I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written,“The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.”
II Corinthians 8:13-15
On March 15th Spring Creek United Church of Christ will join with congregations all over the world in collecting a special offering for One Great Hour of Sharing.
One Great Hour of Sharing supports projects that break the cycles of poverty, hunger and thirst, as well as providing aid during times of crisis. The stories shared below tell exactly how One Great Hour of Sharing changes lives and gives people a future filled with hope.
The bulk of the One Great Hour of Sharing offering goes to support water, hunger, disaster relief and empowerment programs. Focusing on these four areas allows One Great Hour of Sharing to address some of the root causes of suffering in our world.
Your gifts make hope possible.
The Story of Mattee
Having access to water affects all aspects of community life and growth. Matee Kakoo tells the story of her community in eastern Kenya before and after a One Great Hour of Sharing-supported sand dam was built.
Ms, Kakoo had lived in Mbangulo for 40 years and says, “the situation before the sand dam/shallow well was pathetic.” She notes that the people could not bathe and people from other areas mocked them because of their appearance. People went hungry because they didn’t have enough water to cook food. Their primary school had insufficient classrooms because there was no water to make bricks. The children often missed school because they needed to fetch water for their families from one of two water points, between four and seven miles away. Fetching water was a time consuming activity, walking the distance, waiting in line four to five hours and then carting it back home by foot or donkey. It took most of the day, leaving little time for other activities like school or work or farming. Women were also at risk for being sexually assaulted on their long journey to get water.
When the people of Mbangulo were first approached about constructing a sand dam, they were enthusiastic. They quickly gathered local materials that were combined with additional donated construction materials to build the dam. The people worked very hard, and within a month the dam was constructed.
Today, children are in school and there is even a shallow well on the school grounds to provide for the school’s needs—including new bricks for new classrooms. Bricks are made locally with several kilns that have sprouted up in the community. Permanent houses are being built. Food is more plentiful as the water allows people to grow gardens and they have more time to tend to them.
Some, mostly women, have started table banking to boost small businesses. “We have converted time taken to go for water into other income generating acitivites,” explains Ms. Kakoo. She reports that one group has accumulated the equivalent of over $800 USD in their account.
Ms. Kakoo expresses her gratitude for what this water project has done for her community, “It will be remembered by generations to come.”
The Story of Ersi
Your gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing help provide food for hungry people worldwide. According to the World Food Programme, one in nine people suffer from hunger and more people go hungry in Asia than on any other continent.
Ersi Biliu and her husband in Timor, Indonesia, could only afford to buy one packet of vegetable seeds at a time. They would divide the packet and grow the vegetables in two batches. Their meager garden barely produced enough for their family of six children. When the last of the vegetables was harvested, they would not eat any more vegetables until they could afford another seed packet.
A One Great Hour of Sharing-support program provided Ms. Biliu’s family with several seed packets at once as well as an informational session about nutrition. Just these few extra seed packets along with some education helped this family take the first steps to break the cycle of hunger and poverty.
They grew Chinese cabbage, red peppers, long bean, green bean, and eggplant from the seeds they received. “We harvested early this month and have included vegetables in every meal since,” explains Ms. Biliu. They were able to sell the excess vegetables in the market and used the extra income to purchase fish and to provide for other household needs.
“We started the next planting batch right after we harvested,” says Ms. Biliu. “Now, not only can we fulfill our vitamin and mineral needs from the vegetables, we can also fulfill our protein needs from the money we earned from selling the produce. I’m now more motivated in farming than ever.”
No comments:
Post a Comment