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Have you ever been rejected because of something you believe? Or looked down upon because of your faith?

As a Christian woman in South Asia,* that’s Farah’s* daily experience.

I met Farah on a humid summer day last year. HOPE and one of our partners in South Asia were conducting a training for women who wanted to start savings groups in their churches—including Farah. Although she quietly kept her eyes on the floor for most of the training, she approached me afterward and asked to share her testimony.

By the time she was finished, we were both wiping tears from our cheeks. Continue Reading…

Dumel Fontaine is a husband and father of three living in Les Cayes, Haiti. He’s always been committed to providing for his family—yet as someone without sight, he’s also almost always been barred from doing so. “My situation was … very catastrophic because I didn’t have a job until now,” he says. “There wasn’t enough clothing and food.”  Continue Reading…

HOPE interns brainstorm on the whiteboard.

by Ruthie Claydon, Experience Team Assistant (summer 2021 intern) During my internship with HOPE International, I experienced spiritual growth in completely new and unexpected ways. Throughout the summer, I felt fully welcomed and integrated into the vibrant staff culture. Overall, here are four of the biggest ways I was impacted by HOPE’s employee-directed spiritual practices. […]

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“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.”
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (KJV)

What is compassion fatigue?

The American Institute of Stress defines compassion fatigue, or empathy fatigue, as “the emotional residue or strain of exposure to working with those suffering from the consequences of traumatic events.” It most often affects individuals who are continuously empathizing with those they serve. And in the wake of a pandemic, it seems to apply to many of us as we see and experience needs in our communities and around the world. Continue Reading…

Living in a remote community on the outskirts of Comas, Peru, Margarita Moreno collects and sells discarded bottles and recyclables. This summer, Peru experienced a surge in COVID-19 deaths, leading the country to enter a time of severe lockdown. While this time could have left Margarita feeling more isolated than ever, her connection in community has instead grown stronger. 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…