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!
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.
COVID-19’s impact on our ministry partners and how you can help
Usually, we bring you statistics about how your giving has made an impact across our ministry partnerships. Today, our stats tell the story of how urgently your giving is needed by spotlighting a few partners. Amidst a global pandemic, COVID-19, ministries typically open to the community are closing their doors to service in order to help stop the spread of the virus. Organizations are forced to lay off workers to preserve funds, and food, medical supplies, and resources are running low. Now more than ever, our partners need your generosity and your prayers.
IN GUATEMALA
200 elderly, 100’s of children
450 workers were laid off at Hope of Life in Guatemala. 250 staff members continue to care for more than 200 elderly and many children: in the orphanage, more than 100 children with special needs, and a hospital full of malnourished individuals. They estimate their food supply, which normally feeds over 4,000 people annually, will last four weeks, and medicine will last for only 10 days.
278 children
Almost 100 children live in a family-style orphanage at Casa Bernabé in Guatemala, and 197 children from the community attend school here. The gates are closed to ALL non-residents, including cleaning and kitchen staff, teachers, and administrators. They face shortages of meat, cleaning supplies, and medicines. Items that can be found are often double or triple the normal price. Casa Bernabé receives no public funding and funding has sharply decreased since the pandemic.
IN NICARAGUA
160 children + family members
Arms of Love in Nicaragua serves over 160 vulnerable children and their large families. They have purchased additional food to feed their children for three weeks, and stores are selling out of food and medical stock quickly.
IN UGANDA
900+ young girls
More than 900 girls participate in the Project Princess Initiative program in Kampala, Uganda. Many are orphaned and live with elderly grandparents, who are highly vulnerable to the virus. This forces families to move, causing disruption, distraction, and most impactfully–school dropout. Family incomes are suffering as the economy shrinks and work stops as a result of lockdown.
IN ZAMBIA
2,400 villagers
At Kachere Development Programme (KDP) in Eastern Zambia, there is an urgent need for more clean water systems to support 2,400 villagers. Local Chiefs continue to ask for immediate assistance for clean water and WASH (Water Access, Sanitation, and Hygiene) training to help stop the spread of the virus.
IN HAITI
4,000 students
Divine Shelter Schools (DSS) is a network of 16 school locations that serve over 4,000 students in vulnerable communities in Haiti. Schools have been closed now for two weeks, and leadership is drafting a plan to create a life-sustaining feeding program for five schools that serve the poorest and most rural communities in the school network.
We are seeing a pattern with the partners we serve across the world: supplies are running thin, staff numbers are low, and your support is needed now more than ever. Cross International and our local partners are working together to identify needs, create plans to meet those needs, and adjust as the crisis unfolds. Our plans not only support immediate needs but integrate into the longer-term recovery and stability. As we remain focused on God’s sovereignty, we invite you to support this crucial and urgent work by giving today!
Our Philosophy: Serving those in need More Than Ever in response to COVID-19
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.
Without a doubt, the COVID-19 crisis is truly unprecedented. The situation is changing rapidly, and like everyone, we’re adjusting and changing with it. What hasn’t changed is our commitment: we remain focused on serving those in need around the world, working closely with our local ministry partners. The complications and barriers created by this pandemic have only added to our challenges, which were already daunting. But far from being discouraged, we are strengthening our resolve and asking our donors and partners to join us in this work, now more than ever.
Our first step in crisis response is to work with ministry partners to identify their needs. You can imagine the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic for those who live in impoverished communities that are already without any safety net of social services. In communities like these, living on the edge is a daily reality, and the COVID-19 crisis has pushed resources to the limit:
- Shelter: Because so many live without adequate housing, they don’t have a safe place to ‘shelter-at-home.’ Women and children in situations of domestic abuse are particularly vulnerable, as their options to find refuge in a shelter are restricted by quarantines.
- Food: As schools shut down, many children miss their main–or only–meal of the day. Families who depend on food distributions are unable to receive meals and are finding it difficult to gather food.
- Healthcare: Social distancing is restricting access to already limited healthcare resources, and medical teams aren’t able to complete their usual child rescue operations. The meager healthcare systems in these countries risk being quickly overtaken by the needs of COVID-19 patients as the pandemic develops.
- Orphanages: Children in orphanages are at higher risk for the potential spread of the virus, due to their close living conditions. Quarantine orders have essentially locked out orphanage workers who live in the surrounding community. Only a handful of residential staff remain to keep the children safe, fed, healthy, and occupied.
- Clean water: For many in developing countries, accessing water is a community activity that is greatly impeded by the need for social distancing around wells or communal water sources.
- Education: Schools and educational programs have been closed due to necessity, and teaching through technology is not an option for the vast majority.
- Unemployment: Those who do not have stable or consistent employment in impoverished areas are in precarious financial situations, and unemployment relief from the government is not likely.
- Ministry Support: Many ministry partners are largely supported through church mission trips, which have seen a drastic reduction as all foreseeable trips have been cancelled. As a result, many ministries have already been forced to let go hundreds of workers, and more layoffs are expected.
Like the COVID-19 crisis, the scope and scale of these needs are unprecedented. Our ministry partners are facing challenges they’ve never faced before. They are needing to not only address the reality of the coronavirus, they also need to ensure their essential ministry services are able to continue. We are collaborating with them closely to create highly adaptable plans that will allow us to adjust as the crisis unfolds.
Our strategy in response to the coronavirus is to prevent and prepare. We are ensuring that best practices in social distancing and hand-washing are being followed as best as possible within the context of ministry partners’ limited resources. We’re reinforcing proper hygiene practices and taking sanitation precautions to limit the spread of the virus. Given that the spread of the virus is expected to increase, we are also focusing on procuring medical supplies and helping our partners take measures to mitigate the impact to their workers and those they serve.
We’re also helping our partners explore options and think through ways their ministry methods should evolve as we learn more about this pandemic. Women’s support groups in Malawi and Zambia are using the few cell phones available to coordinate distribution of goods. New, innovative feeding programs are being drafted to serve poor and rural communities while supporting social distancing. Orphanage workers in quarantine are taking on multiple roles, finding ways to not only fill in as cleaning staff and cooks, but to continue 2-hour tutor sessions each day for the children.
One of our priorities in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis is to stay connected with you, our donors and supporters. We know you want to stay up-to-date about these financial and situational needs and how Cross International is engaging around the world. As we share this information with you, please consider giving today to help us meet these unprecedented needs.
We understand that this pandemic is affecting so many families, including many of our generous and faithful donors. Please let us know how we can best pray for you, as we regularly remember you in our prayers. For we know that despite these challenges, God remains sovereign. We and our ministry partners continue to rely on God for our comfort and provision, and we encourage you to do the same!
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.
The life-changing numbers behind our medical aid ministry
“Without health care, how can children reach their full potential? And without a healthy, productive population, how can societies realize their aspirations?” Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director
At least half of the world’s population cannot obtain essential health services, according to a new report from the World Bank and WHO. For almost 100 million people, out-of-pocket health care expenses are high enough to push them into extreme poverty, forcing them to survive on just $1.90 or less a day. At Cross International, we know that resolving health issues is critical for other services like micro-enterprise training to be effective. That’s why medical aid will always be an important component of the services we provide through our work with local ministry partners around the world.
In 2019, with the support of donors like you, Cross International medical aid ministry made a life-changing impact for thousands of children and their families around the world.
2019 medical aid impact
4144 children rescued from health-threatening situations
54 medical staff across multiple countries
$76 million worth of supplies shipped in overseas medical containers
43,129 gifts in kind provided to clinics, children, and families in need
Read more about our perspective on medical aid and how you can join us by giving generously to the ministry of Cross International and its many local partners throughout the world, who provide services, medicine, and healthcare to those who need our help.
Medical Aid partner spotlight: Guatemala’s Amigos Por La Salud y La Vida
Imagine your life without the ability to go to urgent care or swing by a pharmacy to pick up necessary medicines.
For many throughout the world, medical treatment is free, but the medicines they need are unaffordable. Nearly 2 billion people have no access to basic medicines, according to the World Health Organization. When children and families are continuously ill, their entire lives are impacted. Attending work or school, supporting a family, maintaining relationships, and having hope for a bright future is a constant challenge that feels impossible to achieve.
When it comes to medical aid, Cross International has a clear perspective on the importance it plays in our overall mission to transform the poor and their communities materially and spiritually for the glory of Jesus Christ. We understand that resolving health issues is critical for other supports, like education, clean water, and housing, to be effective, and it’s why medical aid will always be an important component of the services we promote and advance through our work with local ministry partners around the world.
Working closely with local ministry partners is crucial to the success of our programs. They best understand the needs of their neighbors and the type of support that will be most effective. Our partners are deeply rooted in their communities, providing sustained support that is often key in tackling systemic underlying issues surrounding medical needs.
For more than a decade, our strategic ministry partnerships in Guatemala have helped children and families affected by poverty and abuse. One of Cross International’s largest gifts-in-kind recipients is Amigos Por La Salud y La Vida (Friends for Health and Life), an organization dedicated to providing food and medical services to fill the gaps in Guatemala’s overburdened health system. Cross International helps the organization stock the pharmacy shelves of clinics and hospitals, providing free medication to those in need. Cross International also gives donations of food to help support feeding programs that serve the 30,000 patients that visit each clinic per year, many suffering from malnutrition.
Using our holistic approach to partnerships, Cross International also comes alongside Amigos Por La Salud y La Vida to determine the most important indicators to track in providing more efficient and effective care. We are working to develop a needs-based approach to medicine and medical equipment distribution that will help us know which programs to expand and improve.
Long-term partnerships with local organizations like Amigos Por La Salud y La Vida are the hands and feet of the work we champion around the world. Through the support of generous believers like you, our local ministry partners are strengthened and empowered with hope to transform their communities with the love of Christ.
The example of Jesus: a healing touch for the hurting
A healing touch—that’s how so many people were introduced to the compassion of Jesus when he walked on earth. In the Bible, gospel stories show how Jesus was moved time and again to touch and heal those who were physically hurting: the blind, the lame, the lepers…even those at the point of death and beyond. He understood the toll of pain, and he used his ability to minister to people’s bodies as a way to introduce them to the ultimate healing he could provide their souls. This biblical example guides our work in the area of medical aid and healthcare services.
In Luke, chapter 10, Jesus told one of his most remembered parables, of one person being moved by compassion to help another in pain. The healing touch in the parable came from the good Samaritan, someone who didn’t have any relationship with the wounded man. They had never met, and the circumstances of their day would have actually created quite a distance between them, socially. But despite that, the Good Samaritan felt not only empathy for the other’s pain, he felt a responsibility to care for him. Jesus described this man tenderly dressing the wounds of the injured man, bringing him to a place of safety and rest, and paying for his ongoing care to ensure he would find his way back to health. The beautiful image Jesus creates in the story is one of sacrificial giving and true concern for a stranger.
Through His stories and His example, Jesus calls us to reach out to the world around us, offering hope and meeting others’ needs as we are able. Just as Jesus was attentive to the physical ailments of those around him, we believe it is our responsibility to understand the medical and health challenges of those we serve and to respond in compassion. It doesn’t require changing the world; it’s as simple as seeing the pain in someone’s eyes and moving forward in love. Often, those in deepest need of our help may be strangers to us, living in places of the world with challenges far greater than those we face. Even in these cases—and perhaps especially in these cases—we believe in following a simple motto: “When you can, help.”
We invite you to join us in responding to those in need of medical aid and physical healing, following Christ’s example of compassion. Would you pray for those facing disease and illness in areas around the world where barriers to healthcare are often insurmountable without the help of others? Pray that God would send the care and medicine they need. As you are able, we also invite you to join us by giving generously to the ministry of Cross International and its many local partners throughout the world, who provide much needed services, like medicine and healthcare, to those who need our help.