When Leonora Calipay’s children finished school and she came home to the Philippines, she knew there was something more to her life than retirement.
Leonora’s neighbor noticed her desire to do meaningful things in her free time, so she taught Leonora to sew rugs. With this new skill, Leonora started her own small rugmaking business. She hoped to empower her neighbors—especially the single mothers in her community—to make a living through the same craft.
For those living on the vulnerable edge of poverty, just one unforeseen health crisis can set back their progress toward financial stability. The security they’ve worked so hard for can vanish in a moment.
For Cristina Benitez in Paraguay, selling homemade empanadas, sandwiches, and more to her neighbors on weekends was a bustling and effective means of providing for her family. A mother of seven children, she and her husband dreamed of supporting their kids through school so they could secure good jobs. Continue Reading…
Pictured above: students in Elizabeth Mutosa’s school in Zambia
Regardless of location, culture, or material circumstances, many parents around the world desire to give their children the opportunities they couldn’t access themselves. Gaining access to quality education is a key part of that journey.
But families in poverty face additional barriers to accessing better education.
When resources are limited, school expenses often must be deprioritized for more essential basics like food, clothing, health insurance, housing repairs, or emergencies. And even when resources are available, the nearest school could be far away and the added expense of getting there pushes it just out of reach. Even if schools are within families’ physical and financial reach, the education quality might be low, leading parents to wonder if it is worth the investment. Continue Reading…
Bosco Murengera Ntwari was frequently suspended from his school in rural Rwanda for not being able to pay his school fees. His father had left the family when Bosco was young, and with three other siblings, it was often difficult to make ends meet.
Then, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Bosco and his neighbors faced a new wave of challenges. As schools and businesses shut down, he says, “People here in the community had lost hope.”
Around the same time, a fellow church member invited Bosco to join a savings group and attend an agrifaith program through Sowers of HOPE—HOPE International’s discipleship ministry that equips farmers through savings groups to proclaim the Gospel through agriculture. Continue Reading…
Originally posted on Peter Greer’s blog.
For 476 days, we’ve heard about the dire realities of war in Ukraine: Thriving cities abandoned. Loved ones missing. Lives and livelihoods plundered.
In June, farmers HOPE previously served in the Kherson region woke up to the reality of losing yet another harvest. With fields under water from enemy attacks on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, their crops and profits have been wiped out.
While traveling to Ukraine to visit our HOPE colleagues recently, these scenes were at the forefront of my mind. The horror and destruction of war I’d read about was real. But as I spent more time with staff and entrepreneurs there, one thing became clear: Even as bombs weakened infrastructure and devastated neighborhoods, they most certainly did not crush the Ukrainian spirit.
Once Artem and his wife Alina began the pattern of missing their church service to tend to their successful wedding business, they realized they needed to make a change.
“We switched to the restaurant business,” Artem says. “My wife loved [food] from an early age. She used to cook delicious meals with her grandmother. You can say that this is [an important part] of her life.”
Little did they know that switching to the restaurant business would allow them to serve more than just good food to customers. During the challenges of war, they would provide people fleeing violence with meaningful employment and nourish their hearts with God’s love.
Over the last 10 years, Artem and his wife Alina have used loans from HOPE Ukraine to open two restaurants in their community and purchase rental properties. Possessing an entrepreneurial drive, Artem says, “We don’t stand still … we’re always coming up with new ideas.” Continue Reading…
