September 2024
You made a lot of decisions easier for me this past month! As Executive Director, in tandem with others on my team, I am responsible for making decisions about what we can and cannot fund. With a network of over 300 local leaders throughout South Asia and Myanmar, there will always be more we can do. And more we want to do. As a relatively small organization who values doing much with little, we have to be discerning it what we say yes to. Your giving during the Summer Match has made saying yes much easier!
Every year when we do the Summer Match I don’t think we’ll make it. I should learn by now, because every year we do – and often surpass it! This year, thanks to two donors matching your gifts, we raised a total of $110,000! It is an honor to steward your funds and your trust. Each year we split the funds into thirds. A third set aside for regular operating costs, a third for disaster/emergency relief, and a third for special projects. The first two are self-explanatory. The rationale behind the special projects category is prioritizing projects our leaders have a strong vision for, but we don’t get a lot of designated funds for that category of project, or it’s more risky/experimental and we want to test it before asking for more funding, or it’s for a solid leader who simply isn’t naturally gifted in reporting, which in turn makes it harder to raise funds for them.
On August 21st I received this message from Pastor Pan* in Myanmar: “Hi Kate. Here is another urgent prayer request from Brother Aung* from (city in the east). You and I have visited his orphan home when you visited us. After the city was captured by the [local rebel group], the Junta is targeting the people and bombing heavily and more people died and more properties were damaged. The rebels warned the people in [the city] to leave for at least one month in order to safe their lives from the bombing. Bro. Aung and the 132 orphans moved safely with very high expenses. He still needs to pay [for their transportation] and they are in need of help for their one-month food as well as their medical expenses. He told me that many of the children are now sick with high fever, coughing, dysentery, etc. I was really burdened by the situation they faced. Please pray that the Lord will provide their urgent needs. Please, please join them in prayer! I know that it might be a big burden for you since we made many requests of the needs. The Lord answered our prayers through you and you have done many things for us and made difference in the lives of our people here. Praise the Lord!”
The same week, Pastor Darpan* in Bangladesh created a plan to help 530 families (about 2000 people) with flood relief. In the midst of massive political and social upheaval this whole summer, the country has been facing disastrous flooding:
“We have been serving among nine districts of Bangladesh and within these districts [one] is in a coastal area. Bangladesh is the sufferer, impacted by rising seas, unexpected floods, intensifying cyclone – just a few of the impacts that make Bangladesh one of the most climate change vulnerable countries in this world. So, the floods were hitting to South Bangla very badly and the water went inside the sea security embankment and made big swamps and our people are sufferers.
The people’s lives were stopped and became jobless, fish ponds are stagnant and morbid [for weeks and months]. As human beings and as Christian believers [we] want to serve the swamp sufferers, who are our new believers and their communities – providing the relief goods like commodities that will last for 2 weeks for each average with 3-4 members.”
I cried at my desk, thanking God that we could say a confident yes to both of these life or death requests. Even a couple of years ago, it would have been a stretch for us to send the full amount needed to help these 132 children in Myanmar and 2000 people in Bangladesh without needing to make a separate appeal or wait on funds from other organizations. But because of your generosity, in less than a week Brother Aung had received the $3500 he needed to cover all of these needs. And Pastor Darpan had the $9434 he needed to continue his relief work – which comes out to less than $5 per person for two weeks of food!
As for special projects, we sent $5000 for Bible training seminars for IDPs (Internally Displaced Peoples). In Myanmar, Pastor Pan has several pastors in different regions who are either refugees themselves or are hosting refugees in their towns/cities. He explains, “Due to the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, we have lost many opportunities to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we wished. But the Lord has opened a door for us time to time and now we have seen more and more people opening to the Gospel of salvation and more and more believers have rededicated their lives to serve the Lord. So, having Bible training would be meaningful and would be a great benefit for our community. By having this Bible training, the people who never heard the Gospel will hear the message of life and also we can produce more leaders for our nation to serve the Lord.”
255 people will attend trainings in four different regions of the country. Through doing these initial trainings, we’ll find what goes well and what doesn’t and that will help in carrying them out successfully in the future.
We also sent $5000 towards purchasing land for a Bible school at the Indo-Bhutan border. They are purchasing land to be able to open a guest house so that they can better financially support the school. They’ve been strategic about this purchase and have raised $10,000 on their own, and have secured a loan for the building.
We’re also helping them make appeals to other organizations for the remaining funds. Long-term, this guest house, along with other businesses they’ve begun, will help them be completely self-sufficient and allow them to welcome more students from rural parts of Nepal, Bhutan, and India, training them for ministry within their Buddhist communities.
In Odisha India, we gave $1000 for the education costs of pastors’ children. This is a particularly poor part of India. We are piloting economic development projects with the pastors there, helping them become self-supported. This is a stopgap for their family financial needs in the meantime.
We contributed $1000 for a cricket sports ministry in northern India. They gather and organize young athletes and do exhibition matches. Through the process they’re doing Bible studies and sharing the Gospel with the team and the competitors. These funds will pay for everything to put on one full match and gather people. They’ve done a good job of prioritizing this with their own funds, so we’re glad to be able to encourage this kind of unique ministry that reaches a targeted group of people.
Thank you for making my job easier and making these projects possible! You are an answer to prayer.
In Christ,
Kate,
Executive Director