OPERATION BLESS ING INTERNATIONALOCTOBER 2015

Blessingsoperationblessing.org

Bricks of Blessing A struggling family in Kenya receives the life-changing gift of a new home

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A Message from THE PRESIDENT

Bill attends a fertilizer distribution in El Salvador where farming families are given the supplies they need to increase their crop yields, keeping food on the table for their families.

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World Food Day is observed on October 16th, as it has been every year

since 1979. The day is designated as "a day of action against hunger,"

with the hope that it will elevate public awareness as people the

world over are reminded to do their part to end world hunger. I'm happy to

report that for Operation Blessing, every day is a day of action against hunger! I

stopped by our warehouse on the way to work today. It was early, but already a

lineup of gleaming OBI tractor-trailers were being loaded with food for delivery

to our network of church groups that distribute to hungry Americans. A similar

scene was taking place at our distribution hubs in Florida, Texas and the

mountains of Appalachia.

As I drove the rest of the way to the office, I thought about Operation Blessing

teams in different parts of the world also working to alleviate hunger: In the arid

outback of Kenya, where Maasai women are harvesting acres of ripe tomatoes that

flourish because of our drip irrigation system fed by a solar powered pump in a

deep well; or in Haiti, where swarms of tilapia thrive and multiply at our fish farm;

or in Guatemala and Mexico, at our agricultural training centers where staff

welcome groups of 20 farmers at a time for five day sessions to learn about raised

bed gardening, drip irrigation and organic fertilizers; or in remote villages in El

Salvador, where I attended a fertilizer distribution to 314 of the 49,535 families in

the program and where I heard farmer's wives tell of how their crop yields had

doubled since the fertilizer program started. These are just a few snippets, there are

many more success stories.

Please know that as an Operation Blessing partner, you are fighting world hunger

every single day. May God bless you — just as you are blessing others.

May God bless you,

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A Message from THE PRESIDENT 4 Healing for Alicia Desperately needed surgery changes the life of a young girl in El Salvador

7 A New Kind of Water Operation Blessing brings safe and reliable water to a small village in Thailand

12 Faith and Fertilizer Farmers in Honduras are given the tools and training to yield a fruitful harvest

13 Red Bags of Hope A little girl brings home much-needed groceries each week from Operation Blessing partners

14 A New Home for Maria The gift of a new home gives hope to a struggling family in Peru

Inside this issue Cover PAGE 8

Bricks of Blessing A struggling family in Kenya receives the life-changing gift of a new home

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EL SALVADOR

Healing for Alicia

Desperately needed surgery changes the life of a young girl in El Salvador

Nine-year-old Alicia is an active third grader with big dreams for the future — but something was holding her back.

Alicia had been born with an umbilical hernia in El Salvador. Her family didn’t have the resources to pay for surgery, so the hernia had grown over the years — limiting Alicia’s activity.

“It's very hard for me to get dressed, because I have to find things that fit me loose,” Alicia said. “I have suffered much ridicule from both my neighbors and my fellow students. This has been one of my biggest limitations to success.”

Her mother continued to seek treatment for the growing girl, but

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events continued to prevent Alicia from having the surgery she needed — a case of influenza canceled a scheduled procedure, lack of space at the hospital prevented another.

“The last time they said no, I left my family and went to cry without being seen,” her mother admitted. She and her husband took turns tak-ing Alicia to the hospital so one of them would be able to continue working.

Young Alicia became discouraged by the number of times she went through the entire process of preparing for surgery, including fast-ing, with no results.

Her friends asked what was wrong with her, and Alicia tried to explain what the hernia was, but she just wanted to be healed.

“I do not like to be asked about my con-dition, because I feel sorry for myself,” Alicia said. “I want to mourn because I want to be like the other girls who have no problem.”

Worse, the doctors began to tell Alicia’s family that if she didn’t have surgery soon, the hernia would continue to grow and might dam-age her intestines.

“One feels helpless as a parent unable to help their loved ones. To see my daughter in those conditions breaks my heart,” her mom said.

When OB El Salvador learned about the struggles Alicia and her family had endured trying to get her the treatment she needed, staff were determined to help. They arranged the proper surgery for Alicia and ensured that she received the proce-dure without delay.

Today, thanks to Operation Blessing partners, Alicia is finally happy and healthy — more active than ever before. She has a bright and promising future ahead of her. ◆

Alicia prepares to undergo surgery.

Alicia no longer has to worry about an umbilical hernia limiting her potential.

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operationblessing.org/cfc

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Operation Blessing brings safe and reliable water to a small village in Thailand

THAILAND

A New Kind of Water

For the 600 residents of Nong Nok Tha, a small village in Thailand, water had always been two things: unreliable and unsafe. “In the past, we used the village’s tap water system, but

there were often water shortages in the neighborhood,” said Boonjant, a resident of the rural village.

Whenever there wasn’t enough water, villagers would have to go to the streams and marshy areas surrounding the village and transport the muddy and contaminated water back to their homes using buckets and pushcarts.

For years, the villagers — mostly poor farmers, plantation workers and laborers — would collect water this way and inadvertently put themselves and their families at risk by drinking the dirty water.

When Operation Blessing installed a well in the community, many were able to drink safe water for the very first time and have reliable access to all the water they needed right there in the village.

“We feel so glad and we are very proud to have water to use conveniently,” said Boonjant, “it’s so much cleaner than before and our lives are much improved — thank you to everyone who has had a part in this project.” ◆

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ith only a few sheets of tin, some bark and branches from nearby trees, Mboto built her home: a small, inferior structure that offered little protection from the wind and rain

but was a safe haven from her abusive husband.She had moved her three small children to the village of Kimana,

Kenya, where her brother had given her some land, but as a single mother, Mboto struggled to provide for her family — working long hours in the hot sun cutting firewood and making charcoal to sell to vendors just so she could buy food.

She worked tirelessly to give her children a better life, but could never afford to build a proper home to protect them.

“When it rained, water would get into the house, and when it was windy,

Mboto’s house had been made by hand out of bark, branches and tin.

KENYA

A struggling family in Kenya receives the life-

changing gift of a new home

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there was no door to keep the dust out,” said Mboto, “I also had to cook in the same space, which was bad for my children’s health.”

Mboto was also concerned about her children’s future because when they first moved to Kimana, the nearest school was a long distance from their home and they were too little make the trek on their own, especially with the high-risk of being harmed by wild animals along the way.

When Operation Blessing built a school and began implementing programs in their village, life improved greatly for Mboto, her children and

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the entire community.Mboto’s children are

now attending school in their village where they receive a nutritious meal each day. OBI also installed a well, making safe water easily acces-sible for families living in Kimana.

“We used to travel over three miles to get water,” said Mboto, “now we can get it next door, and we are so grateful for that.”

And instead of the arduous work of making charcoal, Mboto is now able

Mboto’s Pack H2O water backpack helps her carry safe drinking water to her home.

Mboto cooking inside her old house made of branches.

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to make a living selling the crops she plants and harvests through an OBI farming program. After receiving a goat from Operation Blessing at a special distribution, she has been able to breed it and increase her earnings even more.

In addition to all these wonderful blessings made possible by Operation Blessing partners, Mboto also received a brand new brick home built by OBI.

“When someone came to tell me that a house would be built for me, I felt so happy in my heart,” said Mboto. “I never thought in my life that I would live in this kind of house.”

Mboto and her children are healthier and much happier in their brand new house, thank-ful to have a safe and comfortable place to call home, and they are very grateful for the gener-osity of Operation Blessing and its partners.

“I can only say thank you,” said Mboto, “and I am praying that the Lord God would bless them.” ◆

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Maasai women receive the gift of a goat to help provide nutritious milk and additional income.

Inside Mboto’s new brick home.

Watch this video to see more of Mboto’s new home.

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Farmers in Honduras are given the tools and training to yield a fruitful harvest

Faith and Fertilizer

Farming is not an easy endeav-or, and if you don’t have the right tools or resources it

can be very difficult to produce good crops.

To make things a little easier, Operation Blessing is helping fami-lies in the village of Agua Clara, Honduras, increase their yield and improve the nutritional quality of the food they harvest — teaching them best practices and equipping them with everything they’ll need.

These farmers are being trained and supervised each week as they learn new techniques to grow their crops and achieve better results. Operation Blessing has provided each family with a variety of seeds, shovels, fertilizers and more.

With a little help from Operation Blessing, some faith and fertilizer, these families are growing plenty of nutritious foods for their tables and will be able to increase their income by selling any surplus they have. ◆

HONDURAS

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Faith and Fertilizer

A little girl brings home much-needed groceries each week from Operation Blessing partners

When 8-year-old Rebecca brings home the red bags filled with pastas, canned goods and fruit she receives at a special distribution at school each week, she doesn’t

fully understand the importance of the gift she carries, but her mother does.

Rebecca’s family began to struggle financially after a car accident had left her mom Jessica, a single mother of four, disabled. Paying the bills and putting food on the table became extremely difficult for Jessica because she was unable to hold down any kind of a job due her physical injuries and struggle with PTSD.

Rebecca and her older sister Tori Rose attend an elementary school in Tennessee where a local Operation Blessing-partner church distributes food every Friday to kids and families struggling with hunger and food insecurity.

Thanks to the groceries Rebecca and her sister bring home, Jessica is able to stretch her income enough to keep the lights on at home and feed her children.

“Being low income, I struggle from month to month just to get by and take care of my girls,” Jessica said. “From the bottom of our hearts, we are grateful. Thank you.” ◆

Red Bags of Hope

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TENNESSEE

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PERU

The gift of a new home gives hope to a struggling family in Peru

As a single mother in Peru, Maria worked hard to provide and care for her two children. But with a house on the verge of collapse that offered little protection from the wind and rain,

she and her children lived in fear. Worse, little 2-year-old Natalia was often sick from the cold and wet condition of their home during the rainy season.

Maria has tried her hardest to repair their damaged home and mend the deteriorat-ing roof, even climb-ing up a ladder in the middle of the night to patch holes to keep the rain from coming Maria’s house before.

A New Home for Maria

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in, but they were only temporary fixes and didn’t last long.

“My biggest fear is that my house will collapse on us,” Maria told OBI staff.

But that wasn’t the only thing they had to worry about — sickness was also a constant threat to their family and there were many times that Maria had to take her children to the hospital because they had dangerously high fevers.

“My daughter always has a cold and flu — she has a fever con-stantly because nothing is ever dry inside the house when the rainy season comes,” said Maria.

When Operation Blessing met Maria, she had just injured her foot while trying to repair their roof, so teams provided her with a two weeks’ supply of groceries for the time she would be unable

to work and medicine for little Natalia, and then immediately began the process of building her family a new home.

Maria’s children are now healthy and her family is safe, dry and warm when it rains.

“I'm happy that my mom doesn’t have to climb a ladder to fix our roof anymore,” said Maria’s 7-year-old son, Edson. “I really like my new house!” ◆

Maria’s new house.

A New Home for Maria

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Copyright © 2015 by Operation Blessing International, P.O. Box 2636, Virginia Beach, VA 23450. For more information, call (800) 730-2537 or visit our website at operationblessing.org

Christian families who have fled their homes amid violence are living in dire conditions in makeshift refugee camps. Afraid for their future, they hold tight to their faith — praying someone like you will answer their prayers.

Aid the persecuted by going to operationblessing.org today.

WILL YOU HELP ANSWER THEIR PRAYERS?

EACH MONTH, MILLIONS OF CHRISTIANS ARE TARGETED BECAUSE OF THEIR FAITH.