Fieldnotes - Spring 2023

Building a bridge to opportunity in LAOS

By Mike Fennema Asia

The residents of Khargi village in Laos have to travel to Phonxay village for health care and to buy and sell goods. Children in grades 6 through 9 in Khargi also travel to Phonxay as this is where the nearest middle school is located. Getting back and forth from Khargi to Phonxay has not always been easy because the journey involves crossing a river.

One resident of Khargi shares, “Sometimes when the river was very high, during periods of heavy rains, the only option was to turn around and go home.” He says, “... sometimes the river would become so high that there was danger of floating away, and we had no choice but to spend several nights sleeping in Phonsay waiting for the water to recede before we could return home.”

Prayers for ASIA

by Ruairidh Waddell

• As the population in India continues to soar, women are finding it increasingly difficult to secure employment; pray for justice for women and girls who are denied education and opportunities to thrive.

• The conditions for Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh are becoming increasingly arduous and many are risking their lives crossing the sea to go in search of new opportunities. Pray for God’s provision for all refugee families.

• Pray for God’s continued guidance for World Renew staff in the field.

Middle school students from Khargi live in temporary shelters in Phonxay from Sunday afternoons to Friday afternoons and return home for the weekends. At times when the river was swollen, they were left stranded. And pregnant women were also not always able to receive medical care in a timely manner when crossing the river was too dangerous.

These struggles ended recently. With the support of World Renew, the community of Khargi built a bridge across the river. In partnership with the Mai District Transportation Department and the village development committee, World Renew worked to survey for the best place to build the bridge. After the survey, the villagers gathered gravel, sand, and wood to assist in the construction. The village head, Mr. Laoler Laoli, 28, says, “The new bridge opens new opportunities, bringing education, development, and health care closer to our lives.”

In 2022, thanks to generosity like yours, 17,000 people in Bangladesh benefited from training through a project focused on improving the health and nutrition of vulnerable families.

Catering dreams in NICARAGUA

By Steve Gisel

Latin America

Kaelyn Castillo, her husband, and their two daughters, Aracely, 15, and Genesis, 6, live in Tecomapa, a small rural town in Nicaragua with a population of less than 100 families. For a long time there was only one small store where the community purchased their basic goods. Now, a welcomed addition to this community is the catering business that Kaelyn recently started.

Through World Renew’s local partner, Fundación San Lucas Nicaragua, Kaelyn had the opportunity to join a Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA), locally referred to as a Savings and Internal Lending Bank. Through the VSLA, members come together to save small amounts of money, often less than $1 a week, and then provide small lowinterest loans to each other. Kaelyn says, “Thanks to this project, I was able to start my

business. I never thought I would have my own business.” Prior to joining the VSLA, the catering business had only been a dream that Kaelyn never thought would become a reality because she and her husband, both farmers, did not earn enough to meet their family’s basic needs, much less to start a business.

Kaelyn explains, “I was able to get two different loans from the [VSLA] which made

it possible for me to buy the plates, silverware, and cooking utensils I needed to be able to start my catering business.” Now the growth of her business has made it possible for Kaelyn’s dream for her daughters to attend secondary school to begin becoming reality too. Kaelyn shares, “My daughter Aracely would never have gone on after elementary school without this opportunity. Now she is in her second year of high school.”

Prayers for Latin America

by Cortisaan Van Aalsburg

• Gang violence continues to result in the loss of human life in Haiti; pray for God’s protection for the most vulnerable and his peace to radiate across the country.

• As the rift between church and government grows in Nicaragua, pray that those in power will find peaceful ways to resolve differences. Pray too for the safety of World Renew Nicaragua staff and partners as they work to share Christ’s hope.

• Guatemala is preparing for elections in June. Pray that as politicians campaign for power that they will choose the path of goodness and integrity, and inspire unity and peace.

In Honduras, 150 youth benefited from the support and guidance of mentors through a Youth Impact Club facilitated by World Renew's local partner ASJ.

A community's journey to flourishing in UGANDA

By Carol Musoke

East Africa

Like many farmers in rural Uganda, Monday Justus bought his potato seeds at the market. He worked hard planting those seeds, but his crop yields were always disappointing. He simply did not know how to improve his harvests and increase his income and so he struggled to meet his family’s basic needs.

Then Monday had the opportunity to participate in conservation agriculture training in his community, facilitated by World Renew’s local partner, Pentecostal Assemblies of God.

He joined a farming group focused on learning new agricultural practices that would not only help them grow more robust crops but they also learned how to protect and restore their soil. They learned about practices like using mulch and cover crops to improve soil moisture. What a difference these environmentally-friendly farming practices made!

Prayers for East Africa

by Barbara Kayanja

• East Africa is often threatened by domestic and international terrorism; pray for peace in the region and the safety of World Renew staff and our partners.

• Pray for God’s abundance and provision of funds that allow for the expanding of programs in East Africa, and his wisdom as World Renew considers how we can serve in South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo.

• Pray for health for the people of East Africa as they face the looming threat of the Marburg virus.

By applying conservation agriculture methods – and using improved potato seeds – these farmers were able to harvest a total of 5,700 pounds of potatoes. This was a huge increase from their prior yields. They were able to sell 14 of their 19 bags at the local market for a good profit and the rest they kept for their families’ consumption.

And so a new cycle of success began for Monday and his fellow farmers. He enjoys being the chairperson of the farmers group and has new hope for his neighbors, family, and entire community. He says, “I give many thanks to World Renew and its partner because our prayers have been answered and all our problems concerning Irish potato growing are being solved.”

In Tanzania, 214 participants have reported improvement in joint decisionmaking with their partner, thanks to gender justice sessions and generosity like yours.

Rice production is easier in YORIA

By Daniel Friesen

West Africa

In Sierra Leone it is common to see small patches of unhusked rice on the edge of the road. The rice is put out in the sun to dry – one step in an arduous process that includes: harvesting the crop by hand, separating the grain from the stalk, then partially drying and storing it in the husk. When the time comes to eat the rice, it must be put out in the sun to dry, and then the husk is removed through pounding and winnowing it to finally get to the dry rice, which is then ready to be cooked.

Women often stand over the drying rice guarding it against animals or people going by. But they cannot truly guard the grain from contaminants blowing in the wind.

Having a safe place to dry the grain can be challenging. Ideally, what communities need is a grain drying floor – a cement floor surrounded by fencing and with adequate space for up to ten families to safely dry their grain at a time.

World Renew’s local partner, Christian Extension Services (CES), as part of a project focused on enabling increased production of rice, recently built a grain drying floor in the community of Yoria. The residents of Yoria came together to collect sand, water, and stones and provided the local labor, and CES, with funding from World Renew provided the cement, skilled labor, and fencing materials.

Borbeh Sesay, the chairperson of the village agricultural committee, says, “We used to dry our grains on cloth or on the ground where it usually mixed with stones and contaminants … with this new drying floor that isn’t the case … the rice is safe and clean.”

Prayers for West Africa

by Harouna Issaka

• Civilians continue to bear the brunt of loss to violence between Islamist groups and state security forces in Mali. Pray for an end to the unnecessary loss of life and for peace across the country.

• In Nigeria, as clashes between nomadic herders and settled farmers continue to result in the loss of human life and the destruction of property, pray for an end to the violence and for God’s peace to fill the hearts of the Nigerian people.

• Pray that God will continue to keep World Renew staff and partners across the region healthy and safe, so that they can continue to pursue justice and mercy for his most vulnerable children.

Thanks to generous-hearted people like you, 944 women in Nigeria benefited from trauma healing training in 2022. Your gifts are helping them to believe in themselves!

Healing through community support in MALAWI

By Faye Yu

Southern Africa

Twenty-one-year-old Yamikani Mose will never forget the night his family’s house collapsed. He was sleeping in the kitchen – a small, dilapidated, and grassthatched room – when the termite-damaged walls fell in, leaving him with an injury to his left eye and a fractured hip.

It was not easy for Yamikani’s elderly parents to take him to the hospital 25

miles from their home or provide for his needs as he recovered. They had already been struggling financially and so they were grateful when, through World Renew’s local partner Word Alive Ministry, church and community members worked to support their family. The church helped Yamikani to receive the medical care that he needed. They helped to cover the costs of food, crutches, and groceries. After Yamikani

was discharged from the hospital, the church continued to support his family with food and other basic necessities. And, the community came together to repair the family’s house.

Then, to help strengthen this family for the long-term, World Renew partnered with church leaders to provide Yamikani with startup capital for a small-scale cassava and fresh maize business.

Today, Yamikani has fully recovered. Through the income from his business, he is able to provide not only for himself but also for his parents.

“I am thankful to the church and all members of the community for the support they provided during the time I was in hospital and after being

discharged,” he said. “I will be supporting other people who are in need using some of the profits I get from my business.”

Prayers for Southern Africa

by Steve Sywulka

• Praise God for the rains that have fallen this year in Zambia and that farmers are looking forward to a good harvest this May.

• Pray for God’s comfort and provision for the people of Madagascar, Mozambique, and Malawi who lost loved ones, their homes and possessions, and their livelihoods when Cyclone Freddy swept across the region in early March.

• Pray for calming of weather systems that bring cyclones and droughts to the region. Pray too for perseverance for farming families who face the loss of their crops to extreme weather.

In 2022, in Mozambique, 641 farmers began applying at least 3 principles of conservation agriculture that they learned thanks to gifts like yours.

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?”

— Luke 16: 10-11

We are called to be wise stewards of all God’s blessings. As World Renew and our partners work to teach people new skills that will help them generate more income, through Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs), they learn to be wise stewards of their hard-earned money.

Often people who live in poverty do not have access to banks or formal lending programs. When you give a gift to help start a Village Savings and Loan Association through World Renew, local families learn to pool their money in a joint savings account, approve small business loans at reasonable interest rates, hold each other accountable, and build hope for a better future.

To learn more, visit: worldrenew.net/vsla