Tearfund Correspondent February 2016

CORRESPONDENT February 2016

New approach to microfinance pg 03 Helping themselves: (top left) Amarech and her Self Help Group are helping each other to a better future.

El Niño bringing misery pgs 6 & 7

Changing lives in Ethiopia through Self Help Groups Story and photos by Helen Manson Despite Ethiopia facing one of the worst droughts in 30 years, Self Help Groups (SHGs) are giving cause for hope among those Tearfund is working by helping to raise household incomes and giving members a caring support network.

Having a better income can give families a little more resilience in a drought as they face the pressure of higher food prices. Testify Falah, programme director for Tearfund’s partner, in Ethiopia said: “Our country needs an empowering approach like a Self Help Group so you can help people both economically and socially. When people invest in SHGs, they invest in a mentality that brings about a big transformation.”

Empowering agriculture pg 09

In Ethiopia, Tearfund is working with our local partner pioneering a new approach to micro-enterprise development, using SHGs. Working with over 1000 local churches, there

are now over 12,400 SHGs made up of 15 to 20 women each that in turn support over one million members.

This model represents the new Ethiopia, and Amarech Toru is one of the success stories.

I used to believe that poverty was my portion, but this group has been more beneficial than any other aid or support I’ve ever received.

Amarech is married with five children. She said before the Self Help Group she used to buy things on credit and had zero capital. “My children had to drop out of school and I felt as though I could never get ahead as the money lenders took advantage of me. Over the past six years since I joined the SHG, I’ve taken 10 loans and repaid them all in full. I can now afford to buy 100kg of teff flour (a local grain) to make injera (sour-dough flat

bread). Through the group we’ve had leadership training, working in groups, administration and conflict resolution.

She said meanwhile the group’s combined savings just keep on increasing. “I used to believe that poverty was my portion, but this group has been more beneficial than any other aid or support I’ve ever received. Today, I sell anywhere from 100-500 injera a week, can send my children to school and take care of my household. In the future, I want to open a restaurant, buy an electric oven for baking these goods and build my own home.”

You can read more about the benefits of the new SHG income generation model on page 3.

Support this Empower project Go to tearfund.org.nz, call 0800 800 777, or see the response form in the back of this issue.

2 | CORRESPONDENT – February 2016

Supporting Enterprise and Empowerment

By Keith Ramsay Welcome to the first edition of the Correspondent for 2016. We trust you are well rested following the Christmas break and feeling restored for the year ahead. Speaking of restoration, we live in a world that is broken and Tearfund, with your support, can help to build and rebuild the livelihoods of the most vulnerable as we seek to redress the imbalance that exists between rich and poor.

incomes. With this in mind, we have launched a new initiative called Empower which replaces our long-standing Microenterprise programme where our supporters gave regularly to help poor entrepreneurs get small fair-credit loans to launch their own business in order to increase their household incomes. You can learn about how this works and why we have changed our approach on page 3.

While this passage is prophetic, God often breaks into this world with his kingdom power to bring about a glimpse of his redemption for this broken world. It speaks of restoration, and with your support of our Empower projects like the one in Ethiopia or in the Philippines, where we are helping to rebuild livelihoods, we can partner with God in this work.

Our Empower projects work in two ways to support participants to improve their livelihoods. The first is through creating Self Help Groups where groups gather to regularly save small sums to create a fund from which individuals can borrow, in order to create a business or improve their circumstances. Through the process, they form a close-knit supportive community network that can address social issues in the wider community. Rather than loan them capital, your funds provide the training and support for facilitators to ensure the success and to see that the groups become self-sustainable and self-replicating.

We believe in supporting initiatives that empower those in low-income countries to create better lives and stronger communities, and ones that enable enterprises that lift household

The second way is through gathering small holder farmers to create sustainable farming businesses, from the farm to the market. This approach gives them greater control

Our Biblical passage for our Empower campaign is Isaiah 65:21: “And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.”

Inside out

By Ian McInnes

I know we are not supposed to have favourites, but I just love our Empowerment work. It’s one of the Five Causes that greet you when you click on our website, and for me, it represents hope like no other.

My wife Himali and I spent three years in Sri Lanka watching dairy farmers get off their knees and back into production following a devastating and protracted civil war.

While there, I would regularly cut the ribbon across the doorway of yet another new and shiny milk chilling centre, pick up an aluminium milk can with the local cooperative chairperson, and together pour the first batch of white gold into the vat.

One day we told a community we would be installing a new facility in their village and the community was so enthusiastic to get going, they arrived the next morning on our office doorstep on the back of their motorbikes, with their milk in their cans. We had to install a 500-litre

tank at our office that day and ask the government milk buyer to collect from us that evening.

Communities around the world in Tearfund’s programmes are often brimming with anticipation, eager to seize new opportunities and they sometimes catch us by surprise if we don’t move fast enough. Our role at Tearfund is to help them reach their full potential.

Occasionally, that means financing missing infrastructure like the milk

Ethiopia’s women have taken to Self Help Groups in staggering numbers ... fiercely self-determined and remarkably resourceful collection and chilling centres along Sri Lanka’s fertile coastline that were either washed away by the Asian Tsunami or blown apart in a bitter war; or building rammed-earth greenhouses in Mongolia to extend the short-lived summer season to grow a few thousand cucumbers.

More often, it means designing a package of support with communities, tailored to their

Empower: Support our Empower projects to help transform lives devastated by disaster such as Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

over the price of their goods. The empowerment comes from working together to create better lives rather than trying to make it alone.

With improved and inexpensive production techniques, adding value to what they produce, and better access to the market, the extra income they earn helps farmers to send their children to school and meet their other expenses.

In one of our agricultural focused empowerment projects, Tearfund is partnering with Food for the Hungry in the Philippines to rebuild livelihoods following the destruction of Typhoon Haiyan. Haiyan caused great devastation and loss of life as well as destroying livelihoods and cash crops. Tearfund is creating opportunities in growing vegetables and other food crops to supply

specific needs and helping to link them with training, services and markets that can bolster their own contributions. Ethiopia’s women have taken to Self Help Groups in staggering numbers and the ones I met were fiercely self-determined and remarkably resourceful. They were quite adamant that the old models of microfinance, where a sympathetic lender offers start-up capital, or a revolving loan, were not for them. That would still leave them either dependent on outsiders, or at the very least, they would have denied themselves them opportunity to say; “we did it ourselves, we can create our own future”. Instead, we simply provide facilitators and training resources and help them track their progress.

It is, as the label says, Empowerment in its truest form.

It can be a long road out of poverty, 10 cents at a time, placed in a communal fund while you and your neighbours claw your way to a position where you have the skills, funding, social support structures and Government recognition, to make tangible improvements for your family. But this model has been so successful that Ethiopia’s First Lady has suggested a change

PICTURE Jason Gutierrez IRIN News

markets all over the Philippines. You can read more about this on page 5.

You may also have heard about the El Niño, which is causing weather problems around the world (see pages 6 and 7). In this issue we look at what Tearfund is doing in Vanuatu among those struggling to recover from Cyclone Pam, as this weather pattern makes it difficult to grow food to feed their families, and the work we are doing in East Africa, as severe drought causes high levels of malnutrition among the most vulnerable.

We hope you enjoy reading this issue of our Correspondent.

Sign up to Living Lent at tearfund.org.nz/living-lent

in the law to give legal status to the many Self Help Groups that have seen thousands of women engaged in these enterprises. That is not just social and economic empowerment; that is political empowerment in a country and region where the immense contribution of women often goes unrecognised.

And so, I must confess, that I love our agriculture projects, the indigenous rural farmers I’ve met in the back blocks of the Philippines, Mongolia and Vanuatu and the women of the Self-Help-Groups.

They inspire me to match our contribution to theirs and start to really dream about what the future could look like.

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Paying dividends: A new approach to economic empowerment is helping women like these in Ethiopia become more economically independent.

PICTURE Helen Manson

New way to economic empowerment

By Joy Davidson At Tearfund, we value partners who keep learning; those who employ cutting-edge development approaches to the challenging situations they face. Over the past decade, our partners have moved away from traditional microeconomic approaches (micro-credit, loans, and enterprise) and toward Self Help Groups (SHGs).

It’s an exciting move – inspired by lessons learnt from 40 years of micro-economic development. A SHG approach holds onto many of the principles of the micro-credit model: the poor participating in the economy, lifting themselves out of poverty, and having good alternatives to loan sharks. Access to financial services is now seen as a right and we continue to focus assistance on a ‘hand-up’ not a ‘hand-out’. Some key differences under a SHG approach are: 1. No capital is loaned from outside donors, rather members save the money themselves and lend to each other. This is based on findings that outside sources of loan capital can lower a sense of ownership and motivation compared to the empowering nature of having “achieved it all myself”.

2. A more comprehensive service approach is undertaken. Evidence suggests that micro-economic development works best when combined with wrap-around services such as health training, business skills, development of key infrastructure, and interventions to promote gender equality and social cohesion.

3. There is a greater focus on advocacy and community influence.

Past practice shows that there are issues apart from access to startup capital that block people from creating successful small enterprises, such as access to a market place or to skills based training. The SHG approach includes training on how small groups can advocate for these supporting factors.

How the SHG model works SHGs are groups of 15 to 20 of the poorest people, mostly women due to their limited opportunities. Once the group is formed, facilitators help each group gain skills, like democratic decision making and financial reporting, to run and manage the whole process themselves! As a donor for SHGs, this is where your funds make all the difference – providing for trainers and facilitators.

Group members save a small amount each week, often starting with as little as NZ 10c a week. The group watches with pride as this amount builds. Members can then take small loans that are repaid in agreed time periods with agreed interest.

Gradually the capital of the SHG grows to allow for larger loans.

Cluster Level Associations And here’s an exciting and powerful new aspect of the model. Once eight to 12 SHGs have been established and have reached maturity, they elect two members each into a Cluster Level Association (CLA). The CLA is empowered to establish new SHGs, develop existing ones, and set up bigger joint income-generating projects for the members and the

community. When 10 CLAs have been formed and become mature, a Federal Level Association (FLA) is formed from elected CLA members.

FLA groups have great power and credibility to negotiate with government and other stakeholders for services for their SHG members.

Cluster and Federal level groups take small fees from member SHGs and eventually this structure no longer needs outside funding: the SHG approach is self-sustaining and selfreplicating!

A cost-benefit analysis on one group of SHGs in Ethiopia reported that every dollar invested into SHG has a 50 to 200 dollar return in terms of household and community impact.

The impact of SHGs The social The SHGs have had far-reaching impacts for their members, the core of the model is based on relationships, and as a result, SHG members consistently talk about increased confidence, skills, ability to relate, and the sense of support that they feel from one another.

The SHGs become sanctuaries for members to discuss their problems and receive support. This is the building block of the programme and critical to its success.

Cost-benefit analysis A cost-benefit analysis, initiated

by Irish Aid on one group of SHGs in Ethiopia, reported that for every dollar invested into Self Help Group has a 50 to 200 dollar return in terms of household and community impact. SHG members show a cycle of asset growth, they have more diverse income opportunities and less risk of having to sell key assets, like a milk-producing cow, in order to cover costs, like education.

Members are pooling resources to help those in need, and initiating and implementing practical change in their communities. As a result, SHGs members can now meet their household needs for nutritious food, education and health care, as well as have some disposable income.

Wider community change Cluster and Federal Level Associations are undertaking projects that they fund out of savings, to advocate against injustices that keep people in poverty. These associations have lobbied government for shared market spaces for members, built kindergartens so that women can share child care and be freed for work, advocated for women’s rights and for government scholarships for women, supported orphans in their communities, rebuilt houses for widows, and dug wells together or terraced land to prevent soil erosion.

So, just imagine starting saving 10c a week with a group of people you barely know, and ending with a successful small business, a deeply supportive community, and cluster and federal associations who can advocate on your behalf!

It is wonderful to witness the empowerment people living in poverty feel when they can mobilise and manage their own resources, enhance their livelihood, and lobby effectively for their own rights and entitlements to be met. No wonder many of our partners are now using a Self Help Group approach.

4 | CORRESPONDENT – February 2016

The Paris Climate Agreement: hope or despair?

By Murray Sheard The December summit to curb greenhouse gas emissions was unexpectedly successful – but the real work starts now if our partners are not to suffer as their climate is disrupted.

What action was agreed?

In December, 196 nations attended the biggest ever meeting of heads of government and signed up to reduce emission of greenhouse gases, which are the main driver of increasing disruption in the earth’s climate. The agreement aims to limit warming to below 2°C above preindustrial levels, which scientists say is the threshold of safety. The bad news is we’re over half-way there. Beyond this level, heat-waves, droughts, floods, and sea level rises are expected to become catastrophic and irreversible.

Nations locked in the emissions reduction commitments they made leading up to the conference. They also agreed to at least $NZ140 billion per annum to help poor countries transition their economies to clean energy. The big surprise was a pledge to continue strengthening the accord

Biblical Snapshot: Isaiah 65:21

By Frank Ritchie Among the many messages in the story of Easter, with the cross, the empty tomb, and the resurrection, there is one that has significant relevance to the work of Tearfund and your partnership with it. That message is that God is entirely interested in the redemption of the world as we know it. In Christian thinking, the empty tomb and resurrection tell us that Jesus’ physical body was a seed for something greater. It was a glimpse of God’s desire for his creation. That glimpse is fulfilled in the world as it was painted in Revelation 21 and 22.

When writing Revelation 21, John was drawing on the imagery of Isaiah 65:17-25, where the prophet shared his vision of renewal. Where Isaiah directs the good news of that

to limit warming further, to no more than 1.5°C. This included a fiveyearly review to tighten the targets.

What’s good?

Tearfund’s concern is whether it is a good deal for people in poor communities who are the most vulnerable but have done the least to cause the problem. There are many positives. Governments recognised for the first time that humans need to stop generating more emissions than the planet can absorb naturally through rainforests, oceans, and soil.

Forty of the poorest countries pushed the pledge to tighten the agreement over time. Pacific voices were at the forefront and won a major victory.

The standoff between richer and poorer countries that stalled past talks has been transcended.

Crucially, the USA and China are replacing coal stations and curbing emissions, making it less painful for them to commit than in past years.

The bad The limits on emissions will reduce global temperature rise from a catastrophic 4°C to 2.7°C. It’s a good start but not enough, scientists say.

renewal to the people of Israel, John made it more universal in nature.

What is striking about Isaiah’s image is the redemption of the tangible world. It’s not an image of people floating on clouds, but an image of the best of life being caught up in a greater reality.

The ‘earthiness’ of the image is right there in verse 21, where it says, ‘They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.’

Isaiah was writing in a time when northern Israel had been taken into captivity, the Assyrians dominated the region, and southern Israel was a long way from being what God had called them to be. Life was not good. It would have been understandable if the picture of hope following the warnings Isaiah gave had been one of escapism, such as floating off to a different realm, but it wasn’t. Rather, Isaiah painted a picture of life being redeemed in very tangible ways, involving things that we see, touch, hear, taste and smell.

Clearing the air: Aucklanders join a march calling for leadership on climate change.

Second, there were few new funding pledges to help countries adapt to changes in climate. The costs to poor nations are predicted to be huge – at least $NZ500 billion a year by 2050.

Third, as leading scientist, James Hansen pinpointed, “as long as fossil fuels appear to be the cheapest fuels, they will be continue to be burned.”

More commitment to renewable energy is needed to show businesses, investors, and city planners that fossil fuels belong to the past.

Finally, while the obligation on individual countries to set an emissions reduction target is legally binding, the targets themselves are not legally binding. The verdict: the poorest are still vulnerable.

Signs of hope ‘Getting to yes’ was hard, but it has opened the possibility of scaling up cooperation. Despite its flaws, an agreement is the necessary first step.

Like other agreements, such as the Montreal Protocol that has allowed the ozone layer to repair, the Paris Agreement can be reviewed every five years and ratcheted up until we get emissions reductions that further reduce the damage faced by the most

Tearfund is in the business of partnering with God and others to give glimpses of that type of redemption. We see value in tangible realisations of life as God intended it. To this end, we’re partnering with organisations that do the work of rebuilding following disasters, and those who provide glimpses of life as it could be, where poverty has wreaked its destruction.

Tearfund is partnering with Food for the Hungry in the Philippines as they work alongside local communities to rebuild livelihoods following the destruction of natural disasters. In the Horn of Africa we’re partnering with Tearfund UK, who are working with our partner in Ethiopia to establish Self Help Groups made up of women who save and loan to each other. Through the building of their relationships, those groups seek to address issues within their communities. It’s the sort of redemption that leads to real empowerment not only for those

PICTURE Artur Francisco

vulnerable. The plummeting cost of solar energy will help this too, providing alternatives to oil.

In 2015, for the first time in decades, humans actually released less CO2 than the year before. This raises the tantalising possibility that we may break the fateful link between development and emissions – and gives hope.

What can we all do?

Tearfund has chosen partners who introduce communities to “climate smart” cropping and agriculture, and we respond to cyclones and slowonset disasters such as droughts.

Your financial support of these projects enables them to succeed.

At the same time, we are encouraging our leaders in government, churches and industry to lead on reducing emissions. New Zealand committed to only an 11% reduction on 1990s emission levels, whereas most developed nations have pledged at least 30%. With the millions of people who marched in cities all around the world, we can all reduce our own emissions and ask our government to be more ambitious in their planned cuts.

whose power has been stripped away but for those who have never had it.

In this work are tangible glimpses of a redemption that extends beyond the nature of an individual and into how communities do life together. It’s a redemption that is about building, planting, growing, and eating together.

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Agriculture key to rebuild

By Keith Ramsay In November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines with furious force, leaving destruction and loss of life in its wake. Many farmers, such as Roger Corrales (in the story below), lost their livelihoods and millions of coconut trees were destroyed, undermining a key cash crop in the region.

A further set-back occurred in 2014 when these same communities were further damaged by Typhoon Hagupit. Homes were damaged in the village of Basey in Western Samar. Farmers lost most of their harvest, particularly rice, bananas and young coconuts that had survived Haiyan. This had a negative economic impact at every level in society.

Since Haiyan, Tearfund has been working with Food for the Hungry to help farmers to start producing again. Now a new five-year project is being introduced that will help bring their products to the markets all over the Philippines to raise household incomes and provide options until coconuts reach commercial production.

This is expected to take about six years. The project aims to address underlying causes of vulnerability

in 30 rural communities (6,000 households) in the villages of Basey and Marabut. Farmers do not have access to finance to start crop production again. Farmer saving groups are being formed to build a fund from which farmers can borrow. Once these groups complete a successful savings round, another of Tearfund’s partners, Taytay Sa Kauswagan (TSKI), will provide business development services, including financial literacy, entrepreneurship, management and marketing, with the view to developing them into associations and establishing business enterprises.

TSKI will introduce a scheme similar to contract farming to improve farmer household incomes even among the most vulnerable. This business model motivates farmers to increase yields, improve quality and reduce their risks. Agreements will be formed with farmers in savings groups specifying pre-agreed prices for pre-agreed volumes and quality of goods. Alongside the contracts, support services such as delivery on credit, pre-financing/ up front delivery of inputs (such as seeds, fertilisers, plant protection products). Other non-financial

Restoration: Tearfund’s agriculture programme is helping farmers to rebuild their livelihoods. services will be provided and insurances will be introduced. As well as business skills, participating farmers will receive technical training and support to acquire the knowledge and resources needed to become smart suppliers of quality vegetables, and to develop their own sustainable and nutritional home gardens. Participants will be trained in a wide variety of agricultural practices. An increase in landbased agriculture will encourage communities to move back from

PICTURE Tom Price

the coast and above the tsunami line, reducing their vulnerability to disasters.

Support this Empower project

For every $1 you donate, the NZ goverment contributes $3. See the form on the back of this issue.

Pray that Filipino farmers involved in Tearfund’s agricultural recovery programme will prosper.

Tearfund restoring Roger’s dream Story and photo by Vilma Gacutan Roger Corrales is a rice farmer from the Philippines. He is a tenant farmer working 7ha of land and one of the many rice fields severely devastated by Typhoon Haiyan. The strongest typhoon ever experienced wiped out everything that he had started, and the effects still haunt him.

“Every day as I go to the field, I dream about having a bountiful harvest to feed my family and to earn enough to educate my children.” In preparation for Typhoon Haiyan, Roger harvested 80 sacks of rice and stored them in the farm house, and he brought his water buffalo to a safe place.

However in just an hour, everything was destroyed; the rice fields were submerged in sea water, the water buffalo died and the farm house was washed out by the storm surge.

Roger, teary-eyed, said: “My dream was swept away in an instant.”

Because of the losses he suffered and the salt water contamination to the land, Roger was unable to farm for a year.

Instead, he planted root crops like cassava as an alternative food. He

also earned an income from selling the sap from his five remaining coconut trees left by the typhoon, from which a drink can be made.

Last year he decided to plant rice again, however, he was faced with more challenges. As a tenant, he

When I used the water buffalo for ploughing, it would take a month to do it. But, with the use of this equipment, I finished in a week. is responsible for preparing the land before planting, but he had no water buffalo or farm machinery to cultivate the land.

Tearfund’s partner, Food for the Hungry, assisted the Rice Farmers Association where Roger is a member. Their cluster of 19 members was supplied with a water buffalo, a mud boat, a thresher for harvest, and a tractor. The farmers set out a schedule together to use the equipment.

Roger is thankful his problem of preparing the land was solved.

He is able to finish the ploughing

New beginnings: Roger Corrales prepares his fields faster with a mud boat. faster with the use of the tractor and mud boat. “When I used the water buffalo for ploughing, it would take a month to do it. But, with the use of this equipment, I finished in a week.” He is able to grow rice this season and is hopeful to have a good harvest this summer. “We want to learn and grow in our farming skills so we can abundantly provide for our families and eventually contribute to the farming progress

of our communities. We are looking forward to learning new methods of farming and how to make organic fertilisers.”

These farmers will now have the opportunity to increase their knowledge and farming techniques.

The establishment of supply chains to market their vegetables and rice, will help to re-establish them, lift their incomes and ensure they survive the next storm.

6 | CORRESPONDENT – February 2016

Waiting for disaster costs lives and money

By Keith Ramsay While the El Niño weather pattern affecting the Pacific region may herald a long hot summer for holiday-makers in New Zealand, it can cause significant economic loss for those who make a living off the land. While it will impact New Zealand farmers, those living closer to the equator in low-income countries face far more dire consequences unless action is taken early to reduce the impact.

Droughts from El Niño cause what we call “slow-onset disasters”.

Benjamin Franklin’s adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure certainly applies when it comes to these. When an earthquake or a cyclone strikes, the damage and human suffering are all over the media and people are moved to donate. But slowonset disasters don’t pull on the heartstrings so readily. They creep in under the radar but the impact can be just as devastating.

Despite warning signs, aid agencies struggle to raise funds to avert a crisis until significant media and public attention is generated.

This is known in the aid industry as the ‘CNN effect’. By the time the impending famine is obvious (usually when malnourished children are flooding into refugee camps) it is too late to prevent loss of life. That is also when the cost to life and the cost of response are

at their highest. The way we live also contributes to more frequent droughts, as increasing greenhouse gas emissions affect weather patterns, making it harder for those in low-income countries to survive.

Early response most effective Responding early to predicted severe droughts prevents famines.

Investing in disaster risk measures not only saves lives it is far more cost-effective. A Tearfund study in Malawi showed that for every $1 invested in agriculture and reducing risk to climate change, $24 of net benefits in return flowed to the communities concerned. The cost of preventing malnutrition in children is about US$1 per child; whereas the cost of treating a child suffering from malnutrition is about US$80 per child. An early response can capitalize on lower food prices where possible. This supports families before they are forced to sell the assets they rely on to survive.

According to international development economist, Courtenay Cabot Venton, if the world waits to intervene in Ethiopia, which is in the grip of a major drought right now, the cost of a late response will be in the region of US$1.7 billion, and there could be significant loss of life. However, with an early response, the cost is likely to drop to about US$720 million. Responding early would result in an estimated

savings of at least US$1 billion.

Every day that response is delayed, the cost rises by a staggering US$8 million.

But what if we respond now and find that the drought wasn’t as bad as expected? By these estimations, Cabot Venton says that we would have to incorrectly predict and respond to the crisis three times before exceeding the cost of waiting and getting it ‘right’. And even if we do get it wrong, the money is not wasted. Interventions in non-crisis times have allowed families to build productive assets and income

Every day that response is delayed, the cost rises to a staggering US$8 million. generating opportunities so that they don’t need to receive support in later crises.

How much better for us to report that, thanks to an early response and support from the public, a famine had been averted, rather than needing money to stop more people from dying?

El Niño early response The severity of the current El Niño is affecting about 10 million people in East Africa. Drought and flooding have created hunger,

disease and water shortages.

Around 400,000 children in Ethiopia alone are suffering severe malnutrition. The situation is dire and Tearfund, through our Integral Alliance partner, is helping to fight malnutrition by providing highly nutritional supplements and oral rehydration to children and breastfeeding mothers. However, this situation is likely to worsen and spread across more countries.

In the Pacific, many are already suffering from hunger and drought, with approximately 4.2 million people potentially affected. The good news is that we have been able to act early thanks to our supporters, who responded to our call to help prevent hunger and suffering. But more is needed. With funds raised, we are establishing a medium-scale irrigated garden in the driest part of Tanna Island, Vanuatu, so that more food can be grown quickly to help the hungry who are struggling to grow enough for their families. The people on Tanna are still recovering from Cyclone Pam earlier this year, which wiped out their food crops. With the likelihood of more cyclones due to the El Niño, Tearfund is also preparing communities for disasters across a number of Pacific countries.

To prevent hunger caused by El Niño, go to tearfund.org.nz or call 0800 8000 777.

What is El Niño?

El Niño, Spanish for “The Little Boy,” refers to the Christ child. It seems innocuous, but this is the name of a weather pattern that is beginning to cause devastation around the world. This year’s El Niño has been deemed by some scientists as potentially a “Godzilla El Niño” and they predict that it is likely be the strongest since records began in 1950.

Scorched earth: An early response to impending droughts saves lives and money.

PICTURE Richard Hanson

The El Niño occurs every three to seven years. It causes a stalling of trade winds and the shifting of the subtropical jet stream, which warms ocean surface waters (usually by 1.5°C or more) in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The result is an intensification and increase in more extreme weather events. For instance, dry regions, like parts of Africa, can experience an intensification of drought, while wetter regions experience more intense rainfall. However, in the rainy season, a usually hot dry region may experience flooding followed by drought in the hotter months. For some, like those in the Pacific, it also increases the risk of more frequent cyclones of greater intensity than normal.

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Short supply: Mother of five, Rebecka is struggling to feed her family because of the El Niño.

Harsh conditions: A boy shows how small the kumara are because of the dry conditions.

El Niño double blow for Tanna Story and photos by Andrew Finlay Almost a year on, the island of Tanna is still recovering from Cyclone Pam. Children are still attending school in temporary tent class rooms and the food situation is far from normal. Although the diet is not always balanced on Tanna, it’s normally hard to find someone going hungry. Even when those near the volcano lose their gardens to ash fall, surplus from other parts of the island is generally enough to feed people. Cyclone Pam, however, removed many crops from local diets and it will take a couple of years for food supplies to return to what they were.

Usually at this time of year the island is awash with mangos, but this year the huge 100-year-old trees that line the coast are fruitless.

Staples such as coconuts, banana, manioc and pawpaw, have all been lost too.

Some areas are feeling the pinch more than others. The central parts of the island are very fertile, so fastgrowing vegetables such as kumara, carrots and cabbage, have grown well. The isolated communities in the far north are not so fortunate.

The soil structure and topography makes planting vegetables difficult.

Normally at this time of year people would be eating manioc, large cooking bananas, leafy green island cabbage and kumara, while they

wait for the taro harvest in March.

But the cyclone left them with little, and what they have replanted hasn’t grown well under the strength of this year’s El Niño.

Now people are reliant on tiny finger-sized kumara left over from last year’s gardens and the odd root of cassava that Cyclone Pam spared.

Children can be seen chewing on leaves as their only option for breakfast.

With NIWA having predicted three to four cyclones hitting Vanuatu between November and April, the people here need to be in a better position.

In September, people received rice from the government, but with this now gone, people are wondering what they will do next. Many parents are reducing their food intake so they can give more to their children. There is a local market, over an hour’s drive by four-wheeldrive, which sells food, but not only did the cyclone and El Niño take away food from these northern communities, it took their income.

Most people in this area earn money from selling kava which has also failed to grow back.

To help, aid agencies have been providing malnutrition screening and supplements for underweight children. One community health worker recalls 36 children in his area needing assistance. Other organizations have started food in schools programmes. With not enough food, children won’t attend school or struggle to concentrate, which has on-going consequences for child development. Tearfund, through its local partner, has started a large irrigated garden. It will provide plants and training to participants who will also be able to take home harvested vegetables to supplement their diets over the El Niño period.

Right now, we’re focused on feeding these people and increasing food security, but at the back of our minds is this: cyclone season is upon the Pacific again, and the El Niño is making it worse. With NIWA having predicted three to four cyclones hitting Vanuatu between November and April, the people here need to be in a better position.

Rebecka is a mother of five children.

At the time I spoke to her she was just cooking the last of the rice that was given to them by the government. This morning her children asked for food, but she had nothing to give them. Tomorrow, she will have to search for any cassava that has survived the cyclone and El Niño. Normally they would eat

island cabbage, manioc, banana and kumara at this time of year.

However, the manioc and bananas take nine months to a year to grow back. The island cabbage and kumara is faster growing but has failed due to the severe dry season.

Rebecka says they would buy food but they have no money. Normally they rely on selling kava for income, but both the cyclone and El Niño mean that they have none left to sell.

Pray that they will be protected from the devastating effects of further cyclones.

Deep in the heart of taxes The end of the tax year is almost upon us – the time when you can claim back a third of what you have so generously donated to the work of Tearfund. Tax receipts will be sent out early April. To ensure you receive yours as quickly as possible and to save on administrative and postage costs, just make sure we have your email address.

If you want your initial donation to work harder on behalf of the most vulnerable, why not give a thought to re-gifting your rebate to Tearfund to achieve even more? If you are receiving your tax receipt by email, we will include a link on how you can do that, and if you are receiving your receipt by post, we will include a form so you can re-gift all or some of your rebate.

Whatever you decide to do with your tax rebate, Tearfund is grateful for your generous donations.

8 | CORRESPONDENT – February 2016

Advocate!

Lent is here. Sign up for “Living Lent”, our daily reflection on living in tune with the needs of the world. Add your voice to help bring stability in Syria, and support new refugees in New Zealand.

Resources for living well Homeless: Take action to support Syrian refugees as the conflict approaches five years.

Daily ‘Living Lent’ in your Inbox Living Lent is a daily reflection and action guide for the 40 days of Lent between February 10 and March 25. It guides us through a reflection on our lives, consumption, waste, and invites an active response. It introduces us to Tearfund partners who are empowering others to grow food and earn a sustainable living.

Why a Living Lent?

Lent is traditionally a time of fasting and reflection, of submitting our impulses and desires to God and seeking God’s design for how things should be. We all unwittingly participate in some of the inequities

that keep the poor in poverty, but we

one aspect of the theme, gives a brief

can also intentionally live in ways

biblical reflection or prayer, and

that support the poor. The daily

an action suggestion. During the

reflection will help us examine these

week, we’ll celebrate, learn about

and make little or even large changes

global issues, meet some people

to our lives, that work to alleviate the

you and Tearfund are helping, and

barriers to empowerment faced by

be challenged to pray and act. Each

vulnerable communities. Some may

Monday’s email will include a larger

be inconvenient, but then, it is Lent!

weekly action challenge. We will also

How it Works

a poster – they are simply a starting

You can do Living Lent by yourself, as

point and a guide.

a family, church, flat, or home group. daily email reflection. Each week has

It’s not too late to Signup

a theme. Each day’s email explores

go to tearfund.org.nz/living-lent

When you sign up you’ll receive a

Act on the Syria Conflict and Refugee Crisis The Syrian crisis is now five years old. In the past six months the world has been shocked by the sheer numbers of civilians whose lives have become so desperate that they choose to leave everything behind to seek a life that can be lived in peace.

These people number 4.6 million.

Many are in refugee settlements in neighbouring countries, where conditions are dire. About 70% of families live below the international poverty line. Children are deprived of education, traumatized by horrors, and face an increasingly bleak future.

Our courageous partners are working to support those at the border camps.

GOOD LIVES

PICTURE Corbis News

give you more action suggestions as

to allow food, vaccinations and other urgent assistance to be delivered to civilians, and a cessation of attacks on civilian infrastructure so that

There are four great ways we all can help

schools, hospitals and water supplies

1. Consider donating so that our partners can continue their work.

They tell us that “the assistance available does not begin to meet the extreme level of need, and families are struggling for their survival.”

3. The New Zealand government is

2. Join Tearfund and humanitarian organizations around the world in a new campaign to end the Syria crisis. You can add your voice to the chorus by sharing or tweeting “End the suffering. End the #Syriacrisis”.

We are calling immediately for unimpeded access for humanitarian organizations, monitored ceasefires

and generosity. (ourvoices.org.nz)

are kept safe. considering permanently doubling the official quota of refugees we accept. Tearfund is endorsing this change. Be vocal and call on our government to show Kiwi hospitality 4. Lastly, and closest to home, we renew our call for churches and families to lead by supporting refugee families.

We can help you to understand how, by getting in touch on: advocacy@tearfund.org.nz

PROJECT AN EXPERIMENT IN FAITH Adapted By TEAR Fund

The Good Lives Project Global 101 The Good Lives Project booklet2_Cover_NEW_Logo.indd 1

17/09/15 3:46 pm

An experiment of faith in action. This seven-part small group study seeks to help us live more responsibly in everything from personal and family finances to day-to-day practices.

In the words of the Apostle Paul, it is an attempt to ‘conform no longer to the present pattern of the world’ (Romans 12:2).

No Longer Slaves Studies on human trafficking and slavery. Modern slavery needs a movement to combat it. Tearfund is committed to helping people become part of that movement.

L is for Lifestyle A challenge that none of us can ignore. This book by Ruth Valerio introduces an A-Z of the main threats to people and our planet and how to live responsibly in light of this.

To request any of these free resources, please email: advocacy@tearfund.org.nz

Justice Awakening Are you interested in attending a daylong justice awakening workshop put on by Tearfund? The workshop is an introduction to why Tearfund works for justice and uncovering your own experience of injustice. The day will be fun, reflective, challenging and informative. We are open to running seminars across the country in areas where enough interest has been expressed.

If you are interested, email: advocacy@tearfund.org.nz

9

Growing smiles: Tearfund’s agriculture programmes are enabling small hold farmers to help themselves.

Tearfund’s approach to agriculture is empowering

By Joy Davidson

Greater control over price

This year my vegetable garden has done well – cucumbers, tomatoes, capsicums, beans, and long summer evenings spent watering and weeding as the sun sets. It’s all been fun, but imagine if my small garden was the main source of my family’s food. Imagine if it was also the main resource I had to make a living. This is the reality for 70% of the world’s poor who live in rural areas and who, unlike in my therapeutic garden escapades, actually depend on small scale agriculture for their food security and income.

Our approach seeks to give farmers greater control over how much they sell their produce for.

Through organising farmers into cooperatives and providing analysis and training on the supply chain, farmers can skip the middle man and have direct access to markets.

This gives them greater power over the selling price, with more profit coming back to them. Being part of a cooperative also develops a sense of ‘togetherness’ for farmers and a sense of power that they can achieve things together.

Tearfund has partners around the world who are working with rural farmers to ensure they can make the absolute best of the resources they have to provide good nutrition for their families, and to move from subsistence to self-sufficiency and sustainability. From vegetable farming in Mongolia, to the dairy industry in north Sri Lanka, to peanut and coffee production on Tanna Island, Vanuatu – our small holder agricultural projects all have similar and unique factors that empower rural farmers.

Adding value Many rural farmers work at the bottom of the value chain, selling raw produce for a minimal profit. Our approach provides infrastructure and training on value-adding processes that turn raw products into a processed product that will get a higher price in the market. For example, in Tanna, our partner is equipping farmers to process coffee parchment (unhulled green bean) so they can sell green bean for a higher premium. All the processing infrastructure, like our milk chilling centres in Sri Lanka, are locally owned and managed, with

the communities providing the land and labour. This communal ownership creates a sense of pride and ensures that benefits reach the whole community.

Advantages of organic production In order to be sustainable, our approach is focused on organic agriculture. Agricultural chemicals are too costly for the majority of poor farmers and can also cause environmental damage, leading to lower yields. Through an organic approach, people are taught how to recycle food waste to make their own compost, and organic pesticides in order to increase production. This also lowers the cost of production, resulting in more profit. Farmers working with our partner GreenMinds, in the Philippines, produces one of the only organic brands of peanuts sold in the Philippines. And, just like in New Zealand, organic produce fetches a premium, providing even higher profits for rural farmers.

New Zealand expertise and local knowledge Game changing innovations also characterise our agricultural work.

Through partnering local knowledge and agricultural expertise with New Zealand consultants, we are creating and trialling new approaches to agricultural development. In the harsh cold climate of Mongolia our project has extended the growing season of vegetables from two to four months by creating a rammed earth hot house which absorbs heat during the day and releases it at night. In Sri Lanka we are bringing cold-milk processing back into the farmer communities and bringing farmers closer to the market.

We facilitated a partnership between our Philippines and

Vanuatu partners who share agricultural techniques and traditional knowledge with each other. With these innovative approaches we are seeing farmers receiving more income from the same amount of land. In Vanuatu, some farmers are producing up to four times more peanuts from the same plot of land thanks to education on effective organic farming methods. In Sri Lanka, farmers’ incomes have increased 500% thanks to new dairy technology and infrastructure.

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation states, “evidence suggests that agricultural growth in low-income countries is three times more effective in reducing extreme poverty compared with growth in other sectors.” My first-hand experience of our work in this sector suggests the same.

As I spend the summer evenings pottering in my garden, I reflect on how amazing it is to witness the sense of pride people have as they realise they have the resources and capacity to produce marketable products and create their own income. People start to realise that they matter, that they are citizens who can contribute to their communities and to the collective livelihood of their region. They are regarded by their local and national government as good examples of small holder farmers who can feed their families and send their kids to school, and who, in turn, can train and inspire others with the methods and approaches that have enabled it all. That is true empowerment!

Give to Empower by going to tearfund.org.nz or phoning 0800 800 777

10 | CORRESPONDENT – February 2016

Events Tearfund has some exciting events coming up that will truly inspire you, from speakers to talented musicians. To find out more, visit tearfund.org.nz/events

On a mission: Jake McLean from Mt Mosaic with his sponsor child, Enjel, in Indonesia.

Queenstown Classic PICTURE Supplied

Mt Mosaic focuses on child sponsorship

By Jake McLean In June 2015, I had the privilege of travelling to Monado, Indonesia, as part of a six-member team from Mount Maunganui’s Mosaic church.

Members of our church sponsor more than 50 children through Tearfund.

This was an opportunity for us to visit the projects and to get a personal experience of what our sponsorship means in their lives.

A highlight for me was meeting my family’s sponsor child – a beautiful young girl named Enjel. We walked along a narrow dirt path through lush green vegetation until we found a small wooden shack with dirt floors. A few scrawny animals, a cat, some chickens and a pig milled around the house. Enjel was waiting in her best little dress which hung awkwardly off her small frame.

Her extended family greeted us warmly. Enjel was very shy. It’s hard to imagine what she thought about these foreigners who were visiting her house. It was heart-breaking to see the conditions she lived in.

Her whole family lived in a room the size of my daughter’s bedroom, but knowing that through my sponsorship she would have access to education, health care and food

Spotlight on Children during May

By Sheena Duffy Vakatale All parents have hopes for their children, for their future. It can be difficult to provide for your children especially when you live in a very poor community.

As a child sponsor, my heart was broken when I visited children who attended the Compassion projects in

that she would otherwise not receive, was reassuring. It was comforting to know that this support would allow Enjel’s mother to continue doing such a great job of looking after her family, without the burden of wondering how else she could pay for all these things herself.

On a visit to the project where over 100 sponsor children were looked after, we were all moved to tears as one of the mother’s of a sponsor child thanked us for our sponsorship.

The heartfelt gratitude was communicated in a way that made the translator almost unnecessary.

With tears in her eyes, she told us how she had prayed many times for a sponsor for her young boy. So when she found out someone from our church was going to start sponsoring her boy, it really was an answer to her prayers. From the many tears she shed, you could see what that sponsorship meant for her. It was so humbling to think that a small sum of money, that disappears from our bank account each month could have this effect on someone else’s life!

sponsored children in the same projects where our children were.

They talked about their personal experiences and what sponsorship had meant for them. We were all blown away by the way these young people spoke and the maturity they showed. I thought how proud I would be to see my children grow into youths like these one day. It gave me hope that Enjel too, with the benefit of my sponsorship, could overcome the hard start she had in life and in about 12 years she would be up the front telling her own story. The thought that these youths could one day become the new leaders, that bring about real changes in their country, filled me with renewed optimism and a greater sense of responsibility. I left Monado knowing the important role my sponsorship has in Enjel’s life and the importance of praying for Enjel and her family, of writing her letters regularly, and trying to remain a constant in her life over the coming years.

On our last night, we had dinner with some of the youth in the Leadership Development Programme. These were 17 to 18-year-olds who had been

Pray that other churches in New Zealand would catch the vision for sponsoring children as a congregation.

their homes in Guatemala, Rwanda and Thailand. It was incredibly touching to see how deeply the parents cared for their children.

A message I received over and over from parents was how much they wanted a better life for their children.

It is by faith the church extends their hand, as they support children while they find sponsors, which sometimes takes months.

The Wait is Over campaign and

#The Wait is Over

Tearfund’s child sponsorship work.

Together we can give children a hope for a better future. We would love you to join us. During May, we invite you to take part in our

present child sponsorship to your church, home group and friends.

Hosting a Tearfund The Wait is Over event couldn’t be easier. All you need is a desire to make a difference to children’s lives and invite others

March 6-8 This is a cycling and fundraising three-day challenge with breathtaking views around Queenstown, Alexandra, Wanaka. Join us if you have a road bike, can ride 100km a day for three consecutive days and can raise a minimum of $1,250 for our fight against sex trafficking.

Empower Tour March 1-16 This tour will launch Tearfund’s new Enterprise and Empowerment sector. We want to celebrate past achievements, thank our Microenterprise supporters and launch this new Empower model. Our guest speaker is Keith Etherington, a project specialist from Ethiopia.

Come and hear how he introduced the new Self Help Group model into the community where 200,000 women are now connected to a Self Help savings Group, and how successful this is. We will have public events in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Timaru.

Check out tearfund.org.nz/events.

Dan and Strahan: The Wait is Over tour May 14-24 Two of our favourite artists are back touring during the month of May. Dan Bremnes and Strahan Coleman will bring together their amazing talents of singing and song writing, and sharing stories that have shaped their lives.

The Justice Conference October 28-29 The Justice Conference is a global movement which has grown to become one of the largest international gatherings on social and biblical justice. 2016 is this inaugural New Zealand conference in Auckland. A great line-up of justice speakers from Eugene Chou, Danielle Strickland, Ken Wytsma, Joel McKerrow, Melinda Tankard Reist to Daniel Walker. Save the date and go to thejusticeconference.org.nz

to sponsor a child. We will provide a resource pack that will contain everything you need to share about

If you’re interested in being a part of this special month, please go to tearfund.org.nz and register your interest.

OCT 28-29 AUCK. 2016

11

God has a plan for Francia Story and photos by Nicolas Jean Elie Growing up, Francia Etienne lived with her aunt Chantale and her two cousins in a populated neighbourhood in Haiti called Carrefour-Feuilles, Port-au-Prince.

Due to her poor circumstances, Francia was enrolled in Tearfund’s Child Sponsorship Programme run by Compassion International.

Francia’s mother died after giving birth to Francia’s younger sister in the Dominican Republic. Because Francia’s relatives were afraid that her father may be a bad influence on her, the little girl was placed in the care of her aunt.

Despite the distance, Francia never stopped checking on news about her father. Every time they met, he mostly talked of his positive experiences in business. This always kept the attention of Francia, so it was no surprise when Francia decided to start her own microbusiness at the age of 12.

“I have always been impressed by my dad’s positive business experiences. The more I grew, the more I become embarrassed by relying on my father or my aunt for money. My childhood dream was to go to university. I understood that I needed to do everything I could to make this a reality, so I decided to take some simple goods to sell at school to save for my education. It was mostly snacks and stickers that I bought with my savings to sell to my classmates and teachers. My classmates liked it, and I made a small profit,” she says.

ride away. At the end of the national contest, I felt dizzy and my stomach was hurting,” she says. “As I was about to faint, I asked to be taken home for a rest. I slept for the entire day. It was only when I woke up later at night, that I realized how many missed calls I had from Compassion.

My worst fears were confirmed; I had missed the interview.”

Rather than letting this defeat her, Francia enrolled in an English class. Then she started a cosmetics network marketing business to generate income. But in 2010, her efforts were interrupted by the earthquake that devastated Haiti.

“The tragedy of the earthquake destroyed all my hopes. I was grateful to God for sparing my life and the ones of my family, but this brought me to my knees as I was seeking God’s guidance in these difficult moments. However, I kept selling cosmetics to pay for my tuition,” says Francia.

Fighting the odds: Francia was determined to become a nurse.

Rather than letting this defeat her, Francia enrolled in an English class. Then she started a cosmetics network marketing business to generate income.

“But in May 2013, staff at the Compassion project contacted me about a three-day income generation course. At the end of this training, I submitted a business plan to the board. I was surprised

“Demand was good and I moved to selling cosmetics. Three years after, my product list increased as I had to adjust to meet the demand. In 2008, I began selling clothes at a 20% profit.”

when my proposal was approved.

Francia used her savings wisely to fulfil her childhood dream.

Unfortunately, in 2008, she used all her savings to be at her father’s bedside when he became sick. He died in January 2009. With one hope to fulfilling her dream crossed off in her diary, Francia knew that she had two more opportunities left: one would be to succeed at the national contest for a scholarship grant, while the other one was to be selected as a Compassion Leadership Development student.

products to customers. The profit

“On the national contest day for the scholarship, I was in a rush and left home early without eating and took the exam on an empty stomach. As soon as I was done with that exam, I had to rush for the scholarship interview, which was an hour’s bus

the beginning, she says. “I am still

As a result, I was given a $1,700 (NZ $2,224) loan to start my business.

“I rented a studio to start a beauty salon. I also sold my cosmetic was enough to pay for my studies at a private nursing school. Four years later, at the age of 24, my childhood dream to become a nurse came true.

When the doors for the Leadership Development Programme and national scholarship were closed for Francia, God opened a window of hope for her to finish the race.

Francia married in December, 2014, but that is not the fairy-tale end to her story, rather it is just waiting on God to reveal the rest of His plan for our life. I am grateful because God has used his angels both from the child sponsorship project and office to help mould my life and make me who I am today.”

Dyeing to succeed: Francia started a salon business to earn enough to fund her education.

12 | CORRESPONDENT – February 2016

A waiting game

Donate

I’d like to support: Empower Disasters Where most needed Donation amount: $35 Other $

$50

$100

Donations over $5 are tax deductible.

Get your donations in before the 31st of March 2016 to be included in this tax period.

or

Sponsor a child $48 per month

To sponsor a child in this edition call us on 0800 800 777.

My preference is: Girl Boy

Every day the children on this page wait in hope that today will be the day they are sponsored. Every morning they check the board outside Tearfund’s Compassion project to see if there are the words, ‘sponsored’, by their name.

While these children have been accepted into the project, they long to be the same as the other children who have a sponsor who cares for them, prays for them, and sends

programme are more likely to: • Finish secondary school • Complete tertiary education

Have you ever wondered about the effectiveness of child sponsorship?

• Have a white-collar job as an adult

According to an independent peer-reviewed study on the effectiveness of our Compassion child sponsorship by a top US economics professor, Bruce Wydick,

• Be a leader in their community

Will you make their day and change their lives forever by sponsoring one of these children today?

Africa Asia No preference

Please add Sponsorship Plus:

$10 extra per month to cover additional needs like unexpected medical treatment and help support other children still waiting for sponsors.

9

Your details Fill in this section if you are making a donation, or if you’d like to sponsor a child.

We’d love to start journeying with you!

Have you donated to Tearfund before?

6

months waiting

9

months waiting

12

months waiting

months waiting

Angel

Anyelick

Badane

Camilo

DOB 08-Sep-2011

DOB 9-Nov-2007 Anyelick lives with her parents.

On a typical day Anyelick helps around the house by looking after her siblings and carrying water. Her father is at times employed as an engine operator.

Anyelick is in kindergarten and enjoys ball games, running and singing.

DOB 28-Dec-2009 Badane lives with his parents.

On a typical day Badane helps around the house by running errands. His parents are at times employed as daily labourers.

Badane is in kindergarten and enjoys group games. He regularly attends Sunday school/church.

DOB 11-Mar-2011 Camilo lives with his parents.

On a typical day Camilo helps around the house by making beds, cleaning and running errands. His father is at times employed as a seller in the market and his mother is at times employed.

Age 7, from Guatemala

Age 4, from Mexico

Name:

children sponsored through the

Either

Location: South America Central America

Yes

them letters. Will you make their day and change their lives forever by sponsoring one of these special children today?

Angel lives with his parents. On a typical day Angel helps around the house by gathering firewood and cleaning. His father is at times employed as a farmer and his mother is unemployed.

Angel is in kindergarten and enjoys ball games and cars.

Age 5, from Ethiopia

Age 4, from Colombia

No Last Title

First

Address:

Home phone:

3

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Please send me information about: Remembering Tearfund in my will Becoming a volunteer Advocate Please take me off your mailing list

3

months waiting

6

months waiting

6

months waiting

months waiting

Leandro

Theo

Nabila

Nzayikorera

DOB 05-Feb-2010 Leandro lives with his parents, his father is employed and his mother is unemployed.

On a typical day Leandro helps around the house by running errands. Leandro is in kindergarten and enjoys cars, playing group games and ball games.

DOB 23-Jan-2010 On a typical day Theo helps around the house by making beds, cleaning and running errands. Theo is in kindergarten and he enjoys cars, art/drawing and football. He regularly attends church.

DOB 18-August-2002 Nabila lives with her grandparents. On a typical day Nabila helps around the house by cleaning, carrying water and washing clothes.

Her grandparents are at times employed. Nabila is in primary school.

DOB 20-May-2007 Nzayikorera lives with his parents. On a typical day Nzayikorera helps around the house by carrying water and gathering firewood. His parents are at times employed as farmers.

Nzayikorera is in primary school and enjoys football and running.

Age 5, from Ecuador

Age 5, from Indonesia

Age 13, from Tanzania

Age 8, from Rwanda

Payment details Make a secure online donation. Go to tearfund.org.nz and click ‘donate now’

Cheque (make payable to Tearfund)

3

Visa / Mastercard (please complete below)

Expiry date: Cardholder name:

Signature:

12

months waiting

Card Number:

9

months waiting

12

months waiting

months waiting

Stefana

Tegawende

Abisha

Xiomara

DOB 12-Apr-2009 Stefana lives with her grandparents. On a typical day Stefana helps around the house by carrying water. Her grandparents are at times employed as tailors. Stefana is in preschool and enjoys dolls and playing house.

DOB 03-Mar-2010 Tegawende lives with her parents who are at times employed and sell at the local market. On a typical day Tegawende helps around the house by caring for her siblings and running errands.

Tegawende is in kindergarten and enjoys group games.

DOB 23-Jun-2009 Abisha lives with her parents and grandparents. On a typical day Abisha helps around the house by carrying water, cleaning and running errands. Her parents work as tea pluckers. Abisha is in primary school and enjoys hide and seek, group games and dolls.

DOB 29-Dec-2011 Xiomara lives with her parents.

Her father is at times employed as a farmer and her mother is unemployed. On a typical day Xiomara helps around the house by making beds. Xiomara is in preschool and she enjoys playing house and dolls.

Age 6, from Haiti

Age 5, from Burkina Faso

Age 6, from Sri Lanka

OUR PURPOSE

PUBLICATION DETAILS

CONTACT

The purpose of Tearfund is to glorify God by extending His Kingdom in ministry to the poor, oppressed and disadvantaged, and to encourage God’s people in NZ to live out the values and principles of His Kingdom by sharing with those in need. The Correspondent is published three times a year.

Editor: Keith Ramsay.

Contributors: Helen Manson, Ian McInnes, Joy

0800 800 777 | tearfund.org.nz enquiries@tearfund.org.nz

Davidson, Murray Sheard, Frank Ritchie, Andrew Finlay, Jake McLean, Nicolas Jean Elie.

Graphic Designer: Phil Botha Art Director: Alex Carter. Printing: PMP Print.

Mixed Sources Product group from well-managed forests, and other controlled sources www.fsc.org Cert no. SCS-COC-2324 © 1996 Forest Stewardship Council

Age 3, from Peru