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Thank-you for your support!We are thrilled to announce that in total over $175,000 was raised for the Journeys of Healing Fall Fundraiser!
We are overwhelmed by our generous donors giving over $80,000 during the couple weeks of the fundraiser which far surpassed our $50,000 goal. The anonymous donor matched the fundraiser donations, and throughout the past year over $15,000 was donated by our monthly donors which was also matched. Adding together the fundraiser donations, fundraiser matching, and monthly donation matching, we get a total of $175,000. The CHILD Board and our partners are incredibly thankful to each and every person who participated. You played such an important role in making this fundraiser successful! And combined with the matching donations, now over $175,000 will be going to help our partners support their communities on their own unique journeys of healing this coming year. |
Our theme this year is “Journeys of Healing”. Whenever I think of a journey, I usually think of a hike. And hikes are not easy, especially if you don’t have all the items necessary to make it to the top. You need good shoes, food, maybe a walking stick, and lots of water. Even if you have the will to make it to the top, if you lack these other things, you won’t get very far.
Now we’re talking about Journeys of Healing, and healing is the process, or in our case the journey, of restoring to health.
The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) offers a simple definition of health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. All the partners we work with strive to make this holistic definition of health a reality in their communities. They work to provide not only physical healing, but also mental, social and spiritual healing so that their community members can, in time, encourage those around them on their own journeys of healing as well.
CHILD is so blessed to be able to come alongside 3 hardworking organizations in India, Haiti and South Africa that provide what their communities need for their unique healing journeys. Below you’ll have the opportunity to see a snapshot of what our partners have been working on this past year and a bit of what they hope to do going forward.
CHILD aims to provide “journey” necessities for those who cannot afford them, and with your support we are able to do that for hundreds, and even thousands, of people again this year.
- Annemarie Doell, CHILD Vice President
Now we’re talking about Journeys of Healing, and healing is the process, or in our case the journey, of restoring to health.
The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) offers a simple definition of health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. All the partners we work with strive to make this holistic definition of health a reality in their communities. They work to provide not only physical healing, but also mental, social and spiritual healing so that their community members can, in time, encourage those around them on their own journeys of healing as well.
CHILD is so blessed to be able to come alongside 3 hardworking organizations in India, Haiti and South Africa that provide what their communities need for their unique healing journeys. Below you’ll have the opportunity to see a snapshot of what our partners have been working on this past year and a bit of what they hope to do going forward.
CHILD aims to provide “journey” necessities for those who cannot afford them, and with your support we are able to do that for hundreds, and even thousands, of people again this year.
- Annemarie Doell, CHILD Vice President
Update from SAHARA
Introduction by Sarah Walton, CHILD Board member
Tonight I get the special honor of introducing our guest speakers – Stan and Becky King- who will be sharing their experience visiting our partner organization in South Africa, SAHARA. Before I invite Stan and Becky up, I would like to give a bit of background to this project we have been partnering with since 2020.
As you know I’m one of the board members of CHiLD. I was privileged to join the CHiLD board in 2016 while completing my nursing degree at the University of Alberta. Now I am completing my residency training to become a rural family medicine physician, and I have a particular interest in supporting individuals struggling with mental health and substance use disorders.
A core goal of CHiLD Society is to partner with already existing local groups who understand the needs of their communities and are dedicated to addressing them in a culturally appropriate way. For those who have been with us for some time, you’ll know that we’ve supported initiatives in South Africa like UKALAPA, which provides nutritional programs—such as milk initiatives—to enhance protein intake at Slangspruit Elementary. Additionally, through CHiLD you have offered numerous scholarships to help children continue their education beyond elementary school, providing opportunities they might not have otherwise had.
As we know, local needs evolve over time and leading up to 2020 it became evident there was a huge need in the area of substance use in the communities we were serving in South Africa. As we all know substance use is a monster that can destroy not only the life of the person suffering with it, but also the lives of those who around them- parents, children, communities.
I’d like to give a little context to the state of substance use support in South Africa in comparison to Alberta. In Alberta, although imperfect to say the least, if you or a family member is struggling with substance use there is a 24-7 number you can call and get connected with numerous virtual or in person services to start one’s recovery process. Medications, counselling, social support, etc. are all covered. In South Africa though, prior to SAHARA, there were no government funded programs that offered outpatient services, including medication, for individuals struggling with substance use. SAHARA also employs preventative initiatives like the Planet Youth Process- an evidence-based strategies for preventing substance use in young people. Planet Youth is being adopted across the world and in Canada as a way to help young people avoid substance use in the first place.
So without further ado, I’d like to invite Stan and Becky to come up and share more about the amazing work SAHARA is accomplishing with the support of CHiLD and all our generous donors.
Tonight I get the special honor of introducing our guest speakers – Stan and Becky King- who will be sharing their experience visiting our partner organization in South Africa, SAHARA. Before I invite Stan and Becky up, I would like to give a bit of background to this project we have been partnering with since 2020.
As you know I’m one of the board members of CHiLD. I was privileged to join the CHiLD board in 2016 while completing my nursing degree at the University of Alberta. Now I am completing my residency training to become a rural family medicine physician, and I have a particular interest in supporting individuals struggling with mental health and substance use disorders.
A core goal of CHiLD Society is to partner with already existing local groups who understand the needs of their communities and are dedicated to addressing them in a culturally appropriate way. For those who have been with us for some time, you’ll know that we’ve supported initiatives in South Africa like UKALAPA, which provides nutritional programs—such as milk initiatives—to enhance protein intake at Slangspruit Elementary. Additionally, through CHiLD you have offered numerous scholarships to help children continue their education beyond elementary school, providing opportunities they might not have otherwise had.
As we know, local needs evolve over time and leading up to 2020 it became evident there was a huge need in the area of substance use in the communities we were serving in South Africa. As we all know substance use is a monster that can destroy not only the life of the person suffering with it, but also the lives of those who around them- parents, children, communities.
I’d like to give a little context to the state of substance use support in South Africa in comparison to Alberta. In Alberta, although imperfect to say the least, if you or a family member is struggling with substance use there is a 24-7 number you can call and get connected with numerous virtual or in person services to start one’s recovery process. Medications, counselling, social support, etc. are all covered. In South Africa though, prior to SAHARA, there were no government funded programs that offered outpatient services, including medication, for individuals struggling with substance use. SAHARA also employs preventative initiatives like the Planet Youth Process- an evidence-based strategies for preventing substance use in young people. Planet Youth is being adopted across the world and in Canada as a way to help young people avoid substance use in the first place.
So without further ado, I’d like to invite Stan and Becky to come up and share more about the amazing work SAHARA is accomplishing with the support of CHiLD and all our generous donors.
Update From Haiti and India
Written by Dr. Cathy Page, CHILD President and read by Prof. Don Page, CHILD Secretary
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In a world, full of wars, famines, floods, fires, and violence, we are often left feeling very overwhelmed as to how we can make a difference. Pessimism fills our minds and leaves no room for opportunity, change, and hope to grow.
How can we bring LIGHT into the seemingly endless darkness? How can we be part of the journey out of the darkness and into the light? There is a saying, “When it is very, very dark, we need to find the cracks where the light comes in.” Tonight, we will share with you about the light that CHILD is shining through the cracks. Even though CHILD is a small charity, with your support, it has brought LIGHT, HOPE, and HEALING into the immense suffering of men, women, and especially children, in Haiti, India, and South Africa. |
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Haiti
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In Haiti, your donations have allowed CHILD, through the Haiti Children’s Home Nutrition Program, to journey into the world of children who are near death due to severe malnutrition. This past year, despite the incredible amount of gang violence, CHILD was able to fund hundreds of children in the program to receive lifesaving, high-protein, high-calorie, nutritionally dense, Medika Mumba bars.
CHILD also provides the funds for Immunizations and other needed medications. It is a journey for not only the children, but also for all those who love and care for the children. Families are empowered to care for their own children and thereby, avoid placing them in an orphanage due to lack of food. It is very much a journey of healing children and restoring families. |
India
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Through CHILD’s work in Vijayawada, India, with Metropolitan Mission’s Children’s Home and School, hundreds of children can embark on a journey of HOPE as they attend the school.
With your donations, CHILD has been able to buy the rice for all the school children for the entire school year each year for over a decade. With your donations, CHILD has also provided the children with protein-rich foods such as lentils, chicken, eggs, and nuts, so that not only the children’s minds can grow through the education they receive, but also their bodies can grow, and they can be healthy. |
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In the past few years, with your donations, CHILD has also been able to buy two school buses, a rickshaw, and a tractor so Metropolitan Mission can grow their own vegetables. We have also been able to buy two water buffalo, to provide the children with protein-rich milk,
CHILD also pays the salaries of over 20 teachers at Metropolitan Mission. With better salaries it is easier to keep very good teachers at the school, many of whom teach the children English, the language used in higher education. |
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Journeys of HOPE are also given to the women in the tailoring program sponsored with your donations to CHILD. Over 100 women have graduated from the sewing program. They are then able to start earning their own income and give their children a much better life.
With your ongoing support, this program will be able to continue to be a journey of healing, hope and promise for these women and their children. |
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CHILD also brings hope and healing by providing, through Metropolitan Mission, disaster relief for flood victims. This year, the province where Metropolitan Mission Home and School is located, has seen the worst flooding in over 200 years. There is an incredible amount of need, and with past donations made to CHILD, we have been able to provide food, clean water, blankets, and personal hygiene packages. It is only with your donations tonight, that CHILD will be able to continue providing disaster relief to victims of future disasters.
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CHILD, with your donations, has been able to drill over 70 freshwater wells allowing communities of 3500 people to have access to clean water.
In the beginning I mentioned the saying, “When it is very, very dark, we need to find the cracks where the light comes in.” I have shared with you about the light that CHILD is shining through the cracks already. Now, tonight, with your donations, CHILD can increase the light shining through the cracks and make it shine even brighter in the darkness that is so prevalent in the world today. I will close with a poem written by my wife, Cathy, about CHILD's work in India, Haiti and South Africa. |
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Where in the world is there HOPE? Here is HOPE! There is HOPE in a fortified peanut butter bar that a severely malnourished child eats at the Nutrition Program of Haiti Children’s Home in Mirebalais, Haiti. There is HOPE for the mother, that her child will not die after all. There is HOPE, and life, because YOU shared out of what you have with these children who have nothing, barely even life itself. There is HOPE in the chalk that the teacher holds in her hand as it writes out the letters of the alphabet and teaches children from desperately poor families how to read and write. The Metropolitan Mission school gives an education to children from very impoverished families, who would otherwise have little hope of becoming educated. There is HOPE for these children and their futures, as CHILD pays for the teachers’ salaries. There is HOPE in the dust left behind a motorcycle, as it travels the rough and dusty road from the pen where two water buffalo are kept, to the children at the Metropolitan Home and School, to deliver the protein-rich milk from the two water buffalo. There is HOPE in the nutritious buffalo milk as it is one of the keys to the healthy development of the young and growing bodies of the children at the School. This HOPE is because of the funds you have donated to CHILD to buy the buffaloes. There is HOPE in the spinning of the spool of thread, as over 100 women have graduated from the 10-month long tailoring program. When the women graduate, they receive their own sewing machines, so that they can start their own tailoring business. There is the HOPE that comes from these women being able to earn enough money to send their children to school and provide them with proper medical care. The HOPE comes from YOU, as your support allows CHILD to fund the tailoring program. There is HOPE in the emergency relief supplies that CHILD funds, and Metropolitan Mission delivers, to victims of natural disasters, such as severe flooding. Blankets, food, clean water and other necessities of life, are given. Over the years, CHILD has been able to bring HOPE and HEALING to thousands and thousands of men, women and children in their desperate plight, because of your donations. There is HOPE in the clean, fresh water as it gushes out of the newly drilled neighbourhood well and into the young girl’s bucket. Now this young girl has a chance to go to school, instead of walking for hours each day to collect water from a distant and dirty pool of water. There is HOPE in the clean water that prevents children from becoming sick, and often dying, from dirty water. There is HOPE because someone cared enough to help CHILD fund the drilling of the fresh water well. There is HOPE and the start of his journey of healing, in the young 12-year-old’s life, as he lies drunk at the side of the litter-strewn road in George, South Africa, because the SAHARA drug rehabilitation program will take him into their program and teach him how to become free of the alcohol which now threatens to destroy his young life. They will support this young twelve-year-old, as he breaks free from his present, extremely destructive, lifestyle. For this teen and others like him, their JOURNEYS of HOPE and HEALING have only been possible, because of your donations to CHILD. HOPE and HEALING are so desperately needed in the world today, and because of your donations, you have allowed there to be HEALING and HOPE this past year. It is with HOPE, that we ask you to continue journeying with CHILD in this coming year and thereby allowing us to let many men, women, and especially children, begin, and continue on, their Journeys of Healing and HOPE in Haiti, India and South Africa. |
Please stay tuned for the rest of our presentation recap which will be posted here in the coming weeks. You can be notified when it is up by following us on Facebook or Instagram.
