Fieldnotes - Summer 2023

A thriving farmer leads by example in MOZAMBIQUE.

By Lemon Chipwatali

Southern Africa

Alberto Elias, 50, has been farming his entire working life. The married father of eight children, lives with his family in rural Mozambique where many farming families are facing challenges related to unpredictable weather patterns.

For a long time, part of Alberto's regular farming practices included making ridges and burning trash in his fields. He did not

know these practices were making his fields more vulnerable to soil erosion. Despite long hours spent working, his crop yields were just not adequate to support the basic needs of his family and he had to do piecework in other people’s fields whenever his family struggled to have enough to eat.

Through World Renew’s local partner, ESPANOR, Alberto was able to take part in

conservation agriculture training. He learned how to top-cover soil with dry grass or compost and discovered the importance of rotating his crops. He also discovered that it was better to give his crops time to grow and make use of everything in his fields, rather than make ridges and burn trash.

Alberto began to practice what he learned on a small section of his farm and harvested more in this section than he had ever harvested on bigger plots using traditional ways of farming. Now Alberto has more hope in his heart as he heads out to farm his fields each day. He plans to help other farmers improve their yields and transform their livelihoods. “I have become a good example in the community,” he says.

Prayers for Southern Africa

by Steve Sywulka

• Praise God for the opportunity to gather with our regional partners in Mozambique to discuss our partnership. Pray that God will continue to align us with partners committed to pursuing justice and mercy.

• Because of agricultural production shortfalls, high food prices, and the impacts of Cyclone Freddy, the United Nations is expecting food insecurity to persist across most of southern Malawi; pray for God’s provision for the most vulnerable.

• Pray for God’s guidance for World Renew and our partners as we work to address hunger, poverty and injustice, and share God’s love in Southern Africa.

2,274 households in Zambia have launched new income-generating activities through a program started in 2021, thanks to gifts like yours.

Investing in Teachers. Investing in Community. CAMBODIA

By Sovann Neth

Asia

Chanleak started teaching kindergarten in 2017 at the age of 18. Despite having little experience and very limited training, she entered the classroom believing that teaching was her calling. “Teaching young children was not an easy job for me as I started from scratch. A new challenge came up every day,” she remembers. “But that didn’t stop me from being a teacher. I just needed a steppingstone to connect my passion with the profession.”

Chanleak felt that her steppingstone came just in time through World Renew’s local partner, OREDA. Chanleak had the opportunity to participate in a range of teacher training courses, including Classroom Management, Curriculum Design, Inclusive Education, How to Engage Young Learners in Class, Creating Teaching and Learning Materials, and Pedagogy.

Now Chanleak feels equipped with the skills that she needs to do the job she loves with confidence. She receives grateful praise from parents, and with her newly gained professionalism, she played a large role in helping her school pass a Quality and Impact Evaluation of Kindergarten, which led to their receiving an award from the Ministry of Education.

Looking back over her six years of teaching, Chanleak says, “Seeing my improvement in this profession makes me more excited for the journey ahead. I embrace my service to the children in the community, and I am always grateful for the support that I receive.”

Prayers for Asia

by Ruairidh Waddell

• Extreme flooding and landslides in Northern India, brought on by the rains of the summer monsoon season, have resulted in the loss of life and property, pray for God’s comfort and hope for all impacted communities.

• Pray for God’s provision for Rohingya refugees in camps in Bangladesh as they deal with the challenges of extreme weather, deadly clashes between rival groups operating in the camps, and a worsening hunger crisis.

• As World Renew Laos conducts an evaluation of programs for the expansion into several new communities, pray for the safety of the teams as they travel.

In the last year, 911 children, teenagers, & parents in Cambodia participated in health learning activities, thanks to generosity like yours.

Women unite to support their families in GUATEMALA.

By Ana Lucia Rivera

Latin America

Many women in the community of Herencia Maya, Guatemala, looked to the future with a sense of hopelessness as an increasing number of men in the community chose to leave to go in search of employment opportunities abroad. The migration of their partners left the women feeling abandoned and overwhelmed by the responsibility of becoming sole providers for their families.

Through God’s grace, a group of these women are now looking to the future with hope.

With the support of World Renew and local partners APIDEC and TRIPAN, the women formed a group to work together on a community vegetable garden and poultry activities. This work is making it possible for them to generate enough income to meet their families’ needs. The time they spend

together has also led to the strengthening of bonds between members of the group.

The women report that, in the past, their husbands’ migration left them worried about the future, but this has changed because of the support they have received from each other, and from World Renew, APIDEC, and TRIPAN.

The women say that they feel empowered and better equipped to provide for their families. They want to keep working and showing their new-found strength and ask for your prayers so that blessings like this continue to come to their community and to the lives of other women.

Prayers for Latin America

by Cortisaan Van Aalsburg

• Pray for opportunities to open up in their homeland for people struggling with income insecurity in Guatemala who are contemplating migration as a solution.

• As gang violence continues to impact the people of Honduras and Haiti, please pray for peace in the hearts of all and wisdom for leaders to find solutions to resolve conflict.

• Pray for courage and perseverance for World Renew staff and our partners in the region as they work to extend God’s love to the vulnerable, while navigating the challenges of conflict, extreme weather, and rising food prices.

In 2022, 173 farmers in Guatemala implemented at least 3 new sustainable agriculture practices and have maintained them for a year.

The power of three meals a day in KENYA.

By Stephan Lutz

EastAfrica

Jeremiah Karua lives in a bustling household with eight family members. This farmer had been hit hard by the long drought affecting parts of Kenya and as a result, his family, like many other farming families in the region, often did not have enough to eat.

Jeremiah would reach out to his neighbors for food. This kind of assistance was not enough, however, given the size of his family

and the fact that so many other families were also struggling.

“We could eat very little once a day,” Jeremiah says as he recalls how his children would cry from hunger. “The situation was worse, especially for my five children attending school without a school feeding program…Their only food was hope for a better tomorrow.”

It was a relief for Jeremiah when World Renew’s local partner, Anglican Development Services Mt. Kenya East, provided his family with a cash transfer to help them meet their immediate food needs.

Thanks to this assistance, Jeremiah and his family have found new health and strength for their daily life, which will make a huge difference in their ability to journey out of poverty for the long-term.

Prayers for East Africa

by Harouna Issaka

• As the conflict in Sudan continues, pray for God’s provision for Sudan and for surrounding countries that are hosting Sudanese refugees.

• While rainfall brought some relief from the long drought that impacted agriculture and livestock production in regions of East Africa, sadly, subsequent flash floods resulted in more hardships. Please continue to pray for the calming of weather systems.

• Pray for wisdom for World Renew East Africa staff as we work to bring God’s hope to the most vulnerable families impacted by conflict and extreme weather.

“We now have enough quality food for three meals a day. The children are now able to attend their lessons comfortably and do not have to drop out because of hunger,” says Jeremiah. “I thank God for the support.”

Thanks to gifts like yours, 588 families were trained on kitchen gardening and 177 new kitchen gardens were established in Uganda in the last year.

Not cursed: a baby's journey to love. SENEGAL

By Esther Kühn

West Africa

Shortly after Amy* was born in Senegal, her mother died. Devastated by the loss, Amy’s grandmother, Khadja, was desperate to know what had caused her daughter’s death. A doctor eventually referred Khadja to World Renew’s local partner, Lutheran Services for Development in Senegal (SLDS).

“My daughter was sick, she had sores around her mouth and her tongue was cut,” Khadja told SLDS staff members. “Because of this she had difficulty eating. She only ate

porridge and Amy was crying all the time. The whole family said that Amy was cursed and that her mother died because she cried so much.”

Staff members asked Khadja for her daughter’s medical records, which revealed a diagnosis of tongue cancer—the disease that ultimately took her life. They assured Khadja that Amy was crying so often because she had been hungry, since her mother was underfed and not producing

enough milk. Khadja was given formula and filtered water for Amy and a follow-up visit was scheduled.

With sensitivity and clarity, SLDS staff also helped Amy’s other family members understand the true cause of Amy’s mother’s death. They were greatly relieved Amy was not cursed and they committed to showing her love.

“Amy is well cared for and cherished by her whole family,” Khadja reported to SLDS staff at her last appointment. “Thank you for your support and diligence.”

*Name has been changed to protect identity.

Prayers for West Africa

by Harouna Issaka

• Praise God that weather remained stable across the region so that planting happened mostly on time this year.

• Pray that weather conditions will continue to be favorable for crop growth and development and that harvests will be bountiful.

• Continue to pray for peace in the region and for the safety of World Renew staff and our partners.

Generosity like yours made it possible for 90 people in Sierra Leone to improve their writing and numeric skills in the last year.

Mobility Means Dignity

In many communities World Renew serves, people believe that a child's physical disability is God's punishment for their parents' wrongdoings. These children are often denied education and remain confined to their homes when they become too heavy for their parents to carry.

Through God's word, World Renew and local partners remind these communities that God is merciful and requires us to show mercy, too. You can give the gift of a wheelchair to a child with a physical disability, providing them mobility, access to education, and dignity.