Archive for the ‘Missions’ Category

  • 23 Nov

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    HIV “Halted”?

    0

    According to the BBC, the HIV epidemic has been “halted”.

    I had to read their article. I saw the headline and immediately thought “What on earth?  How can AIDS possibly be halted?”

    Then I read on.  Basically the number of new infections is declining worldwide.  Except in sub-Saharan Africa, where the BBC says 70% of all new infections are occurring.  Wow.

    I don’t really know what to think, or whether even to believe this.  Because if it so happens that now organizations and governments say “Oh, the AIDS crisis is getting better” and they stop fighting the disease as hard, then there could be a spike in new cases again.

    I think we need to keep doing whatever we are doing to fight HIV.  I don’t think that the infection rate in sub-Saharan Africa is bound to get much better anytime soon.  Somehow I don’t see how 17.5% of adults in South Africa being infected with AIDS is a good thing. Even if the rate of infection in sub-Saharan Africa stabilized, there would still be an epidemic of AIDS just as big as the one we see now. It just wouldn’t be growing. Isn’t fighting AIDS about getting the rate of infection down, and the number of people infected to go down as well?

    In other HIV-related news, the pope finally decided that condoms are ok in certain situations, like for a prostitute to use so they don’t contract AIDS.  I think its about time we stop condemning the prostitutes and making them feel shamed or feel powerless against AIDS.  Maybe that alone will make the HIV rate decline in Brazil.

  • 10 Nov

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    Operation Christmas Child

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    Its that time of year we’ve all been waiting for!  Its SHOEBOX time!!!

    What am I talking about?  Shoeboxes?

    Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes! Operation Christmas Child is a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse that uses a simple shoebox filled with toys, gifts, clothes, school supplies, and candy to reach out to the lives of children all over the world.

    Simply fill an empty shoebox with age-appropriate gifts and drop it off at a local church or other drop-off location.  The boxes go around the world and are given as Christmas gifts to children who otherwise wouldn’t have any gifts.  It is often the first gift that child has ever received.

    One of the kids I nannied for a few years ago had received a shoebox in the children’s home she had lived in Latvia.  She told me that the hair things were the best part!  Of course, she was a typical pre-teen girl!

    The boxes go to real kids, with real lives, pains, joys, and need.  This girl I nannied for was adopted and helped me pack some boxes in 2008, she was, of course, really excited to help me!

    Last year Samaritan’s Purse started allowing you to track where your boxes went if you donate the $7 for shipping online. Some of the boxes I packed went to Nepal, Panama, Cameroon, and southeast Asia!

    Shoeboxes are given to local churches and ministries and distributed through them. The churches are able to use them as a wonderful evangelism tool to reach out the kids and their families.

    OCC has a great how-to-pack a box video.

    Happy Packing!

  • 08 Nov

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    Buy her Bag, not her Body (Nomi Network)

    0

    I just found a really neat organization that is working to provide economic alternatives to women trapped in sexual slavery and prostitution.

    Its called the Nomi Network.  They have created a line of bags which women who are in risk of sexual exploitation as well as women who have been exploited sexually.  It gives the women a fair wage and a creative way to make money, rather than selling themselves.

    Sexual exploitation and prostitution are usually an end result of a lack of other viable options to make money.  Women in certain areas around the world have few options to make money and support their families, so they sell themselves.  Or, a girl’s parents have no ways to make money, so they sell their girls into prostitution.

    We can make all sorts of plans and projects to reduce the number of pimps, make laws against prostitution, and rescue girls out of prostitution, but without other ways to make a living, girls will still be sold for sex, and women will still prostitute themselves on the street.  Laws and rescue projects are amazing, valuable, and much needed.  But we also need alternative ways for women to make money, other than selling their bodies.

    So, lets buy their bags, not their bodies.

    The Nomi Network is founded on Christian values, but is not a specifically Christian organization.  Kudos to Christians thinking outside of the box and bringing the kingdom of God into the fashion world and underworld of prostitution!

    Nomi trains women to make the bags and other products, like jewelry.  They are specifically trained by people with experience in the fashion industry and are taught quality control, and other production basics.

    This is so awesome, I just had to quote directly:

    Nomi Network recently implemented Project Beauty, a self-esteem building initiative that restores identity, self-image and confidence through photography. Nomi Network pampers the women with a make-over and a new wardrobe for the day, and sets up a photo-shoot where they are captured as beautiful, dignified human beings, rather than objects

    Thats what Love is all about!  Isn’t it?  Showing people that they are created in the image of God, and are worth something!

  • 02 Nov

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    Recycled Brooms out of Bottles

    1

    What is the one thing that every household in Africa has and uses every single day?  A broom, of course!

    How can we make that one thing more durable, work better, and help out with a large environmental problem?  Recycled PET bottle brooms!

    How do you make them?  Get or make a machine to cut the bottles.  Apparently, you can buy them from here, which doesn’t do much good outside of Brazil or if you don’t speak Portuguese.  The whole apparatus costs only R$2,380 (about $1400).  But the machine looks simple enough to make out of scrap wood.  We would just need to bring the blades to cut the bottles and the rest is easy.  Build a wooden frame with a post coming out of it, so the bottle can spin on the post.  Attach the blade to the frame so it will cut the bottle.  And make a crank of some sort.  There are 2 models of crank systems.  One spins the cut bottle strings on a spool, the other on a square frame.  I think the frame is easier to handle.

    This is a simple/short video of the cutting machine.  Obviously, first you have to cut off the bottom of the bottle (stay tuned for ideas on recycling the bottom of the bottle into toys!), and then put the bottle onto the post of the machine.

    After the bottle is cut, then you bake the cut plastic until it is stiffer and stronger.  Apparently you bake it at about 150 C, but I am not sure for how long.  In Africa, it would be (ideally) baked over a stove that burns mango pits or it could be cooked in a regular stove, I suppose.

    After the PET is baked and hard, there are a few different ways to cut and assemble it.  One way is to have a machine that cuts it into pieces, and then have another machine that clamps it onto the broom.  Or, you fold the pieces and string wire through the center, and attach it to a block of wood with holes in it.  It sounds odd, and I wish I had a photo, but I didn’t take any when I saw the project.  So I’m going on google photos…  Or you gather the pieces and wire them together around a broomstick, and put the top of the bottle over the broomstick to hold them on.

    Attach a broom handle onto the wooden blocks…

    And we can revolutionize Africa!!  Ok, I’m kidding.  But we do intend on bringing this idea and equipment to Africa when we go back.  And we’re going to start up a micro-enterprise with it in Mozambique.  And sell brooms to the whole country for affordable prices and give work opportunities to women in Pemba.

    Just to Review:

    Why Brooms?

    Everyone in Africa uses them.

    Everyone needs them.

    The straw brooms fall apart easily.

    PET brooms are strong and will sweep dirt well.

    It will cut down on plastic bottles filling the streets.

    Teaching local women to make them will provide jobs and income for families in deep poverty.

    (note: I did not take any of these photos, nor am I claiming them as my own.  I am using them for illustrative educational purposes on this blog)

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