NCM Magazine/Winter 2014

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

W I N T E R

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HOPE RISING GIVING GIRLS A CHANCE AT A BRIGHTER FUTURE

… for those who embrace compassion as a lifestyle

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Right now, every $1 you give will turn into $2.

A group of generous individuals has agreed to match every $1 given to the NCM Global Fund up to $100,000 now through December 31, 2014.

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x2 Your gift to Nazarene Compassionate Ministries’ Global Fund will help local churches respond quickly to disasters and meet other critical needs in their communities.

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Table of Contents DEPARTMENTS 4

Connection Points 31

Called to Compassion 32

Love in Action 34

Snapshot

NCM Magazine Winter 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

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.

FEATURES

12

School Girls South Asia’s gender gap is wide. Here’s how CDCs are giving girls a chance at education—and a better tomorrow.

16

The End of Innocence

Two of every three girls in Bangladesh becomes a bride before turning 18.

Learn what the church there is doing to stop child marriage.

18

12

The Power of More Than One

Take a look at what mothers are doing to break the cycle of poverty and child marriage in Bangladesh.

22

16

Uprooted

18

Hana became a refugee when her family was forced to flee their home because of persecution. She is working to build a new life in another country, but it isn’t easy.

24

Breaking Free

This is the story of how one girl survived human trafficking, all because one person was willing to act.

22

26

For the Record In San Francisco, music is helping youth redefine themselves—and their futures.

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24

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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.

OPENING NOTES

A Little Bit of Hope

by Beth Clayton Luthye, NCM Communications

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In Eesha’s village, only 20 percent of girls finish high school, and most become brides before turning 18.

Child Sponsorship gives Eesha hope for a different future.

esha*, age 5, lives in a small village in Bangladesh. Her father is ill, and her mother died a year ago, leaving her 15-year-old sister to care for her.

The odds are stacked against Eesha.

Where she lives, 40 percent of girls never get to go to school, and only 20 percent finish high school. In her entire village of 1,200 people, only four women have university degrees. In a country where two of every three girls will marry before turning 18—a practice driven largely by poverty—Eesha’s sister may become a child bride soon.

And statistics suggest that Eesha will one day have to get married and drop out of school, too, unless something interrupts the pattern.

My family and I sponsor Eesha through Nazarene Compassionate Ministries’ Child Sponsorship program.

She’s close in age to our own daughter, but their opportunities are so very different. My daughter will benefit from free public schools in the United States, but education is a privilege for Eesha.

My girl will be able to choose the person she wants to marry, but girls in Bangladesh typically have little choice in marriage. And my child will probably find a job one day that pays a living wage, but that’s not a given for Eesha in a country where 76 percent of people live on less than $2 a day.

I believe my daughter is special,

but she is no more special than Eesha.

Both girls have value because they were equally made in God’s image. Yet being born into different circumstances makes all the difference. Still, I believe things can change for Eesha.

According to Esther Duflo, an economist who studies global poverty, hope is a powerful thing in a child’s life. She says, “Hope can fuel aspirations; for example, a successful role model can change the expectations of what a girl can achieve, and thus affect her own aspirations for herself, or her parents’ aspirations for her. In turn, these aspirations can affect behavior. ... A little bit of hope and some reassurance that an individual’s objectives are within reach can act as a powerful incentive.”

Through NCM’s holistic child development programs, girls—and boys— around the world are gaining that little bit of hope and some reassurance.

In India, for example, girls are gaining equal access to education (page 12), and parents in Bangladesh are discovering the importance of ending child marriage for their daughters (page 16).

My family sponsors Eesha because we believe her future can be different from what the stats predict. We sponsor Eesha because we believe in hope. * Children’s names are changed for their protection and privacy.

“Then he [Jesus] took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

4 | NCM Magazine

Mark 9:36-37

Girls Around the World

1 OF EVERY 3

EVERY 3 SECONDS,

THE #1 CAUSE

FEWER THAN HALF

GIRLS IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD IS MARRIED BY THE AGE OF 18.

A GIRL IS FORCED OR COERCED TO MARRY.

OF DEATH FOR GIRLS AGES 15 TO 19 IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IS COMPLICATIONS DUE TO PREGNANCY OR CHILDBIRTH.

OF GIRLS LIVING IN POOR COUNTRIES WILL EVER COMPLETE PRIMARY SCHOOL.

1 IN 5

FEWER THAN 5%

GIRLS OF LOWER SECONDARY AGE AROUND THE WORLD IS OUT OF SCHOOL.

OF GIRLS LIVING IN 19 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN COUNTRIES WILL COMPLETE SECONDARY SCHOOL.

2/3

3.2 MILLION

OF THE WORLD’S 792 MILLION ILLITERATE ADULTS ARE FEMALE.

OF THE 5 MILLION YOUNG ADULTS AGES 15 TO 24 WHO ARE LIVING WITH HIV OR AIDS ARE GIRLS.

HALF

80%

OF SEXUAL ASSAULTS AROUND THE WORLD ARE AGAINST GIRLS WHO ARE 15 OR YOUNGER.

OF INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE TRAFFICKED ACROSS INTERNATIONAL BORDERS ARE GIRLS AND WOMEN.

SOURCES: UNICEF, Population Council, Plan, ICRW, WHO, Academy for Educational Development, UNESCO, US Department of State

Winter 2014 | 5

Connection Points.

CHILD SPONSORSHIP SPOTLIGHT

New Hope in Nicaragua DAWN JESSUP, UNITED STATES (OHIO)

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ince 2006, Newstart Community Church (Powell, Ohio) has been serving a village in northern Nicaragua by partnering with local churches through a long-term building project. About 130 of us also sponsor kids from the area.

I started sponsoring Warner* in 2007. I have three kids of my own, so I decided to find a child with a birthday that was close to one of my children’s. My daughter was born in August 1995, and Warner was born in June of that year.

We sponsored Warner for a couple of years before I was able to go on a trip with my church to his village. During that time, we received letters from him with pictures and updates. It was always exciting to hear from him. Our family hung his photo and information on our refrigerator, and we prayed for him each night.

In 2009, I was blessed to travel to Warner’s hometown in Nicaragua. Meeting Warner and his family has been one of the highlights of my life. Hearing them, through tears, talk about how the child sponsorship program has blessed them was priceless.

Sponsored children receive uniforms, backpacks, and supplies so they can attend school. Without these items, the government won’t let kids attend school. Most families in the village don’t have money for these items, though. Sponsored kids not only attend school and receive a meal each day, but they also hear about Jesus.

The sponsorship program has made a huge difference in this area. Before the program began, school stopped after third grade because parents didn’t have money to send their kids to school. Today, the school extends into high school levels. The child sponsorship program works! Every time I visit, I come back more excited to see how kids are being blessed by just $25 a month.

Warner is doing great. He is now in the eighth grade, and he recently told me he wants to be a preacher one day. I am one happy sponsor mom! *Children’s names are changed for their protection.

nt to We wam you! o r f r hea our

Share y story rship sponso ailing by em .org. cs@ncm

PERSPECTIVES

Photo courtesy of NCM Bangladesh

Aroti’s Story

6 | NCM Magazine

Clockwise: 1. Dawn and her family have sponsored Warner since 2007.

2. Dawn and her son (far right) recently visited Warner and his family in Nicaragua.

3. Warner’s school now extends to high school levels, thanks to child sponsorship.

Shaily* was 3 years old when her father abandoned her and her mother for another woman.

In their small village in Bangladesh, Shaily and her mother, Aroti, were left with no money or means of support. Desperate, Aroti begged door to door for shelter. Eventually, they found a temporary place on the verandah of a farmer’s house.

Aroti worked in the fields to earn money to feed Shaily, but she worried about her young daughter’s safety when she was alone during the workday. When Shaily turned 4, Aroti enrolled her in an NCM child development center (CDC), which is supported through child sponsorship. Now, 7-year-old Shaily is studying at grade level.

Shaily says she loves going to the CDC, where she gets to sing and draw in addition to her studies.

“The CDC is blessing me and my daughter,” Aroti says. “During the day, I cannot give time to my

daughter, but during that time, she is safe at the CDC.” Aroti believes her own sorrow and poverty will be erased through Shaily’s education and future success. “My daughter has a bright future through the CDC,” she says. “My dream is that she will finish her studies and get a good job.”

Aroti and Shaily both attend the service each week at the local Church of the Nazarene. *Children’s names are changed for their protection.

Highlight: Madagascar Sending Street Kids to School

By NCM Africa

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through 4. Lack of food during early development has left some of the children with learning difficulties, so more focused teaching is essential.

In addition to academics, the children learn hygiene and social skills so they can more easily transition to a traditional school setting. After the children begin attending school, AMI-4 continues to support them through nutrition, health care, and Bible studies, as well as finances to cover tuition fees, school supplies, and uniforms.

For children who have a family, AMI-4 reaches out to parents and guardians through monthly meetings to provide education on various topics related to children and parenting and to share God’s love.

“The street children families exist in complex situations,” Ravelomanantsoa says.

“They are in deep poverty and live with alcoholism, beating, stealing, and rough language.

But we praise God because He is changing the lives of the children as well as their parents.”

“I can relate to the children we work with. They are in great need, not only of physical food, but especially spiritual food.”

AMI-4 is supported through Child Sponsorship.

To learn more about NCM’s Child Sponsorship program, visit ncm.org/cs.

Photos courtesy of NCM Africa

eing a child isn’t easy in Madagascar. In an island nation where economic conditions have been going downhill, 82 percent of children under age 18 are living in poverty.

As poverty in the country increases, many children have to drop out of school, and roughly one in three children between ages 5 and 14 is engaged in some kind of economic activity for survival. That can mean anything from farming to mining to working as maids.

In Madagascar, the increase in poverty has also led to an appalling rise in the number of girls who are forced into prostitution, whether by desperation, parents, or others.

For the thousands of Malagasy children who live on the streets, life is particularly tough. An NCM child development center called AMI-4 was established to reach out to vulnerable “street kids”—children who are unable to attend school because of their poverty and who spend all day, every day, on the streets. They have been orphaned or are the children of single parents who can’t care for them during the day. They are children living in deplorable conditions who spend their days doing what they have to do to survive.

AMI-4 (formerly called the Madagascar Street Kids Center) gives children an alternative to days on the street by providing meals, quality education, basic health care, and a message of God’s love. AMI-4 represents four characteristics the center encourages children to develop. The “A” stands for ankizy, the Malagasy word for child, and the four characteristics all begin with “MI”: mino (believe), mianatra (learn), mitombo (grow), and mikajy ny zony (respect his or her rights).

Years ago, when the ministry was beginning, Pastor Therese Ravelomanantsoa felt strongly that God was calling her to do the job. As a child, she had experienced hunger and health problems, so she felt an affinity to children in vulnerable circumstances.

“I can relate to the children we work with,” Ravelomanantsoa says. “They are in great need, not only of physical food, but especially spiritual food.”

The CDC also offers a full academic curriculum, with the goal of helping children transition into traditional school programs.

Today, AMI-4 teaches 380 children in grades 1

Winter 2014 | 7

Connection Points.

Global Focus: HIV & AIDS Sewing Compassion in Kenya

By Samuel Oketch, NCM Africa

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ach year on December 1, people around the globe commemorate World AIDS Day as a way to remember and support those living with HIV and AIDS and to continue a commitment to fighting the disease. The church is supporting people affected by the disease every day of the year, though, in Kenya, where more than 1.6 million people are living with HIV and AIDS. In particular, congregations are caring for children who have been affected. Through NCM’s partnership with more than 140 local congregations, more than 10,000 children have been supported through nutrition, economic opportunity, education, and Christ-like love.

These are six pictures of compassion being sewn in Kenyan communities: Mary, a volunteer, takes care of four children whose parents died from AIDS. The children under her care come from three different families.

Mary is a small-scale farmer, and her husband runs a small business. Mary and her husband are also HIV-positive. Through an NCM-sponsored book-bag project, Mary is able to earn an

income from the sale of bags she sews, which helps cover household expenses and provide for the orphaned children in her care.

Hellen also lives with Pastor Maurice, and his family helps support Hellen’s education. She is involved in the book-bag project and hopes it will allow her to continue her education.

Jenipher lost her husband several years ago as the result of AIDS. Two of her four children have passed away, but she still cares for her sons, ages 14 and 12. She is also part of the book-bag project, which helps her support her children.

Jenipher is also living with HIV and has been a role model in the community by showing others how she lives positively with the disease.

Mark,* age 16, lost his father to AIDS years ago, and his mother, who was also HIV-positive, abandoned Mark and his sister. The two children live with their pastor, Maurice, and his family, who care for and support them. Mark is involved in book-bag project and is a leader in the youth group at his church.

Hellen lost her mother to AIDS when she was a young child. Her father, who is also HIV-positive, is not in a position to help with her education.

Michael,* 15, went to live with his Aunt Rosemary after his parents died. Michael is the oldest of six siblings who all live in different homes because there wasn’t a family who could take them all in together. Michael was registered in NCM Kenya’s Orphans and Vulnerable Children Program in 2011. He is a bright boy with a hopeful future. “My vision is to be a doctor,” he says.

“I want to help those who are sick. This is my dream. I am also happy because this program supports some of my education.”

Eunice supports seven children—three of her own and four nieces and nephews who came to live with her after their parents both died of AIDS. She established a small shop to generate income as a way to provide for the children. *Children’s names have been changed for their protection.

Jenipher has become a role model in her community.

Mary sews bags to provide for children whose parents died from AIDS.

Photos courtesy of NCM Africa

Michael says, “My vision is to be a doctor.”

Hellen sells bags as a way to pay for her education.

Fast Fact:

Worldwide, 17.9 million children who are under age 18 have lost one or both parents to AIDS. 8 | NCM Magazine

Mark has become a leader in his church youth group.

Eunice works hard to provide for seven children.

FIRST PERSON

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

W I N T E R

2 0 1 4

Lamara: How I’m Learning to Lead As told to Anna Artsrunyan, NCM CIS

HOPE RISING GIVING GIRLS A CHANCE AT A BRIGHTER FUTURE

… for those who embrace compassion as a lifestyle

NCM Magazine

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Download your copy through Apple’s Newsstand today.

QUOTABLE

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its Dietrich Bonhoeffer

was 3 years old when my father came to Christ, and he eventually became the pastor of our church in the small town in Armenia where we lived. My first steps with God came when I started to attend an NCM Kids Club and then Sunday School. I was also sponsored through NCM’s child sponsorship program. I was 12 years old when I started to help the Sunday School teachers and discovered a love of serving God. When I was 15, I joined the Vacation Bible School (VBS) leadership team and participated in VBSs in Russia and Armenia.

This was an incredible miracle for me, and I understood then that nothing is impossible for God. About a year ago, God put it on my heart to start and lead a new Kids Club in a nearby town where the Nazarene church had recently closed. Today, the Kids Club there is still young, and we face several challenges and problems, but it doesn’t keep us from spreading God’s glory. The kids are from difficult social conditions, but we are doing our best to them overcome their challenges.

God is blessing our work, and the church in that town is re-starting. I believe that with God’s help, we will reach the hearts of parents through their children.

We will have a strong and holy church, and one beautiful day the children from the Kids Club will become faithful leaders who serve our God. Now, I work as an inclusive education teacher in a school where I help children from falling behind in their education. I would like to get my master’s degree in psychology so I can better serve my students and my church. NCM is supporting me in this through a higher education scholarship program that gives sponsored children the chance to continue their education.

Some of my dreams don’t seem possible, but I know that with God everything is possible. Many times, I’ve gone through trials in my ministry, but God has always been with me. He is helping and blessing me in every step. The presence of God is giving me strength and encouraging me to be fully committed to the ministry He has trusted me with.

Lamara leads a new Kids Club in Armenia.

Photos courtesy of NCM CIS

children.”

I

Winter 2014 | 9

Connection Points.

“Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; Photo courtesy of Beth Clayton Luthye

for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”

Matthew 19:14

PRAY WITH US Lord, thank You for the gift of children. Thank You for their enthusiasm and joy, for the awe-filled way they explore your world, for their full-hearted trust in you. There are 2 billion children living in our world, and You care deeply about each of them. When You were here, You told the disciples to let the children come to You. Forgive us for the times when we, too, have failed Your children, whether through ignorance or selfishness.

As we become aware of the issues that affect children around the world, show us how to love and to act with compassion.

Human Trafficking: Around the world, 5.5 million children are victims of human trafficking, including forced labor and sex trafficking.

Lord, we pray for children who are trapped in slavery—in places like Madagascar and the United States—that they would sense Your presence and Your love. Open our eyes to the evil happening in our own communities and around the world, and give us the courage to speak out and take action.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS On Sunday, February 22, 2015, join us for Freedom Sunday to focus on the church’s role in addressing modern slavery, also known as human trafficking.

Learn more at ncm.org/trafficking.

10 | NCM Magazine

HIV & AIDS: Almost 18 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS (15 million of those children live in sub-Saharan Africa).

Lord, we pray provision for children who have been orphaned or are left vulnerable because of this horrible disease. Help us as individuals and as congregations to care for vulnerable children in tangible ways, both in our own communities and in communities around the world. Help us to love others as You love them, and help us to see the needs around us.

Child Marriage: Every three seconds, a girl is forced or coerced to marry. Every three seconds, a girl is forced to grow up too soon and give up any dreams she had for her future.

Lord, we pray for a way out for prarents in Bangladesh and Mozambique and other countries where parents who are caught in poverty believe they have no other option. We pray for the young wives: Please remind them of their worth and dignity in You. And show us ways to lift up the young women around us.

Education: Around the world, there are 58 million young children who should be in school but aren’t. Education opens doors to possibilities for the future, so we pray, Lord, that you would provide a way for children to gain an education and possibilities for a hopefilled future.

Lord, give us Your heart for children in our homes, communities, and world. Amen.

7 Ways to Change a Child’s Life 2. Help him on a path

God 3.Help her 1.Show her that

out of poverty.

1 billion of the 2.2 billion children in our world live in poverty.

loves her.

2.2 billion children live in our world.

That’s 2.2 billion children who are all made in God’s image and all loved by God.

STAY IN school.

When a girl receives 7 or more years of education, she marries 4 years later and has 2.2 fewer children.

4. Help him ACCESS

CLEAN WATER Every 21 seconds, a child dies because of water-related illness.

5. Teach her to Dream of a brighter future.

Sociology studies show we need 3 things to teach children the “capacity to aspire”: 1) resources, 2) time, 3) a teacher or role model.

6.Make sure he has 7. Nurture her

nutrition to grow up healthy.

1 in 4 children in developing countries are underweight and at risk of severe effects of malnutrition: physical disabilities, developmental delays, learning disabilities, and risk of premature death.

You can change 1 life today

through child sponsorship

leadership potential.

A study of 1,382 children in Bolivia, India, Indonesia, and Kenya showed that children who were a part of a child sponsorship program were more likely to become community and church leaders.

ncm.org/cs

Winter 2014 | 11

Sources: UNICEF; Genesis 1:27; Population Council; UNFPA; Steffen Schindler (Vodafone Stiftung Deutschland); worldhunger.org; younglives.org (research by Paul Glewwe, Phillip H. Ross, Bruce Wydick)

SCHOOL GIRLS How Education Is Giving Girls a Chance at a Better Future in South Asia

Photos courtesy of Atul Meshramkar

Photo courtesy of Atul Meshramkar

by NCM Communications Reporting by NCM India and NCM Lanka

Photo courtesy of Atul Meshramkar

12 | NCM Magazine

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THE GIRL GAP

In Sri Lanka and other countries in South Asia, Lakmini’s story is far too common. Education is not a given, especially for girls.

In many South Asian cultures, daughters become part of their husbands’ families when they marry, while sons and their new families stay at home and help care for their parents.

As a result, parents typically value the education of boys, not girls. Instead of academics, daughters are expected to learn how to do domestic chores.

“Boys have all the freedom,” Lakmini explains. “But it is very different when it comes to girls. Our parents expect us to do all the household work—wash clothes, cook, care for younger siblings, and often bring water for cooking.

My brothers go straight to play with friends [after school]. … When they return home, their food is served. They eat and go to sleep.”

Kaveri*, an 18-year-old young woman who lives in southeastern India, shares similar thoughts. “In many parts of India, girls and women are still given a lower status, and this makes us feel inferior to men,” she says.

“I wish girls would be given more respect, not

Left: By age 9, Lakmini (right) was responsible to care for her younger siblings.

Below: Kaveri wants to study to become a medial professional. She has enrolled in a tailoring course so she can earn money to attend college.

Photo courtesy of NCM Lanka

“In many parts of India, girls and women are still given a lower status, and this makes us feel inferior to men.

I wish girls would be given more respect, not because they are girls but because they are also human beings.”

Photo courtesy of NCM India

y age 9, Lakmini* had taken on the responsibility of caring for her four younger siblings.

Her parents, who struggle with alcoholism, bounced from job to job on tea estates in Sri Lanka. Lakmini had to cook, clean, and care for her brothers and sisters, which left no time for school, let alone dreams of a different life.

“I didn’t know what education was all about,” Lakmini says. “My grandparents were workers in the tea gardens. They had no education. My parents also work in the tea gardens, and my understanding was that this was our life pattern—we should also work in the tea gardens.”

However, Lakmini’s pattern took a new direction two years ago with help from a Nazarene Compassionate Ministries child development center (CDC). Caregivers from the CDC helped Lakmini enroll in school, and they arranged for her younger siblings to attend a day care center on the tea estate where her parents worked.

Today, the 11-year-old says with excitement, “I completed reading a book of stories two weeks ago!”

Lakmini still wakes early each day to cook meals for her family, wash all the laundry, and take care of her siblings. Yet she is determined to get her education and gain opportunities for a different tomorrow.

because they are girls but because they are CDCs not only ensure equal treatment, which is not based on gender or ethnic group, but also human beings.” they also encourage parents and the community to give equal preference to all children, EDUCATION AND OPPORTUNITIES Kaveri has graduated from high school—an whether girls or boys. This has made a big accomplishment very few girls in India can difference over the years. … Girls are getting claim. In fact, some estimates suggest that as more privileges and importance even in terms few as 1 percent of girls in rural areas of India of education and opportunities.”

Among the greatest of those privileges is ever graduate from high school. The youngest of 11 children, Kaveri is the only girl in her the chance to dream about the future.

“I have quite a lot of dreams,” Kaveri shares, family who went to school.

Kaveri’s father died when she was 4, and “but the most prominent among them is to her family moved from their rural village to become a nurse or doctor. I dream of treating Churachandpur, a larger town with a CDC. people … to make sure they receive the right treatment and also to help the poor and the There, education became a possibility.

As a sponsored child, Kaveri suddenly needy. I dream of doing my bit in making life had access to education and opportunities for better for my community and my country.” growth. Not only that, but she received a sense For Kaveri, studying hasn’t always come of value and equality. easily, but she has worked hard and now plans Sunita Meshramkar, an NCM child devel- to pursue a bachelor’s degree in science at the opment facilitator in Eurasia, explains, “The local government college and then go on to Winter 2014 | 13

nursing school. Thanks to an NCM vocational program, she has enrolled in a tailoring course as a way to earn money for her tuition.

“I have reached [out] to God every step of my way, and He has been faithful in leading me this far,” she says. “If I had not had the chance to go to school, life would be quite different. … God has given me the opportunity to get an education. And now I feel more knowledgeable, enlightened, and empowered. … My opportunities have expanded and my vision broadened.”

*Children’s names are changed for their protection.

Kaveri (right) has graduated from high school—an accomplishment few girls in India can claim.

Photo courtesy of Atul Meshramkar

The reality for girls living in South Asia is that they often have to work harder to create new futures for themselves. Lakmini says she is willing to do the hard work.

Each morning she prepares meals, does chores, and takes care of her brothers and sisters before heading to school. When her classes end, she rushes home for a quick snack and then takes her two youngest siblings with her to the CDC. There, the children all receive tutoring, nutrition, life skills training, and spiritual nurturing.

Lakmini recently had to repeat fifth grade because her mother had another baby, and she missed too many classes helping at home.

Still, she is determined to do what she has to do to finish school.

“I want to become a teacher,” she says.

Photo courtesy of Atul Meshramkar

WORKING TOWARD DREAMS

“If I had not had the chance to go to school, life would be quite different. ... My opportunities have expanded and my vision broadened.”

Lakmini says that without the opportunity to attend the CDC, she “wouldn’t have ever dreamed of becoming a teacher. … I would have gone to the tea garden as a tea plucker like all the other women in my village, earned very little money, and live the same life that we do now. … Although I still do lots of household chores, I am happy. I have a future.”

The gender gap for girls and education is still wide in countries around the world, but each girl who gains an education is cause for celebration. For every Lakmini and Kaveri, there are dozens more girls who do not get the chance at an education, at an opportunity to live a different life.

Lakmini says she hopes other girls will “all get chances like I did to attend school.” n

Photo courtesy of NCM India

EDUCATING GIRLS: THE MULTIPLIER EFFECT

30 million girls worldwide are out of school, and ¼ of them live in South Asia.

There’s an old African proverb that goes, “If you educate a boy, you educate an individual.

If you educate a girl, you educate a nation.” That’s because educated girls grow into educated women who will then educate their families, work together to change their communities, and so on. It’s called the multiplier effect.

Girls with 8 years of education are 4 times less likely to be married as children.

(National Academies Press)

(UNESCO)

When girls get married older, they live longer.

In developing countries, the number 1 cause of death among girls ages 15-19 is pregnancy or child birth.

Moms with formal education are more than twice as likely to send their own children to school.

(World Bank)

A rise in female education has prevented the death of more than 4 million children since 1970.

(The Lancet)

14 | NCM Magazine

A child born to a mother who can read is 50% more likely to live past age 5.

(UNESCO)

1 extra year of education beyond the average can boost a girl’s eventual wages by 20%.

(World Bank)

(UNICEF)

You can change her story.

Sponsor a child today. ncm.org/cs 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

17001 Prairie Star Parkway, Lenexa, Kansas 66220 No payment is due now. You will receive information by mail about your sponsored child and payment options.

THE END OF INNOCENCE THE PROBLEM OF CHILD MARRIAGE IN BANGLADESH AND WHAT THE CHURCH IS DOING TO ADDRESS IT

by Beth Clayton Luthye, NCM Communications Reporting by NCM Bangladesh

A

s 13-year-old Mita* watched other young girls from her village get married one by one, she was afraid the same fate awaited her. Mita’s mother wanted her daughter go to school, but her father refused. Her younger brother went to school, but every time Mita brought up the subject of education, her father declared, “You are a girl.

You do not need to go to school. We will arrange your marriage soon.”

Mita used to weep silently. She knew that most of the girls who had become child brides were not happy, but Mita had no control over her own future.

Mita’s story is common for millions of girls around the world, particularly in Bangladesh, a country with one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. There, 29 percent of girls are turned into wives before they turn 15, and 65 percent are made to marry before they turn 18, according to UNICEF. Some call child marriage a cultural norm.

Others call it a violation of human rights. Girls have no choice in the matter and are often married to much older men. A young bride’s schooling ends, and she has no opportunity to learn skills that can lead to an income. Typically, women are then seen as a burden because they don’t contribute financially, and physical abuse is common. Further, young mothers have more complications resulting from pregnancy and childbirth, and infant mortality is far higher among mothers under 19.

A DIFFERENT LIFE

Alomoti (left) says she has one hope for her daughter, Saba: “I want her to study more and more and then get a job. She can get married after she has a job.”

Moyna was 12 years old when she was married to an older man. As a teen, she gave birth to a daughter, Joya.* Soon after, Moyna’s husband left her for another woman. With no family to support her, she started working as a day laborer in the rice fields.

She earns about 1,000 taka ($12.50 USD) a month. Sometimes, she receives food as payment, which helps a little.

“I had a hard life,” Moyna says. “I want to give my daughter food and clothes, but I have no ability to give them. Sometimes we have no food at night or for breakfast.”

She continues, “I don’t want my daughter to marry young. If she can be

educated, she can get a job and make money.

I want her to have a different life than I had.”

Thanks to a Nazarene Compassionate Ministries child development center (CDC), Joya has that chance. Now, 9-year-old Joya goes to the CDC every day, where she receives a nutritious meal and education.

Moyna never got to go to school as a child, and she is illiterate as a result. She beams with pride when she says, “My daughter reads to me sometimes.”

She adds, “I want her to be happy.”

When asked what will make her happy, Joya quietly answers, “I want to be a teacher one day.”

India

BANGLADESH India DHAKA

Bay of Bengal

In Context.

Photo courtesy of NCM Bangladesh

THE POVERTY CONNECTION

For families in Bangladesh—and around the world—poverty is generally the primary driver of child marriage. When a girl marries, she typically goes to live with her husband’s family, leaving one fewer mouth to feed and one fewer person to provide for.

Alomoti got married when she was 20. She wasn’t a child bride and says she doesn’t want her daughters to get married young, yet she is currently trying to find a husband for her older daughter, who is only 16. She says she has no other choice. At least this way, her daughter has a chance to eat.

When Alomoti’s husband died, she started working as a day laborer, earning about 2,000 taka ($25 USD) a month. Sometimes it’s not even enough to provide her children with one meal a day.

“There is too much difficulty,” she says. “It’s a struggle to live.”

Although she is looking for a husband for her older daughter, Alomoti hopes life will be different for her younger daughter, Saba*, who is 10 years old. Alomoti was able to enroll Saba in a Nazarene child development center (CDC) in her small village in northern Bangladesh.

“Sometimes the only meal she gets in a day is what she eats at the CDC,” Alomoti says.

“And if she was not in a CDC, she would not know how to read.”

Alomoti says she has one hope for her daughter: “I want her to study more and more and then get a job. She can get married after she has a job.”

SCHOOL OFFERS A NEW FUTURE

While child marriage is driven by poverty, it also perpetuates the problem of poverty, keeping families stuck in the cycle for generations.

Myanmar

EVERY TIME MITA BROUGHT UP THE SUBJECT OF EDUCATION, HER FATHER DECLARED, “YOU ARE A GIRL. YOU DO NOT NEED TO GO TO SCHOOL. WE WILL ARRANGE YOUR MARRIAGE SOON.” Without education, girls grow into women without job skills or opportunities to earn an income. They continue to be seen as a burden because they cannot contribute. Then when a couple living in poverty has a daughter, they are faced with the decision of marrying her when she is young. Education is one key to breaking that cycle, but most families choose marriage over school.

Mita’s mother wanted her daughter to get an education, so when she found a CDC in their area, she took Mita there and enrolled her. At home, though, Mita’s father became angry when he heard the news.

A few days later, a caregiver from the CDC went to Mita’s home to talk with her father about the importance of education, man to man. Mita’s father agreed to visit the CDC to

There are 160 million people living in Bangladesh, a country the size of the U.S. state of Iowa, which is home to about 3 million people. More than 76% of the Bangladeshi people live on less than $2 a day, and 43% live on less than $1.25 a day. Poverty is a root cause of child marriage in the country.

Two out of every three girls will be married before they turn 18, and almost one-third of girls will be married before turning 15, according to UNICEF. The legal age of marriage for girls in Bangladesh is 18 (and 21 for boys), but the law is rarely enforced.

Poverty is a cause of child marriage, but the practice of child marriage only perpetuates the cycle of poverty. Most girls stop their education after marriage and spend their days rearing children and doing domestic chores, not earning income. Providing a way for families to start small businesses is one way to give girls a chance at a different life.

observe. After a few days, he gave his permission for Mita to go to school there.

Soon after, however, a neighboring family brought a marriage proposal for Mita. The family, who lives in poverty, was faced with a difficult decision. Again, the caregiver from the CDC went to visit Mita’s father. The two men talked about the situation, including Mita’s future if she married young. Eventually, Mita’s father decided to let her stay in school.

Mita says she is happy and hopeful for her future. “We shall overcome all barriers and make success by education,” she says.

For the sake of the millions of other girls around the world whose families are faced with this choice, let’s pray she is right. n *Names are changed for children’s protection.

Winter 2014 | 17

THE POWER OF

MORE THAN ONE

How Mothers Are Breaking the Cycle of Poverty and Child Marriage Photos and words by Beth Clayton Luthye

THINK ABOUT WHAT IT MIGHT FEEL LIKE TO GET MARRIED WHEN YOU’RE 12 OR 13 OR 14—AND TO HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO SAY WHATSOEVER. Really, think about it. Think about what it might feel like to give up any dreams for your future and then living for years with no rights, no respect, and no say within that marriage. Think about what it might feel like to be entirely dependent with no hope of escaping the crushing poverty you live in.

THIS SELF-HELP GROUP in a village in northern Bangladesh, made of 17 women, named themselves Surjer Hashi (Smiling Sun). They started by each adding about 10 taka (13 cents USD) into a collective fund every week until they had built 18 | NCM Magazine

Now, think about what it might feel like to have someone come alongside you, offer you a hand, and say, “I believe in you.” That’s exactly what self-help groups are doing for thousands of women in communities throughout Bangladesh and other countries in South Asia.

By working together to create small businesses, groups of mothers are breaking the cycle of poverty and child marriage for their daughters.

enough savings to give small loans to one another to start businesses.

While banks in the area charge an interest rate of about 20 percent, the group members pay an interest rate of only 10 percent—money that all goes back to the group to

continue to build their savings.

Most of the women in the group say they got married young, around 12 or 13, but they want a different future for their daughters. They want to send their girls to school and end child marriage in their village.

Not only have these women gained confidence in what they can accomplish, but they say their husbands have also begun to recognize their value and abilities. Now, they report, their husbands say things like, “My woman can do anything.”

ASMA (FAR LEFT) CAME TO THE SELFHELP GROUP with just 10 taka (13 cents USD).

Her husband works hard as a rickshaw puller, but the income of rickshaw pullers is extremely low, and the family was living in deep poverty. Eventually Asma took out a loan of 500 taka ($6.50 USD) from her self-help group and bought a few ducks. Now she has a brace of ducks, and the sale of eggs and ducklings helps put food on the table and send her kids to school.

EACH SELF-HELP GROUP elects its own leadership. Hosniara (right) is the president of the Talents self-help group.

She took out a loan to buy a sewing machine, and now her small business selling blankets helps provide education and nutrition for her children.

THE 15 MEMBERS OF THE PRATIBH (Talents) self-help group have all started small businesses to support their families.

Four years ago, the group started with 2 taka (3 cents USD), and today they’ve collectively saved 50,000 taka ($645 USD).

“We have respect now.

We are proud,” they share.

They say their dream is that one day all the children in their village will go to school to get an education.

Winter 2014 | 19

SHARMIN, A 20-YEAROLD MOTHER who is part of the Talents self-help group, took out a small loan to buy materials she could use to make and sell purses. Her business helps provide for her 3-year-old daughter. When asked why she likes the self-help group model, she says, “We have our own cashier and control. And we have low interest.� Plus, that interest goes back to the group, not to an outside bank.

THROUGH A LOAN from the Talents group, Esma started a small shop selling snacks and sundries, which provides for her daughter (pictured) and two sons.

20 | NCM Magazine

THE OLDEST MEMBER of the Talents group is encouraged by the change she has seen take place through their efforts. “We are proud,” she says.

“We know our daughters can do many things.”

THE IDEA OF SELFHELP GROUPS is to equip women to accomplish great things using their own abilities and resources. With the same goal in mind, Nazarene Compassionate Ministries in Bangladesh works with self-help groups to form cluster level associations (CLAs) that can accomplish even greater things together.

This CLA includes representatives from eight different self-help groups.

The CLA members have pooled their resources

to purchase and rent out a tractor. They divide the profits among all the groups. The CLA has also used resources to install two wells and to build a road.

Not only do the CLA members use their resources, but they also use their newfound respect within their communities. They are advocating within their villages to stop child marriage.

“We are proud of ourselves,” one member shared.

“We want to tell women that they can do a lot.”

IF AN ASSOCIATION can accomplish so much, just imagine what a federation can do. NCM in Bangladesh has worked alongside 10 CLAs to form a federation with representatives from each CLA. Their accomplishments include providing for the basic needs of their families and communities.

“Now, everyone wears shoes,” one woman says.

“Before, no one wore shoes.”

Together, they’ve also hired a doctor to serve the communities represented within the federation.

Federation members also advocate for gender equality in their villages.

They want other women to know they have abilities and that they can do more than just housework. “We have stopped early marriage in many areas,” they say. n Winter 2014 | 21

Photo courtesy of NCM Middle East

A

D E T O O R UP A REFUGEE S A E IF L F O Y R TO S ONE GIRL’S

by NCM Middle East

22 | NCM Magazine

round the world, more than 16 million refugees have been forced to flee their homes to seek safety in another country. Because of persecution, war, violence, or disasters, they were left with no other options.

Almost half of those who have been forcibly displaced from their homes are children, according to UNHCR. Think about that for a minute. These are children who, by no choice of their own, have been removed from everything they know to live in a place far from home. In addition to experiencing the trauma that forced them to leave and transitioning into a foreign culture, more often than not they are living in poverty in their new homes.

Hana* is just one of the millions of children who have been uprooted. She is 14 years old and lives in a Middle Eastern country, where she is attending a Nazarene school.

ON THE MOVE

Adolescence is difficult in the best of all possible worlds, but the Middle East is nowhere near the best of all possible worlds right now. War, power struggles, religious persecution, political instability, displacement of families, and an increasing number of widows and orphans make the region fragile. In the meantime, children like Hana are caught in the middle.

“I was very sad that we left [my hometown],” Hana says. “It was hard to come to the realization that I had to leave this place and leave the people I love.”

Hana and her family have moved multiple times in the past three years. Their lives were threatened because of their Christian faith, so they had to stay on the move. Hana and her siblings were terrified, spending hours at a time hiding. Eventually they became refugees, leaving their home country altogether to seek safety in a neighboring country.

Hana has gone through real trauma. She experienced war on top of the fact that people were trying to kill her father and mother and perhaps even her and her siblings. What’s more, their refugee status has placed them in a situation of poverty.

“As a family we are still facing financial difficulties due to us leaving our country,” Hana says. “There are difficulties in finding a job, and the cost of living here is very high. Now, we do not own anything—no house, no furniture.

As a family we have not begun to start a new

life because we are not in a stable situation.”

On top of all this, even though the new country is also part of the Middle East, Hana had to transition to an entirely new culture.

“It bothered me to be in a new country that was not my country,” she says. “Everything was foreign and strange. … They [the other students] thought differently from me, and they could not understand me. I counted the minutes until the final school bell for the day would ring.”

FINDING REFUGE

me and told me, ‘It is true you are leaving your house and your friends, but even though you are leaving them, I will be with you everywhere and always, wherever you go.’”

God is helping Hana and many others like her. Let that sink in for a moment. God is helping Hana’s family through a Christian church in the Middle East that is full of people who see what is happening around them yet dream of how things can be. They pray, “May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

They understand that the church is not just a club, and a school is more than a building with desks and books. They are asking God to form them to be the body of Christ in the here and now. They invest with faith and hope in children and youth.

“It is important for us to learn to stand by each other and help one another,” Hana says. “It expresses the love that the Lord Jesus shows us.” n

Eventually, though, Hana’s school became a refuge of sorts. The after-school program helped Hana catch up in her studies, and it was a place where she could openly practice the faith that had been a source of persecution in her home country.

“I was so happy they were teaching us truth from the Bible and showing us Jesus’ love,” she says. “I also tried to show my new friends the love of Jesus through my actions and words.” * While her story is true, her name has been Hana has also found refuge in drawing. changed to protect the safety of her family.

“Art is one of my hobbies,” she says. “I express my personality when I draw. I draw wholeheartedly. When I am drawing, I become self-confident.”

Hana’s new school entered her in a citywide art contest sponsored by a large global corporation. Hana won the contest, including an all-expenses-paid trip with one parent to an awards ceremony in one of the Middle East’s most glamorous cities. Of course, Hana cannot travel because she is a refugee.

Her father answers for her as she smiles shyly, posed behind him. “It’s OK,” he says.

“We are just so happy and proud she won.”

HOLDING ONTO FAITH

Hana is slowly adjusting to her new life and is glad to be going to school and continuing her education. Still, she is a refugee in a country that is not her home. The reality for the millions of refugees around the world is that people leave their homes only as a last resort.

“There is no person in the world who would not love their country,” Hana insists. “I wish the reasons that made us leave would go away one day.”

Even with new friendships and art awards, Hana’s life is not easy, but she says her faith sustains her. “When I am sad and tense, I know Lord Jesus is beside me,” she says.

“When I want to cry, Jesus is with me. During the very roughest of times, Jesus comforted

At her new school, Hana finds encouragement in the ability to express her faith freely and also in the ability to pursue her art.

THEIR LIVES WERE THREATENED BECAUSE OF THEIR CHRISTIAN FAITH, SO THEY HAD TO STAY ON THE MOVE. EVENTUALLY THEY LEFT THEIR HOME COUNTRY ALTOGETHER TO SEEK REFUGE IN A NEIGHBORING COUNTRY.

L I V E I T. Pray for those who are in danger because of their faith in Christ. Pray that people of different faiths could live in peace with one another.

Pray for the protection of children throughout the Middle East and for all people who have experienced trauma.

Pray for refugee families around the world who have left their homes in search of security.

Pray especially for the children whose lives have been uprooted through no choice of their own.

Consider providing help for persecuted Christians in the Middle East: ncm.org/project/ acm1832. You can also help provide education for children of refugee families in the Middle East at ncm.org/ project/acm1269.

Winter 2014 | 23

Photo courtesy of James E. Copple

BREAKIN FREE How small gestures helped one girl escape the terror of human trafficking

by James E. Copple

I

n a small town in southern Ethiopia, a girl named Abebech* and her family struggled to survive the worst drought in modern memory. Water was scarce, food was scarce, and hope was scarce. In an impoverished community of about a thousand people, where social advancement is nearly impossible, a child with any imagination quickly becomes discouraged at the dim prospect of ever escaping to a better future.

For reasons known only to Abebech, South Africa represented a chance at escape. So when

24 | NCM Magazine

the 13-year-old met a woman who, for a price, about 40 other young girls, she was terrified would arrange transportation to her dream to realize her destiny was no longer her own.

The woman who gave Abebech the false destination, she saw a glimmer of hope. promise of South Africa was now selling her to the driver of a cargo truck carrying goats.

BROKEN PROMISES Several months later, Abebech and three Abebech was placed in a bag and tucked into other hope-seeking girls were handed forged a tight space below the first level of goats. She and counterfeit documents and then placed spent three days in this position, unable to on a bus headed south from Ethiopia. After move. At night, she would be released from bribes were paid, they crossed into Kenya and the bag and raped repeatedly by the driver and stopped in the border town Moyale. When two of his friends. He gave her khat, a popuAbebech found herself in a holding room with lar euphoria-inducing drug consumed in East

NG

The girls were all trafficked after leaving their homes with the hope of finding food, jobs, and a shot at security. They paid a price for their transportation, and then they were made to pay an even steeper price in another currency: forced sex.

STEPS TOWARD FREEDOM

For two months, Abebech searched for work.

She tried twice to escape her captors but was quickly recaptured and tortured. She didn’t speak English, Swahili, or any language familiar in Nairobi. She knew only the local dialect from her home in Ehiopia. Abebech had no papers, no place to go, and no way out. Finally, in an act of desperation, she ran from the house and just kept running.

Rev. Kebede Gutowa*, a pastor working in Eastleigh among the Ethiopian and Somali communities, was having tea at a local establishment when a neighbor interrupted and beckoned the pastor to his shop. There stood a young girl covered in dirt, hair unwashed, clothing torn. Her face was familiar, but Rev. Gutowa couldn’t place her in his mind.

The neighbor said the girl spoke no English but nodded when asked if she was Ethiopian.

Rev. Gutowa began speaking his dialect from his village in southern Ethiopia, and Abebech immediately responded. Within minutes, they recognized each other—their families had been friends in the same village.

Rev. Gutowa even knew of Abebech’s disappearance. Her family believed she had wandered from the village and perhaps been killed and eaten by a wild animal.

The pastor took Abebech to his home, where his family cleaned her up, fed her, and listened to her brutal, ugly tale of trafficking and torture. Periodically, Abebech would break into tears, both in relief that she was safe and in shame, believing she could never return home because her family wouldn’t accept her.

Abebech lived with the pastor and his family for about eight months. During that time, she looked for employment. There was

Abebech is a survivor, and by whatever way you want to describe it, she is a miracle. ...

In each of the survival cases, there is a story.

There is someone who noticed, someone who cared, someone who took action.

Africa. For the next three days, she had no grasp on reality, even while trapped in a nightmare.

Abebech continued her journey to Nairobi, where she was unloaded from the cargo truck in Eastleigh, a community that is home to many Somali immigrants. Packed into a tight room, she slept next to other girls from Ethiopia and Eritrea.

To support anti-trafficking efforts, you can give to NCM’s Global Anti-Trafficking Fund: ncm.org/trafficking

discussion about reuniting with her family, but Abebech couldn’t bear the thought of returning to her village. Her pain and sense of shame ran too deep.

Finally, Abebech registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and received the option of returning home or seeking refuge in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. She chose the camp, where she has lived for two years. With access to a variety of social services, Abebech is slowly healing. She is enrolled in school and finding direction in life, and within the next several years, she has a serious chance to be resettled.

Abebech is a survivor, and by whatever way you want to describe it, she is a miracle. Nearly half of the girls trafficked as she was simply don’t survive.

SOMEONE WHO CARED

In each of the survival cases, there is a story.

There is someone who noticed, someone who cared, someone who took action. These “someones” are often the difference between life and death. Abebech’s story is one repeated in nations around the world. It isn’t just in Ethiopia. Versions of her story happen in rich countries and poor countries alike, in every region of the world. Ultimately, the story plays out in a local community or neighborhood. Maybe yours, maybe mine.

Abebech’s miracle was borne of small gestures that made a big difference. When we invest our hearts, compassion, and humanity in the people, places, and lives around us, we all have the chance to be that someone—to play a role in another person’s miracle. n * Names have been changed to protect the privacy and safety of those involved.

James E. Copple is the founder and president of Servant Forge, a nonprofit promoting the role of service in professions that touch and empower human lives globally. Servant Forge partners with Nazarene Compassionate Ministries through the Gender-Based Violence Partnership in Kenya.

Winter 2014 | 25

FOR THE HOW YOUTH ARE

When Marcus Martin first walked into Sunset Youth Services, he knew there was something different about the people there. Right away, it was like entering a family where everyone acted as though they not only knew him, but they also accepted him.

“It was like instant trust,” he says.

Sunset’s Upstar Records, a label run entirely by youth, shows that the trust is mutual. While any youth at Sunset can be a part of making music, the label hires 15 youth each year and often employs others through provisional placement. Through Upstar they get to film and edit videos, produce music, and creatively express themselves in other productive ways.

Martin, known professionally as Mar-B the Producer, used the skills he learned at Upstar to open his own studio. Working with the label gave him the skills he needed to move out of his old neighborhood and begin working in music.

“The idea behind it [Upstar] was to give kids an opportunity to learn different job skills by using something they felt really excited and by passionate about,” says Dawn Stueckle, execuCallie Radke, tive director of Sunset Youth Services.

NCM Communications Not only do young adults gain training

USING MUSIC TO CHANGE THEIR

STORIES IN

SAN FRANCISCO

26 | NCM Magazine

from industry professionals in recording, mixing, mastering, releasing, distributing, and promoting music and videos, but they also gain valuable experience developing their leadership skills.

Perhaps most importantly, though, they also gain an opportunity to change their stories by redefining how they see themselves.

Youth from tough backgrounds begin to replace words like thug and gangster with rapper, producer, and entrepreneur.

PROCESSING PAIN

Sunset Youth Services is a Nazarene Compassionate Ministry Center in the Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco (USA) that was founded by Dawn Stueckle, Ron Stueckle, and Delvin Mack in 1992. The center was birthed out of lunchtime dodgeball tournaments the three of them led at a neighborhood middle school, where they learned the importance of commitment to in-risk youth.

“What do I have to offer besides being a consistent person in a group that needs consistency?” Dawn Stueckle asks.

Sunset Youth Services exists to provide

Photos courtesy of Sunset Youth Services

RECORD opportunities for youth who are in-risk—youth who are often already in the system through foster care, probation, or similar contexts.

Through Upstar Records, the center gives students the opportunity to process their emotions with a microphone instead of a gun.

Stueckle says that staff and volunteers “need to earn the right to then say to kids, ‘If someone’s giving you a mic, is that the message you want to give?’ But you have to earn that right.”

Many of the staff at the center are artists who have seen deep significance in helping young people process pain and hardship. To allow students space to do so, the recording studio is not censored. However, while the studio allows creativity to flow, even when it’s raw, the youth know that they have to meet strict standards if they want to make a track. For example, they may not objectify women in any way, and while talking about the realities of violence is accepted, they may not glorify violence.

Upstar studio for several years. For both, a major part of Sunset is the feeling of family.

“I’ve never really been anywhere where I get to do all the stuff I want to and actually be happy every time I come through,” Hicks says. “Everyone here actually feels like we’re

Upstar gives students the opportunity to process their emotions with a microphone instead of a gun.

all a part of one big family, which I’ve always wanted to be a part of.”

In fact, for many youth, Sunset becomes a surrogate family where background becomes FOCUSING ON THE FUTURE Mar-B and TraVaughn Hicks have both been less important than future goals. This has been involved with producing music through the Mar-B’s experience since he started coming to

the center in 2007. Mar-B’s grandmother is the only member of his biological family he considers reliable. For him, the Stueckles and the rest of the Sunset team have become a new family.

“It can be any situation, and I can call Dawn and Ron, and they’ll help me out. There were times where I didn’t have clothes, and they paid for them so I could go to an interview and get a job,” he says.

Hicks has also found guidance through his work with Upstar. Prior to his employment there, Hicks was unsure of what he wanted to pursue after high school. Now, he knows he wants to produce music that tells a story. He wants to be known for making music that’s different from other kinds of music. He focuses on one idea, one theme, and then tells a cohesive story throughout his pieces.

“When I first came here I gained the music skills that I wanted. I gained more video editing skills, and I feel like I can actually do something with it. So it’s making me feel like I actually do want to push myself to go further and take a bigger step than what I’ve already done,” Hicks says.

Prior to his work with Upstar, Hicks

Winter 2014 | 27

didn’t have anywhere he could go to be creative. When he is at home, he says, it’s harder to be inspired. At the studio, though, he and his friends are all working toward a common goal with the same passion, pushing each other to be more creative.

That creative environment has led to four full-length CDs and the chance for dozens of students to learn marketable skills and choose to create futures free from violence.

It also provides a space for healing as well as a space for youth to find the trust and love they might lack at home. Mar-B says he and a close friend actually came from rival neighborhoods. They attended the same school but were never able to become friends prior to working at Upstar together.

“It took time for me to be like, ‘I don’t care what other people think,’” Mar-B says.

Mar-B has mainly isolated himself from his old life and neighborhood, but he is still friends with his old rival, even while many of their old neighbors are trying to kill each other.

CREATING CONSISTENCY

According to Stueckle, it’s important to allow students to experience consistency because they can learn that the staff is not going anywhere, unlike those in possibly volatile home situations. Stueckle even started putting photos in albums so that students could have family albums to show friends down the road.

Often, people will ask if she thinks the model can be replicated in other cities.

“Yes, the model can be replicated,” she says, “but what matters more than the model is the people and whether there are people in the mix who are going to spend their lives investing in a neighborhood or an area or a group. They’re going to essentially decide, ‘This is how I’m going to live out my days.’”

That is exactly what the Stueckles have done, and it’s part of why the relationships they have developed work. They live in the same neighborhood, and they and the rest of the staff are willing to trust and accept young people regardless of their situation in life.

“The transformative power of unconditional love and grace will never cease to amaze me,” Stueckle wrote on Sunset’s blog. “It is so simple on paper really—love and forgive. In life it is a much more difficult undertaking, which is why it is rare. It turns out that youth really do blossom when they feel safe and loved. We see this every single day. It’s not fast, but it is real.” n 28 | NCM Magazine

THE POWER OF PERCEPTION

T

hrough its youth-run music label, Upstar Records, Sunset Youth Services in San Francisco works alongside urban youth to help them change the way they see themselves. Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy, said in a 2012 TED Talk, “There is power in identity.” He suggests that identity can actually determine the outcomes of a person’s life.

Perceptions based on stereotypes have particularly affected young men of color. In the United States, 1 in every 15 black men and 1 in every 36 Latino men are incarcerated, compared with 1 in every 106 white men. In fact, 1 of every 3 young black men can expect to spend time behind bars at some point in his life.

By helping youth redefine themselves with words like business owner and musician instead of words like thug, Sunset is helping youth reject the idea that they will

inevitably end up in jail.

Every day, staff and volunteers show up to remind young people that they have value because they are made in God’s image, and they don’t have to let other people define who they are or who they will become.

They also gain an opportunity to change their stories by redefining how they see themselves.

The youth, who typically come from tough backgrounds, begin to replace words like thug and gangster with rapper, producer, and entrepreneur.

To listen to or purchase one of the records produced by Upstar, look them up on iTunes under the name UpStar Records.

The latest album is titled Rise.

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Called to Compassion.

An Invitation to Friendship

by Ron Benefiel

Doc lived on the streets of Los Angeles (U.S.) near the church where I was serving as pastor. People called him “Doc” because he served as a medic in the Vietnam War, but like so many vets of that era, he came home with a drug habit and without a job and soon found himself homeless. I got to know Doc when he showed up in our food line. As our friendship grew, Doc came to me one day with a question. He’d always wanted a brother, he said, and wanted to know if I would be willing to be his big brother. So we became brothers.

The story gets better from there. Doc started attending church, got a job as a phone solicitor, and got off the streets. A couple years later, he took an“‘For I was hungry, other job in Cedar Falls, Iowa. We stayed in touch. and you gave me food, He became active in his local church and in caring I was thirsty, and you for people who were homeless in Cedar Falls. I was gave me something to delighted the day he called to tell me he had been selected as the city’s citizen of the year! Shortly afdrink, I was a stranger ter that, I also received a call from his pastor telling and you welcomed me Doc had died in his sleep. I mourned the loss, me, I was naked and but Doc’s friendship was a gift of grace to me for which I will always be thankful. you gave me clothing.

Through Doc’s life, I was reminded again that were part of their calling as His followers. The goats I was sick, and Jesus is present among the poor—something he say almost the same thing. With what we assume you took care of me, emphasizes in Matthew 25:31-46. This may be the is a look of surprise on their faces, they say, “Lord, greatest passage in the New Testament about the that was You? We didn’t realize that was You! If You I was in prison, and call for the people of God to be merciful and comhad only told us, of course we would have helped!” you visited me.’ passionate. As I have reflected on the verses, a few The true character of both the sheep and the … ‘Truly I tell you, surprises have caught my attention. goats is revealed. The sheep love naturally out of The parable of the sheep and the goats follows just as you did it to their recreated Christlike character of compassiontwo other parables in Matthew 25: the parable of the ate love. The goats do not. one of the least of ten virgins and the parable of the talents. All three Further, the language of the parable indicates these who are parables tell us something about our responsibility personal presence. The sheep were personally presmembers of my as we wait for Christ’s return. The message of the ent in caring for the poor. They didn’t organize a first parable is clear: We don’t know when Christ will committee to send help (even though that’s a great family, you did it appear, but we should remain in a state of preparedidea), and they didn’t send checks to a relief orgato me.’” ness for His return. The parable of the talents teachnization (although we need people to do that, too).

Matthew 25: 35-40 es that we should be good stewards of our God-given Instead, they personally cared for those in need. gifts as we do the work Jesus commanded us to do.

John Wesley said caring for the poor (“acts of Then comes the parable of the sheep and the goats mercy”) is a means of grace. That is, when we are perin which those who cared for the poor are praised and those who did not sonally caring for those in need, God, through the Spirit, uses the experiare condemned. ence to shape us in Christlike character. For Wesley—and apparently for In all three parables, those who were judged as unfit for the King- Jesus in Matthew 25—that means being there in person. dom (or worse, thrown “into outer darkness”) were judged not for what What’s more, much of this parable is told in the language of hosthey did, but for what they did not do. They were judged for doing noth- pitality. You gave me food. You gave me something to drink. You weling! Apparently we will be held accountable not only for what we do in comed me. This calls us not only to care for people in need—people this life, but also for what we could have done but failed to do. like Doc—but to welcome them into our lives, to include them in our The parable of the sheep and the goats is about caring for those in community. need. If we take a deeper look, though, it also emphasizes that Jesus It is one thing to give out of our abundance to those in need. It is is present among those in need. This comes as a big surprise to both quite a different thing to welcome them into our lives as friends. the sheep and the goats. The sheep respond, “Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, or in prison and care for Ron Benefiel is dean of the School of Theology and Christian Ministry at Point you?” It’s as though the sheep are saying, “Lord, that was You we were Loma Nazarene University. Previously, he served as pastor of LA First Church caring for? We didn’t know that was You!” Yet they assume their actions of the Nazarene and president of Nazarene Theological Seminary.

Winter 2014 | 31

Love in Action.

Grace Comes Full Circle in Chaltyr Tamara Khatlamadzhiyan Shares How a Church’s Love Changed Her Family

by Iryna Galisevich, NCM Commonwealth of Independent States

E

very week, Tamara Khatlamadzhiyan welcomes children to an NCM Kids Club in Chkalov, Russia. There, they play, sing songs, talk about their lives, and enjoy a space of comfort and acceptance.

“I love each of them,” says Tamara, who directs the Kids Club. “I am extremely grateful to God that He gave me such a great love for these children!”

For the most part, the Kids Club participants are not children who have received much attention or love. Many have been rejected by their families, and some were introduced to alcohol as young as 3 or 4 years old. Tamara is seeing their lives change, though.

“The love of Christ has changed their hearts,” she says, “and through them, God is slowly changing their parents.”

“God came into my life and changed everything.”

The 21-year-old is personally familiar with this kind of radical change. “God came into my life,” Tamara says, “and changed everything.”

Hers is a story of grace that has come full circle. A church reached out in love when she was a child, and today, she offers that same love to other children.

A PRODIGAL FATHER Even as a young child, Tamara knew the meaning of the word drugs—and she understood it was the thing that was ruining her family. Her father had been on drugs for many years, and she can’t remember a day of her childhood when her mother and grandparents weren’t crying.

“I’ve always loved my dad,” Tamara says, “and even when he was stealing my phone, money, and jewelry [to support his addiction], I wanted him to be near us.”

When Tamara was 6 years old, her father, Hacheres, disappeared for two months, and when he returned, he was covered in dirt and his eyes were red. Tamara’s mother was at work, and her grandparents did not want to let him in.

32 | NCM Magazine

“They shut the gate and were yelling at him to go back to where he came from,” Tamara says. “They had suffered and wept so much because of my dad, and they couldn’t tolerate it any longer.”

The young girl watched the entire scene from the window and then ran into the street in tears, pleading with her grandparents to let her father come back home.

“Say thank you to your daughter,” Tamara remembers her grandparents telling her father. “We let you in only because of her, but you do not care about her at all.”

Even though her father was almost never home, Tamara’s mother and grandparents loved her deeply.

“They did everything for me,” she says.

A VISIT FROM GRACE Years later, the family received a call informing them that Tamara’s father was dying. He was in a crack house with other addicts, and his only request was to be allowed to die at home.

Tamara’s grandparents brought him home.

“I remember his face,” Tamara says, “those blank, red eyes, the horrible smell as he had begun to rot as a result of the drugs.

He was very thin. It was impossible to stay close to him.”

He was placed in a separate room and put on an IV drip so he could live just a little longer. Some local Christians appeared at the house a few days later to visit. They talked about God and prayed over Tamara’s father.

“They were very nice, and for some reason

Clockwise: 1. Tamara leads an NCM Kids Club in Chkalov, Russia.

2 and 3. When Tamara was a child, her father, Hacheres, found healing from addiction.

“God saved my family and restored it,” she says.

4. Tamara’s younger sister, 11, has grown up in a Christian home thanks to the grace her family experienced.

We want to hear more stories of love in action. If you know a person, group, or church living compassion as a lifestyle, email info@ncm.org. Include “magazine” in the subject line. we trusted them,” Tamara says, “but we also understood that there was nothing that could help us—nothing but God!”

“This is the greatest miracle in my life.

God saved my family and restored it.”

With every visit and continued prayer, the family began to notice the father’s health improving. When he began to move around slowly, the family visited the place where the Christians had invited them, a local Nazarene

church called “Grace.”

“When we got there, something changed inside each of us,” Tamara says.

Her father entered a rehabilitation program, Tamara began to attend Sunday School and the Kids Club, and her grandmother became a regular at the church services.

“My dad was changing in front of my eyes,” Tamara says.

A FAMILY RESTORED It was difficult for Tamara’s family to begin to trust her father again, but as they watched God’s grace produce changes in him, their hearts began to change, too.

Tamara gave her life to Christ when she was 16, and she was baptized at 18—along

with her mother.

“This is the greatest miracle in my life,” Tamara says. “God saved my family and restored it. I see the love between my parents.

Sometimes, there are quarrels and misunderstandings in our family, but we are united and love each other, and we are insanely grateful to God that He is leading us.”

Today, Tamara sings in the worship band each Sunday at Grace Church of the Nazarene in Chaltyr, and every Thursday, she welcomes the children of the Chkalov Kids Club with open arms. Her prayer is that that they will experience the same grace that transformed her own life.

“Every time I kneel to pray,” she says, “I remember everything that God did.”

Winter 2014 | 33

Snapshot.

Joya* (left) poses with one of her best friends at the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries child development center (CDC) they both attend in northern Bangladesh. Joya’s mother got married when she was only 12 years old, but today, 9-year-old Joya has the chance at a very different future. The education she receives through the CDC offers an opportunity to interrupt her family’s cycle of poverty. Joya shares, “I want to be a teacher one day.” And NCM in Bangladesh wants to invest in those dreams.

To read more of Joya’s story, turn to page 16. *Children’s names are changed for their protection.

Photo courtesy of Beth Clayton Luthye

34 | NCM Magazine

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