December updates from Thriving Villages

Hi all,

Some important news to share with you:

Generous Support in December

We recently received donations to purchase 6 motorcycles for the APPAS field health workers in Pestel!!   We anticipate that this will significantly improve the efficiency of the health workers, enabling them to reach the children along the main roads much faster so that the workers can spend more time walking into the mountain villages (to visit the hardest-to-reach children).   This financial gift, from two different families who prefer to remain anonymous, is on top of the recent $5000 raised through the successful benefit concert.  Be assured:  God is working powerfully among us!!  

Request for Emergency Assistance in Pestel after Hurricane Sandy

I received this note below from Sister Fidelis.  She indicates that there was a tremendous amount of loss in Pestel after Hurricane Sandy blasted through.  Nelson also has received notes through email from his friends indicating that the food stores are very low for many and starvation is increasing.  On these emergency issues Thriving Villages works with the fantastic Haitian organization in Pestel, KPA (Christians Progress Together).  I cannot speak highly enough of these people who volunteer their time, meet monthly, to benefit their villages.  This group was started by Sister Fidelis and is an enduring testimony to her confidence in the Haitian people, her leadership and foresight into sustainable community development.    So while it is with sadness that I pass this along, be assured that the good people of Pestel pull together in times like these.  Still, they can use our help:

From Sister Fidelis

We need a lot of help to even give a hand up to the neediest after Sandy. We know of 40 homes in our area (1st and 2nd section) which no longer exist or are completely uninhabitable. These are just the worst ones. I know of one man who is practically living on the ground with his family of 8. Children ages 4 - 18, all but one are girls. He and his wife are both sick, etc.
The elderly tell us that this is the worst storm they have ever seen. Crops were destroyed. What they have left, they are eating now, but will have nothing to replant, so then we'll see real hunger. Many animals were killed by falling trees.

Jo and I are collecting money to replace roofs. The families and their comunities are responsible for constructing the walls with their wood and bamboo, earth and lime covering. We are trying to provide nails and corrugated tin, anywhere from $100-$300 per house depending on size and the extent of the damage.

We have also started a black bean planting project to help them replace this staple. We had enough money to have KPA choose 15 families in each community, and they will be handing on what they received, Heifer-style.

We figure we need at least $12,000 just to serve the neediest with their homes. We prioritized individual cases, and people know that whether they receive aid or not will depend on the money we able to collect while we are home for Christmas and immediately after.

If anyone wants to contribute, they can send checks to Sisters of St. Francis Advancement Office, 6832 Convent Blvd., Sylvania, Ohio 43560, made out to Sisters of St. Francis with Sandy Relief in the memo. 
Bless you.  Fidelis

--

President, Thriving Villages International

Thriving Villages website:  www.thrivingvillages.org

Thriving Villages blog:  http://thrivingvillages.blogspot.com/

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/ThrivingVillages

I do not doubt that the modern Western church badly needs a lot of things, one of them being more confidence that God is working powerfully among us and wants us to do more than we have been willing to do in his service.   John G. Stackhouse