Cross International

God’s love, transforming deepest need into thriving joy

Giving back to your beginning: A full-circle story of faith in Haiti

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The average Haitian has less than 5 years of schooling. We’re working to change that.

Do you know our friend Pastor Oville? If you’ve been with us a while, you might. Oville Wilzer was born in Haiti into a family that didn’t know God. An invitation to youth group led him to hear a sermon about God’s plan for salvation that touched him so deeply, he accepted Christ that very day. 

The preacher was Pastor Jean Edmund, founder of the Cross International-supported network of Divine Shelter Schools (DSS). Through Pastor Jean, Oville was offered a teaching job at a DSS school and encouraged to become a minister. 

Here I am Lord, send me
In 2011, when God called Pastor Oville to leave the city for remote Boukan Kare and lead an earthquake-damaged church and school serving poor local children, he and his wife knew they must go. 

In 2016, the school was incorporated into the DSS network. This means the school, and Pastor Oville, dedicates itself to the threefold mission of nurturing minds, nourishing bodies and evangelizing souls. 

Together, we are changing the world
Pastor Oville continues to be a strong spiritual leader and educator in Boukan Kare. With your generous giving, Pastor Oville and the community of Boukan Kare got a brand new school building in the summer of 2018. Since then, we’ve been able to equip it with a kitchen, benches and tables for the preschool. That first year, enrollment increased from 229 to 401 students with a passing rate of 85%. Despite violent protests and serious civil unrest, transformation is happening in Haiti! Amen!

But there is still more to do. 

A new school is just a building unless you invest in the operations.
From feeding programs and hiring trained, quality teachers, the support of ongoing needs across all 13 schools in the DSS network is critical. The school depends on this support so that the full financial burden does not fall on the students, who cannot afford to pay more than a small tuition.

Over 4,000 eager minds start class on September 9th, and we want to provide them with the tools they need to become capable society-contributing adults. When a child is given opportunity, the possibilities are endless. 

It’s been a joy to watch the fruit of our DDS partnership through Pastor Oville’s life, from an unbelieving young boy to a world-changer. And the cycle of change continues: his daughter is a student at the newly completed school.

Our mission is to transform Haiti materially and spiritually for the glory of Jesus Christ. We believe education develops an individual more so than any other kind of international development intervention. We pray you’ll join us in this mission. 

Meet our Partners in Guatemala

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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

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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. 

Malawi: the Warm Heart of Africa

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Malawi Lake Fishing

Malawi is widely known as the “Warm Heart of Africa” because of the generosity and kindness of its people. With a predominantly rural population of more than 18 million people, Malawi is made up of friendly tribes and ethnic groups living in traditional villages.  

On a visit to one of these villages, you would see women wearing the traditional colorful sarong-like wraps, called Chitenjes. Women wear as many as three of these versatile wraps at a time, using them as skirts, headdresses, aprons, or to carry infants on their backs while shopping, carrying water, or working in the garden. Often, the Chitenjes color identifies a woman’s home: red to represent the north, blue for the central region, and green for the south. Men dress in typical western style, wearing jeans, pants, shirts, or suits, but shoes are rarely seen, even in cities, as they are quite expensive.

Family is very important in Malawi, and village life centers around it. Agricultural villages work to grow crops and tend livestock, and fishing villages line the shores of Lake Malawi. In these villages, extended families typically live closely together in huts built next to, or even adjoining, each other. These huts, made of sticks and mud and thatched or corrugated iron roofs, are home to family members who share everything from work to resources, caring for the elderly and raising children together. Cross International partners in Malawi work to support these hard-working people through medical care and microenterprise programs to enable adults to improve agricultural practices and establish businesses to provide for their families.

Providing food has been a particular challenge for families in Malawi, where persistent drought has significantly limited the harvest and made clean water scarce, meaning water must often be carried over a great distance for cooking. Both water and corn are needed to prepare Nsima, the core of Malawi’s cuisine. This thick porridge is made with maize flour and water and is often paired with beans, greens, tomato-and-onion salad, or other vegetables. Rice, potatoes, and cassava are common, and occasionally, meat such as chicken, goat, or pig will round out the meal. Fish is also a staple along the coastline of Lake Malawi. To help during these challenging times when these traditional foods are scarce, nutritious balanced meals are offered to orphans and vulnerable children as part of educational programs at the Ambuya Development Center, a Cross International partner.

In every aspect of this African nation’s culture, its richness and beauty is a reflection of its most precious resource—the vibrant, loving people of Malawi. Cross International is proud to come alongside these amazing people through partnerships that minister to one child and one family at a time.

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Help Children With Disabilities

The UN estimates that between 93 and 150 million children worldwide live with a disability. In developing countries, these children are often unable to attend school, play outside or access specialized resources. Negative stigma or superstition among their parents, neighbors and community leaders often reinforce these barriers.

This year, we’re providing $60,000 worth of medical equipment to Kupenda for the Children in Kenya. This is a very remote location, and your gift will help cover the shipping costs to this very worthy medical outreach.

This gift will benefit: Kenya

Recommended Gift

  • $243 would provide a wheelchair to a remote facility
  • $950 would provide 60 pairs of youth crutches to a remote facility
  • $2,430 would provide 10 wheelchairs to a remote facility

Heal the Sick

In developed countries, basic medical supplies such as gauze, wraps, bandages, and syringes are commonplace. Unfortunately, that is often not the case in the developing world. Christian doctors and volunteers in developing countries frequently run low on these supplies, and they also lack the funds to keep large inventories on hand.

This year, we’re providing $84 million worth of medicines and medical supplies. Your gift will help cover the shipping costs to medical outreaches in some of the most remote areas of the globe

This gift will benefit: Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Kenya

Recommended Gift

  • $866 provides $100,000 worth of medicines and medical supplies
  • $4,328 provides $500,000 worth of medicines and medical supplies
  • $8,656 provides $1 million worth of medicines and medical supplies

Build a Family a Home

A gift of a safe, secure home is tangible affirmation of God’s love for a desperate family — it brings hope, health, stability and opportunity. Most poor families must settle for much less. Mired in poverty, they are forced to live in unsafe shacks fashioned from mud and thatch.

You can provide the life-changing gift of a safe, storm-resistant new home with Cross partners Ambuya Development Center in Malawi and Hope of Life in Guatemala. A new home will ease the family’s burdens, protect them from the wind and rain, and help them achieve their dreams.

This gift will benefit: Guatemala, Malawi

Recommended Gift

  • $1,881 will install an eco-stove, for safe, economical and healthy cooking
  • $8,900 will finance the construction of a safe, sturdy concrete- block home

Education

The gift of an education is an investment that reaps long-term dividends for a child’s future. By opening doors for the children of the poor to enroll in Christian schools and get the same educational opportunities as their more economically well-off peers, you are giving not just a hand-out but a “hand-up.”

Your gift will fund Christian education to nurture vulnerable children mentally and spiritually — for thriving futures that will transform hopeless places.

This gift will benefit: Haiti, Ecuador, Uganda

Recommended Gift

  • $515 provides Christian primary school scholarships to 10 children
  • $1,030 provides Christian primary school scholarships for 20 children
  • $1,240 provides one week of Vacation Bible School for 100 children
  • $3,300 provides one year of vocational school scholarships for 60 girls
  • $3,660 enables 30 adults to attend a Christian adult literacy program

Rescue Women and Children in Crisis

Through emergency child rescue services, vocational training, anti-trafficking programs and Bible literacy classes, Cross International is helping vulnerable women and children reclaim their lives. Inspired by Jesus’ love, we work shoulder to shoulder with our in-country partners, empowering them to create change that lasts so that those who need help will eventually be able to stand confidently on their own. Be a part of this good news and make a life-saving gift part of your holidays.

Your gift will help protect victims of gender-based violence and also help save marginalized women and children from harm.

This gift will benefit: Haiti, Guatemala, Nicaragua

Recommended Gift

  • $891 supports a family rescued from trafficking or abuse for 3 months
  • $1,782 supports a family rescued from trafficking or abuse for 6 months
  • $3,564 supports a family rescued from trafficking or abuse for one year

Provide Clean, Safe Water

Our ministry partner, the Kachere Development Center, has an ambitious plan to install 20 wells, providing 5,160 adults and 8,414 children with clean water. Our goal is to finance the drilling and installation of one well – part of an entire community water system, which includes training to maintain the well, and sanitation and hygiene training for improved health.

One borehole can provide 2,800 gallons of safe, life-sustaining water every day. Help us bring clean, safe water to one of these villages today — in a way that will last for generations.

This gift will benefit: Zambia

Recommended Gift

  • $3,105 will train the community for water care system and use
  • $10,755 will finance the cost of drilling the well
  • $18,975 will finance the cost of installing a community water system

Give Tools for Sustainable Farming

One of nine people worldwide survive on less than $1.90 a day. Without training and supplies to grow moneymaking crops and breed profitable livestock, poor farmers stay locked in the cycle of poverty.

By supporting this fund, you’ll help families break free of poverty — transforming lives for generations. When families get the training and tools they need, it means bountiful harvests and small animals that produce income for a sustainable business model.

This gift will benefit: Guatemala, Nicaragua

Recommended Gift

  • $495 provides training, tools and assistance for one farming family
  • $990 helps provide training, tools and assistance for 2 farming families
  • $1,840 will provide 10 goats for children to raise for breeding
  • $8,500 provides a family with a chicken coop, 40 hens & feed, plus small business & animal husbandry training. Creates $1.20 family income/day – a 60% increase!

Feed Hungry Children

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 811 million in the world suffer from under-nourishment. By providing the gift of food, you will save the lives of thousands of hungry children and their families in developing countries.

Your gift will provide meals for ministry partners such as Divine Shelter Schools in Haiti and Hope of Life in Guatemala. A generous donation during this season of giving will change lives forever.

This gift will benefit: Haiti, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Malawi

Recommended Gift

  • $146 will feed 10 children for a month
  • $292 will feed 20 children for a month
  • $584 will feed 40 children for a month
  • $2,336 will feed 160 children for a month
  • $4,672 will feed 320 children for a month
  • $9,334 will feed 640 children for a month

Most Urgent Needs

Inspired by the love of Jesus, we work shoulder to shoulder with local leaders overseas, equipping families with the resources they need to thrive – basics like food, clean water and healthcare, as well as longer-term community transformation projects that will ensure lasting change.

By giving to our Thriving Kids Initiative, you’re not only meeting children’s Most Urgent Needs, you’re also helping lift their families – even entire communities – out of poverty.

This gift will benefit: Africa, The Caribbean, Central America, South America

Recommended Gift

  • $1,000 helps lift 9 kids out of poverty
  • $2,500 helps lift 23 kids out of poverty
  • $5,000 helps lift 46 kids out of poverty
  • $10,000 helps lift 92 kids out of poverty
  • $20,000 helps lift 184 kids out of poverty

Feed Hungry Children

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 811 million in the world suffer from under-nourishment. By providing the gift of food, you will save the lives of thousands of hungry children and their families in developing countries like Haiti, Malawi, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

Your gift will support the provision of meals and other basic services that are essential for survival. A generous donation during this season of giving will change lives forever.

This gift will benefit: Haiti, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Malawi

Recommended Gift
$1,000 will feed 30 children for a month | $5,000 will feed 80 children for a month | $10,000 will feed 92 children for a month | $20,000 will feed 184 children for a month

Donate to Cross International’s Thriving Kids Initiative