Grandmas are my heroes

Earlier this fall, my husband came down with a nasty flu bug which turned into a nastier sinus infection. He was sick for over a week, which left me balancing my job, our household, his care and our newly mobile eight-month old son. By the end of the first week, I was exhausted.

Enter the hero of our story - my mother-in-law. Armed with chicken soup and a stack of adorable baby clothes (she can't help it, she's a grandma!) she spent two days helping take care of our son so I could get work done. She played with him, fed him, rocked him to sleep, and I could relax knowing he was in good hands while I tended to other matters.

I read multiple reports each week from our church partners in Zimbabwe and Zambia. The week my husband was sick, I read through these reports with new eyes. Over and over, they referenced the needs of families made up of grandparents caring for grandchildren, after the middle generation of parents has died or become too sick to help. In Zimbabwe and Zambia, 86% of children orphaned live with a grandparent. Often these grandparents are both physically and financially unable to fully care for their grandchildren. The entire family faces hunger, children drop out of school, housing becomes unreliable and they become increasingly vulnerable.

I was tired after just one week of taking care of my child and sick husband. It's hard to imagine the impact of raising my son while my husband slowly died of AIDS-related complications.

I was relieved when my mother-in-law babysat my son so I could be gone for a few hours running errands. I can't imagine being HIV-positive and wondering who would care for him after I was gone - forever.

The holiday season is a time when many of us see our grandparents more than usual or remember the times we had with them more frequently. Will you join me this Christmas in making the grandparents in your life feel extra appreciated? And when you see them or think of them, remember to say a prayer for the millions of grandparents in southern Africa bearing an incredible burden of care for their families.

Ellen Shaffer - Director of Project Management

PS – One way to pay tribute to a grandparent in your life this Christmas is to give a donation to Forgotten Voices in their honor. Click here to find out more!

World AIDS Day; "the fight continues...!"

Meet my adorable nephew, Usher. It is said that in Sub Saharan Africa, almost 1000 babies born each day are HIV+ and may never live to see their 5th birthday simply because they have unnecessarily been infected through their mothers. This figure is still very high and should be halted. With the strides achieved in medicine, it is possible to have 0 babies born HIV+; Yes, it is possible to have an HIV+ free generation if efforts are upped in the fight against mother to child transmission. I call upon everyone to join the fight. MTCT can be stopped; What are you doing to STOP this?!

Today is World AIDS Day, and the local church in Southern Africa is very much in the front line in fighting the scourge. Just yesterday I was talking with a pastor friend about the difficulties the local church is facing with the numbers of orphans that are growing. He was just narrating to me about a dearth of a father/husband that had occurred in his local church and the terrible misery the family has just been befallen. It's these and many more related stories that keep the local church at the helm of the social problems in this part of the world.

Forgotten Voices International has been one of the many NGOs that are making a difference in the ministry of local churches in Southern Africa. The local pastor, often times silently besieged with a lot of such suffering, has been given a lifeline, through the local church's ministry, to be a channel of hope for the future in the lives of the many orphans that come to his church door steps Sunday after Sunday. The fact that their education can continue, has given them much needed knowledge to manage the affairs of their lives with informed decision making; the fact that they are receiving food supplements, has given them strength to walk back to school and also manage to take their medication were necessary; the fact that they have been given seed and fertilizer, has given them household food security for most months of the year, bringing back family dignity and pride. This is the fight, and it continues...!

I appeal to everyone to respond to this fight by donating to the ministry of Forgotten Voices in Southern Africa. Your help translates into tangible and practical results. I believe nothing fills God's heart (and mine too!) with joy, than seeing children up and running because of what you are doing in their lives. Christ once said, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" John 14:18. Let's make a difference in these children's lives!!

Your fellow servant in God's ministry,

Remmy Hamapande
Program Director - Zambia

Offering Gifts to Share Stories with You

Advent Stories: Ryan reflects on the construction of this year's end of the year newsletter. While it may seem like a simple task that all non-profits do at the end of the year, you'll read that this was not a one-party job. It was a collection of people, each bringing gifts of love, to share stories with you. We are thankful. Through this story, we hope you see the love of God and not just a mailing.
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Nothing celebrates the spirit of Forgotten Voices like partnership and this year's end of the year mailing embodied that spirit. Just like our partners in the African church contribute what they can to meet the physical and spiritual needs of children orphaned by AIDS, we are always trying to look for ways to practice those principles in our day to day operations in the USA.

Daily, we meet talented people here in the USA who have skills and offerings that these folks want to give to Forgotten Voices. This year's mailing was a combination of these gifts.

A design firm, DuVoisin Design, led by Jean DuVoisin, designed the piece for us for free as a love offering to Forgotten Voices. The piece was written by 7 people. The stories within it were inspired by hundreds of faithful people in the USA and Africa, each person offering God their best to love kids looking for their champion.

The piece was printed, folded, stickered, and mailed by our friends at Dasher, a Harrisburg based company. Thanks to Brian Reilly, our volunteer Social Media Director, and friends at Dasher for their talents in producing the piece.

1800Flowers' CIO, Steve Bozzo (a Forgotten Voices' Board member) donated his services to help build a new online gift certificate form, making gift giving even easier this year. His team of experts and contacts provided us some cutting edge behind the scene tools at almost no cost to us, helping our gifts to kids go further.

Though it was our most robust piece sent to the most people in our organization's history, it was among our least expensive mailings.

It took almost 2 months to plan, compile, produce and mail.

I'm especially grateful to our volunteer leadership team (Brian - social media/mailing, Matt Kirkley - student relations, Nate & Ellen Shaffer - church relations story, Julie Bunch - kids serving kids and data on giving, Messiah PR Class - inspiring the TenTogether copy), staff (Remmy & Fibion - data & leadership, Ellen Shaffer - stories, data, and production), and our friends at DuVoisin Design, Dasher, and 1800Flowers.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'm thankful for each of you for investing in our ministry and joyfully expectant for the coming of our King this Christmas. May you and yours know the joy of family that our organization strives to provide through local churches in southern Africa.

May you know God's love for you this Christmas season,
All the best,
Ryan Keith
President, Forgotten Voices International

Give a gift that matters this Christmas - Give a Forgotten Voices' Gift Certificate to a Loved One

World AIDS Day & the Coming of our King

When I first learned of it during in 2002, I honestly didn't know what to make of World AIDS Day, marking events around the world to raise awareness of HIV, AIDS, and the plight of those impacted by AIDS. For me, December 1 had previously marked an important shift in my thinking to celebrate the coming of my Lord Jesus Christ on Dec 25. I also struggled because I didn't see the value of giving just ONE DAY to one of the most devastating diseases in the history of the world. Would new people really care or would it be just the people on board reading the stuff?

I have come full circle on World AIDS Day after starting Forgotten Voices. As each year passes, my expectation of Jesus' birth - one day that changed everything - I cling to this promise of redemption for all who accept and follow Jesus. My prayer is that this one day you consider helping bring hope to a seemingly hopeless crises.

First hand, for hundreds of people, I've shared final days with familes as they experience death and search for hope. Sharing truth about AIDS gives new life to all of us when we know instead o fear. I've seen how encouraging a culture of learning can address some of the societal and cultural challenges AIDS has presented us here in the USA and our friends in southern Africa.

This World AIDS Day, I invite you to do 2 things:

1) Learn about hope trumping AIDS: Follow our month long "advent", as volunteers, churches, and kids reflect this Christmas season on why they are involved in our ministry and what they are learning about loving like Jesus. As we expectantly await Christmas, gather your family each night and reflect with us. Stories will appear every day on our blog during the month of December.

2) Give: Give a gift to Forgotten Voices in honor of someone you love with our Gift Certificate option.

Even $10 helps pay for medical needs for a child for a month. $45 helps send a kid to primary school for a year. $100 helps meet the basic needs of a child for a month.

We need to raise $63,000 before the end of 2010 to keep 3,200 kids in school, provide seed & fertilizer to feed 5,000 in 2011, and provide other critical needs.

Thanks!

-Ryan Keith
President
Forgotten Voices International

Advent Countdown - Stories of Hope for all of us this Christmas

This Christmas, we invite you to reflect with your families on stories we offer here. These stories come direct from our staff, Board members, volunteers, pastors we serve, and kids we are privileged to help care for in Africa. Stories will appear here every day throughout December.

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Hopelessness should win more than it does if logic and reason were the only judges of outcome. It doesn't win though. It loses again and again, with hope shocking us over and over.

Over 2,000 years ago, a baby was born in a manger. Jesus came among the poor to redeem all of mankind and help shepherd us into a relationship with our God. He came to die on the cross for our sins, taking the pain and offering us eternity in heaven if we believe and accept the free gift of forever relations with our God.

His humble entry is what I cling to every year as I lead Forgotten Voices. The fact that God chose the poor, not royalty, to usher in the King of Kings speaks volumes to me. The fact that God chose redemption through one small baby instead of a massive army offers hope to those around the world who suffer.

At Forgotten Voices International, we are constantly learning valuable lessons about sacrifice, love and hope in the midst of hopelessness. With kids dying all around our church partners, they keep going. They surely get overwhelmed. We've cried with them, cried out to God with them…seeking relief and comfort in our grief. But we keep going because the promises of our God to one day redeem all of this are embodied in the Christmas story.

At Forgotten Voices, we are daily experiencing healing and hope in the midst of our suffering. Those of us lonely and lost in the USA are finding incredible joy in ministering through service and volunteering. We are hearing stories of sacrifice of cars, xbox, and childhood birthday parties to love kids in Africa.

This Christmas, we invite you to reflect with your families on stories we offer here. These stories come direct from our staff, Board members, volunteers, pastors we serve, and kids we are privileged to help care for in Africa. Stories will appear here every day throughout December.

May their stories drive you to love like Jesus and pause to remember what all the chaos of Christmas is about - a small baby who came to redeem the world and again show that hope in God always wins.

Merry Christmas,
Ryan

Ryan Keith, President
Forgotten Voices International

Give a gift certificate from Forgotten Voices to someone you love this Christmas.

On their way home

Our team is on their way home to the US, currently awaiting their 15+ hour flight out of South Africa. We hope you've enjoyed being able to follow their travels via twitter more on this trip than any other. Many reports will follow in the days ahead as they return with stories of the families they visited, church leaders they encountered and the ways they clearly saw God at work among His people to care for vulnerable children and communities in southern Africa.

While you await those stories from Africa, here's one from the US that's just too good not to share. As Ryan, Nate, Julie, Ian and Steve traveled to Zimbabwe, Zambia (and a bit in South Africa) to encourage pastors and leaders in their work on behalf of children orphaned by AIDS, they also found a way to encourage and support a passionate advocate for these children here in the US as well. Keegan is a college student in New York who grew up in a church youth ministry which partners with Forgotten Voices. Keegan (along with a few friends) has found a creative way to raise awareness and funds for the plight of orphaned children served by Forgotten Voices. He has committed to not cutting his hair or shaving his beard...for 328 days. His increasingly "unique" look will raise many opprotunities to share with people WHY he's doing this, and thus share the needs facing communities in southern Africa. Keegan is also taking pledges from friends, family, classmates etc who are committing to sponsor him (10 cents, a quarter, a dollar...) for each day he goes without shaving. You can follow his progress on Facebook - just search for "328 Days of Beard".

So in support of Keegan's ongoing beard-growing fundraiser, Ryan, Steve and Nate also choose not to shave for the entire length of their trip in Africa. They took this photo on their last night in Zambia and wanted you all to see it!

Pray for Keegan and other committed advocates giving voice in unique ways to kids in southern Africa.

Pray for Nate, Ryan, Ian and Steve as they travel home, arriving early on Saturday.

Pray for Julie, who was scheduled to come home before the rest of the team, but was delayed in south Africa and is just now arriving back in the States this afternoon.

Pray for the dedicated African pastors, leaders, caretakers and Forgotten Voices staff who continue the day to day, often grueling and discouraging work of being the hands and feet of Christ to communities devasted by AIDS and other struggles.

Pray about how God may be calling you to respond - we greatly need your prayers, your financial support and your encouragement as we follow God's direction in the new year.

Fleeing Rwandan Genocide to a Life of Service

Separated during a brutal attack on their village during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, Pastor Murekezi and his future wife would not see each other again until years later at a refugee camp. Once married, the couple has since decided to follow a higher calling to become leaders of the Free Methodist Church outside of Ndola, Zambia.

Through the church and with help from Forgotten Voices, 26 orphaned children are able to attend primary school, and a community farm has been established that allows people without land to plant crops and feed their families.

The efforts of the congregation and leadership at this church have not only changed lives, but an entire community. More than a dozen families actively participate in their farming program, and plans are in place to use a portion of the crops grown to generate income that will sustain their efforts to send orphans in their community to school indefinitely.

What a powerful ministry. Right now, a team from Forgotten Voices is visiting the Free Methodist Church outside of Ndola, and bringing their expertise and encouragement to the congregation and Pastor Murekezi as they continue to care for those without a voice in their community. You can be a part of this exciting project, just one of nearly two dozen that Forgotten Voices is involved with.

Join our efforts through volunteering, donating, or sharing these stories with others.

We're focused on locally developed and run orphan care in Zimbabwe and Zambia. We hope you'll join in our efforts to help those without a voice wherever you are.