 |
New Hope Children's
Foundation Associate Director Iona Halsey and Director
J. David Ford, kneeling at right, with children in
Nicaragua.
Children are hungry in Nicaragua.
Ill-clothed and seldom shod, they rifle through
Managua's garbage dump, searching for scraps of food to
fill bellies that are seldom full. The dumps are more
than a place to search for sustenance, they are home to
thousands whose families in 1979 fled the communist
Sandanistas who had overthrown a government that was
already corrupt. Added to their plight was the
devastation wrought by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, a
disaster that set back slow gains made in the economy
over many years.
Many of the children are on their own, sometimes as
young as five years old, their parents lost to
catastrophe or circumstance. Many fail to receive even
minimal education in the country known as one of the
poorest in the western hemisphere, with fifty percent
of the population living below the poverty line.
The situation fits well the definition of tragedy, were
it not for hope. It's a hope that's shared by mission
minded Americans like Dr. John David Ford of
McLemoresville, and by the country's post-communist
government, which currently includes President Enrique
Bolanos Geyer and Vice President Jose Rizo Castellon,
with whom Ford met in a recent visit to the country.
Ford, who followed in his father's missionary footsteps
- that echo as well the stateside ministries of his
grandfather and great-grandfather - is founder of the
New Hope Children's Foundation, a supportive ministry
to children in Central America that combines
humanitarian aid with the good news of the gospel of
Jesus.
"The president, vice president and heads of departments
have been phenomenal; they welcomed us so graciously,"
said Ford, relating that the vice president's wife,
Fabiola, offered to go with the missionaries to help
distribute food to the nation's impoverished children.
At New Hope Feeding Centers in Managua and in the
neighboring country of Honduras, New Hope staffers, led
by Associate Director Iona Halsey, are able to feed
children for just 25 cents each: $500 purchases enough
food to feed 2,000 children.
Addressing another crisis, the mayor and city council
of El Crucero, about 15 miles south of Managua, asked
New Hope if they "could somehow provide an education
for about 550 school children in their village." In a
demonstration of their own commitment, the government
gave New Hope over $50,000 of property adjacent to the
mission's headquarters so that construction could
commence as soon as possible.
Five building projects have been identified for the
property, the first of which is an auditorium that will
serve as a gymnasium, fellowship hall, and lecture hall
with large doors on each side to accommodate outdoor
crowds several times larger than the proposed 650-seat
capacity.
Other projects include 12 classrooms measuring 18 ft.
square, restrooms, a separate kitchen facility from
which the children will be served free lunch, and a
medical clinic.
"Donors have already come forward with equipment for
the clinic," Ford shares. "All New Hope needs is the
building." The foundation plans to employ a Christian
physician to provide free health care to the children.
A third mission came to light when New Hope staffers
recognized the plight of the "glue children", a term
they coined to describe the lifestyle of inner city
youths who escape the realities of hunger and despair
in constant supplication to bottles of industrial glue
they hold to their noses for a cheap high.
When over 20 of the destitute youths embraced the hope
of Jesus Christ after the mission's first service held
for them in March, Brother Ford shared with them his
dream for a "safe house" that would "get them off the
streets", a place they could go to learn more about
Christ while learning a trade that would enable them to
provide themselves with a better life.
The excited youths clamored around Ford in excitement
at the prospect, in a scene reminiscent of Christ's
admonition, "Suffer the little children to come unto
me, and forbid them not..."
The children had come and the mission was clear. All
that remains is the means to the end that Ford says
cannot be overlooked.
"These kids must be taken off the streets... or they
will go back to the gutter and the glue that has
sustained them for so many years," he entreats,
declaring New Hope's willingness to provide the
children with food, shelter and vocational training.
The garbage dump is home
to many.
Nearing reality is the New Hope Children's Home, an
orphanage in El Crucero. With the attractive, rust and
teal stucco building already constructed, partners are
being sought to sponsor children with gifts of $50 per
month. Workers plan to open the facility this summer.
New Hope is able to do much with little due to their
all-volunteer team. No American staffer receives any
kind of personal remuneration from New Hope
contributions and offerings, says Ford. "Be assured
that when contributions are designated for any
particular need or project, 100 percent of what you
give goes to meet that need. There are no 'hidden
costs' taken out."
Ford invites brothers and sisters in Christ - fellow
laborers in the cause of improving the quality of life
of children and increasing their likelihood of success
in becoming self-sufficient while ending the cycle of
hunger and abuse - to join New Hope staffers in taking
the Good News and caring assistance directly to the
children in need.
"It's a beautiful country with beautiful people," he
says, "very peaceful in most instances and safe to be
in."
Volunteers are welcome to partner with New Hope in
mission trips scheduled for summer, fall and winter
this year. Also needed are financial partners to assist
in meeting the needs of the children and support the
increasing ministry as feeding programs expand into
other needed programs.
"What an opportunity is set before all of us," Ford
wrote in the foundations' most recent newsletter. "The
fields are ripe for harvest, but the same problem
exists today that existed when our Savior spoke the
words, 'The harvest truly is plenteous, but the
laborers are few."
New Hope is a non-denominational endeavor: "We preach
Christ and Him crucified," says Ford, "We just reach
out and love the children."
"If you could only see the smiles on these kids' faces
when we feed them," he says, declaring those who serve
the children are the ones blessed the most. "If you
could only see the joyful expressions of children who
put on new shoes or clothes, for the first time. Or
better yet, how great it is to see the great interest
these precious children have in the gospel literature
(given) out to them. How sad it is to know that such
children have been joyful in the past only when a new
load of garbage comes rolling into the dump. With God's
help, and yours, all this can soon change!" |
|
