. who helps to provide all the materials she needs for school as well as nutritious meals every day. She is an exceptional student and recently was named an “Honored Student” at her school.

Letter Translation: Dear sponsor,

All of my thoughts can be expressed by one word: THANK YOU! Thank you all for reaching out your hands to me when troubles came. It’s your help that makes the seemingly unsolvable difficulties a piece of cake. It’s your help that enables me to fly freely in this blue sky. It’s your help that helps me to realize my dreams. My mother always mentions a Chinese saying: Repay as much as you can for even a little bit of favor you have received. Yes! Then how shall I repay you? I think I will do so by studying hard to become a useful person in society. I will learn from you and help those in need! Best Regards, Yao

Name: Mai

• Age: 5 • Country: Vietnam

Mai lives with her grandparents and aunt and uncle in Vietnam, where they are part of a Holt-supported family strengthening program. Mai receives educational support for her school fees and her family received a microloan for their duck meat and rice soup business. She loves to sing, dance and play with her cousins. She sent this picture of children flying kites to her sponsor in the U.S.

30 www.holtinternational.org

Sponsor a Child

THESE AND OTHER CHILDREN NEED SPONSORS. Batbayar

Makebel

10 years old

2 1/2 years old

North Asia

Ethiopia

Batbayar lives in a yurtstyle hut with his mother and siblings. Although illiterate, his mother works hard to support her family by collecting recyclable items. Batbayar understands their poverty and willingly helps his mother. He is a very well liked and easygoing boy who is an above-average student. He loves to read adventure stories and play soccer. Through sponsorship, Batbayar’s family will be more stable, and he can spend more time learning at school and enjoy just being a kid!

Makebel’s father passed away and he lives with his mother and four siblings. His mother has no permanent source of income and struggles to meet her children’s basic needs. Makebel is active, gets along with all of the other children in his village and is always cheerful. He is learning the English alphabet, knows numbers one through five and has a close bond with his older sister. Through sponsorship, Makebel can receive the care and education that he needs to thrive.

When you sponsor a child, you also uplift their family and community.

To sponsor one of these children, email sponsorship@holtinternational.org.

Quynh

Salima

3 years old

2 1/2 years old

Vietnam

South Asia

Quynh is a happy and adorable toddler who lives with her mother and grandmother.

She loves to play, run and sing songs — especially when she has an audience! She can proudly dress herself and is learning to feed herself with a spoon. She responds back with simple answers when asked a question. Quynh is in need of a sponsor who can support her with the nutrition, education and stability she needs as she grows up.

Both of Salima’s parents work on construction sites and they had no one to care for her while they were at work.

They didn’t know what to do, until they brought her to a Holt-supported daycare center.

At daycare, this sweet toddler listens well to her teachers and loves to run around and play with the other children. Sponsorship will ensure that Salima will continue to be safe and well cared for while her parents are at work.

www.holtinternational.org 31

Post Of fice Box 2880 E u g e n e , O R 9 74 0 2

NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID EUGENE, OR PERMIT NO. 291

Change Ser vice Requested

meet the

SPONSORSHIPteam _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

LEFT TO RIGHT:

Kathryn Keefe Sponsorship Representative Alyssa Gibson Sponsorship Representative Sara Kaleski Sponsor Relations and Child Coordinator Tara Pell Sponsorship Representative Jack Wharfield Vice President of Development Alycia Fahr-Zarlons Volunteer Coordinator Amber Ezell Sponsorship Coordinator Candice Coffee Volunteer Coordinator Assistant Not pictured: Sharon Grant Sponsorship Representative Susan Lofton Sponsorship Representative

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ www.holtinternational.org/sponsorship _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _