Greetings! I am incredibly excited to share our good news!
Not the least of which is our expanded work in child welfare reform to address the family separation crisis, with a growing number of partners all across the continent of Africa.
In particular, I want to celebrate the changing face of Mercy Hospital and the 2023 Rising Tides Global Health collaboration!
Some highlights and stories in this issue:
- COVER STORY: Mercy Hospital continues to be a teaching hospital. Mercy is making significant continuity of care investments and infrastructure improvements on their wish list for a long time, thanks to the support of HCW partner churches and donors. (story below)
- Optimistic Voices Podcast launches in 2022! If you are a fan of podcasts, consider subscribing before the first episode, to get notices and listen in. (link below)
- The Family Empowerment Advocacy initiative we launched in partnership with the Child Reintegration Centre has transformed the way that advocates are learning about the lives of families supported by the work of the Child Reintegration Centre, as well as transforming the lives of families. (story) Learn more about FEA HERE
- CRC continues to provide family strengthening intensive workshops and support rural families identified as part of CRC’s outreach in Village Partnership with HCW. Three villages are actively engaged in partnerships in 2022. (story below)
- The CRC TCM department is more and more in demand, and traveled to Kenema to do a two-day workshop on Child and Family Reintegration. (story below).
- The HCW team will be presenting the Breaking Bread table fellowship for US-based faith leaders during the 2022 summit of the Christian Alliance For Orphans, which immediately follows
- the 21st Annual Charity Golf Tournament on Monday, September 12th, (Become a team sponsor - and golf, or be an event sponsor to increase the event impact)
- and precedes the annual Church of the Resurrection Leadership Institute, where Helping Children Worldwide and a coalition of UMC mission and faith leaders will engage in a Table Fellowship/ Breaking Bread dialogue with Methodists from around the world & other attendees on service to the orphan and widow. Check out the COR LI early bird special for savings on registration if you want to attend the LI event.
- Partner churches are stepping up - Go for Bo 5k is set for September this year, rather than October. (link below)
- If you know somebody between the ages of 21 and 32 who is actively engaged in a post-high school education or considering how to begin the next chapter of their life, we are sending a Young Adult team to Sierra Leone in December 2022. Interest meeting June 25th. Learn more.
- In 2023, the annual HCW Rising Tides seminar will be hosted in two locations: the child focused seminar will be in West Africa with our new partners in Liberia, and Together for Global Health will be in Washington, D.C.! We will host a fundraiser for TGH and are actively recruiting donations beginning in October to underwrite the TGH RT conference. A big note of gratitude for our event Co-chair Andrew Morrison, and the RTGH committee. Contact Yasmine Vaughan and Emmanuel M. “Nabs” Nabieu, if you have an interest in becoming a sponsor, a presenter at the conference or a table captain at the fundraiser. Stay tuned for more information on how you can support RT Global Health!
- You can always join in with our Rising Tides efforts in global child welfare reform by hosting a Breaking Bread Table Fellowship at your church, culminating in signing the Global Church Pledge and send us a story about the event to post on our blog. (resources linked below)
So much on the horizon, and as you can see we’re already planning for 2023!
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Mercy Hospital Begins to Fulfill the Vision! |
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The Chief Medical Officer at Mercy, Dr. Aruna Stevens, and Surgical Health Officer Bassie perform surgeries in tandem in the main surgical suite, with joint consultation and an opportunity for nursing students to observe surgical techniques.
The leadership of the UMC Health Ministry and Mercy Hospital laid out a vision to continue to provide access to quality medical care regardless of the ability of the patient’s family to pay, and to make Mercy a premiere medical facility. There is no doubt that Mercy is beginning to make progress toward fulfilling its ambitions. With goals of make a lasting impact to lower maternal/infant mortality rates in Sierra Leone and to become a recognized teaching hospital, HCW is linking resources to needs to assist their efforts, but the incredible medical leadership that has been recruited at Mercy is to be recognized for actual results.
Our deep commitment to global health comes from the desire to address the root causes of child poverty and mortality, and that cannot happen without addressing continuity of care. The availability of qualified medical personnel and medical resources in Sierra Leone must improve. We are proud to announce that Bethel UMC and Medical University of South Carolina are collaborating with HCW to give the Chief Medical Officer at Mercy a short term medical observation, with subsequent and longer-lasting benefits to empower continuity of care at Mercy. MUSC has already worked with HCW to provide essential medical equipment and supplies and is willing to support Mercy medical teams with remote consultations.
It is our great hope that HCW will be able to continue to collaborate with MUSC and link resources and opportunities from other Universities to expand those continuing education opportunities for professional staff at Mercy. In addition, stay tuned for information in 2023 about opportunities for short term global health residencies at Mercy.
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Global Health and Missions Technical Advisor
Yasmine Vaughan
Please contact Yasmine for more information about HCW Global Health missions, Together for Global Health, or traveling to Sierra Leone for a short or long-term mission in Sierra Leone.
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Mercy Hospital Changes Shape
Bishop John Yambasu, Sister Catherine Norman, Rob Duston and Kim Nabieu stood with me on the top of the ramp of the new surgical and critical care wing of Mercy Hospital, still four months away from completion. The Bishop pointed all around the many acres of the campus at spots that were filled only with his imagination, weeds, rocks, scrubby vegetation and red dirt. He said “someday, we will fulfill the promise of Mercy Hospital. We are building a premiere facility that others will point at as an example of what is possible here, a teaching hospital that is the cornerstone of our global health ministry.” The Bishop saw promise where others only saw obstacles.
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Optimistic Voices Podcast |
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Example instructions for subscribing to our podcast using your Iphone Podcast App on iOS:
- Open the “Podcasts" app (it has the purple logo that looks like a microphone with sound waves - or a clothespin with two circles around it..)
- Tap Library.
- Tap Edit in the upper right corner, (where there are three little dots) and then tap “Add a Show by URL...”
- Enter your RSS feed URL.(my phone gives me an option of scanning the URL from the screen of my computer)
- Tap Follow.
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Optimistic Voices
Join us as we launch Optimistic Voices Podcast. You can subscribe to the Optimistic Voices Podcast by clicking on the logo at the left and then use your own podcast app.
To subscribe to this podcast, copy and paste the URL from the address bar into the podcast app of your choice.
Vital voices in the fields of global health, global child welfare reform and family separation, and those intent on conducting ethical missions in low resource communities and developing nations. Join our hosts as they engage in conversations with diverse guests from across the globe, sharing optimistic views, experiences, and suggestions for better and best practices as they discuss these difficult topics.
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The podcast is a complement to our new Empower! Magazine. Scan the QR code to the right to read the inaugural edition of Empower! magazine on your phone, or go to our website helpingchildrenworldwide.org and read online. (You can also call our offices at 703-793-9521 x 101 and we’ll mail you a print copy.)
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Empower A Family
In Sierra Leone, families on the low end of the economic spectrum generally provide for themselves through some combination of subsistence farming and street selling, often living on the edge of survival.
Read more
www.helpingchildrenworldwid...
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First Person Story - My SAC to FEA Transition - the Donor Experience. |
Blog Archives
This was a lesson in charity and relationship I wanted to share with my grandchildren. A personal story from our Executive Director, Helping Children Worldwide - formerly a Child Sponsor, now a Family Advocate.
Read more
www.helpingchildrenworldwid...
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You can Table Fellowship with Rising Tides |
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Mohamed Nabieu, Laura Horvath, Melody Curtiss and Yasmine Vaughan have been traveling to visit with partner churches to share many ways to get involved with the mission to strengthen and empower families and communities. Even if you can’t join us at the Leadership Institute in Kansas City, or the Christian Alliance for Orphans International Summit in Atlanta, you can begin the conversation about how do engage with important work to end the family separation crisis at your own church. Contact Dr. Laura Horvath to discuss which table fellowship guide would work best for your needs. In the meantime, you can download the original TABLE FELLOWSHIP resources here, free at HCW website.
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NEWS FROM PARTNERS - Mission in Africa |
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"Borne of God"
His name means "borne of God." Like most all the old testament prophets, Amos preached impending doom because of Israel's injustices. You see, God does not give his children a pass when they...
Read more
www.helpingchildrenworldwid...
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Ways to use improvements in Village Infrastructures to...
When Lemblema Village asked CRC, Mercy and HCW to build a Court Barry for them as the initiating project in the Village Partnership, it was clear that they had a plan for community. A Court Barry is...
Read more
www.helpingchildrenworldwid...
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March 2022 Team - a Journey to Mercy
What is Short Term Mission like? In mission, you travel to support the work of strengthening and empowering families and communities. Your role begins before you travel and after you return, as you...
Read more
www.helpingchildrenworldwid...
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CRC Mentoring, Training and Coaching Department scores...
David Musa and Team share the good news with child welfare organizations, residential homes and orphanages in Kenema, Sierra Leone on a better way of supporting children in Sierra Leone.
Read more
www.helpingchildrenworldwid...
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HCW welcomes new employees to our international headquarters team and the partnership in Bo! |
Pleased to introduce our newest team members. Send them a greeting to welcome them aboard!
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Communications & Marketing Specialist
Nonprofit Financial Specialist
Field Liaison, Sierra Leone
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MORE WAYS TO SUPPORT HCW'S MISSION |
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GO FOR BO WHEREVER U R!
Ebenezer UMC's Go for Bo race in 2022 will be live in September!
With a 5K, a 1-Mile Fun Run and a Tot Dash, Go For Bo offers the perfect race for all ages and abilities.
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Did you know that you can support HCW by shopping on Amazon? |
Make Helping Children Worldwide your designated AmazonSmile charity and every time you shop, Amazon donates a small portion of your purchase. Click on this link to get started.
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“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
— Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa
Family:
"Is not an important thing. It's everything." - Michael J. Fox
"Is one of nature's masterpieces." - George Santayana
"Is the first essential cell of human society." - Pope John XXIII
"In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future."- Alex Haley
“God’s gift to you, as you are to them.” – Desmond Tutu
“Everyone needs a house to live in, but a supportive family is what builds a home.” – Anthony Liccione
"Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family” – Anthony Brandt
“When trouble comes, it’s your family that supports you.” – Guy Lafleu
“As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.” – Pope John Paul II
“The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.” – Confucius
"Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold." - Andre Maurois
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Psalm 82:3
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
PSALM 133:1
“Look at how good and pleasing it is when families live together as one. ”
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Families and children gather at a medical outreach in Fengehun village. Learn how the Child Reintegration Centre and Mercy Hospital are helping families like these: www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org
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