Hear The Cry

Meeting Martha (15 yr old) and her household

2009-04-27T04:03:00.001-07:00

Andrew, Craig and I met Martha, a 15 yr old that cares for a large family in a compound outside of N'Dola.

Child headed households are one of the most significant problems that come with HIV/AIDS and poverty.

The challenge is food and school/education. And, how do you establish trust and make a real difference--not just take pictures, and just go away?

--Posted by Pete

You Are Good Worship Song

2009-04-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

Craig's Post - We met with small group leaders at the Vineyard Church in Zambia. Andrew did a great teaching from Acts 2 on small groups. I video taped this because they passionately worship so well there. Truely praising God as they sing this simple song. It was a real pleasure to worship the Lord with these brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God.
Words... Everybody Testify the You are Good... You are good, Jehovah, You are good.

HEAR THE CRY Africa Concert Promo

2009-04-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

Cape Town / Cape of Good Hope

2009-04-10T01:05:00.000-07:00

Craig's post
A few photos to show the most beautiful place I have been to.

Micro-loan Opportunities -Craig's Post

2009-04-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

Damas - Our Guide and Host
We had a productive meeting with Damas Kumfwa (our host and the Vineyard regional coordinator) about potential opportunities for Micro Loans to mother swith HIV/AIDs. Providing these mothers an income would allow for:
1. Them to be able to pay for ARVs (they can live a very long time with HIV with proper treatment and nutrition).
2. Them to be able to feed themselves and their children.
The other advantages of micro loans is that they provide great accountability (they are repaid or not) and the loaners will often re-loan the money when it is paid back.
Damas has a large community center (donated for use by a local Italian business man) where the businesses could be housed until the money is paid back. There are four immediate micro loan opportunities.
1) Teaching sewing and giving a machine to each woman.
2) Cement block making… they have assembled 3 machines that would stamp out the blocks. The center is in a growth area of N’Dola and with poor infrastructure, blocks are typically acquired locally for building. This is a very good time to begin because the rainy season is coming to an end and this is the time for building season.
3) Pottery making – they are making pottery wheels out of old car axles (very industrious again) and will train women on how to make pottery and sell them a pottery wheel.
4) Chickens – they can purchase chickens for women to raise for recurring revenue selling eggs.
This is a very exciting opportunity for HEAR THE CRY and these mothers.

Day 3 -Zambia - Craig

2009-04-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

EMM Job Training Center (Justin)
Day 3 – Zambia – Craig
Comforter Photo
Andrew and Pete have been making fun of my flowered comforter… I think they are just jealous (that’s what my Mom always told me).
Emmanuel Mercy Minisries (EMM) – Site Visit - Craig
Damas, Andrew, Pete and I went to see the EMM office in downtown N’Dola. EMM is an NGO which receives money from The Global Fund, amongst others. Justin met us there and gave us copies of their financial reporting statements and showed us how the business office is set up. One of the primary things they do is to test sex workers who they call “single mothers” to maintain their dignity. The reason they are targeting this population is that is a “high-end risk group”. The sex-workers have sex 5-10 times per day and is a major cause of the spread, exposing 25-50 people to HIV/AIDs per week per positive worker. EMM has tested nearly 100 sex-workers so far and approx. 35% have been positive for HIV/AIDs. They inform workers as to their HIV status and retrain workers to have other job skills (sewing). They provide counseling to the positive workers, and also help them to obtain ARVs (Anti-retro viral drugs) at the appropriate time. Although this part of EMM’s work is not glamorous, it is very important in stopping the transmission and growth of the disease… when I was getting my malarone pills to prevent malaria, the nurse said that the best way to not get malaria is to not get bitten by a mosquito and the same applies here, where it is much better to prevent transmission than to deal with treatment and all of the ramifications of the disease.

Becoming a Millionaire/ Emanuel Mercy Ministries

2009-04-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

Justin Pete and Craig

Craig’s Post #3
I used to want to be a millionaire and on Thurs I achieved my goal when I received over 1 MILLION kwatcha (for my 300 dollars). It was very exciting (until we spent 25000 kwatcha on coffee later).

Zambia-Emanuel Mercy Ministries
We met with a potential NEW partner for HEAR THE CRY today (and again tomorrow morning)- Emanuel Mercy Ministries (EMM) which is an NGO – Non-Governmental Organization fighting the pandemic of HIV-AIDs in Sub-Saharran Africa.
We met with Justin Muntanga, an EMM board member and the Secretary of EMM. Justin has an amazing personal story… 9 years ago Justin was kidnapped , chloroformed, thrown out of the taxi when the kidnappers were persued by police (at high speed). Justin’s scull was crushed and he was pronounced dead by the doctor at the hospital. He was in the morgue for 10 hours and another (neurologist) showed up there to confirm he was dead and found a slight pulse. He was in a deep coma for 6 months and the doctors wanted him off life support because they thought his brain function was never going to be functional. He survived and is completely normal. I can give you the whole story in person if you ask.
One of our goals here is to improve our financial reporting for our ground partners here in Africa. EMM is very exciting to us because Justin is an accountant and the receive funds from the Global Fund. I believe we will receive a lot of information from Justin tomorrow to solidify these accountability requirements.

Weight Loss - Twatatella Update

2009-04-07T13:41:00.000-07:00

Martha (15 years old) - Head of Household
and 6 of the 12 siblings she cares for

Craig’s Post
I discovered a real helper as it relates to body image when I was in South Africa. I weighed myself on a kilogram scale and felt VERY good about my weight…. Unfortunately, after I got off, I saw myself in the mirror. The keys to RAPID success on feeling good about you image is…1) order a scale from Europe 2) remove all mirrors from your house (shirts with vertical stripes may help too 3) never measure your height in meters or do a Body Mass Index on yourself.

Zambia- Twatatella Update
My Brother, Eric, first was given the vision of HEAR THE CRY here at N’Dola, Zambia when he saw that mothers were passing HIV to their unborn infants… this was totally preventable through the drug Navorapene (sp?). Hear the Cry was born out of this vision and Hear the Cry and/or Joshua House have funded Twatatella since that time.
Yesterday we met Martha, one of the first recipients of this program is still HIV-Free. A beautiful young lady, Martha is now head of her household (her parents have both passed away). She lives in a compound (shanty town) … she is raising 12 children – What an AMAZING young lady (I will try to upload a photo of her) .

Twatatella also has a feeding progam for the children as they grow up and are raised by others (grandparents , etc) . Twatatella is interested in adding and schooling component now that the children are growing up and many of them are school-aged now.

Photos from Beautiful Gate/Robert Compound

2009-04-05T13:24:00.000-07:00

Children of Robert Compound

George - Beautiful Gate Teacher

Owen, Andrew, Bill (Director of Beautiful Gate-Zambia)

Andrew Post

2009-04-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

As my facebook status asserts, it is hard to take in all of the experiences we have had even today. We have experienced the apparent hopelessness of gracious, dignified 15-year old Martha who is raising more than ten brothers and sisters. We were blessed and humbled to crowd into her mud hut with eight of her siblings and pray for them. Despairing at what to do, we asked Stephen, their pastor who lives in almost the same conditions they do, to take 10 dollars and go to the market and buy them food. There are vast "compounds" surrounding N'Dola Zambia, and Mapala is just one of these-made of deeply rutted dirts roads, houses without water or electricity and filled with diseases like malaria, HIV, and scabies.

God's last word is always hope, and we are part of of HEAR THE CRY not because we have answers or a lot of money but because we cannot stand by and not encourage those who are brining hope to such seemingly hopeless situations. We have run out of excuses to not get involved. We are lucky to meet with so many people who understand what it is to empower their neighbors, to love their neighbors, and to serve their neighbors. Their faith and efforts inspire us to raise awareness in the US and bring OUR neighbors to a place that they run out of excuses to not come alongside these courageous people.

Zambia-Beautiful Gate

2009-04-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Gate Mission Statement

Hand Dug Well (for watering the garden)- Beautiful Gate Zambia

Craig Here- We visited A Beautiful Gate yeserday (2008 HTC Art Auction beneficiary). We met with Bill K'Pinga, the program director and some of his team. Their mission is amazing! They have a school (intentionally) across the street from the Robert Compound (a shanty town) in Kitway, Zambia. The school is for orphaned children who live in the compound with (mostly) grandparents or other relatives. These children could not otherwise go to school and would only get one meal per day. The school serves approximately 300 children.

I must say they are Very Industrious. They have built ALL of their own buildings out of bricks they make themselves. They feed the children from food they grow themselves (they raise chickens, grow banana trees and have a large garden area. One man just finished digging a well - BY HAND! to water the garden. They build 3 huts for homeless children to live in (temporarily) while they place them with their families.

We met a teacher, George, who teaches 34 seventh graders 7 subjects each day. They are doing amazing work, but could use money through HTC fund-raising for basics like ELECTRICITY to their buildings.

A real great mission to raise these children out of poverty through education.

2009-04-02T04:25:00.001-07:00

Andrew Post Good morning! I am typing quickly because we are getting ready to go and visit HIV-positive mothers and their children. This program is supported by Johsua House at Vineyard Church of Columbus and formed the seed for what would become HEAR THE CRY. Problems with our flight out of Columbus (of all things) started the domino effect that put us in South Africa 24 hours later, but we got to visit with friends, the Pickerills, in Amsterdam and arrived well-slept and refreshed.

In South Africa we spent some time with a program that HEAR THE CRY has supported in the past, Emthonjeni, and visited some houses buiilt by Habitat for Hummanity to house AIDS orphans and foster mothers but they don't have enough money to actually move the families into the houses.

The simple concclusion I have so far is that the most long-lasting effects of AIDS is on the future generation-children growing up without parents, without love, without hope, and without the structure of a family. We continue to process and pray about how HEAR THE CRY might get involveD.

In Zambia

2009-04-02T04:09:00.001-07:00

Andrew and I are sitting in an Internet Cafe in N'Dola, Zambia. Damas just brought us here. Slower connection than I would like, but useful. I could not use my own computer (Samsugn Ultra Light) because of not having power. So, here is a quick note. We just got into N'Dola yesterday. Had the best night sleep of trip for me (Pete) at least. Spending four days here with N'Dola Vineyard and visiting Beautiful Gate orphanage in Kitwe this week. Worship was great yesterday at the evening small group meeting. We are praying for Craig as he is now traveling that he would arrive safe and sound with no sickness tomorrow.

Blessings!
Pete Gordon

Hear The Cry -- Africa -- Here we come!

2009-03-27T15:11:00.000-07:00

http://hearthecry.org

So we are about to head off! Andrew and I (Pete) are leaving on Saturday, and Craig is leaving a few days later to meet us in Ndola, Zambia. Andrew has been great, scheduling our visits and preparing the way for us to visit one of the poorest countries in the world and see for ourselves how the HIV/AIDS epedemic impacts the daily lives of children and their families.

I just learned the other day, that Ndola is 10 km from teh Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is the second poorest country in the world--just ahead of Zimbabwe. (click here) Zambia is about equivalent to Haiti one of the 30 poorest countries in the world. I talked yesterday for a while with a friend who is going to Haiti this year and has been in the past. As he said, it must be heart wrenching. I am most drawn to Economic Development and Education, in addition to poverty relief; and of course for anyone that knows me how does the Internet and Globalization change the rules of the game of poverty and economic disparity. Andrew will be sending a better write up of our trip and Hear The Cry soon, and we will put that up here. I'll try to twitter also; and maybe get craig to also. But, our Internet availability is expected to be spotty--that is part of the fact finding aspect of our trip.

http://twitter.com/petegordon

http://twitter.com/craigpickerill

Here are some of our biggest goals of the trip: (Andrew and Craig might have additional goals)

1. Witness for ourselves the situation and from this understanding communicate the message and story that Hear The Cry.

2. Build existing and new relationships in Africa

3. Learn about Financial Accountability in Africa, and how to better communications and relationships related to financial accountability.

4. Learn about Internet connectivity in Africa and how it can be used to lessen the burden of poverty, bring education, economic development and resources (ex. kiva.org).

http://www.hearthecry.org

Email us anytime at hope@hearthecry.org also.