We recently interviewed singer/songwriter and HOPE supporter Liz Goodgame, who is donating all of the proceeds from her new album, Fresh Lemonade, to HOPE. We caught up with Liz on the inspiration behind the album, her creative process, and her own history with making lemonade.

*Through August 31, HOPE is giving supporters a free copy of Fresh Lemonade with every one-time or new recurring gift of $50 or more. Donate today to receive your free copy.

I notice from your website that Fresh Lemonade was recorded in your basement after an eight-year hiatus from music. Could you talk a little bit about what inspired you to return to music and record this album?

I had a real “call”…it was too clear to ignore. I think God, in his good humor, knew that it was about the only thing that could have motivated me to get back into music.

It was easier for me not to tell anyone what I was doing. At the time it seemed like too much to explain… and I also wanted to have an easy out, in case I got cold feet. When I announced that I was recording, it was a surprise to most people that knew me.

To this day, I don’t really understand how all the pieces came together—at the time my husband was a medical resident, and I had two kids under four. I prayed a lot and God’s hand was all over the process.

As you were working on Fresh Lemonade, did you have a goal in mind for what you wanted to accomplish through the album?

I wanted to create an album that could be enjoyed by many different kinds of people. I hope that my faith is evident in all my songs, but I never intended to write an exclusively Christian album. I would be thrilled if Fresh Lemonade sparked some curiosity.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted my music to help people, more specifically people living in extreme poverty. I was inspired by other artists and musicians that were using their gifts to draw attention to important causes. Initially, I thought that my album would be a compilation of songs that addressed some of the social issues that are close to my heart. But the album took on a life of its own and almost paralleled my thoughts and feelings on social justice…for me, Fresh Lemonade is a celebration of the gifts and blessings in my life.

The opportunity to partner with HOPE was the final piece in the puzzle. HOPE is a Fresh Lemonade kind of organization—they are empowering hard working, creative people to make lemonade in some of the toughest places in our world…and I am honored to play a small part.

Could you tell us about the story behind a particular song?

“Free to Dream” is the last song on the album but the first song that I wrote. It was inspired by my two kids, Max and Maggie, and the desire I have for them to dream big dreams. I was struck with the responsibility and challenge that I have as a parent, to encourage them towards the unique purpose that God has for each of their precious little lives.

For the past few years, a family from our church has set up a fresh lemonade stand in front of their house during the Kennett Square Mushroom Festival. They used it to raise money for International Justice Mission. I was inspired by their initiative and family collaboration. “Fresh Lemonade” was my last song, and I wrote it in less than an hour, which is very uncommon for me.

Speaking of lemonade stands, have you ever had one of your own?

Several…all with very little success, most likely due to the below-average product I was offering and a poor marketing strategy.

What made you decide to donate the proceeds from this album to HOPE?

Our church, Willowdale Chapel in Kennett Square, has a strong partnership with HOPE and does a fantastic job of highlighting, praying for, and supporting all of its mission partners. Microfinance makes sense…and HOPE does it right. I also love the enthusiasm I have witnessed—HOPE is a fitting name for this organization.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I love my husband…he fueled this project in many, many ways! Thanks for your constant support and encouragement Ben…and your money.

For more information on Liz, check out her website at lizgoodgame.com.

In Lancaster, PA on Sunday, July 11th?  Meet Liz Goodgame in person at Prince Street Café, where she’ll be providing live music for HOPE’s first annual Card Me Party with Gift Card Giver. Click here for more details.

this post is third in a series from HOPE International regional representative Chris Horst

Three months ago I started a journey, in monthly installments, to two fictional cities—Assetsville and Needsville—both cities representative of poor communities in Africa. While the issues, such as education, health care and sanitation, in these cities are identical, the responses to these issues could not be more different—both in philosophy and methodology.

“Is HOPE the solution for global poverty?” It is a question I am asked often, and the question which inspired the past few months’ musings. My answer to this question is a resounding no. I do not believe HOPE is the solution to global poverty. Christ-centered microfinance is wonderfully effective, but it is not a miracle cure. What I do believe is that the principles undergirding HOPE, and the work of the fantastic organizations I highlighted over the past few weeks, are the solution.

Effective service and ministry to poor communities and individuals should affirm:
• Assets trump needs: All individuals, regardless of how great their needs, are created in the image of God and abounding in strengths, skills, and dreams. The doctor-patient approach to poverty (“you have problems – I can cure them”) will never achieve lasting change—it will simply reveal, and even create, more needs and deeper problems. Over time, this perspective will create unhealthy dependency, eroding the autonomy and creativity of communities and individuals.

• Their solutions over our ideas: Regardless of the clout of our graduate degrees, or the breadth of our professional backgrounds, the best solutions to community challenges reside within the members of the communities. We need to unlock ingenuity, not rest on our pedigrees.

• An exit strategy versus an empire strategy: Transitioning to (or starting with) local leadership should be the goal. It is financially—and even philosophically—prohibitive to employ Westerners to permanently staff organizations in communities abroad. All international (non-local) workers should be focused on working themselves out of a job.

• Dignity above desperation in our messaging: It is easy to motivate people to act with shocking images of babies with bloated stomachs and starving moms with flies in their eyes. But, easy is not always best. I believe we need to abandon guilt marketing and communicate the worth and beauty of all people and communities, even those who suffer from seemingly catastrophic material poverty.

• We are all poor: What if we viewed hunger the same way we viewed over-eating? What if we viewed the challenge of living in a shanty as the mirrored challenge of keeping up with the Joneses? What if we viewed the problem of not having enough money as a counter-problem to the addiction to money? Each person and community has issues, though some may be more hidden, more below-the-surface, than others. We need to abandon the “savior complex,” serve with humility, and recognize that we are all broken people in need of help.

• Helping is enabling: If you help a vengeful poor person – and there is no heart change – he will simply become a wealthy tyrant. Helping individuals and communities without speaking to heart issues is like baking a cake with vinegar. The size of the cake, quality of ingredients and intricacy of the decorations are irrelevant if sin is not addressed. We are only enabling the oppressed to become the oppressors if we do not boldly communicate the truth of the Gospel.

Here’s my summary encouragement: Ask the hard questions of the ministries and organizations where you are volunteering and giving financially. Examine whether you would be more likely to find their philosophy, theology and methodology in Needsville or Assetsville. Our resources—time, talents and treasure—are finite and precious. We care called to invest them wisely.

I thought you might like to have a look at a few more of the first
clients in their homes and businesses. Enjoy.

Most of the women in Brazzaville wear beautiful dresses or skirts made of pagne, a brightly colored fabric that comes in bold, interesting patterns. Women buy the relatively inexpensive fabric in the pagne sections of the market and then take their selections to one of hundreds of local tailors. These tailors can create customized and detailed dresses, shirts, and suits at impressive speeds. Mikhal (HOPE Congo’s Finance Manager and my amazing hostess!) helped me buy fabric and commission a few skirts from a tailor named Bienvenu.
While I didn’t go for the full pagne (top, long skirt, and extra fabric to wrap around your waist and around your head), I did get two skirts made, and I’m pleased with the results!

I had the opportunity to interview Pasteur Julien from Centre Chrétienne Néhémie (Nehemiah Christian Center Church) while a reimbursement meeting was taking place in his church.

• Thus far, what has been your interaction with HOPE Congo? “HOPE Congo invited me to speak at the first disbursal meeting on behalf of all the churches in Brazzaville. I came here to pray with the clients and to help HOPE Congo launch their affairs. … I told clients, ‘You can be motivated, earn more money, and make great plans, but without God being a part of your plans, without following His will, it will all be useless in the end.’”

• How does HOPE Congo further the work of local churches?
“HOPE Congo is a form of outreach. … HOPE Congo helps clients to become familiar with local churches by holding meetings in churches and encouraging clients to start going to the church. [HOPE Congo community bank meetings are usually held in churches located in the neighborhoods where clients live and work.] … By including people in business and teaching them the Word of God, you can show them that our God is full of wisdom. HOPE Congo is reaching a lot of people through business and will help bring them into the Kingdom of God.”

• Why is holistic ministry important?
“You can come to people with just the Bible and say to them ‘give your life to Jesus Christ,’ but at any moment, we all have other needs too. The person may have a need in his spiritual life, or in his family life. He may be going through a lot of pain. Maybe he lost someone in his family, or has a serious physical need. So we must go to them and work in all parts of their lives.”

• Why do you think Christ-centered microfinance works in Congo?
“In Congo, the country is rich, but the people are very poor. The wealth is in the hands of a small number of people. Most of the people go hungry. Everyone is attracted by the idea of opportunity to make enough money. There are no people who do not want it. People will participate if someone can give them money to work, progressively, with teaching and assistance. Slowly, they will grow. In the process, you can teach people the principles of God. Together, we can take them from darkness to light.”

• What is your vision for HOPE Congo?
“We want to see HOPE Congo spread and increase their involvement with local churches. We will help spread the vision to other pastors and other Christian ministries. All of us have the same goal – let’s get to know each other and unite to be stronger. HOPE Congo can work with all Christian organizations, all kinds of denominations, and will grow quickly.”

Meet Loveline, HOPE Congo’s first loan officer supervisor.  Loveline played a valuable role in assembling and training the first 50 clients, and she is also managing and training the current staff of two loan officers.  She provides an important layer of internal controls and efficiency for HOPE Congo’s work.  Honestly, when I think about Loveline, the first phrase that comes to mind is “rock star.”

If you go into the markets, the churches, les quartiers (neighborhoods), she knows and is known by everyone.  She’s the kind of confident, striking woman that you automatically respect and listen to, but she’s also gentle, smiles often, and has a good sense of humor.

Loveline was born in a small town where people grew sugar cane, and she moved to Brazzaville with her family when she was older.  By the time Congo’s civil war started in 1997, she was already married and had two children.  Because of intense violence in the capital, her family joined thousands of others fleeing Brazzaville.  She settled with her husband’s family in a small town 600 km from Brazzaville.  At the time, Loveline’s husband was struggling with mental illness, and her in-laws pressured her to take him to a witchdoctor for treatment.

Loveline had been raised Catholic, and though she says she didn’t know the Lord, she refused to put her husband in this position because she “had faith in something greater.”  She started praying, reading the Bible, and understanding what was written.  When she read Psalm 91, she understood that God was her refuge, her protection and he was at work through everything that was happening to her.  “That’s where I saw the hand of God and came to know the Lord.”

After five months in the village without access to a hospital, her husband was still in need of help. When it was safe enough to return to the city, she and her husband decided to go to a church in the city.  While they were there, church leaders offered to pray for his sickness, and that same day, he was healed.  Her husband also came to know the Lord, and they were baptized together in 1998.  They continued to mature in faith as their pastor discipled them and taught them from the Word.

Loveline had experience in microfinance even before she came to HOPE.
For nine years, she worked for a Christian multi-sectoral organization that ran mid-sized microfinance projects in Brazzaville and Pointe Noir.  Through this role, she built relationships with more than 200 local churches, and HOPE Congo has already started working with some of these same churches.  When these projects ran out of financing, Loveline was without a full time job for 2 years.  “While I was searching for a job, something told me that working in an office was no good for me.  It’s not right for me to stay in the same place all day, doing typing, working with papers - no!  I need to be in the field with the people.”

Eventually, she heard about HOPE Congo.  On three separate occasions, friends connected her to Simeon, HOPE Congo’s Managing Director.  She accompanied delegates from HOPE’s program in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo when they visited Brazzaville to analyze the possibility of launching an MFI here.  She joined the HOPE Congo team in 2009.

When asked what she likes about her work, she responds, “I love the level of professionalism we have here – things are structured well.  I like the quality of the work we have – we know where to begin and where to end.  For me, being a part of microfinance is my passion. You can meet someone in the beginning, and he might have nothing at all, but you give him a loan, and after one year, he can have a good life and a future because of your help.”  She adds, “Counseling is also part of what we do.  We meet clients in their homes, at their businesses, and we see them often so we get close.  We get to know the family, and whatever the problem – the kids are sick, the marriage is in trouble – the client can talk through it with you, ask you to pray with him, and try to resolve it with you because he trusts you…I need to help transform the lives of the people.”

I’m so thankful God has assembled passionate, capable staffers like Loveline to lead HOPE Congo through these first key months!

When European powers sat down to divide Central Africa amongst themselves in the nineteenth century, today’s Republic of Congo became a colony of France.  Although Congo gained independence in 1960 and you might not be able to tell at first glance, ties between the two countries are still strong.  For better or worse, France has left an indelible impression on Congo’s culture, government, and economy.  The official language of business and academia is French (the Congolese are way ahead of Americans with fluency in multiple languages), and many Western expats and major business owners are French.  One of the happier results: you don’t have to look too far to get a good croissant, or as I was happy to find, a mil feuille (I’ve also heard it called a napoleon).

HOPE intern Sa-Eun visits a market where many HOPE Congo clients work.

I just wanted to throw in a plug for HOPE’s internship program.  Every year, HOPE puts 15-20 interns to work in the field and in the Central Service Unit in Lancaster, PA (Yeah intern class of 2007!).  It’s an awesome opportunity to learn, grow, and play a valuable role in the alleviation of physical and spiritual poverty.  Sa-Eun (pictured) arrived about a week after I did to serve as an intern in HOPE Congo’s Operations department, and she’s already living and breathing Christ-centered microfinance.  She’s spending her time interviewing clients, establishing baseline metrics, translating, facilitating data collection processes, and finding ways to make client identifications more efficient.  If you know any college students with the head of a banker, the heart of a missionary, and the soul of a development worker, have them check out HOPE’s internship program at www.hopeinternational.org.

I had the opportunity to sit in on the first client trainings for two new community banks today and yesterday.  Before receiving a loan from HOPE, clients need to pass through a fairly intensive series of training seminars.  By the time they get to this first meeting, clients have met with loan officers in their homes or businesses, but still have lots of questions about HOPE Congo and loan details.  At the first meeting, HOPE explains its mission and identity as a Christ-centered microfinance institution, describes its vision for positive impact on clients, reviews the loan products and terms, and explains how clients work together as a community bank and can advance into higher loans over time.

At the first meeting, loan officers started out speaking in French, but as many as half the clients felt more comfortable getting this information in Lingala or Kituba, two of the local languages spoken in this region.  Luckily, Loveline speaks both very well and was able to translate everything.  Having clients understand this information is of utmost importance.  Loan officers are willing to stay and answer questions for as long as it takes for clients to have a crystal-clear understanding of what HOPE Congo does and why, and what kind of responsibility they’re walking into when they sign up for loans.

During three additional training sessions, clients learn more details about functioning as a community bank (they write bylaws, select a group name, elect bank president, secretary, etc), receive biblically-based business skills training (e.g. bookkeeping, inventory control, basic business strategy and marketing, etc) and learn the value of savings.  Once these trainings are complete, clients are ready to receive their loans.

When clients walked into the meeting, they saw these verses written on the blackboard:

Psalm 127:1 – “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.  Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.”

Proverbs 24:27:  “Finish your outdoor work, and get your fields ready.

 After that, build your house:”

Jacinta, the Operations Manager, explained that her team chose these verses because they wanted clients to understand both the value of training and the fact that HOPE Congo is centered on Christ.  “We want to say, right away, ‘Hey, before you do anything else, you need to come to these trainings and get your business ready because you need preparation before you can grow.  Then, when you have more understanding, you can get a loan and start to build success.’  We tell them why we pray during our meetings.  Unless God builds the house, unless your business honors God from the beginning, then all the training for the loan and all the work you do with the loan will be in vain.  So we start all our meetings with prayer and commit them to God.”

This past weekend, some friends and I went to see what life is like outside the city.  So we boarded a huge Mercedes bus headed north, and five bumpy, wind-blown hours later, we found ourselves standing on the side of the road in a small village called Ollombo about a quarter of a degree shy of the Equator.  The people of Ollombo live in small homes made mostly of mud, thatch, and local wood, and the whole community is a pleasantly ordered network of dirt footpaths connecting the market, the soccer field, the school, churches, and homes.  At first glance, it might appear that this village has nothing to do with HOPE’s work in Brazzaville hundreds of miles away, but I see a pretty clear connection.

Ollombo is a beautiful place, and the people seem to be in good spirits.  But with few exceptions, the people of Ollombo get by without electricity, indoor plumbing, concrete floors, privacy, internet, TV, books, quality education and healthcare.  Wage-paying jobs are almost impossible to come by, which means most people have very restricted access to cash.  Their very means of survival comes through subsistence agriculture - they eat only what they can grow themselves or secure through bartering (aka lots and lots of nutrient-poor manioc).  Partly because they’re so disconnected from the outside world, superstition and poor health practices are cripplingly prevalent.

Not surprisingly, many people get out of Ollombo as soon as they can save up $10 for a bus ride to Brazzaville.  And there are hundreds of towns like Ollombo all over the Republic of Congo.  I think this helps explain why more than 25% of the country’s population lives in Brazzaville.  It’s universal - when you’re desperate for opportunity, you move in whatever direction you think will give your family the best shot at a better way of life.  Some of the people who made that kind of bus ride are now HOPE Congo clients, or will be very soon.

When they say they want their businesses to improve so their children can live better lives than they had, images like the living conditions in Ollombo are driving their ambition.  Clients already have the skills, the understanding of local markets, the time, the good work ethic - by giving them access to capital and basic training, HOPE is simply giving them one of the last puzzle pieces they’ve been waiting for.”