by Isaie Ndayizeye, HOPE Rwanda Co-Director
The COVID-19 pandemic is a time of much fear: fear of hunger, loneliness, lockdowns, poverty, even death.
It’s also a time of loss. Weddings are canceled. Graduations are missed. Church buildings are empty on Sunday mornings, and many businesses are closed.
At HOPE International, we’ve been asking the question: Amid this fear and uncertainty, how do we bear witness to Christ and His Kingdom? Continue Reading…
They work without contracts or the protection of labor laws. They drive taxis, sell vegetables, clean homes, take odd jobs in construction, collect garbage, and work in food services. Part of the informal sector, they nevertheless provide vital services around the world.
They are day laborers—women and men who depend on daily wages to feed their children that night. Day laborers take jobs as they find them, relentlessly pursuing employment to provide for their families. The BBC News reports that “most do not have access to pensions, sick leave, paid leave or any kind of insurance. Many do not have bank accounts, relying on cash to meet their daily needs.”
Not surprising then, in the wake of COVID-19 and economic shutdown, it is the day laborers who suffer the most. In a crisis, they are the most vulnerable, the most exposed—without safety nets or savings to fall back on. Continue Reading…
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re more aware than ever of the critical role that essential businesses—and the entrepreneurs running them—play. Across the HOPE network, men and women use their businesses to provide necessary goods and services, and as they do, they not only provide for their own families but often become known as leaders in their church and community. Continue Reading…
In Ukraine, over 2,200 people have tested positive for COVID-19, with 98 deaths as a result of the virus. Like many countries around the world, the Ukrainian government has taken measures to limit the spread of COVID-19—closing schools, urging companies to have employees work from home, and ordering nonessential businesses to close. Continue Reading…
by Colton Parks, Communications Fellow (HOPE Rwanda)
Everyone has their way of describing the unique times we find ourselves in today. For me, like many, the word is uncertain.
Uncertainty underlies my thoughts about job security, schools re-opening, the timeline for the virus spread to wane, the stock market, and a host of other facets of life I previously took for granted. I feel uncertain about what this pandemic means, and that feeling is present when I fall asleep, and it’s there when I wake up.
A few months ago, I was in a village called Mugina, visiting savings group members and hearing their stories. My third interview of the day was with a woman named Speciose. After greeting us, she guided us gently down a hill to her home, a small building nestled in the shadow of a much larger structure that was without a roof. The larger, open-air home stood empty, a shell of a house, exposed to the rain and wind. Almost a year before, a storm had pried off the entire roof and sent it flying, and the smaller house had served as a temporary shelter for Speciose and her husband ever since. Continue Reading…
Friends,
As the world continues to navigate the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we are acutely aware of the significant health and economic challenges, as well as the opportunity that we have to courageously love our neighbors in a moment of fear and anxiety.
This brief post provides a high-level overview of how COVID-19 is impacting HOPE’s work and how our team is responding. As with every circumstance, we work knowing that God is sovereign and pray that our response will point others to Jesus. You can also watch my video update. Continue Reading…
![Before Eveness Mulungu joined the Walusungu (“mercy”) savings group through our church partner in Malawi, she faced days where she and her family ate animal feed because they couldn’t afford human food. But that changed when she joined the savings group. Eveness used her first group loan of about $1.70 (U.S.) to start a business selling doughnuts and beans.
“By the end of my first cycle I made $140 (U.S.),” Eveness shared. “My life is no longer the same now; [I] was regarded as no one in the community. ... This was the first time in my life that I ever touched and owned big money like this!”
Pictured: Eveness, with her husband in front of their piggery—a third successful business that she operates.](https://blog.hopeinternational.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)