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The Power of Sponsorship

by BlogCreative Access

I’m embarrassed it took so long to say yes. I knew about ICCM child sponsorship for years. I trusted their leadership. I was excited about their vision. I even recommended their work to many. But, I had never said yes to sponsoring a child myself.

Part of the dilemma was choosing a child. How could I possibly select one of the beautiful faces over any of the others? Should I pick a certain gender? Would an older or younger child most benefit? How would I ever narrow down my choices to a continent, nonetheless an individual country? Unanswered questions postponed my decision. My good intentions and God’s nudges were waylaid by indecision and busyness.

Soon, I promised myself. But “soon” never came. Until it finally did. With an upcoming trip to a Creative Access Country, it was time. I knew which country, and would simply select any available, waiting child. I hoped I would actually meet my child while in the country.

Even before traveling to my sponsored child’s country, holding his bio and intake picture made God’s world smaller and more personal. Here was an individual child and family I could pray for by name. I could locate where they lived on a map. I could hang his picture on my refrigerator. A 6-year-old boy in a foreign land was now part of our family.

Once in country I did have the chance to meet him. Photographs tell the story of how his smile and laughter quickly spanned the cultural and language divide. I wondered why it had taken so long to say yes to sponsorship. I wondered how enthusiastically I could encourage others to also say yes. The retired empty nesters in my church. Our passionate youth who long to make a difference. Our children’s ministry that ministers to neighborhood children whose own difficult circumstances would find resonance with their brothers and sisters across the ocean.

One simple yes. One child across the ocean. Many lives changed. That’s the power of child sponsorship.

 

written by Pastor Kristen Bennett Marble

October Receipts

by Blog

We apologize that in the transition to our new database, the mailing of October receipts has been delayed. They will be sent very soon. You don’t need to wait for your receipt before you mail your November check. Just include your sponsor number on the check and mail it to:

International Child Care Ministries
770 N. High School Road
Indianapolis, IN 46214

If you are sending something other than your regular sponsorship donation, please enclose directions for those extra funds. Thank you so much for your patience while we fine tune our new database.

 

— ICCM Staff

How I was Impacted by ICCM Sponsorship

by AfricaBlogRwanda

Alice Bland is one of the people who influenced my life. She made an incredible investment in my childhood through ICCM sponsorship. I am who I am today or will be in the future because of sponsorship.

How splendid to have received my sponsor’s first photo together with her husband Charles! Our relationship was founded on encouraging words and praying for one another.

In this photo I am holding the rabbit we purchased with a gift of money she sent. This photo of my family includes my father, Elie, my mother, Therese and my siblings, Bernardin and Alvera.

I remember how Alice was saddened by the death of my brother. Later we, as a family, mourned hearing in her letter of family deaths. I treasure these letters and photos received from Alice. My dad kept them safe and transferred them to me after my wedding. I, too, will transfer them with clear explanations to my children as a precious inheritance. May our Lord’s blessings be upon the next generations of Alice Blands who are influencing children and changing the world through sponsorship.

P.S. This would be a great time to take a few minutes and write to your sponsored child. They prize a letter or photo from their sponsor! Enclose a letter with your next check or click here to write your child  through the website. Thank you!

Neddy and Friends -350 CP

Visiting Ethiopia

by AfricaBlogEthiopia

“Thank you” in Amharic is “Ameseginalew” something I learned on my visit to two schools (Jimma and Beta Genet) in Ethiopia this October. These schools are bringing change to their communities. The parents want their children enrolled in our ICCM schools because they provide quality affordable education. Also, they teach good values and uphold discipline for both the teachers and the students.

 

Mengistu, our Ethiopia ICCM National Coordinator, works hard. He travels extensively to each one of our five ICCM schools to make sure all is well.

He loves the children.

 

A visit to Jimma School will give you hope. The children are clean and happy. Before class they gather together for instructions and announcements. They love to be in their school. ICCM sponsorship makes a significant difference.

 

Vickie Reynen, ICCM Africa Regional Coordinator, has worked with ICCM Ethiopia for several years. When she visits Jimma School the students and the teachers are elated. She inspires them all to keep working hard and trust God for great things for the school.

 

These Jimma kindergartens have warm, magnetic hearts; they will attract your smile. The teachers are dedicated to their calling – to teach, care and love these youngsters.

 

A visit to Bita Genet School is memorable. This school is a light to the community. Many parents are constantly seeking places for their children. The children here glow with happiness. ICCM makes this happen through sponsorship. 

 

These three girls at Bita Genet School listen with gladness to their teacher. See their eyes! They are eager and happy to learn. In this social studies class they are learning about the world.

There is a water well at Bita Genet School. ICCM in partnership with Come Unity made this happen. Now they have plenty of water.

 

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Warm Heart of Africa – Malawi

by AfricaBlogMalawi

In southeastern Africa where three major countries meet, there is a long, thin, landlocked country affectionately referred to as “The Warm Heart of Africa”. The country is Malawi – and they’ve earned that name because Malawians are some of the friendliest people you will ever meet.

If you are ever privileged to meet Rev. Annie Mdazyola, you will agree. Rev. Annie is the ICCM National Coordinator in Malawi, who is currently providing compassionate oversight for the children benefitting from sponsorship and scholarship.

Initially, ICCM Malawi sponsorship focused on assisting the children of pastors. We continue to do this for 40 pastors. However, in the last several years, we have slowly and steadily expanded the reach of ICCM to include several initiatives, including sponsoring orphans, reintroducing animal projects, and helping local churches strengthen their community preschool programs.

Rev. Annie is in regular communication with the superintendents of the three Free Methodist Church (FMC) conferences in Malawi, working with them to identify effective ways of meeting the needs of our own FMC children and reaching out into the community. In the past year, ICCM has partnered with the church to provide over 30 goats to needy families as a way of supplementing their diets with milk as well as supplying manure for their gardens.

This year we will begin providing goats to FMC nursery schools that are meeting a vital need for early childhood education and evangelism in surrounding communities. The Mwayiwathu Study Center and Nursery School are located along the Malawi and Mozambique border. It is being supervised by the Malawi FMC’s own cross-cultural missionary.

Malawians face many challenges on a daily basis, one of the most critical being that of access to food. Malawi often seems to be caught between either flooding or drought, both resulting in crippling food shortages. ICCM, partnering with the Board of Bishops, has been able to provide relief food supplies for our sponsored families, helping them to manage through the most difficult times.

Samuel with Kids

The Long Road Back

by AfricaBlogRwanda

As the horrific events of April 1994 recede into the past for the rest of the world, Rwanda still remembers the Genocide every day. Such evil has rarely engulfed a nation. It cannot help but scar the soul of a people. Rwanda is on the long road back from that hellish time.

For International Child Care Ministries, our tragic date is 2001, the year we had to suspend sponsorship of two thousand children in Rwanda. The decision was painful for all involved, but unavoidable, as the leaders of the Free Methodist Church at that time proved untrustworthy. Many sponsors suffered; certainly many children and their parents suffered. It was our own “worst case scenario.”

Since 2008, we have been working with new leaders in Rwanda. Our new approach began with several initiatives. They include expanding the “cow project” begun in 2001 and still going strong in some areas; providing life-saving water filters for families; and offering a very limited sponsorship opportunity —the children of the Amizero Project, a ministry to mentally challenged kids, are being enrolled.

In a land where reconciliation is seen as the greatest need, it seems fitting to restore our own relationship with our sister Church there, being agents of reconciliation and bearers of hope together. If Rwanda is on your heart, turn the page to see how you can help the children there.

 

Thank you!

2018 Cambodia Poster Child

2018 Freedom Sunday

by AsiaBlogCambodia

Philip, the ICCM Cambodia National Coordinator (pictured below) shared this in a text:

“The picture you used in Tuesday’s Child broke my heart. The girl (pictured here on the left) has left school. She is working in Thailand; she has a younger sister in the program, we fear for her future. We are all
praying for her.”

The fragility and vulnerability of the children in each of our ICCM programs, particularly our ICCM Cambodia program, has never been clearer.

Cambodia (CMB) is a source, transit and destination country for human trafficking. The traffickers have reportedly organized crime syndicates, parents, relatives, friends, intimate partners, and neighbors. Despite human trafficking being a crime in Cambodia, the country has a significant child sex tourism problem. Some children are sold by their parents, while others are lured into what they think are legitimate job offers. Children are often held captive, beaten and starved to force them into prostitution.

God has created every child with dignity. ICCM CMB, a holistic child development ministry, is committed to upholding and preserving every Cambodian child’s dignity. It is opposed to all forms of child exploitation and abuses that harm and affect a child’s development and growth.

The ICCM Cambodia Child Protection Plan states:
• We, the ICCM CMB together with our Free Methodist Church (FMC) leadership and pastors, firmly believe in and support the ministry’s values of respect and care for the children.
• We aim to focus on children’s protection in the weekly learning activities of children.
• We will provide intentional education about all forms of child abuse and exploitation to all CMB Free Methodist Church leaders, pastors and ICCM staff who directly interact with children and parents.
• We will educate village leaders in new church planting areas.