Imagine your life without the ability to go to urgent care or swing by a pharmacy to pick up necessary medicines.
For many throughout the world, medical treatment is free, but the medicines they need are unaffordable. Nearly 2 billion people have no access to basic medicines, according to the World Health Organization. When children and families are continuously ill, their entire lives are impacted. Attending work or school, supporting a family, maintaining relationships, and having hope for a bright future is a constant challenge that feels impossible to achieve.
When it comes to medical aid, Cross International has a clear perspective on the importance it plays in our overall mission to transform the poor and their communities materially and spiritually for the glory of Jesus Christ. We understand that resolving health issues is critical for other supports, like education, clean water, and housing, to be effective, and it’s why medical aid will always be an important component of the services we promote and advance through our work with local ministry partners around the world.
Working closely with local ministry partners is crucial to the success of our programs. They best understand the needs of their neighbors and the type of support that will be most effective. Our partners are deeply rooted in their communities, providing sustained support that is often key in tackling systemic underlying issues surrounding medical needs.
For more than a decade, our strategic ministry partnerships in Guatemala have helped children and families affected by poverty and abuse. One of Cross International’s largest gifts-in-kind recipients is Amigos Por La Salud y La Vida (Friends for Health and Life), an organization dedicated to providing food and medical services to fill the gaps in Guatemala’s overburdened health system. Cross International helps the organization stock the pharmacy shelves of clinics and hospitals, providing free medication to those in need. Cross International also gives donations of food to help support feeding programs that serve the 30,000 patients that visit each clinic per year, many suffering from malnutrition.
Using our holistic approach to partnerships, Cross International also comes alongside Amigos Por La Salud y La Vida to determine the most important indicators to track in providing more efficient and effective care. We are working to develop a needs-based approach to medicine and medical equipment distribution that will help us know which programs to expand and improve.
Long-term partnerships with local organizations like Amigos Por La Salud y La Vida are the hands and feet of the work we champion around the world. Through the support of generous believers like you, our local ministry partners are strengthened and empowered with hope to transform their communities with the love of Christ.
The example of Jesus: a healing touch for the hurting
A healing touch—that’s how so many people were introduced to the compassion of Jesus when he walked on earth. In the Bible, gospel stories show how Jesus was moved time and again to touch and heal those who were physically hurting: the blind, the lame, the lepers…even those at the point of death and beyond. He understood the toll of pain, and he used his ability to minister to people’s bodies as a way to introduce them to the ultimate healing he could provide their souls. This biblical example guides our work in the area of medical aid and healthcare services.
In Luke, chapter 10, Jesus told one of his most remembered parables, of one person being moved by compassion to help another in pain. The healing touch in the parable came from the good Samaritan, someone who didn’t have any relationship with the wounded man. They had never met, and the circumstances of their day would have actually created quite a distance between them, socially. But despite that, the Good Samaritan felt not only empathy for the other’s pain, he felt a responsibility to care for him. Jesus described this man tenderly dressing the wounds of the injured man, bringing him to a place of safety and rest, and paying for his ongoing care to ensure he would find his way back to health. The beautiful image Jesus creates in the story is one of sacrificial giving and true concern for a stranger.
Through His stories and His example, Jesus calls us to reach out to the world around us, offering hope and meeting others’ needs as we are able. Just as Jesus was attentive to the physical ailments of those around him, we believe it is our responsibility to understand the medical and health challenges of those we serve and to respond in compassion. It doesn’t require changing the world; it’s as simple as seeing the pain in someone’s eyes and moving forward in love. Often, those in deepest need of our help may be strangers to us, living in places of the world with challenges far greater than those we face. Even in these cases—and perhaps especially in these cases—we believe in following a simple motto: “When you can, help.”
We invite you to join us in responding to those in need of medical aid and physical healing, following Christ’s example of compassion. Would you pray for those facing disease and illness in areas around the world where barriers to healthcare are often insurmountable without the help of others? Pray that God would send the care and medicine they need. As you are able, we also invite you to join us by giving generously to the ministry of Cross International and its many local partners throughout the world, who provide much needed services, like medicine and healthcare, to those who need our help.
Our Philosophy: Strategic, Integrated, and Compassionate Medical Aid
In everything we do, we seek to serve the whole person: physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually. Whether addressing the needs of a vulnerable child, the challenges facing a family in poverty, or the issues preventing a community from thriving, we deal with specific problems with the understanding that each issue interacts with and impacts others. In this series, we focus on one specific facet of the complex challenges facing those in need around the world.
In seeking to help those in deepest need, few issues are more challenging than health and medical conditions. According to the World Health Organization, half of the world’s population lacks access to essential health services. In the developing world, the barriers to healthcare are discouraging. Availability of healthcare services is limited, physically reaching healthcare providers can be difficult, healthcare workers are inadequately trained, and the cost of medical services is very high. These barriers are intimidating–even for someone in good health.
Unfortunately, most of the world lives with these barriers. Almost 800 million people worldwide spend at least 10% of their household budget on healthcare for someone in their home. Caring for a sick child or loved one would motivate anyone to spend sacrificially to help them get well. This same dedication forces many people around the world to face tremendously hard decisions. In fact, for almost 100 million, those health expenses thrusting them into extreme poverty.
From our experiences in areas of deep need around the world, we understand that resolving health issues is critical for other services to be effective. The most thoughtful educational or vocational training programs will stall if students aren’t well enough to learn. Efforts to provide clean water and nutritious diet are also tightly interdependent with the medical issues in a home or community. This is why medical aid will always be an important component of the services we promote and advance through our work with local ministry partners around the world.
We believe medical aid for those in need should not only provide treatment, but also include disease prevention and health education. Treatment rightly focuses on existing conditions needing compassionate intervention. But sustained good health requires battling preventable diseases before they occur. Through healthcare education and sanitation best practices, we can promote the ongoing health of families and communities. We also believe in working closely with local ministry partners who best understand the needs of their own communities and the type of support that will be most effective. These partners are deeply rooted in their communities, providing a sustained support that is often key in tackling systemic underlying issues surrounding medical needs. Finally, for a thriving community, we believe it is critical to integrate medical aid efforts with other programs promoting educational, social, and spiritual well being.
These beliefs guide our three main approaches to medical aid. First, we provide ‘in-kind’ donations of medicines and medical supplies for those who may receive a medical exam or consultation only to find that the medicine they need is not available in their area or too expensive to purchase. Our local ministry partners help us identify essential medicines that are needed most, and Cross International does our best to solicit donations of those crucial supplies to provide to our local partners who serve the most vulnerable. These local partners may run medical clinics themselves, or they may provide them to regional medical network partners who also serve those who are in need. Second, when our ministry partners run medical clinics as part of their overall programming, we often support those operations. Many times, these services are not only for children in our partners’ care, but also for the community around them. Finally, as we support the vision and planning of other local partners, we encourage them to always consider medical aid and ministry in their scope. We help them understand the role of health-promoting services in their overall program success, and we help them navigate the process of assessing or developing this aspect of their ministries.
Medical aid challenges are broad-ranging and widespread, but the impact is as individual as every life that is changed through this work. As we advance services like these, we’re encouraged by the stories and faces of those children and families touched by a healing hand or strengthened by a life-giving medicine. Our goal of transformed lives is only possible when people are able to grow and thrive physically. If you haven’t yet joined us, we invite you to be a part of this exciting and meaningful partnership.
Thriving kids start with a healthy home
Chances are the floor beneath you right now is a soft carpet, beautifully stained kitchen hardwood or smooth tile, right? That solid ground within your home gives you warmth, safety from disease and danger, rest, and peace of mind for body and soul. That stable foundation is everything.
Today, 1-1.5 million Guatemalan children and their family members live in homes made of dirt floors, cornstalks, mud, sticks, and any other materials they can find. These makeshift structures leave them vulnerable to violence, theft, and diseases such as asthma, tuberculosis, influenza, anemia, and diarrhea, as well as decreased mental health.
God is helping kids thrive through your generous giving!
Thanks to generous donors like you, Cross International is doing more than just replacing dirt floors. With help from our ministry partners in Latin America and around the world, we’re providing entire, safe and secure homes for marginalized families. For example, at Hope of Life in Guatemala, we’ve already built more than 20 concrete block homes, impacting over 200 people.
As we celebrate the good your giving has provided, we cannot ignore the work still left to do. Cross International relies on local pastors and Christian leaders to help us identify which families are in the greatest need of a new home, creating the opportunity for God’s love to be shared. Telling families this help is in Jesus’ name opens their hearts and minds to receive the Gospel.
What’s under your feet matters.
Replacing a dirt floor with cement can be as good for a child’s health as nutritional supplements and as helpful for brain development as early childhood development programs. Cement reduces parasites, resulting in 13% less diarrheal disease, a 20% reduction in anemia –both life-threatening –, 30% higher scores in language and communication skills and 9% improvement in vocabulary in children under six. Not only are children better off on a strong foundation, but studies find that their mothers are less depressed, less stressed, and happier.
The impact of your donation to Thriving Kids is huge: healthy housing stabilizes lives in unimaginable ways. A lockable door protects against danger and theft. A nearby latrine reduces parasitic infections. A roof gives a family rest and shelter from driving rain. When basic needs are met, an entire community is impacted. For children and families around the world, housing is health.
Stable homes, stable families
Healthy homes change lives by creating income opportunities, advancing education, improving health, reducing crimes against women and children, strengthening faith, supporting mental health and much more.
We pray you’ll continue to support Cross International’s Thriving Kids initiative as we build homes and provide other life enhancing services for families. We believe that thriving kids need a safe home and the knowledge of God’s love. Please join us!
Meet our Partners in Guatemala
For more than a decade, our strategic ministry partnerships in Guatemala have helped children and families affected by poverty and abuse. Since 2006, we’ve worked alongside these partners, and we’re excited about what is ahead!
Casa Bernabé Ministries provides hope and healing to children rescued by Guatemalan courts from neglect, abuse, or abandonment. Once placed with Casa Bernabé, children receive food, shelter, medical care, and education. They’re grouped into family units lead by local Christian couples who raise the children in warmth and support. The school and medical center provide transformational Christ-centered services to these children and to children from surrounding communities. Edgar, the Executive Director, is a heartwarming example of this transformation. Casa Bernabé plans to add school classrooms, offices, and a soccer field, and to develop vocational and mentorship opportunities for the children.
Casa de Vida offers shelter for victims of abuse, which is a tremendous problem in Guatemala. Attacks are often unreported and countless women are trapped in abusive homes. Casa de Vida provides a way out, with a safe home and the promise of a new life. Run by Lesbia Gonzaléz, a domestic violence survivor, Casa de Vida aims to serve 180 women and children each year. Most women stay at the safe house from 3-6 months up to a year, receiving psychological care and job training to empower them to start a new life independent from their abusers. Through our partnership, Casa de Vida will be establishing a bakery to train women for job opportunities and also to provide income to help support the ministry.
Hope of Life International’s child rescue program sends trained teams into the mountains to find village children suffering from malnutrition and preventable diseases. With no time to spare, children are rushed to the hospital and nursed back to health. Meanwhile, parents are trained to make changes to strengthen the health of their families. During a recent visit, we met one family impacted by this ministry. A single mother was preparing to welcome her children back to their simple wood stick house after a hospital stay. But before they returned, the house burned to the ground. Through our partnership, Hope of Life rebuilt the home and met the family’s needs so they could continue to grow strong.
Amigos por la Salud y la Vida is one of our largest recipients of food donations. Established by a local businessman-turned-humanitarian, this organization provides food and medical support to communities. By working within an existing network of local medical clinics, our partnership helps stock the pharmacy shelves, providing free medication to those in need.
Through long-term partnerships, we commit to these ministries, learning about their needs and celebrating stories of changed lives. Join us as a partner in God’s work and make a meaningful difference for the people of Guatemala!
Meet Edgar: A Thriving Kid shares Christ’s love
What happens when a child is given basic needs, education and words of hope and affirmation through the love of Christ?
They thrive.
That’s Edgar’s story, and it was out of a vision for stories like his that Thriving Kids began.
Edgar was born in Guatemala. Here, and in places like Haiti and Zambia, children wake up each morning with incredible challenges to overcome. They are without clean water and food, homes give little shelter, school isn’t an option, and life-threatening illness is a constant danger.
When Edgar was 11 days old, his father was killed. Wanting the best for her children, his mother placed Edgar and his siblings in an orphanage that could provide for their basic needs.
That orphanage was Casa Bernabé, a refuge that provides hope and healing for vulnerable children, and our longtime ministry partner in Guatemala. Edgar and his family found help, love, care, education and the life-giving story of Jesus.
Edgar grew into a young man who knew he was loved by Jesus. He attended college, fell in love, got married and had a family of his own. He began to pour love back into the community that supported him.
Today, Edgar is the director of the entire ministry at Casa Bernabé, sharing Christ’s love and caring for children just like him.
We’re sure you’ve caught on by now, but we LOVE stories of Thriving Kids like Edgar. Lives filled with transformation and grace are the direct fruits of your love, prayer and giving. With your continued partnership, kids in Guatemala and around the world can continue to thrive from the inside out.
Guatemala’s Vibrant and Colorful Culture
Cross International is proud to work in Guatemala, a vibrant country with a colorful culture. From bright textile patterns to the sounds of marimba to the delicious flavors of its cuisine, Guatemala is a lively mixture of indigenous Mayan, European, and Caribbean influences. This blend is reflected in the many languages spoken here. In addition to Spanish, more than 20 languages are commonly spoken, most of Mayan origin. The array of vivid colors in the local markets show off this diversity. Using a rainbow of dyed yarns, artisans weave bags, rugs, capes, shirts, dresses, and blouses, with a unique pattern representing each village.
Guatemala’s colorful culture is on exuberant display during its many festivals and holidays commemorating historic events or a mixture of indigenous and traditions. Some festivals are small and distinct to one village. Others are celebrated by the entire country, including many holidays shared with the USA and the rest of the world, like Christmas and Semana Santa, or Easter week. Depending on the holiday, Guatemala celebrates with percussion bands featuring the marimba (the national instrument), dancing, fireworks, and processions of costumes and floats through the streets of its towns.
No Guatemalan celebration is complete without tamales, traditionally eaten at every holiday and special occasion, including Sundays, which are recognized as holy days. Dough, called masa, is stuffed, wrapped, and steamed. Hundreds of tamale recipes in Guatemala vary what is in the masa (corn, potatoes, or rice), in the filling (meats, nuts, or fruits), and how they are wrapped (leaves or husks). Guatemala’s Mayan heritage is obvious in its food, which features corn—especially tortillas, served at almost every meal—beans, rice, and chilies as main ingredients. The country’s fresh vegetables and fruits are also regular staples.
To savor fruit like a Guatemalan, enjoy a licuado, an extremely popular smoothie-like drink. A blend of fruit and water, milk, or yogurt, licuados come in as many flavors as Guatemala has delicious fruit, such as pineapple, banana, papaya, or mango. To share a Licuado de Banana with someone in your family, blend 12 ice cubes, 1 banana (fresh or frozen), 1 cup milk, and a dash of vanilla in a blender until smooth. Pour into two glasses and celebrate Guatemala’s flavorful culture.
Cross International works alongside partners like Casa de Vida, Casa Bernabé, and Hope of Life, providing food, safety and support for abandoned children and endangered women, and building suitable homes for families. In each partnership and with your help, Cross International brings health and hope to Guatemala, a country with a rich and wonderful heritage.
When Your Vision is Too Small, Go Bigger!
Our plan was to build 20 homes. It was a modest goal we knew our supporters could meet. Then I hopped on a plane to Zacapa, Guatemala, and everything changed.
As my wife and I met some of the families living in remote mountain communities and saw the full extent of their struggles, I just knew that our vision for our spring initiative was too small. We had to double our goal. Forty houses for 40 families. That has be our baseline. I’m praying we’ll do even more.
What especially gives us a sense of urgency is the children. Our passion is to see them thrive, and we know that the sooner we reach them, the better their chances of recovering from want and hardship and growing into their full potential.
But right now, these kids don’t see that potential. And their parents often have no hope.
There is this precious little girl, Delmy, in the village of Cajon del Rio, who was born with deformed legs. When our local partner, Hope of Life, found her, her family had given her up for dead because there was nothing they could do. With God’s guidance, generous supporters, Cross International and Hope of Life saved her, nurtured her, enrolled her in school, educated her parents on how to take care of her, and by God’s grace was eventually able to reunite her with them. Now we want to help Delmy and her family take the next step to a thriving life.
We’re not just here to build a house. We want to build a house so that Delmy doesn’t have to crawl in the dust of a rotting thatch hut, and so that she isn’t soaked in mud on account of a $46 roof repair her parents can’t afford. A real cement floor in a sturdy, weatherproof house will increase her mobility, lessen her suffering and send her a powerful message of Jesus’ love.
Delmy has endured terrible cruelty. She’s been mocked and rejected by her peers. But when we come together as the Body of Christ to easy this little girl’s suffering, we’re helping her see she is a treasure, wonderfully created by her Heavenly Father.
Not every child in line for a new home has suffered as deeply as Delmy, but all are greatly vulnerable, and all have the potential to shine. I can’t wait to see how many friends were are able to rally to this cause, and how many families we’re able to bless with the life-changing gift of a safe, sturdy home
Please Visit our website to learn more about this project. This is a tremendous opportunity to share Christ’s love in a practical way that these families will never forget, and we’re praying you’ll join us!