Friday, October 30, 2015

Gifts to make a better world

HOPE International Development Agency's 2015 Gifts of HOPE Catalogue is full of Christmas gifts you can give to make the world a better place.

You can help orphans in Ethiopia, transform young minds in the Philippines, support learning and good health in South Sudan, nurture children in Haiti and much more, including helping families become self-reliant and giving communities access to clean water.

Each gift in this year's Gifts of HOPE Catalogue can change lives. Make this Christmas a special time for you and the poor by giving gifts that will not fade, wear out, or go out of fashion.

Give gifts to make a better world.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

You're invited to our October & November Film Premiere & Dinner events




If you live in Edmonton, Victoria, Abbotsford, Kelowna, or Terrace, there's still time to get your tickets for a HOPE International Development Agency 2015 Film Premiere & Dinner event in your city.

A wonderful meal, live music, silent and live auctions, and the company of friends is what you can look forward to at our 40th Year Celebration HOPE International Development Agency Film Premiere & Dinner events.

The highlight of the evening is our latest film, “A Promise to Chan”, shot on location in rural Cambodia earlier this year. The deeply moving and highly uplifting film chronicles the journey Chan and her family took out of abject poverty and into self-reliance.

Please join us for what is sure to be a memorable evening for you and for the families in Cambodia you will transform though your giving.

RESERVE YOUR TICKETS TODAY

To reserve your tickets, or for more information, please visit www.hope-international.com today or call, toll-free 1 (866) 525-4673.

Edmonton – Saturday, October 24
6:00pm Reception & 7:00pm Dinner
The Shaw Conference Centre
9797 Jasper Avenue Northwest, Edmonton, Alberta

Victoria – Friday, October 30
6:30pm Reception & 7:00pm Dinner
The Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe Hotel Resort & Spa
100 Harbour Road, Victoria, British Columbia

Abbotsford – Tuesday, November 3, 2015
6:30pm Reception & 7:00pm Dinner
Ramada Plaza Abbotsford Hotel & Conference Centre
36035 N Parallel Rd, Abbotsford, British Columbia

Kelowna – Thursday, November 5, 2015
6:30pm Reception & 7:00pm Dinner
Coast Capri Hotel
1171 Harvey Avenue, Kelowna, British Columbia

Terrace – Saturday, November 7, 2015
6:30pm Reception & 7:00pm Dinner
Northwest Community College
(House of Birch)
5331 McConnell Avenue, Terrace, British Columbia

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Getting from surviving to thriving

Life in rural Bangladesh is challenging on a good day. On a bad day, it’s hard to bear.

It was definitely a bad day when Parul’s husband left her and their two sons. The emotional trauma was difficult, but the physical challenge of surviving would prove to be equally difficult.

Work is hard to find in Barisal, an impoverished rural area of Bangladesh where Parul and her sons live, and Parul struggled to earn enough income to provide for her family. She would need help if she and her sons were going to do more than just survive.

Fortunately, Parul found the help she needed in a savings group supported by friends of HOPE International Development Agency. She joined the group and began attending meetings, along with 19 other women. At each meeting, Parul would learn more about basic money management, and she began contributing a small amount of money toward a group fund that would help women like her start small businesses.

Having learned what she needed to learn in order to start a small business that would support her family, Parul borrowed $85 from the group fund and used the money to start a small grocery business using the produce she was growing. Parul also attended additional training sessions focused on helping her maximize production and increase profit.

Parul paid back her first loan and then took a second loan to further increase the production of produce for her grocery store. Her second investment in growing her small business paid off. Today, Parul’s monthly income has doubled. She now earns roughly $170 a month.

“I feel blessed to be part of the savings group,” says Parul. “The loans and my business have made it possible for me and my sons to live without fear and have given us hope for the future!”

Parul (shown below with some of her produce) plans to use her new income to send her two boys to school. She also intends to purchase a cow and start selling milk at her grocery store.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015



An AIDS Victim
As written by the author while in Ethiopia.


In a shack we saw him lying

As others before, surely dying.

For him any tears or crying?

Disease had been gripping,

Certain death now was nipping.

Life from him was slipping.

The look with hollow eye

On the mat where he lie,

Waiting for his hour to die.

We judge him the guilty one,

He had his day or two of fun.

And now his course has run.

But what about his wife?

Gone now, the precious life,

To think, he caused the strife.

Death, snatch him from the bed.

Surely as the one he’d wed.

For like her, he’ll soon be dead.

Question asks: “what to do?”

Answer responds: “who, and whom?”

Echo replies: “who but you?”


Postscript

An AIDS Victim was authored by a long-time friend of HOPE and the poor, after a journey into the slums of Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.

"We saw the dying man. Then we visited the young dying mother, baby, and grandmother," recalls the author. "It was during the second visit that the doctor from England became so emotional and distraught that she left the house. I soon followed and met with her by the car as she wept." Later that day, the author penned the poem.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

The need for kindness in South Sudan

Life has been horribly difficult for children in South Sudan. They desperately need the kindness friends of HOPE International Development Agency can give.

Many of these children, like Nyanath, have lived through the trauma of armed conflict.

Some, like Deng, have lost loved ones or friends - something no child should have to go through.

All of these children have experienced the suffering that drinking dirty water can cause.

None of these children has had the opportunity to sit in a classroom and learn the skills that will free them from poverty.

It does not cost much for you to become a child’s friend. However, as you can see, it costs a child far more if they do not have a friend.

Providing one child with clean water, education, and hygiene training costs $150.

You can become a friend to a child in desperate need by giving what you can to help provide clean water, education, and hygiene training today.

Help a child in South Sudan.