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.
There is no greater passion at Cross International than to care for vulnerable children. It’s at the heart of everything we do. While we care for all those in deep need around the world, these little ones uniquely need our focused attention and commitment. Even without a global pandemic like COVID-19 or a natural disaster, these precious lives face tremendous challenges. For that reason, every ministry we support has the ultimate goal of benefiting those at greatest risk: vulnerable children.
You may not be familiar with the term ‘vulnerable children.’ It is used to describe kids at high risk of lacking adequate care and protection. Often, these children are orphans, either because one or both parents have died, or—in the case of ‘social orphans’—because they’ve been abandoned by parents who are living but unable or unwilling to support them. These precious little ones have no reliable social safety network to depend on to protect them. You may know of vulnerable children in your own community, whether as the result of abuse, divorce, or unemployment. Consider the additional risks vulnerable children face in developing areas of the world. For example, lack of food, clean water, and adequate housing can lead to illness, keeping kids from the education they need to support themselves in the future. During times of uncertainty like we are facing with the coronavirus, these children have no one to look after them. These situations affect us like we imagine they affect you: they break our hearts and drive us to action.
Quick action is needed, but there isn’t a quick fix. Supporting these kids requires a long-term plan that addresses the complexity of the problems with integrated solutions. Our approach meets vulnerable children’s immediate needs for nutritious food, clean water, safe homes, healthcare, and education. But it doesn’t stop there. We also consider the ability of families and communities to provide ongoing, stable environments for these little ones—not only during childhood, but also to provide the promise of opportunities when they grow up. Perhaps most importantly, we support parents and families facing crisis in order to help prevent the problems that lead to children being abandoned in the first place, keeping families thriving and together, where they belong.
As you can see, this is a big task. That’s why orphans and vulnerable children are a strategic priority for Cross International. Our focus on these children is a pervasive and all-encompassing theme for what we do with our ministry partners. With your support, these ministry efforts not only help kids thrive, they help families flourish and communities get stronger.
Many of our ministry partnerships directly serve children who are vulnerable. Orphanage and childcare ministry partners provide homes for orphaned or abandoned children, often placing them in family-like groups where they can feel secure and supported. Many of our ministry partners provide feeding programs alongside educational services for children, nourishing both their bodies and their minds. Special education and physical therapy for those with unique challenges or disabilities further care for those who otherwise would not receive the help they need. Often—and by design—these ministry partners extend their services to benefit not only vulnerable children, but also other children in the community in need of assistance.
Ministry partners providing family and community services also benefit vulnerable children by strengthening the social networks around kids, providing stability and opportunity. This helps children who are already at risk, as well as preventing situations that might result in children being abandoned. Vocational training, adult literacy programs, and micro-loans help parents gain the economic strength and stability they need to build thriving families. Our ministry partners often provide training for parents to help them understand how to care for their children’s health and wellbeing. Community services, such as medical clinics, medicines and medical donations, clean-water wells, and water delivery systems, all create healthier, stronger communities. And that directly impacts vulnerable children in the area as well.
When it comes to helping these vulnerable children, we are compelled by the need we see and by our belief–based on years of experience and evidence–that we can make a difference for these little ones. Perhaps more importantly, we’re compelled by the consistent call in the Bible to protect and care for those who are orphans. With the current C19 pandemic, our work is both more important than ever and more challenging than ever. Will you partner with us in answering the call and responding to both the need and the opportunity? We would be honored to partner with you in serving these precious vulnerable children!
Resilient faith, hopeful strength in Haiti during COVID-19
“The biggest weapon we have against COVID-19 is prayer. We have an opportunity to care, to love, to use our God-given abilities for His glory. That’s where I’m standing. That’s what I am fighting for.” These are the words of Gladys Thomas, Founder and CEO of Cross International’s ministry partner Foundation for the Children of Haiti, which is home to Hope Hospital, two orphanages, three schools, and a technical academy.
Logistically, things look different at the foundation these days. With COVID-19 impacting Haiti, Hope Hospital, which was built with generosity from Cross donors, made the hard decision to close their outpatient clinic–its main source of income–in an attempt to keep people safe.
What has remained constant is Gladys’ optimism and spirit to answer God’s call to serve His children.
Every night, Gladys sits at her sewing machine making cloth masks and washable gowns for the hospital staff. She knows Haiti can’t rely on government assistance, and she considers each handmade mask she passes out on the street a direct gift from God.
With schools closed, Gladys and her team are working hard on a platform that allows students to learn online and maintain a schedule. An internet connection is hard to come by in the area, so they’re using every iPad, phone, and hotspot they can find to offer limited learning opportunities.
Gladys continues to encourage her teachers, students, and parents with words of hope and innovative solutions.
“We may have to take some steps back in our learning, but we will eventually come back better. We may feel like we are in the pit, but there is pressure under that pit that will propel us forward, higher,” she says.
The orphanage houses 111 children, some very young, and others with severe disabilities. The 32 staff members remain on campus to care for the children’s needs. On the limited occasion staff has to leave campus to go to the market, they practice strict hygiene–from wearing masks and gloves to using hand-washing stations and taking showers before reentering the orphanage. As of now, there is enough food for the children through the end of May.
Gladys tells her staff that God’s plan is not for us to suffer but for us to prosper. This, too, shall pass.
Gladys embodies Cross International’s spirit and mission to continue to transform the circumstances of vulnerable children around the world for the glory of Jesus. We’re helping our ministry partners adapt to each new challenge, but we can’t do it alone. Please consider joining us in giving today to help us meet their unprecedented needs.
A biblical example of compassionate action
The word “uncertainty” gets plenty of use during times of crisis. Each day unfolds with new and unexpected developments, and the future is unclear. For many of us, the coronavirus pandemic is the first time we’ve felt uncertainty of this magnitude. For those we serve in the developing world, uncertainty is a constant companion.
Thankfully, there is a source of peace and guidance that can alleviate our fears of uncertainty: God’s love and God’s Word. These we know are certain. The stories of godly men and women in the Bible can show us how to handle uncertainty and find our way through trying times. The story of Nehemiah is a wonderful example.
Nehemiah was living in the royal court, serving as cupbearer to the king of Persia, when word reached him about the crisis in the city of Jerusalem, far away. Jerusalem’s walls had been ruined by conflict, and the people were vulnerable and afraid, living with no protection from thieves or hostile forces. Nehemiah was moved with compassion and took action, using his position of favor with the king to gather resources and lead an expedition to Jerusalem in order to rebuild the walls and gates. Families of the city joined with him, each working on a section of the wall, even in the face of uncertainty and danger from those who opposed them. It’s an amazing story with many helpful parallels for us today.
Compassion, Even During Uncertainty
The families of Jerusalem were facing uncertainty and danger. But rather than thinking only of themselves, they also worked sacrificially for the good of others. This is truly inspiring! There is wisdom in thoughtfully protecting our own families and taking care of our needs, but it truly shows a divine grace when we can be attentive to our needs, and still be moved to take action on behalf of others. It is good for us to remember to do as they did: come together, care for each other, and work side-by-side to build something wonderful.
Compassionate Action, Even Across Distance
Nehemiah is an amazing example of compassionate action. He was far removed from the crisis in Jerusalem, living in relative safety and plenty, but the story of their needs moved him to act. Like him, we are separated by distance and experience from those living in poverty around the world. When we hear about the danger, vulnerability, and uncertainty faced by children and families in deep need, we also have the opportunity to use the resources we have been given to take action and provide help.
Building a Bright Tomorrow, Together
Nehemiah was a man of long-term vision. He didn’t just provide protection for the people through a temporary military guard. He came alongside the people of Jerusalem, helping them rebuild their city and ensure a brighter future for generations to come. We share this philosophy, seeking to not only meet the needs of the developing world as they have been affected by COVID-19, but to partner with them in rebuilding a strong future with sustained hope and opportunity.
Cross International is honored to be your partner in reaching out to those in deepest need around the world. Now, as always, we want to work shoulder-to-shoulder with you during these uncertain times, to take compassionate action. Those we serve are facing the uncertainty of COVID-19 in addition to the daily challenges they face: hunger and lack of clean water and secure homes. But they can experience the certainty of God’s eternal love. Will you join with us to take compassionate action for these children and families in need? We invite you to give today and help them build a brighter future!
How our ministry partners are adapting to COVID-19
The COVID-19 crisis is truly unprecedented. Our ministry partners face challenges they’ve never faced before. They need to address the reality of the coronavirus and ensure essential ministry services can continue. We are working with them closely to create highly-adaptable plans that can be adjusted as the crisis unfolds.
Today we may feel uncertainty. But nothing surprises God.
God is already prepared for everything we’re going to face tomorrow, next week, and next month. What the future holds may seem unclear to us, but it doesn’t surprise God. Nothing ever catches Him off guard. We’re seeing evidence of His provision in how our ministry partners are able and equipped to adapt.
Like in Eastern Zambia, where over the past five years Cross International has fully supported 47 water systems and trained thousands in the region with proper WASH techniques through our partner Kachere Development Programme (KDP). When the coronavirus hit the area, KDP leaders jumped into action. They worked together with the Ministry of Health to equip and train community facilitators on proper handwashing, sanitation, and social distancing practices to educate the public. A place where just five years ago had no access to water is now leading community efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 and waterborne disease.
God knew what would be needed. He prepared the way.
Or consider the “shelter-at-home” directive that’s only effective when you have a home. So many of the world’s poor live without adequate housing and lack the ability to have a safe place to shelter or social distance into. And yet over the years in places like Guatemala, Cross International has partnered to build new homes for impoverished families through the generosity of people like you. Now, communities can help slow the spread of the coronavirus to others simply by staying at home.
God provides, even in uncertain times.
At Ambuya Development Center (ADC) in Malawi, schools are closed–and they are the only source of food for many children. Within the last few years, the center received God’s provision of a water system, hired a consultant to teach parents and children the importance of hygiene and sanitation, and gifted new homes to families in need. All of this happened before the appearance of COVID-19. Today, ADC staff members have the knowledge to train kitchen staff on proper sanitation so they can safely prepare meals for over 300 children, and families have the refuge of safe homes.
The pandemic changes our situation by the minute and, like each of our ministry partners, we’re adapting with it. What hasn’t changed is our commitment: to serve those in need around the world. We’re helping our partners adjust as we learn more each day, and our partners are better equipped for the unexpected because of your generous giving. Your ongoing support will help us meet these unprecedented needs today, and the needs God is preparing us for tomorrow.
From hidden to healed: The impact of medical aid in Malawi
When she giggles, it’s as if someone is blowing bubbles around the room. It starts slow and light, and before you know it, everyone nearby is captured by the sound. She plays soccer on grassy fields, dotes on–and fights with–her baby brother, and loves the color red, a testament to her boldness. Her name is Success, and her eyes reveal the strength and determination of a soul much older than an eight-year-old girl.
Cross International met Success not long ago in the halls of our medical aid partner CURE Malawi, a 58-bed teaching hospital. She was there in hope of a life-changing diagnosis and surgery. We were there to create a platform to share the gospel as a tangible expression of why healing matters to God.
At only eight, Success had already endured years of hardship. Every day at school, her classmates ridiculed and tormented her because she looked different, and her teachers remained silent. They looked right past her electric smile and only saw the abnormal rotation of her lower leg. To avoid bullying, Success would hide among local shops waiting for the school day to end so she could return home. She fell behind and the light within her grew dim. Success’s parents found out she was skipping school, and instead of getting angry, they felt compassion for their hurting daughter. Guided by their faith that God can move mountains, they enrolled Success in a new school led by a pastor where the value of diversity was taught and discrimination was not allowed. Like most parents, they fought for Success to have every opportunity available and prayed like warriors for healing.
After years of misdiagnoses and poor treatment, Success and her family were referred to Cross International partner CURE Malawi, where she finally received the correct diagnosis and, more importantly, hope for a cure. They learned Success had Blount’s disease, a growth disorder that causes her tibia to angle inward that would require a painful surgery to correct.
As spunky and fearless as ever, Success was eager for surgery. On that life-changing day, doctors straightened her leg, fit her with a frame, and predicted that she would be walking without assistance in just 20 days. Determined to heal, the athletic little girl resiliently powered through physical therapy, sticking with it even when it was painful.
Today, Success walks, runs, and sometimes nearly flies, on two straight legs. She attends a school she loves with friends that can’t get enough of that bubbly laugh. Success’s parents truly believe in the power of prayer and witnessed God change their daughter’s life through the ministry of Cross International and its local partner, CURE Malawi. Join our Thriving Kids initiative to give more children like Success the services, medicine, surgery, and healthcare they need to giggle, play, learn, and grow.
Giving back to your beginning: A full-circle story of faith in Haiti
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
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.