A PUBLICATION OF N A Z A R E N E C O M P A S S I O N A T E M I N I S T R I E S
S U M M E R
2 0 1 4
ROOTING OUT HUNGER How Churches Are Cultivating Change
‌ for those who embrace compassion as a lifestyle
OR NSSSO ON SPPPO ORR N SS O
V O E V L O O P E H L E O P L I D H E H L I D H C C
R OR S N R O O O S S P N N S SSPPOO
OR A NSSSO ON ORR A SPPPO A N O SS
Go to ncm.org/cs to change a child’s life today. To sponsor a child, go online to ncm.org/cs or simply cut off and mail this form using the prepaid envelope. l I would like to sponsor a child for $25 a month. I would like to sponsor: l Greatest Need I would like to sponsor a child from:
l Greatest Need l Latin America
l Boy
l Asia l Asia-Pacific l Caribbean l Eastern Europe l Middle East
l Girl l Africa
Name / Group____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Contact Person (if different)_______________________________________________________________________________________________ Address / City / State / ZIP_______________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone____________________________________________ Email__________________________________________________________________ Church to receive 10% giving credit_______________________________________________________________________________________ You can mail this form to: Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, Child Sponsorship Prairie Star Parkway, Lenexa, Kansas 66220 No payment is due now. You will receive information by mail about your sponsored child and payment options.
Table of Contents DEPARTMENTS 4
Connection Points 27
Called to Compassion 28
Love in Action 30
Snapshot
FEATURES
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From Poverty to Plenty When a widow in Zimbabwe was left to care for nine children alone, she turned to small-scale farming for survival. Today, she helps other women do the same.
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Food, Farming, and Faith
NCM Magazine Summer Issue, 2014 NCM Magazine aims to tell the stories of the church living out Christ’s compassion. Our hope is that all of us would hear the call to compassion as a lifestyle. Magazine Design: Paul Kinsman Cover Photo: Beth Clayton Luthye
Trevecca Nazarene University’s urban farm teaches students and neighbors to connect with the land and the Creator.
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Filling the Gap As the problem of hunger grows in the U.S., churches are stepping in to help families break the poverty cycle.
16 Following the example of Jesus, NCM partners with local Nazarene congregations around the world to clothe, shelter, feed, heal, educate, and live in solidarity with those who suffer under oppression, injustice, violence, poverty, hunger, and disease. NCM exists in and through the Church of the Nazarene to proclaim the Gospel to all people in word and deed. n
Nazarene Compassionate Ministries 17001 Prairie Star Pkwy, Lenexa, KS 66220 (800) 310-6362, info@ncm.org n
To sign up for a free subscription, please visit ncm.org/magazine or call (800) 310-6362. For subscription changes, email info@ncm.org or write to NCM Magazine, 17001 Prairie Star Pkwy, Lenexa, KS 66220.
Field of Dreams When vulnerable families struggled to put food on the table, a local church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo decided to do something about it.
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Group Dynamics By saving just a few pennies each week, women in South Asia are putting their families on a path out of poverty.
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Finding Faith When Jamil and Eli lost their father as young boys, their situation grew desperate. Child Sponsorship gave them a brighter future and a relationship with God.
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Questions? Comments? Email info@ncm.org. n
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Connection Points.
Photo courtesy of NCM
Opening Notes
A Kingdom of Enough by Beth Clayton Luthye, NCM Communications
J
esus’ first public miracle was turning water into wine (John 2:1–11). That seems like a puzzling choice, perhaps, for a first miracle. It’s not exactly on par with healing diseases or raising people from the dead, and it doesn’t seem to jibe with Jesus’ announcement that He had come to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and let the oppressed go free (Luke 4:14–21). Rescuing a wedding celebration just seems so much less important than Jesus’ other miracles. They say first impressions matter, though, so perhaps we should look deeper to see what this coming-out miracle might have revealed about Jesus and God’s kingdom. I’m sure there is much to say about this event, but I’ve held onto one observation my pastor offered that is both simple and beautiful: God’s kingdom is one of abundance. There is truth in these words, yet it’s sometimes hard to line up this picture of abundance with what we know of the world. There are close to a billion seriously hungry people in our world, and one out of every six children in developing countries is underweight because of lack of nutrition. Around 4 | NCM Magazine
the world, 1.2 billion people live in extreme poverty, scraping by on less than $1.25 a day. There are mothers and fathers around the world who work hard yet still struggle to put food on the table for their families. Clearly, there are far too many people in our world who don’t have enough. Still, there is this promise of a Kingdom of Enough. And even in the face of discouraging statistics and gut-wrenching reality, there are glimpses of this kingdom. These glimpses shine through as members of the Body of Christ worldwide find practical ways to introduce their neighbors to God’s abundant kingdom. For example, in Musana, Zimbabwe, widows have started a small farm to feed their own children and orphaned children in their community (page 8). In Bangladesh, self-help groups are empowering women to change the future for their families (page 20). And in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, university students are helping create community gardens in an urban food desert (page 10). Around the world, churches and communities are cultivating hope. Together, they’re ushering in God’s Kingdom of Enough. On earth as it is in heaven.
“If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.” Isaiah 58:10
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Measuring Global Hunger
= 867,000,000
ONE IN EIGHT PEOPLE DOESn’T HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT. THAT’S 867 MILLION PEOPLE WORLDWIDE.
563 million
source: FAO
hungry people live in South Asia, Asia, and the Pacific.
239 million
hungry people live in Africa.
49 million
hungry people live in Latin America and the Caribbean.
16 million
hungry people live in economically developed countries.
65% of the world’s hungry people live in one of 7 countries: Bangladesh, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan. 5 million children die each year due to hunger-related causes.
Highlight: Haiti
Photos courtesy of NCM Haiti
From Hunger to Harvest
Haiti is one of the three hungriest countries in the entire world, with 49.8 percent of people experiencing malnutrition, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Poverty is an obvious cause of hunger in a country where three out of every four people earn less than $2 USD a day. But even in a place where families face chronic hunger, handing out sacks of food may actually make things worse. In fact, Haiti has received tons upon tons of food aid for more than 60 years, but the rate of hunger there is actually higher now. The remote village of Barreau Michel, Haiti, located on a mountain high above Port-au-Prince, has long dealt with the problem of hunger. According to Jean Saurel Dacuis, who pastors the Nazarene church there, “In times of famine, many church members used to leave the community to go to another one to get a job. … Many church members were out of a job … and out of money to pay for their children’s school fees.” Today, though, parents in Barreau Michel are able to care for their children. It’s not because the church started handing out rice; it’s because the church created a community garden. Through a partnership with Nazarene Compassionate Ministries and Canadian Foodgrains Bank, rural families in Haiti have received sustainable agriculture training that allows them to grow their own food instead of waiting for aid to show up. Now, families are able not only to put food on the table, but also to send their children to school. A community member named St.-Jean St.-Louis shares, “I had difficulties paying my children’s school fees. Because of that I didn’t send some of them to school. They were hungry. I also didn’t have money to send my family members to the hospital [when they were sick]. Now I send all my children to school. I have the means to provide them daily bread. I have bean seed. My wife and I have goats. If one of the family members gets sick, I have the means to send them to the hospital.” Summer 2014 | 5
Connection Points.
child sponsorship spotlight
“See You Tomorrow” Eva Radick & Anne Magin, Germany
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n August 2012, our bus rounded a corner in the Sri Lankan mountains, and suddenly, we had a full view of the tea plantations and a little village for workers nestled between the green rows of tea plants. We, Eva and Anne, were with a group of young adults from the Church of the Nazarene in Germany who had come to spend a week with the children of plantation workers while rebuilding a room that would become a new child development center (CDC). We had lots of fun with the kids—playing games, doing crafts, singing songs, and telling Bible stories. At the end of the week, there were about a hundred children ready to be registered for the Child Sponsorship program. For us, it was not a question of whether we would sponsor a child, but which child we would choose to support among all the precious children we had met. Eventually, we Above: Eva poses with her sponsored child (left) and another friend from a CDC in Sri Lanka. Below: Anne gathers with several children from a CDC that provides for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of children in Sri Lanka.
decided we would sponsor Mirah*, a girl we both enjoyed playing with and who kept calling Eva’s name. Every day when our team left the village in our white bus, we would say, “Nalai Santhepom,” which means “See you tomorrow.” The children would say it back to us as they waved. We can’t tell Mirah “Nalai Santhepom” anymore, but through NCM’s Child Sponsorship program, we can be sure others will be there to take care of her and children like her. She will have the chance to get a good education, learn about health and hygiene, eat nutritious meals, and hear more about the good news of Jesus. And even though we can’t watch her wave back to us, every few months we hear how she is doing when she sends us a letter. The two of us share a sponsorship. We are university students without much income, but we still want to contribute to the empowerment of children living in a rural setting. It keeps us thankful for the education that we are so easily provided where we live.
PERSPECTIVES
Joynal’s Story
6 | NCM Magazine
as a child. Last year his dream came true when NCM opened a child development center (CDC) in his village. He enrolled his 5-year-old daughter, Sharmin,* there. Initially, Sharmin did not want to go, though. She was ashamed because she couldn’t complete her homework on her own. Joynal went to the CDC to explain that he could not help his daughter and didn’t have the money for a tutor, so the staff started to give her extra help. Now, Sharmin is learning quickly, and she looks forward to going to school every day. And Joynal is proud to take her there in his rickshaw. *Names of children have been changed for their protection.
Photo courtesy of NCM Bangladesh
As a rickshaw puller in Bangladesh, Joynal earns a very small income by carrying other people’s children to school. In the past, the father of two used to weep silently while he took students to their schools on his bicycle taxi. “I carried other people’s children in my rickshaw to their school,” he says, “but my children didn’t go to school. It was very painful for me. I wanted my children also to go to school and college.” As a rickshaw puller, Joynal could hardly afford to provide food and clothing for his children, let alone pay for luxuries like books and pencils. Still, he dreamed of educating his children, giving them an opportunity he never had
QUOTABLE
Pray With Us
“You cannot love God and not love people. It doesn’t make sense. … Ours is a theology of enough. Enough is a big word: Enough love, enough to eat, enough dignity, enough opportunity, enough to drink. Everyone should have enough … because God loves them.” Gabriel Salguero, co-pastor of The Lamb’s Church of the Nazarene in New York City and anti-poverty advocate
Photo courtesy of Jill Fothergill
Photo courtesy of Aaron Phelps
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. … Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” — Matthew 25:35
Click for Clean Water Children in Agbado, Nigeria, have to walk four kilometers to find water—and what they find is not even safe to drink. Each year, more than 300,000 children in Nigeria die from waterrelated causes, including guinea worm. You can give a child in Agbado clean water simply by becoming a fan of NCM’s Facebook page. A generous donor has agreed to give $2 for each new Facebook fan up to the cost of a new well. Once we reach 4,000 new fans, we can build a clean-water well and change the lives of children in Agbado. Here’s how we can get there together: 1) Go to facebook.com/nazcompassion. 2) Click the “like” button. 3) Share this opportunity with your friends.
Jesus, You are the Bread of Life, the One who satisfies our deepest hungers and quenches our deepest thirsts. May our words and actions point others toward You. And as we point, may we not ignore the very real physical hunger that too many people in our world are facing. May we see You in “the least of these.” May we see You in those who are hungry and thirsty and cold and lonely—brothers and sisters, neighbors, strangers—and may we be moved to meet their needs. May we see You in children and families who won’t have enough food on their tables at dinner tonight. May we see You in the fathers and mothers who aren’t able to fully provide for their children, even after working long hours. May we see You in the children affected
by war and hunger and fear in places like Syria and South Sudan. May we see You in the women and children who have to walk hours just to find water to drink in places like Mozambique and Bangladesh. And may we be moved to action. Lord, we confess that sometimes it is easier to close our eyes to the hurt in our world, so we ask that you would open our eyes to the needs of others. Open our eyes to Your healing work in the world, and move us to become part of that work. Our Father who is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and help us seek ways to share it with those in need. May Your Kingdom of Enough come, and may Your will be done on earth—even in the forgotten corners—as it is in heaven. Summer 2014 | 7
FROM POVERTY TO PLENTY How Desperation Grew Into Determination fora Group of Widows and Orphans in Zimbabwe
When Naome Chikengezha found herself caring for nine children on her own, she decided to try her hand at small-scale farming.
W
hen Naome Chikengezha, a widowed mother of four living near Musana, Zimbabwe, was left to care for five other orphaned children from her extended family, she felt hard pressed. With no job, she had no idea how she would cover the costs of clothing, health care, and school fees, let alone meals for nine children. In a moment of inspiration—or perhaps desperation—Chikengezha decided to try her hand at small-scale farming. It proved to be challenging, but her hard work began producing food and income for her family. She didn’t stop there, either. Chikengezha felt compelled to help other women and children facing similar difficulties. That desire led to the opening of the Epworth Child Development Center (CDC) in Musana, a ministry designed to meet the needs of orphaned and vulnerable children. Today, the center, which meets in a local church, is run by volunteers who show God’s love in tangible ways to more than 50 children. In partnership with Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, the initiative has grown into the Musana Orphan Care and Food Security Program, which reaches marginalized children and widowed women who have no source of income or a support system. Twelve women now come together to farm four acres of borrowed land, where they grow maize, beans, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, and vegetables. The vegetables, including carrots, tomatoes, onions, butternut squash, and leafy greens, provide key nutrients, and they also provide consistent income because they have short growing cycles and quick returns. A portion of the food the women grow goes to feed children at the CDC, and a portion of the money they earn by selling surplus produce supports the activities of the center. The rest provides for the families of the women who work the land.
Desperation to Dignity
by Beth Clayton Luthye, NCM Communications
8 | NCM Magazine
For rural communities in Zimbabwe, hunger is a very real threat. More than 25 percent of rural families lack sufficient food during the hungry season from October to March, according to IRIN News. Orphaned children and widowed women are
Clockwise from left: 1. Twelve widows work hand in hand to farm four acres as a way to provide for their families and to support a CDC. 2. With their short growing cycles, vegetables such as sugar beans provide consistent income. 3. The farmers have had great success growing staple crops, including maize. 4. The Epworth CDC ministers to 50 orphans and other vulnerable children.
Mozambique All photos courtesy of NCM Africa
Zambia Musana HARARE
ZIMBABWE
“I had lost all hope and couldn’t fend for my children anymore, but now I celebrate because I found a way to put food on the table.” especially vulnerable to hunger due to lack of resources, including access to land. When Vimbai Katuma’s husband died, she was left with nothing. An unemployed widow living with HIV and the mother of two young children, Katuma’s situation was dire. After she joined the farming initiative, though, her circumstances changed. Desperation gave way to dignity as Katuma became able to provide for her children on her own. “This project has helped restore my selfworth and confidence,” she says. “I had lost all hope and couldn’t fend for my children anymore, but now I celebrate because I found a way to put food on the table and look after my children.” The widowed farmers are working to provide for their own children, but they’re also working to care for other vulnerable children in the community. At the Epworth CDC, Katuma’s children, as well as the others who come, participate in activities focused on their physical, educational, emotional, and spiritual development—a holistic approach that ministers
to the mind, heart, and soul. Each day the children eat a nutritious meal, play games, and do crafts. They engage in tutoring and learning, and they hear a devotional lesson from the Bible. They come to a safe place where they experience God’s love, which shines through Chikengezha and the other volunteers.
More Than a Livelihood Although resources are scarce in Musana, both hard work and hope are plentiful. Women are gaining confidence and a sense of dignity as they provide for their children with the fruit of their labor. And children are gaining stability, education, and opportunities for the future. It all started when one woman decided she would not give up in the face of despair. “I started this initiative out of necessity,” Chikengezha says. “I needed a way for me and my family to survive. Now, it has become more than just a livelihood. It has become my passion and a way to make a difference in someone else’s life.” n
Botswana
AFRICA
ZIMBABWE
In Context. Considered Africa’s breadbasket just 15 years ago, Zimbabwe is now among the world’s poorest countries due to complicated political and economic crises in the late 1990s. Today, 1.7 million people experience acute hunger. In a country with 13.7 million people, there are also 1.2 million orphaned children—one of the highest percentages anywhere, due in large part to the high prevalence of HIV and AIDS. Orphans and widows are among the poorest of the poor in a country where women head 45 percent of households, and 72 percent of those households live below the poverty line. It’s in this context that we remember the words of Isaiah 1:17: “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” Sources: Save the Children (UK), UNICEF (2012), Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency and ICF International (2012), CEDAW (2012).
Summer 2014 | 9
by Jason Adkins, Trevecca Nazarene University 10 | NCM Magazine
All photos courtesy of Trevecca Nazarene University
Food, Farming & Faith
How a Nazarene Campus Farm Is Introducing a Theology of Conservation in an Urban Context
A BARNYARD AND BEYOND
“D
o not eat these,” I told the visiting schoolchildren who were standing near the hot peppers growing on Trevecca Nazarene University’s Urban Farm in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. “They are way too hot.” Then I walked away, letting the warning work its magic. Earlier in the day, most of these students from Nashville-area elementary schools had no personal experience with agriculture. Minutes before, they were eyeing me carefully as I sampled strawberries off the vine. I heard one whisper, “Mr. Jason eats stuff straight out of the garden!” And when I didn’t die, the bravest student in the class—there’s always one—stepped forward, and soon everyone was chomping on fresh berries. Before long, the hot pepper warning piqued their interest anew, and soon everyone was sampling the forbidden food. Then they started hollering and laughing, with tears in their eyes. At Trevecca’s Urban Farm, these moments of discovery are part of the delight of drawing children into the literacy, love, and nurture of the soil. And as Christians, it’s work we undertake as an act of discipleship.
Trevecca’s campus is situated in an urban landscape in the heart of a city, yet you’ll be met with oinks, clucks, bleats, and barks when you step inside the barnyard on the southwest corner of campus. They belong, respectively, to eight miniature Juliana pigs, a brood of heritage breed chickens, a flock of 22 miniature Tennessee fainting goats, and three fluffy Pyrenees dogs (the latter residents faithfully guarding the others, naturally). The barnyard animals are only part of our Urban Farm project, which includes a campus greenhouse, fruit trees, an aquaponics system that raises fish and vegetables together, composting facilities, a beehive, other community gardens, work experience, and international partnerships that offer training in conservation agriculture. Trevecca’s Urban Farm exists to educate and inspire students and neighbors alike to grow their own food, to eat locally, and to build community around the work of local food production. As we participate in good farming, students of all ages become engaged in conversations about our primary connection with land—eating—and the ways our use of land raises important concerns for us as God’s people.
A CARING CREATOR After much study, I am convinced that good farming goes a long way in addressing a just stewardship of God’s creation. Humanity’s first vocation was to tend and guard the soil in the Garden of Eden—a charge that has never been rescinded (Genesis 1:27–31). The Hebrews in Egypt longed to return to a fertile land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8). A careful reading of Mary’s “mistakenly” identifying Jesus as the gardener leads us to remember that Jesus is the second Adam— the firstborn of the resurrected community, the Gardener and Shepherd of the New Creation (John 20:13–16). And He stands in the garden of God at the end of Scripture, promising that those who are victorious will eat from the tree of life that awaits us in God’s paradise (Revelation 2:7). These are more than metaphor. We believe that the created world is treasured by God— pronounced in Genesis 1:31 as “very good”— and that God’s created world is included in the redemptive work of Jesus. Much of the theology I grew up with encouraged me to believe that God was coming
Left (clockwise): 1. Trevecca’s Urban Farm gives students a hands-on connection between their faith and caring for God’s creation. 2. Through the Urban Farm, Trevecca inspires students and neighbors to grow their own food, eat locally, and build community. 3. Jason Adkins (center), environmental projects coordinator, teaches a practical theology of conservation. Above: Trevecca’s Urban Farm educates Nashville-area public school students about farming and agriculture.
Summer 2014 | 11
allow the land to rest would have been equally obvious to ancient farmers. The fragile soils of arid and semi-arid regions could be easily over-farmed and turned into deserts—giving real meaning to the word wasteland. The Israelites were taught that the land was not their slave but God’s possession. Centuries later, we are still called to care for this world in the same way: as stewards, not owners, protecting and renewing the land out of a conviction that the resurrected Christ is making all things new. At Trevecca, in both the classroom and on the farm, we discuss the complexities of global systems of agriculture and consumption, of nutrition and economics and ecology. We explore how some methods have seen farmers around the world ride a debt spiral into the dispossession of their land and livelihood while the land is robbed of their guardianship, and how both suffer. We work to bear witness to a type of agriculture that embraces faithful stewardship and results in good news for the poor. As Christians, the types of farming we embrace—whether in our personal gardens, the food we buy, or the culture and policies that we enact around agriculture—will determine, to a large extent, the health of God’s creation. In all of these, our commitment to faithfully nurture what God has entrusted to us will emerge.
Right: Jason Adkins talks to an elementary school student about where his food comes from. Below: Trevecca gives students a way to learn firsthand about solutions to problems like global hunger.
A NEW SEASON
Jesus calls us to think of Himself as a master who leaves His servants with talents for which they will be called to account upon His return. This is at the heart of what we call stewardship. soon to destroy creation, so there was no point in protecting it. Sadly, that misunderstanding allows Christians to become easy allies of those who, for profit, would plunder and misuse our Father’s world as though it were disposable. But Jesus calls us to think of Himself as a master who leaves His servants with talents for which they will be called to account upon His return (Matthew 21:33–44). This is at the heart of what we call stewardship. “Behold,” says the One seated on the throne in Revelation 21:5, “I am making all things new” (emphasis added). 12 | NCM Magazine
A REDEMPTIVE RESPONSE
This spring, chicks began hatching under a broody hen in Trevecca’s barnyard while one dog nursed two new pups and mother goats birthed kids. Meanwhile, on the Urban Farm, fruit trees blossomed, vegetables and herbs crowded the greenhouse, warming fish tanks awaited a new crop of tilapia, worms multiplied, and bees worked frantically through the abundance of spring nectar. Outside the campus, newly cleared community gardens began to fill with spring plantings from our neighbors. This summer, we’re eating the fruit of our labor. This profusion of life bursts forth as a vital work of the people of God as we nurture and guard our corner of creation. Every time I am around the barnyard, I see new faces smiling over the fence, playing with a dog or searching for eggs. Often they look apologetic when I arrive, but I do my best to reassure them. “This is your farm,” I tell them. “Just keep the gate closed and don’t lick the electric fence.” n
We belong to the One who liberated His people from oppression and called them into a promised land—but dwelling in the land was never an unconditional right. “The land is mine,” Yahweh declares in Leviticus 25. Habitation was contingent on the conservative use of the land, described by God with Sabbath at its heart. The Creator demanded rest of land, animals, and people alike, lest fragile bodies became emptied of their vitality. Jason Adkins is the environmental projects coorThe need for rest in human and animal dinator for Trevecca Nazarene University’s JV bodies may seem obvious, but the need to Morsch Center for Social Justice.
Rooted in Community Trevecca Helps Neighbors Put Fresh Food on the Table
by Christy Ulmet Jael Fuentes sits on the couch in the front room of her house, drinking a smoothie she made from organic fruits and vegetables. Through the window, she looks out at the North Hill community garden where she grew many of her ingredients. Fuentes lives in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood, which borders Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Not only is Chestnut Hill one of the poorest areas in the city in terms of household income, but it is also one of the poorest in terms of access to nutrition. The area is considered a food desert. The closest stores are high-priced convenience shops with inadequate produce sections, but they are often the only option for those without reliable transportation.
Yet it’s in this neighborhood that Fuentes grows broccoli, spinach, onions, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, and more. Thanks to her efforts and the partnership of Trevecca’s JV Morsch Center for Social Justice, she’ll be able to harvest enough vegetables to feed her family for a year.
Gardens of Goodness As part of its Urban Farm program, the Morsch Center has been teaming up with members of the surrounding neighborhood to plant community gardens. Jason Adkins, environmental projects coordinator at Trevecca, lives in Chestnut Hill and saw the need for fresh, nutritious food there. In 2009, Adkins met with John Munn, a member of the neighborhood’s community improvement committee, and suggested the idea of a community garden. The two teamed up with volunteers from Trevecca and the community to transform an empty lot next to a school into a green garden where neighborhood families can grow their own fresh, organic vegetables. Surrounded by a chain link fence, the Johnson community garden, which was named for the nearby school, is divided into 30 small plots, each with a raised garden bed for growing food. Last summer, the team expanded into two additional vacant lots to create the North Hill community garden. Now, 50 additional raised beds sit on a small hill surrounded by a fence. Individuals and families can rent the plots for $10 a year. Fuentes is a newer member of the North Hill garden. “It’s a great resource in this community,” she says. “It means a lot to me. I’ve had the opportunity to meet other people from the community and learn.”
Photo courtesy of Rachel Swann
Photo courtesy of Christy Ulmet
Sharing Is Caring On the first Saturday of each month, community gardeners come together to share tips and grow food together. Munn notes that the weekend gatherings often turn into impromptu potlucks as people share dishes they’ve prepared from the food they grew. “It’s a place in the neighborhood where people who are growing their own food can get together and build community. It’s a gathering space,” Adkins says. Along with offering a space for members of the community to grow their food, Munn has used unrented garden beds to grow food for a soup kitchen that’s located in a church basement across the street from one of the gardens. He also gives surplus produce to shut-ins and disabled neighbors in the community. Munn estimates that he’s pulled out hundreds of pounds of fresh food to share with neighbors. By partnering with neighbors to plant gardens, Trevecca is getting at the roots of urban hunger. “We aren’t feeding the community,” Adkins says. “We are teaching people how to grow food on their own.” n Christy Ulmet is a journalism student at Trevecca Nazarene University. Tyler Comer, another Trevecca student, contributed to the reporting. Summer 2014 | 13
14 | NCM Magazine
Photo courtesy of Reaching Our City
by Beth Clayton Luthye, NCM Communications
Photo courtesy of Shepherd Community Center
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 14.5 percent of U.S. households struggle to put food on the table, compared with just 10 percent in 1999. Reaching Our City, another compassionate ministry center, hosts one of Oklahoma City’s largest food pantries, serving an average of 80 families a day from 10 different ZIP codes. According to Jennifer Lester, programs manager, the majority of those who come to the food pantry are working poor with low-paying jobs or people who recently lost their jobs. “The hardest part is when people are in tears and say, ‘I’ve never been in this situation, and I don’t even know what to do,’” Lester says. “Maybe they had a lot of medical bills and just don’t have enough leftover to get food for their family. … People don’t want to show that they’re struggling. But poverty [in the U.S.] is very real.” Statistics support Lester’s observation. A growing number of people are working hard but still can’t make ends meet. In fact, the
How the Church Is Addressing Hunger in America
Photo courtesy of Lamb’s Church of the Nazarene
Rising Demand
FILLING THE Photo courtesy of Shepherd Community Center
he last couple of years, we have seen an increase in hunger.” That’s according to Andrew Green, director of strategic initiatives for Shepherd Community Center, a Nazarene compassionate ministry center in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. The center sits in a neighborhood known as the Near Eastside, a low-income area with challenges including drugs, gangs, and crime. The area is also a food desert, where nutritious, affordable food is hard to come by. Practically speaking, it’s easier to find a bag of potato chips than a bag of carrots— or any fresh produce—in the Near Eastside. In its mission to break the cycle of poverty, Shepherd Community Center focuses on a continuum of care: working with a child and family from when that child is born until he or she graduates from college. Addressing hunger is a key part of that continuum. A school housed in the center educates 150 children from preschool through fourth grade. Students receive breakfast and lunch during school, plus snacks at after-school programs. Shepherd Community Center, which is supported by Shepherd Community Church, also reaches families through community meals on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings and a food pantry on Saturday mornings. “We do a lot with feeding,” Green says. Green and the staff at Shepherd Community Center understand a fact that may come as a surprise to others: Hunger is a growing problem in one of the world’s wealthiest countries.
Photo courtesy of Shepherd Community Center
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“
Clockwise from top left: 1. A food-pantry volunteer prays with clients at Reaching Our City in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 2. Shepherd Community Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, educates students through an on-site garden. 3. Emergency Food Program volunteers (left and right) from The Lamb’s Church share a smile with neighbors from NYC’s Lower East Side. 4. Students help care for the garden at Shepherd Community Center. 5. Part of the harvest from Shepherd’s garden supports a new family food co-op.
GAP By the Numbers:
Hunger in the U.S. 14.5% of U.S. households are considered food insecure—either hungry or at serious risk of hunger. (USDA, Economic Research Service)
$4 Billion
in food assistance is provided by churches and private charities each year. (Bread for the World)
1 out of every 24
bags of food assistance given in the U.S. each year is provided by churches and private charities. The federal government’s nutrition programs provide the other 23. (Bread for the World)
50%
of all children in the U.S. will live in a household that receives nutrition assistance from the federal government. (USDA, Economic Research Service)
2/3
of the people who receive government food assistance in the U.S. are children, elderly, or disabled. (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
78%
is the amount by which the risk of hunger for senior adults increased from 2001 to 2010. (Meals on Wheels Research Association)
demand for assistance from food pantries has increased 50 percent since 2006, according to a study conducted by Feeding America. “We see more churches starting food pantries,” Lester notes. The Lamb’s Church of the Nazarene in New York City is one of those. In 2010, the church started an Emergency Food Program in response to the growing need in the city’s Lower East Side. “Most people who come [to the Emergency Food Program] are underemployed or elderly, and the cost of food is rising,” says Reynaldo Bazan, associate pastor. “Our goal is to be the hands of Christ and provide a tangible witness of Christ’s love for our community.”
alongside families.” Lester echoes this sentiment as she shares the story of a woman whose relationships with others helped her break out of a destructive cycle. “Sharon* was an alcoholic, lived a rough life, and was in an abusive relationship,” Lester explains. “We started a women’s luncheon every Friday, and she started to attend. During that time, through the support she received, she escaped the abuse, stopped drinking, and came to faith.” Today, Sharon still needs assistance from time to time because her lowwage job doesn’t cover all her bills, but even with limited resources, she now invests in others. After receiving a small inheritance, Sharon bought a van so she could pick up other women to take them to the Friday luncheon as well as doctor appointments. “She has now become a leader in the women’s lunch ministry,” Lester says. Sharon’s story illustrates an important point that Green makes. “Part of breaking the cycle is recognizing you have something to give—your time or what God has gifted you with,” he says. As the number of hungry people in the U.S. continues to increase, the need to see beyond statistics to individuals—and to building relationships with them—also grows. “Go deeper and journey with one person,” Bazan suggests. n
“Part of breaking the cycle is recognizing you have something to give— your time or what God has gifted you with.”
Breaking the Cycle
According to Bazan, The Lamb’s Church is trying to “unveil the mask of poverty and hunger” in their community. He acknowledges the need to get beyond the symptoms in order to break the cycle of poverty and hunger. “I don’t think anybody wants to just get a bag of food,” he says. “People want to be independent. To help them do that requires an investment of time and a long-term strategy.” Lester agrees. “We try to find out what’s keeping people in their situation and how we can help get them out,” she says. Shepherd Community Center’s strategy for going beyond the symptoms includes shift* Name changed to protect privacy. ing from a food pantry to a garden and co-op. The center’s staff converted part of its outdoor space into a garden. Staff members, students, families, and volunteers all pitch in to maintain the garden. After the school’s Pray for open eyes to see the needs chef chooses produce for healthy lunches for around us. Pray for compassion children, what’s leftover goes to a new food cofor our neighbors whose stories op, which includes 25 families who pay a small we may or may not know. amount for membership. In return, they receive an average of 15 pounds of produce each Find out more about hunger in the week. Donations from a local produce company supplement what the garden supplies. U.S. and around the world at Bread “It has been a great way for creating empowfor the World’s website: bread.org erment without just handing out,” Green says.
LIV E I T .
A Relational Approach Green also emphasizes the importance of relationships, as opposed to programs, in addressing the cycle of poverty and hunger. “That’s a big part of what we do,” he says. “So as we consider a garden, it’s working
Volunteer at a food pantry or community garden in your area.
Summer 2014 | 15
FIELD OF DREAMS How a Church in DRC Is Cultivating Hope in Its Community by Jill Fothergill, missionary in DRC, and Simone Finney, NCM Communications
16 | NCM Magazine
All photos courtesy of Jill Fothergill
F
arming has always been a part of Daina Mulenga’s life. Like many people who have grown up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mulenga was born into a family that relied on working the land to grow enough food to keep them alive. Her home is in the rural community of Kafubu, located along a river of the same name in the southernmost part of this central African nation. So when Mulenga’s husband died 10 years ago, leaving her to provide for 12 children on her own, she did so through small-scale farming. “My life would not be possible without the farm,” Mulenga says. That’s a reality echoed in the lives of many of her neighbors, too. In response, the Good Samaritan Church of the Nazarene in Kafubu, DRC, started a community farm in Mulenga’s neighborhood. There, community members come together to plant, water, weed, and harvest. And the harvests are providing hope.
A church farm allows single mothers with no other source of income to provide for their children.
LIFE IN KAFUBU In Kafubu, a small community of about 1,000 people, opportunities for employment are few. During the dry season, some people find work making bricks, but most people farm, either for themselves or someone else. The plowing, seeding, watering, and harvesting are all done by women with help from older children, both girls and boys. The majority of harvests meet only the most basic nutritional needs. Most families in the village—many of which are also headed by single mothers like Mulenga—are able to eat once a day, although this can decrease to once every other day during the rainy season from December to February, when crops are growing but there is no food to harvest as they wait for crops to grow. Of course, hunger is just one of the challenges families in Kafubu face. The lack of clean water further complicates life. Although the town is next to a river, the water is not potable. During the rainy season, families capture rainwater in buckets, but in the dry season, the entire village draws water from a single hole in the ground. By September, the closest place with any water left is a three-mile walk. Local health care is also limited. Malaria is a major risk in the area, and with no clinics or pharmacies close by, community members must travel 10 miles over rough roads to Lubumbashi to see a doctor or purchase medicine. If people get sick during the night, they
The Good Samaritan church feeds children each month with the produce from their farm.
must find someone with a bicycle who is willing to take them to town, or else they have to wait until morning to find a motorcycle taxi. The pursuit of education requires even more walking. It’s more than four miles each way to the nearest school. And with tuition at the closest schools ranging from $6 to $30 (USD) a month per child, local families are rarely able to send all their children to school. Typically, when parents have to choose, they send the boys before the girls.
“My life would not be possible without the farm.”
Summer 2014 | 17
SHARING THE HARVEST When the crops are ready, families take what they need and leave the rest. Anything left over is sold, and the income is used to provide for basics such as hygiene items, education, improved housing, and medical care. “I use the income to purchase other things such as soap, clothes, corn flour, and rice,” says Mulenga, whose personal farm has generated enough income to build a house for her family and sustain their basic needs. “My children have all been able to attend school because of The Good farming,” she adds. Samaritan The church also runs a food program church started for children, offering a meal once a month a farm so throughout the year and twice a month when women and harvests allow. The church feeds about 45 chilchildren— the most dren each time they gather. vulnerable— could eat.
LIV E I T . Ask God to give strength to the women in Kabufu who work hard to support their families through farming. Reflect on how God might be leading you to support families living on the margins. You can support projects and programs that help families put food on the table with God-given dignity by giving to NCM’s Global Hunger Fund at https:// give.nazarene.org/ donate/f/106140. Volunteer at a community garden in your town and find a way to give a portion of the harvest to people in need in the community.
18 | NCM Magazine
HOW DOES THEIR GARDEN GROW? “The lack of food and basic provisions for families was our main motivation in starting a farm,” says Aimé Mutombo Nawej, pastor of Kafubu’s Good Samaritan Nazarene Church. “I wanted to help women and children [who are the most vulnerable] have something to eat.” The church’s farm covers nearly an acre of land along the river. There, okra, zucchini, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, and tomatoes grow alongside corn, cabbage, mushrooms, peanuts, and a leafy green vegetable known locally as linga linga.
THE FRUITS OF FAITH The community farm is also evidence of the growth of the local congregation. The Good Samaritan Church of the Nazarene started with just 15 people, but now it welcomes 60 people on average each week. Pastor Nawej says he is encouraged by “new members coming to the Lord, helping people learn the Bible and deepen their relationship with the Lord. It is also encouraging to see members of the church teaching each other.” The congregation has begun to build a new church building, and it hopes to build a local school soon—a step that would give every child in Kafubu the chance at an education.
“The lack of food and basic provisions for families was our main motivation in starting a farm. I wanted to help women and children have something to eat.” “You must cultivate both the physical and spiritual needs of people,” Pastor Nawej says. “We are teaching them to take care of themselves through farming. And, Jesus commands us to help one another.” Helping one another is an established practice in Kafubu, where farming is a community endeavor. Those who do not have land to grow their own vegetables can help farm others’ land to earn food from the harvest in exchange for their work. At the church’s farm, almost everyone in the church participates in planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting, which means everyone benefits from the harvest too.
The dream Pastor Nawej has for his congregation is simple: “My desire for the church, for the people, is to serve and to be served.” As for Mulenga, she is able to serve her family by putting nutritious food on the table. “God has provided all I have, and it makes me very happy,” she says. “My Christian faith is the only thing that keeps me stable. Even as a widow, I must trust in the Lord. He has supplied all my needs.” n Jill Fothergill is a missionary working with the Church of the Nazarene in the Africa Middle Field. She lives with her husband and their two children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
GROWING OPPORTUNITIES:
Caring for the Women of Kafubu
“God has provided all I have and it makes me very happy. ... Even as a widow, I must trust in the Lord. He has supplied all my needs.” Sudan
AFRICA DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF Republic THE CONGO
Uganda
of Congo
KINSHASA
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Angola
Rwanda Burundi Tanzania
Kafubu Zambia
W
hen her husband passed away, Daina Mulenga was faced with the prospect of caring for 12 children on her own. In the community of Kafubu in southeastern DRC, her situation is all too common. There, everyone’s opportunities are limited, but it’s the women who feel the effects of poverty most deeply. Some women, like Mulenga, are widows. Others are separated from or have been deserted by their husbands, leaving a large number of households headed by women. Providing for a large family becomes especially challenging for single mothers, as most of them have not been educated or trained for skilled jobs. Farming is one of the only opportunities for income, and its returns are limited. When it comes to education, limitations in resources often result in boys being prioritized over girls, so many of Kafubu’s women were never educated as girls, and many of them married between the ages of 15 and 17. Such situations create opportunity for gender-based violence to flourish. Despite the fact that it is illegal for men to beat their wives, it is culturally accepted,
In Context. and many women endure it. That’s why Aimé Mutombo Nawej, pastor of the Good Samaritan Church of the Nazarene, started a literacy program to empower women in Kafubu. “Education does give women and girls confidence once they receive it,” he says. “It also gives them more opportunities for jobs.” A dozen women currently attend literacy classes each week, and they are excited to demonstrate new words they have learned to write, especially their own names. “My prayer,” Pastor Nawej says, “is that each person would be able to learn the Bible and deepen their own relationship with God.” The literacy group members hope to meet more often, as their farming duties allow. But in the meantime, the ground continues to yield crops, paving the way for more dreams. The church is setting aside some of the income from the sale of surplus crops in the hopes of starting a sewing ministry—just one more way the church can continue to grow opportunities for the women of Kafubu.
Between 1998 and 2003, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was the battleground for what became known as Africa’s First World War. The conflict pitted rebel groups from DRC backed by Rwanda and Uganda against government forces supported by Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Chad. The destabilization of the country led to widespread starvation and disease, resulting in an estimated 5 million lives lost. Today, violence continues to grip DRC, where rebel and militia groups fight to control areas of land that hold natural resources. The poverty-stricken country is home to some of the world’s richest deposits of gems and minerals, and it boasts Africa’s largest supply of cobalt, alongside significant stores of diamonds, gold, copper, and zinc. But these resources have historically been exploited by greedy hands from both inside and outside DRC, leaving the nation one of the poorest in the world. An estimated 71 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. Summer 2014 | 19
Group Dynamics How Mothers in South Asia Are Coming Together to Change the Future for Their Families
by Simone Finney, NCM Communications with reporting by NCM Lanka staff and NCM Bangladesh staff
20 | NCM Magazine
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oon after her second child was born, Vijeyluxmi’s husband left her. The young mother had no education, no employment prospects, and no one to fall back on for support. She was forced to rely on the help of neighbors in her small village in eastern Sri Lanka to get by. Flash forward several years, and today Vijeyluxmi is a happy mother who is able to provide for her two children. Through a home garden, she is not only able to serve her children nutritious meals, but each crop she grows also becomes a paycheck in her pocket as she sells the leftovers for income. Vijeyluxmi hasn’t been alone on this journey. She is part of a group of women who have discovered the power of walking hand in hand on a path out of poverty.
Putting Poverty in Context
Photo courtesy of NCM Lanka Photo courtesy of Beth Clayton Luthye
Photo courtesy of Gina Pottenger
Clockwise: 1. Through this self-help group in Bangladesh, 15 women have scraped together their savings in order to provide small loans to one another to start businesses. 2. Vijeyluxmi, a single mother in Sri Lanka, uses the food and income from a backyard garden to care for her children. 3. Self-help groups in Bangladesh give mothers a way to create hope-filled futures for their children.
Vijeyluxmi is from Mahilavettuvan, where 350 local families have been displaced repeatedly—first by a years-long, tumultuous civil war and then by a catastrophic tsunami in 2005. Although the community members have now resettled, their circumstances remain insecure. Women head most of the community’s households, either because they lost their husbands to war or because they were abandoned by them. The vast majority try to make ends meet with low-wage day jobs that are never guaranteed. Two meals per day would be a luxury for many families. So when NCM staff members began working with this community, they quickly focused on how to help its most vulnerable members: women and children. NCM in Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries employs a child-focused community development model. The goal is addressing childhood poverty in the context of families and communities. As a way to address the broader context, NCM in South Asia helps form self-help groups for mothers of children in child development centers. Vijeyluxmi is a member of one of these groups, along with 14 other women, all formerly unemployed. Self-help groups are designed to empower women as change-agents, not victims. The groups provide a platform for women to support one another’s efforts to improve the situation of their families, their neighbors, and their wider communities. While children are gaining education, life skills, and spiritual nurturing at child development centers, mothers are working to change the future of their families. They gather regularly to discuss their challenges, as well as build their savings—often by starting with just pennies a week—and gain access to loans for starting small businesses. They also receive formal training in microenterprise, community development, parenting, and problem solving. In Mahilavettuvan, Vijeyluxmi’s self-help group has focused on home gardens as a way to meet two basic needs: household income and nutrition. NCM provided seeds and tools to grow okra, beans, gourds, and banana saplings, and the group became a source of advice, training, and support. As they work their gardens, Vijeyluxmi and the other mothers in her group are cultivating security for their families. Through self-help groups, women in Sri Lanka as well as nearby Bangladesh are discovering what they’re capable of achieving together.
As they work their gardens, Vijeyluxmi and the other mothers in her group are cultivating security for their families.
Summer 2014 | 21
Photo courtesy of Beth Clayton Luthye
Photo courtesy of NCM Bangladesh With a loan of $129 USD, Shima started a grocery shop. Today, she earns $90 a week.
Photo courtesy of NCM Bangladesh
The “Talents” self-help group in Bangladesh started with 2 taka (about 3 cents USD) four years ago. Today, they have 50,000 taka ($644 USD), and their families are thriving.
Amika started a successful weaving business with a loan for $39 USD.
“I am happy that I can now provide food for my children.”
22 | NCM Magazine
Weaving a Brighter Future: Amika’s Story
Making Dreams Come True: Shima’s Story
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S
ne week after Amika got married, she had to join her husband in the fields where he worked as a day laborer. The young couple lived hand to mouth for more than a decade, and their poverty only grew worse with the birth of their daughter. In 2011, Amika discovered a self-help group in her village in Bangladesh. After joining, she began to contribute to the group’s savings at the meetings. She also received seeds and training to start a home garden, as well as deworming medicine for her family, and she learned more about nutrition and various social issues. Her confidence grew as she attended the meetings and came to know more about microenterprise. With a loan of 3,000 taka ($39 USD) and her own knowledge about carpets, Amika started her own weaving business. As her carpets have become more and more popular throughout the area, her confidence has also grown. She now earns close to 4,000 taka each month ($50 USD), and she is working to expand her business. “I am happy that I can now provide food for my children and my family,” Amika says. The self-help group’s discussion of social issues has opened Amika’s eyes to the value of girls in society. She gained the courage to share this view with her husband, and now— in addition to having enough to eat—Amika’s children, including her daughter, are all attending school. The success of her small business has transformed Amika’s life, and she encourages other women in her community to pursue their own work outside of the household.
ince childhood, Shima dreamed about having a secure, established future. But due to her family’s poverty, the young Bangladeshi woman was given in marriage as a child a very young age. Her husband was the only income earner in their home, and he brought home so little that the new couple struggled with hunger even before they had children. As the family grew, so did their financial struggles. In the midst of these difficulties, Shima found a self-help group called Ashar Alo, which means “ray of hope.” The group combined savings and small loans with home garden training as part of an NCM nutrition and food security project in Bangladesh.* Through the group, Shima learned to grow nutritious foods for her family, and she also worked to save money in order to build security. Once she was able to take out a loan from her self-help group, Shima and her husband set up a small grocery shop. As her business grew, she repaid the initial loan of 10,000 taka ($129 USD), and subsequent loans have allowed her to continue adding new merchandise and expanding the shop. Shima’s business has grown so successful that she now earns about 7,000 taka ($90 USD) every week, which provides for her family. Of course, Shima hasn’t stopped dreaming. She’s making plans to continue expanding her shop. But her biggest dream is to provide a quality education for her three children. “Confidence and the determination to do something good showed me the way of success,” Shima says. “The self-help group gave me a lot of confidence.”
Industry Enables Success: Rasubala’s Story
T
A $50 loan enabled Rasubala to start a garment business.
Moving Forward Vijeyluxmi, Shima, Amika, and Rasubala are just four of the many women throughout South Asia who are partnering with NCM to create change through self-help groups. Through women’s collective efforts, families become more secure—in food, finances, and the futures of their children. According to NCM staff members in Sri Lanka, the women in self-help groups are “very eager to see a change. Amidst challenges and different adversities, they are moving forward.” n * NCM’s Nutrition and Food Security Project in Bangladesh is supported through a grant from Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
Saving for Change: Economic Empowerment Through Self-Help Groups
I
n communities throughout South Asia, NCM helps organize self-help groups. Through this model, groups of 15 individuals, typically women, come together to save, access credit, and plan for the future. At each meeting, group members add their own savings—as little as five or 10 cents each week—into a collective fund. As the fund grows, group members can take a loan from the savings to start a small business. As those microenterprises begin to generate income, the women pay back loans at an interest rate of 10 percent, which in turn builds up the group’s fund. The members can then take out additional loans to expand their businesses. Self-help groups differ from other forms of microfinance. Instead of focusing exclusively on micro-loans, self-help groups combine savings and loans with training and capacity building, and interest payments go back to the group, not an outside bank. Members work together, supporting one another
in ways that create lasting change. As women develop small businesses, they are able to provide for their families. Not only can they put food on the table for their children, but they can also send their children to school— ensuring opportunities for a brighter future. Self-help groups empower women to see themselves in light of Genesis 1:27, as people who are made in God’s image—people who are capable, creative, productive, and valuable.
Photo courtesy of Curt Luthye
Photo courtesy of NCM Bangladesh
“I am happy with my work and that I can keep contributing for my family.”
Photo courtesy of Curt Luthye
here were times when half a meal was all Rasubala could feed her three young children. And there were times when the family had nothing to eat at all. Before her path intersected with a selfhelp group connected to an NCM nutrition and food security project*, Rasubala and her family all lived in a single room on government land—an accommodation reserved for the poorest of Bangladesh’s poor. She had no employment, and her husband’s income was very small. As part of a minority group, they were socially disadvantaged, and the family seemed destined to live in poverty. Then Rasubala learned about the NCM project in her area, and she joined a self-help group named Asha, or hope. As she began attending the weekly meetings, she also started to contribute her savings to the collective fund. Knowing that local demand was high for women’s and children’s clothing, Rasubala worked up the confidence to take out a small loan of 4,000 taka ($50 USD). With it, she bought a sewing machine and began creating garments from plain fabric out of her home. Her quality work earned her a good
reputation within her community, and within a few months, she took out a second loan to invest in higher-quality fabric. The 5,000 to 6,000 taka ($64–$77 USD) she now earns each month far exceeds her husband’s income and will soon enable them to lease a piece of land for their family. As Rasubala’s income has increased, so has her confidence as well as her value at home and within her community. “I am happy with my work and that I can keep contributing for my family,” Rasubala says.
Summer 2014 | 23
Finding Faith
Child Sponsorship Put Two Brothers on Path Back to God
by Rod Green, NCM Eurasia
Photos courtesy of Gaby Majdalani
24 | NCM Magazine
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e’re doing OK now, but things were really tough back then,” 20-year-old Eli tells me over lunch in one of the famous kebab shops in Beirut, Lebanon. It’s a bright, warm Sunday, and I’m enjoying shawarma, hummus, flat bread, and cabbage salad with Eli and his brother, Jamil, following the morning’s church service. The pair, only a year apart in age, lead busy lives between university, church, part-time jobs, and home. As we eat, they tell me about the decade that has brought them here, exposing years of loss and grief alongside God’s provision and grace.
Early Losses Eli and Jamil’s father used to own a small shop, where he sold dried goods, chips, and sodas to the neighborhood. But when the boys were 10 and 11, he experienced sudden heart failure and passed away. His store, which had barely provided for the family while he was alive, closed its doors soon after. The next blow came six months later when it was time for school to begin, and the boys’ mother put them in an orphanage instead. Unable to provide for her children, it seemed like the only option left. “That killed us,” the brothers tell me. “We had just lost our father, and now it seemed like we were losing our mother as well.” Jamil and Eli spent two years in the orphanage. Eli had an especially difficult time adjusting and was put in time-out so often during the first year that he read through the Bible four times. Although the family had attended the local Nazarene church for several years when their father was alive, Jamil stopped attending church altogether when he was 11. For the next seven years, the most important people in his life were friends with no interest in God. Jamil and his friends spent a lot of time getting into trouble. Along the way, though, Jamil also learned to play the drums, and he would play for anyone who asked.
Eli had watched his brother play the drums, and he had a real desire to learn to play the guitar himself, but there was not enough money to buy one. Still attending church, Eli regularly heard stories of people who experienced miracles from God, but he was skeptical. When a used guitar donated to the church arrived at his doorstep and a local music school offered free lessons, Eli started to believe. It reminded him of something else that had happened when his father was still alive. “We had just started going to the Nazarene church, and it was Christmas,” Eli says. “We had no money for gifts or a special meal. We were sitting in our fourth-floor apartment when there was a sudden knock on the door.” An envelope with $72 slid under the door. The boys immediately searched for the source, but “no one was found—not on the balcony, or in the stairwell, on the roof, or in the street,” Eli continues. He remembers this as an unexplainable event that remains a mystery to this day and was an early sign of God’s ongoing care and provision. While Eli began music lessons with his new guitar at age 17, 18-year-old Jamil’s drumming skills had improved significantly, and he was invited to play in the worship band at a Christian conference. “I had no business attending the conference because it was for emerging Christian leaders,” says Jamil, who at the time was immersed in whatever trouble he and his friends could find. “But they needed a drummer. … [Then] when the preacher was in the middle of his sermon, I felt like I was the only person in the room. He described my life perfectly.”
“No one would expect that Jamil and I would be in university,
here we are.” but
Opposite above: Jamil (left), 21, and Eli (right), 20, pictured with their mother and sister, lost their father when they were boys, an expeirence that took them away from God. Opposite below: Today, Jamil (left) and Eli (right) help lead worship at their church in Beirut, Lebanon. Below: Music played a big role in Jamil’s coming to faith. He was invited to play drums at a Christian conference, where he began a journey back toward God.
Beginning to Believe Once their mother’s situation became more stable, she was able to bring her sons home from the orphanage. The church helped provide groceries and other basic necessities at home, and individuals from the church would occasionally pass along envelopes with varying amounts of cash so the family could make ends meet. And through NCM’s Child Sponsorship program, they were ensured a quality education. Summer 2014 | 25
The preacher predicted the outcomes of living life without God. That moment started Jamil on his journey back to God.
Learning to Lead Today, Jamil and Eli both play in the band that leads worship on Sunday mornings at the Church of the Nazarene in Beirut, and they take part in the youth fellowship that’s giving life to the small congregation. Jamil has a job teaching math to Syrian students who are refugees from a war raging just beyond Lebanon’s border. Eli teaches music to children at the local conservatory. Their part-time wages cover a lot of their college bills, but they also get a little help from LEAP, a college scholarship program that is an extension of NCM’s Child Sponsorship
Sponsoring Leadership At NCM, we believe that everyone deserves a chance at a quality education—an opportunity for a better tomorrow. Yet right now, 75 million children and 774 million adults are missing out. That’s why we started LEAP. In the same way NCM’s Child Sponsorship program helps children ages 4 to 18 in child development programs around the world, LEAP (Leadership, Education, and Advancement Program) provides a much-needed boost
program. LEAP, which stands for Leadership, Education, and Advancement Program, supports students who show leadership potential and are actively serving in Nazarene churches. “No one would expect that Jamil and I would be in university,” Eli says, “but here we are. The tuition is high, but I am not afraid. … I do not fear the future because I know that God will not leave me.” Most of the time, investing in children is an open-ended act of faithfulness. We don’t always see the full impact of the time, effort, or resources that are given. We plant the seed and we pray … and plant … and pray.
Older children wait longer for sponsors. But older doesn’t mean less potential or fewer dreams. Will you invest in the dreams of an older child today?
ncm.org/cs 26 | NCM Magazine
for promising students to continue their education through their college years. LEAP is a scholarship program that gives sponsored children with exemplary leadership potential the chance to continue their education and receive leadership training. Through LEAP, NCM envisions a future where once-sponsored children become equipped, effective, and powerful leaders using their gifts to transform the world for the kingdom of God.
Then sometimes there is a chance to eat a meal with young men like Eli and Jamil. And sometimes they give hopeful details—like the way Jamil shared his faith on the first day of his first university class. When his professor asked if anyone in the class was an active reader, Jamil gave an unexpected answer. “I raised my hand and told everyone I regularly read the Bible,” Jamil says. “The professor told me that since I read the Bible, he would be watching my life. I have been able to show him I truly live what I am reading.” Sometimes a small investment can make a big difference in the life of a young person. n
Called to Compassion.
Facing Fear, Finding Light by Sylvia Cortez Masyuk
O
n December 11, 2013, my husband, Volo-
“The light shines
dymyr, stood in Independence Square
in Kyiv, Ukraine, praying as military police advanced toward a crowd of peaceful pro-
in the
testors in the middle of the night. It was a tense and violent push and shove that left many seriously injured. As police called for the evacuation of the square, leaders quickly
darkness,
reminded everyone that this was a peaceful protest against corruption and injustice. Fear was palpable, as no one was certain what might happen next. Suddenly, amidst a cacophony of noise and chaos, as riot police began to advance, Volodymyr heard the nearby bells of St. Michael’s Cathedral begin to ring. I am told the ringing of the bells was once an ancient call for alarm. My husband said he could feel his heart beating faster and in sync with the bells. The ministers then began to lead all who were gathered in the Lord’s Prayer, continuing to do so throughout the dark hours of the night. Frederick Buechner writes, “The grace of God means something like: … Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you.” The world can indeed be a terrible, scary place where violence, wars, oppression, and poverty threaten far too many people daily. If we give in to fear, it has a way of paralyzing us. How, then, do we preserve our faith and continue to trust in the One who saves? In Psalm 139:7–12, the psalmist prays a gentle reminder: Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.
Sometimes, it’s when we have hit rock bottom, been defeated, gotten lost, or experienced real fear that we need the most simple
and the darkness did not overcome it.” John 1:5
truth—nothing can separate us from God’s love and presence. There is nowhere we have to flee in order to find Him. God is already there in our midst. But He is not just with us. He is for us—on our side. The With-Us God is not just here to stand with us in the darkness but to actually turn darkness into light! It is this reality that allows us to move forward in the various circumstances of our lives. There is something quite transforming about praying the Lord’s Prayer when you are gripped by fear and have nowhere to turn but to the God of love and grace and justice. Like the psalmist who cried out, like the bells that rang in the night, like the priests who led people in prayer in Kyiv that December evening, I, too, am called to push through my fears and to sound the alarm that there is One who has
the power to save. And there is One who is present even when terrible things happen. For so many of us, the circumstances of our lives continue to unfold without any certainty of how the story will end. But it is in these moments that we find hope in knowing that God is here, among the poor, the brokenhearted, the weak, the vulnerable, the wounded. Amidst the noises and voices that seek to surround us in fear, God asks us to continue proclaiming that ancient message: “Fear not!” n Sylvia Cortez Masyuk is an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene. In 2011, she married Volodymyr Masyuk, a pastor and district superintendent in Kyiv, Ukraine. Prior to moving to Kyiv, Sylvia worked at Point Loma Nazarene University for 11 years as director of discipleship ministries. She currently works for European Nazarene College as the Ukraine Learning Center coordinator, helping to train and equip pastors and lay leaders for ministry.
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Love in Action.
Go for the Flow
Why an Ohio Teen Went to the Dominican Republic in Search of Clean Water by NCM Staff
A
sk most teenagers what they want for Christmas, and you probably won’t get the answer Dan and Michelle Lepley got from their son, Clayton, last year. The 14-year-old high school freshman told his parents he wanted to install a clean-water system in the Dominican Republic. Lepley, a Boy Scout in Troop 136 in Grove City, Ohio, was one step from becoming an Eagle Scout, which is the highest rank in the Boy Scout program. This water project would
has destroyed thousands of acres of farmland, stripping many people of their livelihoods and plunging families further into poverty. The CDC, which is supported through NCM’s Child Sponsorship program, makes a world of difference for the children and their families. “They are boys and girls with multiple unresolved needs because of the situation of poverty in which they live,” says Paquita Bido Balbuena, NCM coordinator in the Dominican Republic. “The CDC helps them toward spiri-
When they finished the test run of the system, the results were exactly what Lepley had planned for. The center can now produce 800 gallons of clean water every day. meet his final requirement for becoming an tual growth and discipleship, teaches them to Eagle Scout while also allowing him to serve in love God, helps them complete their schoola place he’d grown to love. work, supports them emotionally, and provides a hot lunch, which is often the only one Knowing the Need they receive in a day.” Near the southwestern shores of Lake EnriquilAnd now, thanks in part to an Eagle Scout, lo in the Dominican Republic, just outside the the CDC has also become a place where chilcommunity of Neyba, sits a Nazarene Compas- dren can find clean water. sionate Ministries child development center (CDC) called Footpath. The center regularly Leading the Way welcomes more than 60 children whose fami- Lepley was 7 years old when his family moved lies live in extreme poverty. Many have relied on to the Dominican Republic as missionaries with agriculture for income, but severe lake flooding the Church of the Nazarene. During the four and
Above: As a child, Clayton Lepley saw Dominican children without access to clean water. As a teenager, he decided to put his love into action. Right: More than 60 children and their families now have access to clean water at the child development center in Neyba. Photos courtesy of Michelle Lepley
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For his Eagle Scout project, Clayton Lepley, 14, led a team to the Dominican Republic to install a clean-water system at a child development center there.
a half years they lived there, he got to know and work alongside community members in Neyba, acting as a translator, welcoming mission teams, and helping with construction projects. “I miss working with people in the area and interacting with them all the time,” says Lepley, whose family returned to the United States when he was 12. In the Dominican Republic, Lepley met children who couldn’t afford to go to school, didn’t have clean water, and lived without electricity. So when the high school freshman had to plan, implement, and lead a major service project to complete his Eagle Scout goal, the CDC in Neyba was at the forefront of his mind. He had helped construct the building and knew they needed water, so he talked with Dominican church leaders about installing a water chlorination system at the center. Lepley spent six months planning for the project. He researched a purification system available through WaterStep, an organization that specializes in providing safe water
in countries with limited access. He attended a two-day seminar to learn how to install the system. To raise awareness and resources, he spoke at several community organizations in Grove City. Then he recruited five members from Grove City Church of the Nazarene and coordinated with a mission team from nearby West Carrollton, Ohio, to travel to the Dominican Republic over the Christmas holidays in order to bring the plans to life.
them safe, clean drinking water,” Lepley says. Pastor Santo Rodriguez, who directs the CDC, adds, “Thanks to this system, more than 70 children will be able to access water. We are happy for this great gift.” According to Balbuena, clean water can help prevent basic health problems such as skin infections, intestinal parasites, and dehydration. “It will have a tremendous impact on the quality of life for boys and girls and their families,” she says. Healing Waters Today, Boy Scout Troop 136 has one more The days in Neyba were busy. Lepley worked Eagle Scout, and families in Neyba have one with local leaders to lead the visiting team more source of clean water. n through the entire installation process: inspecting the site, preparing the foundation, inWe want to hear more stories stalling the tank and plumbing, and filling the of love in action. If you know tank. When they finished the test run of the a person, group, or church who’s system, the results were exactly what Lepley living compassion as a lifestyle, had planned for. The center can now produce email info@ncm.org. Include 800 gallons of clean water every day. “When water started flowing … it was cool “magazine” in the subject line. to know that I will help people survive by giving Summer 2014 | 29
Snapshot.
In Bangladesh, a girl serves water to a young boy at an NCM child development center (CDC), which ministers to children who are part of the Child Sponsorship program. Providing nutrition through daily meals is an important goal in a country with one of the world’s highest rates of malnutrition, particularly among children. By fighting against malnutrition, CDCs are increasing children’s ability to learn and grow up healthy. This helps to establish patterns that create brighter futures because educated girls grow into educated mothers, and the children of mothers with education are far less likely to experience malnutrition than the children of uneducated mothers. Through Child Sponsorship, NCM works to meet the physical, educational, social, and spiritual needs of children starting at age 4.
Photo courtesy of Beth Clayton Luthye
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Through workplace giving, you can improve the lives of children and families around the world.
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Leave a lasting legacy Create an endowment for NCM Child Sponsorship.
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