Category: Testimonies

Ethan Can’t Keep the Good News to Himself!

This Easter weekend, as we remember Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice and celebrate the hope brought forth by His resurrection, we are reminded of two little evangelists in Africa who cannot keep the good news of Christ to themselves!

Ethan, also known as “Pastor” to his friends at the Christ’s Hope CarePoint, was so moved by the story of Jesus dying on the cross for his sins that he asked his CareGiver if he could borrow the teaching materials from the Easter lesson. He brought them to school the next day and told his classmates all about Jesus. About His death at Calvary and His victorious resurrection that defeated the grave and made a way for us to have eternal life with Him.

Ethan’s friend, Jayrique, says he wants to learn more about God. He knows there are people hurting in the world, in his own community. If he can learn more and grow in the living hope of Christ, he can share that hope with those around him.

To be so moved by Jesus’ sacrifice at such a young age is inspiring. The community that Ethan and Jayrique live in is plagued by gang violence, racism, drugs and more… it’s a scary place. But praise be to God that these young boys have seen the Light of the World in this dark place. They have not only seen Jesus but are actively sharing His light with those around them.

Apart from Christ, there is no hope. We cannot save the children in our program, but Jesus can. The beautiful thing about Jesus’ Great Commission is that he not only allows us to participate in sharing the great news of his death and resurrection, but he calls us to proclaim it to the nations.

By sponsoring a child, you can help disciple, encourage and empower them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the midst of the hardship and darkness they face.

This Easter weekend and every day after, may the joy, peace, and hope of the resurrection fill your heart. May you have faith like Jayrique and proclaim the good news of Christ to everyone around you, like Ethan.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Worth a Thousand Words

“He did what!?”

“Felix sent a picture of himself holding the picture of us that we sent him!”

I was amazed at my wife’s words. After forty years of sponsoring children in different parts of the world through different agencies, this was the most personal response we had ever gotten from a child we sponsored. It was evidence that Felix had gotten our picture and he looked excited. So, of course, we sent a picture of us holding the picture of Felix holding the first picture we had sent him!

This all began in 2012. We had sponsored children all our married life, but our last child had aged out of the system and we hadn’t decided what to do next. I was serving as an associate pastor, and missions was one of my areas of responsibility. When I met Dave Kase, he told me about a new Christ’s Hope’s Child Sponsorship program. That was God’s timing!  Our church became a Partner Church with Christ’s Hope and my wife and I decided to sponsor a child.

We chose Felix, an eleven-year-old boy who had been orphaned. Over the course of nine years, we received many letters from Felix with many cute pictures. We even heard reports from Dave Kase and church members who went on mission trips to Namibia and met him. He always prayed for us, his sponsors, to be protected and provided for by God – and we prayed the same for him. What a rewarding experience!

*For safety and privacy, the name has been changed.

There are many more children just like Felix that need your help!

Click here to see more children in need of a Child Sponsor to help care for them and encourage them forward into adulthood!

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What Do You Want To Be When You Grow up?

What do you want to be when you grow up? A question we are asked all too often as kids. For children like Matthew growing up in poverty and AIDS stricken villages, the career options are limited. But Matthew has a dream…

Fourth grader, Matthew, and his older sister lost their mom years ago. They live in a small shack with their dad who is unemployed because of the COVID lockdowns last year when he was let go from his job at the hardware store. The stores, schools and CarePoints were all forced to shut down. Food shortages were rampant causing many people to go hungry, and in some cases, even starve. In Matthew’s community police aggressively enforced strict mask and curfew laws. Matthew and his family became afraid of the police and were unable to go out in search of food.

Thankfully the Lord made a way for help to get to Matthew and his family. Because Matthew has a Christ’s Hope sponsor who faithfully supports him, and a CareGiver from his Christ’s Hope CarePoint brought food and supplies to his home, Matthew and his family were able to eat. Not only that, but they were given hope – hope knowing that even in difficult situations, their Father in Heaven will always provide for them. He will never forsake them.

Now that the CarePoints are open and meeting again, Matthew is reunited with his friends and CareGivers. He is especially excited to be back in school and at the CarePoint because he LOVES learning! While he might be quiet and shy, he sets a wonderful example for his peers to obey God and do your best in everything you do. Matthew dreams of becoming a policeman when he grows up – and we think he’ll make a great one! He wants to make his town a better place by helping people and stopping crime!

This sweet child has been taught at the CarePoint that he has value in light of his Creator.  He is empowered to learn, overcome and even dream of one day becoming a policeman. Matthew is part of a generation of children breaking the cycle of AIDS, extreme poverty, and spiritual brokenness in Africa – thanks to sponsors and donors like you!

Matthew with his older sister

*For safety and privacy, his name has been changed.

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Matthew is empowered to learn, overcome and dream thanks to sponsors and donors like you!

Click here to see more children in need of a Child Sponsor to help care for them and encourage them to break the cycle of AIDS, extreme poverty and spiritual brokenness!

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7 Lessons Learned

7 Lessons Learned

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We are excited to not only wish Faith, our Child Sponsorship and OVC coordinator in Uganda, a very happy (belated) 30th birthday, but also to share her powerful testimony and 7 lessons she learned from it! Take it away, Faith –

“While in my mother’s womb precisely at 7 months, the doctors advised my mother to get rid of the pregnancy as it was a high risk one for her. She had severe malaria at the same time but as you can all testify, I am here. God gave me a brave mom. At 3 years and 7 months, my father passed on to glory and that’s when life got hard…” Poverty threatened Faith and her mother, but God was not yet done with them.

At 4 years old, Faith developed meningitis and cerebral malaria. Her mother was advised to take her into the village because she could no longer take care of her. Faith can’t recall exactly what life was like at that time, as she was so young, but she does remember that it was very difficult. She was later taken to live with her aunt, and she says, “God bless her for me.”

This is when Faith’s breakthrough came. She was brought into a Christian organization that supports children through Child Sponsorship. Faith remembers, “I received Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior and got a beautiful [sponsor] family that assured me of their love. I didn’t worry about my school or medical needs and they called me their own. God bless you dad, Derek, and mom, Pamela!”

She says, “This is also the sole reason I am so passionate about the children [I work with] and [child] sponsorship. It is because I know that it changes lives. I feel like giving every sponsor a hug!”

Faith later graduated from university and got a job with Christ’s Hope International caring for children who are growing up very similar to how she did. She says, “I chose to work with Christ’s Hope because there’s more time spent with the children than at any other organization, and that’s more rewarding. They become like family!”

Faith married a wonderful man, Benon, and they now have two beautiful daughters – 4 years old and 8 months old. They are thankful to have an amazing church family and friends both in Uganda, and in other countries. Talk about God’s faithfulness!

So without further ado, here are 7 Lessons Learned from Faith herself –

1. God has the final say

2. Trust God wholly

3. Giving, changes lives

4. Don’t give up

5. Sponsor a child

6. Be positive

7. Be thankful

 

Oh, and happy 30th birthday to Faith!

There are many more children growing up just like Faith did, who need the support of a sponsor!

Click here to see the children waiting for a sponsor just like you!

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Congrats to our Grads!

Congrats to our Grads!

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Join us in celebrating three young men who have recently graduated from the Christ’s Hope program in Namibia! Richard, Ivan, and Harry have all worked very hard and are grateful to their sponsors and Caregivers at the CarePoint who have supported them throughout their journey. All three young men feel ready and equipped to face the future as adults because of the guidance and support they have received through Christ’s Hope!

Ivan

“I am thankful for the Bible lessons, tutoring, and school supplies given to me at the CarePoint which have helped me greatly throughout the years. I plan to continue my studies now that I have graduated from secondary school. As I heard of the amazing things the Lord has done, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I feel well prepared for whatever lies ahead because I have learned that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13). I would like to request continued prayers as I leave the CarePoint and enter into adulthood.”

In the future, Ivan plans to reinvest in Christ’s Hope by sponsoring other children and helping provide for them as he was. Ivan’s advice to other children at the CarePoint is this: “Be obedient to the caregivers and pay attention to what you are taught”.

Richard

“I have attended the Ministry CarePoint since I was 8 years old. During that time at the program, I received the free gift of Salvation through Christ after my father passed away in 2010. I am thankful for how Christ’s Hope has prepared me for the future by opening my mind to the Word of God and how to cope with manhood and loss. I am committed to continuously strengthening my faith through reading the Bible and prayer.”

Richard aspires to study and become an animal doctor now that he has finished his secondary education. He plans to reinvest in the CarePoint so that the other children will take their studies seriously and retain focus on their school work for a better future. When asked if he would recommend the Ministry CarePoint to others, Richard replied, “Yes, because all orphans, AIDS affected families, and vulnerable children need to be taken care of and to hear the Word of God for them not to lose hope.”

Harry

“I have been attending the Ministry CarePoint since 5th grade and plan to continue my education in criminal justice to help those less fortunate. I enjoyed taking the Genesis Design class where I learned the Word of God, how to show others their value, and how to respect my body as a temple of God. I plan to help other children attend the CarePoint in the future by investing in the ministry in Namibia.”

Harry would recommend Christ’s Hope to others because they care for those who are less fortunate, no matter their circumstance. His advice to other children in the program would be to finish school, learn to be helpful, and be committed to their studies if they want to have a better future.

*For their safety and privacy, their names have been changed.

There are many more children just like Ivan, Richard, and Harry that need your help to graduate!

Click here to see more children in need of a Child Sponsor to help care for them and encourage them forward into adulthood!

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The Catalyst to Change

Berdian and Juliet shared, “When we hear the devastation of thousands of orphans due to AIDS, when we see a picture of a neglected hungry child in Africa, our hearts are touched, our stomachs make an uneasy turn and we want to help, we want to rescue and save the children. We are all eager to react to the plight of the orphaned, the vulnerable, and the needy.

We all perhaps have our own ideas on what is the best way and yes, we too had very utopian ideas on the running of a children’s home (or orphanage), until we were sent to the Ark Keetmanshoop in Namibia. We were left disillusioned when we realized that our ideas and plans did not bring about a quick fix. When we arrived in October 2005, the children’s behavior was unacceptable and uncontrollable. At the time we realized their behavior was just a symptom of the deeper lying emotional trauma and pain they had experienced. If our aim was to provide only their basic needs like shelter, food, clothes, and education, we were doing great. But if we wanted to cater to their emotional well-being, unfortunately, we were missing the target.

Some of the children in the home were AIDS orphans; however, there were quite a few whose mothers had just died. In Namibia, if a mother passes away, a child will usually end up in an orphanage. But most of the time, there is a grandmother, aunt, uncle, or even an older sibling who could take care of this child. Many people from poor backgrounds here live a very harsh life in small, metal shacks with no running water, electricity, or windows. Oftentimes, when these people hear their grandchild or niece or nephew can go live in a brick house where they will have a bed, regular meals, and can get Hope | ANNUAL REPORT 2020 | an education, they think the child will be better off there. They do not have the means to take care of themselves, let alone another child. That’s how many of these children end up in orphanages and institutional care. I believe that if those families realized the emotional and intellectual disadvantage their child would face in a children’s home, they would have chosen to keep the child.

To us, this sums up the need for change from institutional care to community and family-based care. So instead of taking the child from their broken home with difficult circumstances, why can’t we get the resources to help the grandmother, the aunt, or the uncle, so they can continue to take care of the child?

It was very hard to move away from the concept of an orphanage because it sounds so good on paper. It is an easy model to get funds for because you can say, “Here is the home, here are the children, here is the ministry – please support.” But what we found was that family-based care was actually 6 times cheaper! One of the problems with the orphanage was always a lack of funding, even though it “sells”, there was never enough money! So we told the family member, if you can look after this child at night, make sure they are safe, the child can come here to the Ministry CarePoint where we’ll help with school work, give them meals, and teach them about Jesus. Not only is it 6 times cheaper, but it allows us to look after more children and the children can keep their language, their culture, and most importantly, stay connected with family.

Click here to see more children in need of a Child Sponsor to help care for them and encourage them forward into adulthood!

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Take it from Mr. Simon

“I now understand the incredible impact that Christ’s Hope has had on our community here in the DR Congo. Prior to their work here, many of the children who now attend the Christ’s Hope CarePoints were looked down on in the community and excluded from the other children because of their unhygienic behaviors and only being able to communicate in their tribal tongue, rather than being able to speak Congo’s official language.

Christ’s Hope, instead of disregarding these children, taught them and welcomed them into their CarePoints where they now have learned how to communicate properly and about personal hygiene. Many of the children have even shared these lessons with their families!

They have grown into hardworking students who take pride in their work and their bodies, that they’ve learned were made in the image of Christ. They now feel confident around the other children who they were once separated from.
Through your partnership with Christ’s Hope, you have given these children the courage to move forward in their lives and I am truly thankful for the work you’ve done.”
Peace and Blessings,


Dave Kase
International Director

Click here to see more children in need of a Child Sponsor to help care for them and encourage them forward into adulthood!

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Peer Pressure

Meet Eliza – 
“I cannot stop saying thank you for the difference you have made in my life!”

A teenage girl needs a dad. Eliza felt “less than” because she had no father and her mother struggled to provide the basics for her and her two siblings. Eliza watched the other kids walk to school in their nice, clean uniforms while she played in the dust. When she turned ten, she was welcomed into a Ministry CarePoint in Namibia. Eliza remembers feeling proud to be sitting next to her peers in a classroom with a new uniform and a “quality school bag”. School was hard at first, she was behind and was a slow learner. At the CarePoint, she was taught to work hard and received tutoring from her CareGivers, helping her to not only catch up in school, but to excel in school.

Once she felt insecure, but as she was cared for and taught the good news of Jesus, the gap of fatherlessness in her life was filled. Because of this she is now a confident influencer to her peers, and her teachers say that her respect and good behavior makes a positive impact on all her friends. As a 16-year-old, she is grateful and says “I cannot stop saying thank you for the difference you have made in my life!”

 

THANK YOU for making a difference in Eliza’s life!

Peace and Blessings,

Dave Kase
International Director

There are many more children just like Eliza that need hope!

Click here to see more children in need of a Child Sponsor to help care for them and encourage them forward into adulthood!

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Make a difference in a child’s life, like Rose!

When Rose was young, she lost both her mother and father to AIDS. As orphans, Rose and her younger sistermoved in with their grandmother. While their grandmother loved them very much, she could barely afford to takecare of herself, let alone two children. That’s where Christ’s Hope stepped in.

Seven years ago,

Rose joined the Christ’s Hope program inKenya. She was able to start going to schooland receiving an education thanks to theschool fees, uniforms, and other suppliesbeing provided by Christ’s Hope. At theMinistry CarePoint, Rose comes multipletimes a week where she gets the care andsupport she needs such as hot, nutritiousmeals, tutoring, and discipling. Not tomention she is able to enjoy being a kid byplaying games and making new friends.

Because Rose’s critical needs were being taken care of by Christ’sHope, her grandmother was able to allow Rose and her sister tocontinue living with her rather than going to an orphanage.

We see the lives of Rose and her family being restored as theyexperience the love of Christ. Rose is now growing up healthy,educated, and confident as she learns that she is valued in thekingdom of Heaven. She has now known the Word of God deeplyand is living a live that is upright before God

Make a difference in a child’s life, like Rose,by giving this Christmas season. Your donation will help morechildren receive the care, support, and love they need to break the cycle of HIV and AIDS, poverty, and spiritualbrokenness.

 

This year, our goal is to raise $300,000 for the children. Will you help us reach ourgoal and go into the new year in a wonderful position to be able to better serve and care for over 1,500 valuablechildren, and many more in 2020?

Thank you for your partnership that continues to make a difference in the lives of many children all over Sub-SaharanAfrica. You can give a gift this Christmas season by returning the included donation card or by donating online at christshope.org/donate.

Peace and blessings,

David Kase

International Director

There are many more children just like Ivan, Richard, and Harry that need your help to graduate!

Click here to see more children in need of a Child Sponsor to help care for them and encourage them forward into adulthood!

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September Ministry Update

A quick update on Christ’s Hope International this month and a huge thank you for your prayers and support!

It was a Tuesday… 

when Carol’s life changed. Grief, depression, and malnourishment plagued Carol’s childhood for years after she lost both of her parents.

There was no money for Carol to go to school, and physically she was so weak that she would often faint. To many, her situation seemed hopeless, but God’s plan for Carol was full of hope.

Your generous gifts have made is possible for Carol to be a part of the Christ’s Hope International Nyahera Ministry CarePoint in Kisumu, Kenya. By God’s grace the hope-less became hopeful! Today, Carol lives with her uncle, attends school, and receives the physical care that she needs to thrive. A smile has now replaced the grief and depression that Carol wrestled with for years. And, through the Gospel and Genesis Design lessons, Carol is learning and seeing her value in light of her Creator!

Thank You for Your Support

On September 21st, our friends, sponsors, and partners came together to cheer on Saburi Boyer who won both the Audience and Judges’ Choice awards for Christ’s Hope at Traverse City’s SwingShift and the Stars event! Over $21,000 was raised that night for AIDS-affected, orphaned, and vulnerable children in Africa.

On November 16th we will be participating in a lip-sync battle, and we’d be thrilled to have you come! For tickets and more information click below to join us!

Learn More

Art For Hope

The Art for Hope event in Sacramento, California
has been rescheduled to March 30, 2019. Be on the lookout for more details in the coming months!

Prayer Requests

Please pray for the SwingShift and the Stars event in November.

Please pray for the international board meeting that will be happening in October in Namibia.

Please pray for one of our girls in Kenya who was injured in a fire.  

“May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God
and to the steadfastness of Christ.”
– 2 Thessalonians 3:5

Click here to see more children in need of a Child Sponsor to help care for them and encourage them forward into adulthood!

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Blessings,


David Kase
US Director