Homeless Serving Hope

// September 10th, 2010 // View Comments // Uncategorized

photo by Franco Folini

You know that feeling you get when someone says something so out-of-the-box that you stand there, mouth agape, with time standing still? Finally you come to your senses and respond like an excited junior-higher, “That’s awesome!”?

That happened to me recently when my boss came to me and said, “You gotta talk to a guy named Ken Miller. He’s doing a ServeHope project in Boulder, Colorado  that’s unlike any other. He’s getting a group of homeless guys together to serve the poor.”

I stood astonished as my mind connected the dots. Awesome.

So, I called Ken and got the details. Ken is the Director of Project Revive, a non-profit that helps create enhanced communication and collaboration between the government, businesses, non-profits, the faith community and the people in the margins of society.

What Ken drove home to me is the need to restore dignity. He pointed out: “Sometimes people in mainstream society think the greatest need of homeless people is ‘stuff’. But it’s secondary. The greatest gift is giving them a piece of their dignity back, looking them in the eye, asking them their name, having a conversation. This gives them more, in some cases, than a couple of dollars.”

When Ken heard of GHNI’s ServeHope event, he decided to gather a group of homeless people not to be served, but to serve. It’s about giving them dignity and helping the general public see them as men and women who have something to offer, and not merely as people in need.

Ken shared: “They may be in a place and time in life where they’re down and out, but they have skills, value, gifts; they can make a contribution…We all lose when we fail to see everyone in our society as part of our community…The more I’m disconnected from people like that, the more I miss out. They have a lot to give me. I want to help raise the awareness of our need for each other.”

As a result, on October 16^th a group of 10 to 12 homeless men, will lead the charge to clean up Boulder Creek. It’s the “main thoroughfare” for people living on the margins of society in Boulder. That’s where they walk, congregate, and where many of them live.

What most Boulder residents don’t realize is that there are people in the homeless population who care about the city and about Boulder Creek. They want to help clean it up. And so they will.

Think about it: a group of homeless people in Boulder, Colorado, as a part GHNI’s ServeHope nationwide event, will raise funds to help the poorest of the poor around the world. It’s the poor serving the poor in America, while also helping the poor internationally. It’s a win-win.

As I said, awesome!

If you would like to contact Ken to learn more, you can reach him at ken.miller@uscm.org or 720-317-7558

Naomi Schalm
GHNI Web Journalist

Pakistan Flood Relief Update

// September 2nd, 2010 // View Comments // Disaster Relief

Mike Parks, GHNI Director of Disaster Relief, is currently in Pakistan assessing the situation and working alongside in-country partners. GHNI partners have been working tirelessly to bring food, medical aid and vital items to victims of the flooding. So far, nearly 3,000 families have received immediate food aid (about 18,000 to 20,000 people). These families were selected on the basis of critical need. They had received no aid whatsoever before the arrival of our teams.
 
Mike shares, “With all of the high profile news regarding tensions in Pakistan, I want to ask that you think first of the families we are serving. These are mothers and fathers like us, kids in school, infants needing special care. They need help.”

Our partners just sent in this report:

The shop that has been providing the rations to our team gave us 13 [food] packs from their own personal side.  “We trust you guys,” he said “and know that you will give it to the needy rather than keeping it for yourselves like others are doing.”  His contribution was totally unsolicited.

Another note of encouragement is the response they got today.  “Who are these guys anyway?” someone asked the team leader, “They do what they say they will do – not just give us false hopes about coming back with aid and then never show up again.”
 
The team is busy doing surveys in the surrounding areas. Through the surveys the team will be able to distribute 150 food packages by tomorrow afternoon. Another group is arranging medical camps. The team will target to assist 150 to 200 persons with medicine. We trust that this will certainly help many who are on the brink of death because of starvation and dehydration.

With millions of people displaced, the situation is desperate. If you would like to be a part of providing a family with vital needs, please click on the link below.

$45 provides one family with a food packet that contains food for 15 days, clean water, toiletries, and clothes.
$500 will help repair a damaged home.

Your help is invaluable. Thank you for your care and compassion!

The SWEET SPOT of Community Development: Part 2

// August 27th, 2010 // View Comments // field work, tcd

When Community Development becomes TRANSFORMATIONAL  

–Jeff Power, GHNI US Partnership Development Director

Global Hope Network International helps the poorest villages of the world transform themselves. Here are critical elements to ensuring that our Transformational Community Development (TCD©) programs are truly transformational:

BUILDING MOMENTUM

Outside Investments – The community agrees that their worldwide partners’ investments are there to selectively multiply their own investments, never to replace them.

Projects as Models – We help implement specific development projects such as farming, water, income methods, etc. as models to be learned from, replicated and improved upon by households throughout the community.

Initiative – We’re approaching the sweet spot of development when the community members say, “We have an idea for how we can do that ourselves, even better!” Now things begin to take off!

CELEBRATING!

Sharing the Wealth – A community gets excited when other communities see their great progress and want to come learn from them! They then become catalysts of change in helping other villages!

Hitting the Marks – We cheer the community on as it reaches sustainability in each of the five TCD sectors (water, food, wellness, income & education)!

Eye on the Exit – From the beginning of a development program the community is wise to keep remembering, “We’re looking forward to the day when we no longer need outside help, just many outside friends!”

Indonesian Photo Journal: Part 4

// August 26th, 2010 // View Comments // field work, tcd

Our final photo journal for August takes a look at GHNI’s partnership with local farmers in the mountains of Toraja, Indonesia. By growing and marketing organic fair-trade coffee and organic odorless pigs, GHNI is working with farmers to earn fair wages and provide for their families with dignity and hope.

Emergency Relief for Pakistan Flood Victims

// August 24th, 2010 // View Comments // Disaster Relief

by Michael Parks, GHNI Disaster Relief Director

Flood waters in Pakistan have destroyed over 900,000 homes leaving millions homeless and in desperate need for food, clean water, and shelter.

The UN reports that the number of people affected by the floods is worse than the tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the Haiti earthquake.

The worst monsoon season in 80 years continues to sweep across Pakistan causing continued destruction and suffering from the on-going flooding.  The crops, homes, and livelihood of millions of people have been washed away and many do not have the resources to rebuild their lives.

Through local partners GHNI is bringing help and hope to many suffering families. Our partners shared this story of a family who received aid during a distribution of food and tents,

“It was difficult to bring tents into the location of the families as it is a remote area. Tents were distributed among families living on the ground exposed to the rain.  A local man shared, “I am here with my young daughters.  We are sleeping in open sky.  It is a great hardship for my family. I appreciate how you timely helped us. It has been a very dangerous situation to keep the lives of my daughters safe.”

The regions we are working in were recently in the middle of the war between the Pakistan government and the Taliban.  Many of these families’ homes were damaged or destroyed during the fighting.  Now the floods have caused more damage and destruction.

To help them we need you to join with us.  The situation is desperate and you can be a part of providing a family with vital needs.

One family food packet provides food for 15 days, clean water, toiletries, and clothes. Our initial target is to help 3000 families.

*Feed one family for 15 days with family food packet = $45

You can also help by donating to repair a damaged home.

*Repair one home = $500

If you would like to join with us through a financial gift, please follow this link to our Donations page. Then select “Disaster Relief” and type “Pakistan” in the Special Instructions block.

Thank you for your help!

The SWEET SPOT of Community Development: Part 1

// August 20th, 2010 // View Comments // Updates, tcd

When Community Development becomes TRANSFORMATIONAL

–Jeff Power, GHNI US Partnership Development Director

Global Hope Network International helps the poorest villages of the world transform themselves. Here are critical elements to ensuring that our Transformational Community Development (TCD©) programs are truly transformational:

COMMUNITY-BASED

Community – It sounds obvious, but we have to base our program within a community. The community has to see themselves as a community. A community is a group of people who have a sense of unity and belonging. A true community is small.

Ownership – Community ownership of the program is irreplaceable. The community has to want to change. The people of the community have to choose, above all, to assume responsibility for their own development and for the development of their community. They must believe that they themselves are the key to their community’s future.

Leadership – The community must choose respected leaders among themselves to lead the development effort. Those leaders must have the vision, time and interest to drive their community’s development. They are in charge of leading the development program, and we then become the assistants, the coaches, the trainers of those leaders.

CATCHING THE KEY IDEAS

Knowledge transfer – Everything changes once the community leaders grasp that the greatest wealth we give a village is knowledge, more than money. Then the community becomes eager to learn the development knowledge, that will fuel their future.

Holistic approach – Development that is transformational must happen on several fronts simultaneously. The five development sectors in our TCD (water, food, wellness, income and education) are common to ALL communities worldwide, from the smallest villages to the largest cities. The community must see that continually developing themselves in those sectors is the common framework of transformation worldwide.

Problem Solving – When the leaders regularly gather their people to constructively solve their community’s problems they are on a great path!

Local Resources – Transformation is near when the development leaders instill a mindset of, “Let’s look around to see what resources are available right here or nearby to solve our problems.”

Self-Sustainability – Dependence is the worst possible curse! The community’s development leaders must constantly ensure that each development step releases them from dependence and empowers them toward self-sustainability.

Indonesian Photo Journal: Part 3

// August 19th, 2010 // View Comments // Uncategorized, field work, tcd

GHNI is bringing clean water and helping poor families in Camba Berua, a sub-district of the city of Makassar. In an area where raw sewage streams through the streets, children run around bare foot, and parents struggle to provide basic necessities for their families, GHNI is partnering with the local government to bring hope and transformation!

New Villages: “The Three Men”

// August 17th, 2010 // View Comments // field work, tcd

When your work is successful word spreads!

Things have gone so well with our Transformational Community Development (TCD) program in Gambella, Kenya, that the United Nations has taken notice, the Kenyan government has come to take pictures, and other non-profits are coming out to learn. Now other villages are asking for our TCD coaching.

So Wubhet and Habiba have selected a few nearby villages to begin helping. They’re forming a small “cluster” of villages to build TCD momentum in the area.

Our volunteer team got to briefly visit two of those villages: Shambani and Bulesa Dima. The welcome by both villages was sweet!

At each village I shared my little message of “The Three Men.” Here’s how it goes:

We are a small NGO with small amounts of money and a big heart. We help only certain kinds of villages. I’ll explain by telling you about three men.

Three men come to you, each asking for some money.

You ask the first man what he will use the money for and he answers, “To buy alcohol and chat (a local narcotic).” Will you give him any money? (The crowd always answers “NO!” though many of them habitually chew chat and get drunk.)

You ask the second man what he will use the money for and he answers, “My family is hungry and I will buy us food to eat.” You say, “Food is good, but what will you do tomorrow after you have eaten today’s food?” and he answers, “I will come back to you for more money!” (At this point the village always laughs.)

You ask the third man what he will use the money for and he answers, “I will use it to hire someone to teach me how to farm well, and I will use it to buy some farm tools, so my family will be able to eat for every day!”

Which man will you give the money to?

Which kind of village do you want to be?

The story is simple but it sticks with the village as a point of reference for years to come. We keep asking the villages, “Which kind of village do you want to be?” and we hold them to their answer.

A week earlier Wubshet and Habiba had given Shambani a test: The village said they wanted to keep their babies from getting sick so often and dying so frequently. So Wubshet and Habiba explained how every family could make a personal latrine for health and sanitation. They told the village GHNI would help them build a model latrine in the center of the village, but first they had to work hard and dig a hole 3′ x 4′ and 12′ deep. Wubshet and Habiba said if the villagers had dug the hole by the time we retuned a week later we’d work with them, but if they hadn’t, we wouldn’t.

When we returned Shambani had dug TWO holes. 

Relationships Grow the World Smaller

// August 13th, 2010 // View Comments // Volunteers, field work

The world is getting smaller. At GHNI, we intend to help it keep shrinking.

That’s what our Compassion Trips are all about.

Compare the following two scenarios:

1. You were in the checkout line yesterday at the corner store. As the clerk handed you your change you noticed a small box on the counter with the words, “Help Poor Children Worldwide.” You paused for a moment, considering tossing your change in. Did you do it? Why or why not?

2. You were in Ethiopia yesterday with other volunteers on a GHNI Compassion Trip to help a specific developing village for a week. After the trip you go home, gather a bunch of your friends, and help that village over the next couple of years by raising several thousand dollars to help the village climb out of poverty. Some of your friends from the group also go on Compassion Trips to the village. Why?

Which scenario gets your heart rate escalating and spreads a smile on your face? Why? What’s the difference between these two scenarios?

The difference is relationships. Relationships make the world small.

I’ve never met anyone who didn’t care about the concept of world poverty. We all know about it and see it in the news. But it’s hard to relate to a concept. It doesn’t have a face, or a story, or a smile, or a challenge.

But once you have friends in a poor developing village; once you’ve danced with villagers and eaten village food and worked in the hot sun alongside villagers who are trying to improve life for themselves and their children… well, everything is just… different.

That’s what our Compassion Trips are all about.

Consider going on a GHNI Compassion Trip soon. You just might make friends 10,000 miles away!

Indonesian Photo Journal: Part 2

// August 12th, 2010 // View Comments // Uncategorized, field work, tcd

This week we’re highlighting GHNI’s effort to help Indonesian coffee farmers grow and sell organic coffee. Through our partnership with Coffee Without Borders, we’re helping those farmers get fair-trade prices so they can take care of their families and break out of poverty.