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HOPE Intl

Dec 9 2013

By HOPE Intl

 Spiritual Integration Staff / Travels
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Breaking out of the poverty mindset (repost from IFWE)

Sylvie Somerville, program advisor for HOPE’s Malawi savings and credit association program, recently wrote a reflection on her experience in Malawi for the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics blog. Reposted here with permission.

Children in Malawi

“Give me money! Give me money!”

I was on my first mountain bike ride through Malawi, high above the capital city of Lilongwe, traversing dry, dusty hills and a winter landscape dotted with villages.

I’ve been distressed by the absolute poverty of these villages many times, but this repeated cry from these children hit me particularly hard. They don’t speak English in these villages, so this is likely one of the only English phrases the kids know.

Cute, bright-eyed children. I wanted to find this moment endearing, being chased through Malawian villages by swarms of little children. This should have been a classic Instagram opportunity.

But it broke my heart.
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HOPE Intl

Aug 28 2013

By HOPE Intl

 Spiritual Integration Staff / Travels
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How HOPE’s staff prays for clients

HOPE’s culture is steeped in prayer. Every day, staff members throughout our network boldly make requests known to God on behalf of those we serve. Yet when we seek God’s will for our clients, we don’t just envision an absence of problems. We see God moving into places of brokenness, discord, and shortage with healing, wholeness, and abundance.

Jesus himself urged us to make our requests known to God with persistence and “shameless audacity” (Luke 11). Adrienne Wanner, HOPE’s office manager, wrote the following prayer for our clients (on the right) to correspond with Isaiah 35 (on the left). We invite you to join us in audaciously asking for complete transformation and overwhelming joy for our clients.

Download a printable pdf of this prayer.

HOPE's Prayer

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HOPE Intl

Apr 17 2013

HOPE Intl

 Spiritual Integration

A holistic approach

HOPE’s commitment to holistic transformation—addressing the material, social, and spiritual causes of poverty—is shared by our partners around the world. In 2010, Esperanza International, our partner in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, started the Institute for Holistic Christian Transformation to promote a biblical approach to development. In this video clip, Luis Sena, the Institute’s director, discusses the unique perspective the Bible offers in poverty alleviation.
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David Wasik

Nov 27 2012

By David Wasik

 Microfinance Spiritual Integration Staff / Travels
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19 Women, 2 Children, 1 Cat, and a Lone Rooster

On my trip to the Philippines, I was privileged to visit microfinance client meetings with HOPE’s partner CCT. Microfinance is CCT’s largest ministry, and senior leaders refer to it as the “backbone” or “platform” on which their other outreach programs reside. We visited groups in a poor section of Manila near the national prison. Our first meeting was with “Fellowship Group 23,” a group of 19 women (joined by two kids, a cat, and a rooster), all dressed in red shirts to show solidarity with one another.

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Madelyn Houser

Nov 5 2012

Madelyn Houser

 Spiritual Integration Staff / Travels Working with the poor

A Measure of Hope

As I entered data into an Excel spreadsheet in the small office in Nizhin, Ukraine, the quiet laughter of a little girl caught my attention. The girl nibbled on a snack near the back of the room while her mother filled out a survey as part of HOPE’s Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) project. HOPE, with assistance from Metrix Research Group, began testing a new M&E client survey in Ukraine in October. Despite their busy schedules and the cold rain outside, 36 men and women flowed through HOPE’s small office in the village of Nizhin on that Friday afternoon to participate in the survey.

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HOPE Intl

Aug 14 2012

HOPE Intl

 Spiritual Integration Working with the poor
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Group Members Glorify God Through Business

The HOPE Bankers’ Club could never be confused with one of HOPE International’s community banks—after all, members meet in an air-conditioned room off a paved street in Lancaster, PA—but there are striking similarities between this group and those meeting overseas. Much like HOPE’s clients, the group of 10 entrepreneurs meets regularly to trade business best practices and learn from one another’s experience. They work in different sectors—from real estate, to insurance, to food packaging—but each is an entrepreneur from the same community, with an understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities of their operating environment. Like so many of their community bank counterparts, members of the HOPE Banker’s Club also spur one another not only to greater financial success but also to glorifying God through their work.

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