We hope you like the new look of the PIA newsletter. We have added many more features and news items in order to offer you different types of information. We want to offer you an easy and interesting way to keep up to date on everything happening around the world. We would greatly appreciate any feedback. Please take a quick survey for us - it is a simple questionnaire that will help us serve you better.
Bulembu Orphan Homes Underway!
You can be part of this great plan! by Franklin Santagate, CEO, Partners in Action
The first of five homes for orphans in Bulembu, Swaziland is being renovated now! We are thrilled that these homes will soon be a safe haven for children. Each of the homes is in varying stages of work. Walls are being plastered, roofs repaired, electrical is being brought to good working order, and so much more. This is just the beginning. We have plans for 200 homes in the first phase of the Rebirth of Bulembu for the children.
Partners in Action has a great vision for Bulembu
Partners in Action is transforming Bulembu, an abandoned city in Swaziland, into a place of hope for thousands of orphans and widows so that they may have life. Our vision is to provide housing, medical care, and schools to those who have no other place of hope
The AIDS rate in Swaziland is the highest in the world. It affects over 43% of the population. In 2004, 60,000 children were impacted by this disease. The rate is projected to double by 2010; that's an estimated 120,000 children alone! The United Nations has also stated that if something isn't done NOW to address the pandemic, the Swazi people could be extinct by 2050. Help us implement a vision of hope and a future that will work.
We need your help!
You can help with this incredible project. There is so much need. In this small nation, we will have over 120,000 orphans within three years from today. There are so many ways you can be of help. You can go on a trip to the city. We have several planned for this year! Or you can help financially. Just look at the chart below and chose how you can be a part of this wonderful work!
Description
Detail
Quantity
Amount
Frequency
Home Renovation
Includes Furnishings
One
$8,000.00
One Time
Home Cost
Rent and Utilities
One
$2,400.00
Annually
Home Cost
Rent and Utilities
One
$ 200.00
Monthly
Support a Home
Care, School, Medical
10 Children
$7,200.00
Annually
Support a Home
Care, School, Medical
10 Children
$ 600.00
Monthly
Support a Child
Care, School, Medical
1 Child
$ 720.00
Annually
Support a Child
Care, School, Medical
1 Child
$ 60.00
Monthly
Just click here, enter your amount, and click whether or not it is a one-time gift or a recurring amount. It's that simple.
We are in the process of obtaining donated equipment and medical supplies to expand our clinic in Bulembu. We need help with donated equipment and supplies - from band-aids and sutures to operating tables. We have a list available for anyone who can help us obtain these items. There is a great need for donated wheelchairs due to AIDS and associated diseases which have left people immobile.
We are also conducting a search for doctors to work and serve at the clinic, and would appreciate any and all referrals. Patient population being served is approximately 50 per day and is constantly increasing as the need for medical care is great.
Our school in Bulembu is constantly growing due to the increasing number of orphans left alone by parents dying of AIDS. We expect the school to double in size and have need for curriculum, school supplies of all kinds, and school room furniture. We recently benefited from a school supply drive where people from a local church gave generously. Our volunteers gave their time in sorting and bundling the various supplies - pencils, crayons, tablets, pens, rulers, scissors, etc. and prepared them for shipping to Bulembu! These items are consumables so we would welcome on-going school supply donations for the orphans.
We just completed a library drive that resulted in over 2000 books being donated! Volunteers collected high quality books ranging from classic tales and biographies to science and astronomy! These books will be a wonderful blessing to the children and will open up a whole new world for them!
Partners In Action will soon be ready to ship up to four containers for human aid over to Bulembu, Swaziland. We have $13,00.00 available to cover shipping costs and are working to obtain the proper documentation through our work with the country and port authorities to ensure we can ship the containers tax and duty free. We will be sending shipments to Swaziland on an on-going basis as we accumulate donated medical equipment, wheelchairs, and school supplies.
News and Stories from PIA Orphanages Around the World
Retirement Can Be More than a Game of Golf by Curt Cluff
When I retired from the business world in 1985, I thought about how wonderful it would be to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted: take trips to Santa Barbara, lie on the beach, sit in my easy chair and catch up on my reading, play enough golf to get good at it, or go fishing. I decided to start a little non-profit organization called Partners In Action with the money I had put away to help poor, destitute, abused, homeless, and helpless people. I wanted to figure out how to provide housing to the homeless, food to the hungry, healing to the sick, and hope to those who had no hope. I guess I thought I could do all of this in my spare time. I soon realized that I was working more hours than I ever did before I retired. I was traveling to our projects around the world several times each year. All of this made me realize that I wasn't getting any younger (aches and pains from 30 to 40 hour trips to orphanages, etc.). PIA has become a ministry involved in many nations throughout the world helping orphanages, schools, and numerous other projects including a whole village in Swaziland.
Well, this may not sound like retirement to you, but I wouldn't change what I am doing for anything in the world.
PIA has only just begun! The need is tremendous. Orphans, widows, and families are dying at an unbelievable rate every day – every 3 seconds a child dies. The thing that makes this hard to take is that most of these deaths are from things we can solve like hunger, malaria, AIDS, TB, malnutrition, contaminated water, etc.
We need your help! We need to continue moving our resources to help bring life and hope to those living without hope. You can help make a difference.
We need:
Prayer – Please pray for us and for all those with no hope. Contact us and become a prayer partner.
Finances – 100% of your gifts to an orphan, orphanage, school, or project will go entirely to that cause.
Your Time – We need volunteers in the office and out in the fields. Can you give some time?
If you feel God is calling you to be more involved in the lives of those who are hurting, hungry, and dying with no hope, call or write me and let's talk about how you can help make a difference.
What an amazing year. Our hearts are full of gratitude to the Lord for allowing us to participate with Him in this revival in Mozambique. Thank you for all your love and support. God has been faithful to us, and He has surely used you! Around twelve thousand people are fed each day and five thousand children are being cared for in Iris Ministries. Thank you for remembering the poor.
Lately, I have been thinking about what is most important in ministry. Intimacy with God is always my greatest priority. I have given Him my mornings. What a delight to minister out of fullness. As long as I spend time in the secret place, I am able to get through any trial. My heart is longing to be more like Jesus, who emptied Himself out for us. These words from Luke 9:23 have touched me deeply, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." As we pour our lives out for the poor we find treasures in the people He gives us to love. I feel like one of the richest women on the planet as Jesus brings us new children to care for each week.
Relationships with our family in the Lord are also very near to God's heart. I have found God leading me to work on relationships with my Mozambican discipleship groups. They are the ones working with us to bring in this rich harvest among the poorest of the poor. We will lead from the low place. We will give our lives for love. We will listen together to the heartbeat of God.
One of my greatest pleasures is trekking deep into the bush-bush, setting up my tent and making new friends in a simple mud hut village. We were just in Lua, a remote village about five hours from Pemba. It was pouring rain as we ditched pot holes hour after hour. My friend Shara's Land Rover broke down in the middle of the bush, and the other vehicles were all stopped by police with machine guns and told they were not allowed to go anywhere. After lots of prayer and talking, we were all on our way again. We were now six hours late and the people were still waiting, singing and dancing with the most exuberant praise I have ever seen!!!
I love watching Jesus use our precious children to fearlessly testify of God's glorious transforming power in these remote villages. The first night I called for the deaf, but there were not any there. So I started praying for a man who had been paralyzed for five years. Miraculously the power of God came on him and he walked!!!!
The next morning they brought the deaf. Two deaf children were instantly healed. The crowd got so excited and filled with faith. They told us we had to get two more deaf mutes whom the whole village knew so they could be healed as well. Another friend, Nicky, drove to get them, and just as we expected, glorious King Jesus healed them as well!
Many people gave their hearts to the Master and were filled with His life. We ended our outreach by opening a new children's home run by our local pastor and his wife and mother. The children are all staying in their village in local housing, and are being discipled by the pastor. We set them up with a family of goats so they could help support themselves. The bush people are very hospitable and open to God. The ladies have deep dark tattoos on their faces and often rings in their lips. They love knowing they are loved, and gladly meet their redeemer and savior Jesus!
I pray your year will be filled with the glory of God. I pray you will grow even deeper inside His huge heart of love.
Micro-Enterprise Working in the Philippines by Rachel Sanchez
Hope for the Nations Philippines opened a small store recently to serve the people of Davao. Based on a desire to impart a heart for business and empower people to provide for their family, a Painitan (a small mobile store) was opened. The store sells a number of tasty items. Here we see Glen serving Binignit, a sweet potato, rice, and sugar mix. They also sell Palitaw, a delicious sweet rice treat made from rice flour, sugar, and coconut. The store was opened with some personal funding from one of the staff and was an initiative of a youth cell group.
The store not only provides for a need in the community but it gives people pride in an accomplishment and gives them skills and confidence in order to start something bigger. It also allows them a way to generate income, support the church, and learn about stewardship. Come to Davao to try our Binignit and Palitaw! If you are interested in supporting a micro-enterprise, please contact Partners In Action.
How many of us can understand the desperation of a 17-year-old mother, holding her baby against her chest, while he screams with hunger and she has nothing to give him? Can you understand the despair of a young father as he holds his newborn infant while his wife takes her dying breath, leaving behind five children?
With so much controversy going on in the media right now over the adoption of children from third world countries, we would like to share some of our own success stories. We want you, our readers and supporters, to understand how significant your role is in the care of our children.
Little Daddy was born to one of our orphan girls. She found herself pregnant just before she moved into Dove Children's Home. She was 16 years old and didn't even know what the whole childbirth process was! She was devastated by what had happened to her and became depressed knowing she could never take care of her child. Little Daddy would have become another statistic in Sierra Leone - a child raised by a child without the means to feed and clothe him. She certainly would never have been able to send him to school.
The alternative for her was to have him adopted. Little Daddy, who is now named Samuel, is shown above with his adoptive sister and brother. His expression says it all as he thrives with his family in Alberta, Canada. He is loved and cared for by his new family and enjoys all the benefits of an affluent country. He receives everything that children are entitled to - food, clean water, clothing. He also basks in the love of a family unit. We can't begin to compare this to what life would have been like had he stayed in Sierra Leone. Adoption has given him the gift of love and the gift of life.
After three long years, a million phone calls, trips to the coast, paperwork, and much prayer...it's here! The generous gift of love sent out from Virginia, Christmas of 2003, to ARK Children's Home in Ecuador has finally arrived. A portion of the goods was confiscated by the port officials, but still the long-awaited box has arrived.
What's inside? Fun, fun, fun, and better yet, love. What we get out of the container are monumental gifts of love from some incredibly kind people. The driver and the company who came to lift the box off the truck had quite a time of depositing the container on the property. First the truck couldn't get in the door, then it was stuck, then the system for lifting the container wasn't strong enough. Finally after they smashed a section of our wall trying to move the box, we decided to unload to take the weight out of the container.
We had lines of children going back and forth removing small things a bit at a time. I told one driver that thirty kids were equal to six strong men, and he told me they looked like a trail of ants! The happy ants worked till late into the night and could hardly stand not getting into everything. But they patiently skittered back and forth, filling every room and hallway of our house, our shop, and our porch with broken boxes and goods.
After three years and five inspections, some things were in rough shape, but mostly everything arrived intact. A week has gone by and now we can walk in our living room. Bit by bit we're sorting and moving things. The trampoline is set up, the piano is making melodies, the kids are picking out new clothes, and every day we discover more treasures. We still have two rooms full of toys that we haven't opened, but we'll do that in private so that the kids have surprises for their birthdays yet to come.
We have been content with our lack, but God has chosen to bless us with so much material comfort. A few weeks ago when we were praying, the children saw gold dust on their hands; some found oil. Since that moment in time, our rough economic state has really improved, one of those blessed coincidences that God's children tend to encounter.
Paul the apostle said, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles." We want to echo his words and thank you for sharing in our troubles. We are blessed.
It's a sunny Saturday in Accra, Ghana, and 26-year-old Addis is working quietly in her kitchen. Suddenly, she drops what she's doing and races into her living room. The sound of the theme song from the Television School of the Bible has just started playing and Addis doesn't want to miss a minute. "Whenever I hear the TV School of the Bible theme song, I come running!" she says with a smile. "I don't miss Rev. Whitcomb's teaching."
Addis is not alone. Each week, millions of men and women all across West Africa sit down in front of their TV sets to watch the 30-minute program, produced by Agape Media Ministry. Combining systematic Bible study with interviews, video clips, and testimonies, the show attracts both Christians and the unchurched. In less than three years, the program has grown to become one of the most popular Bible teaching shows on the air in Ghana. Last year, the TV School of the Bible also began broadcasting in Nigeria, with even greater results.
What makes TV School of the Bible so popular? For one thing, it's meeting a genuine need. "I believe that one of the greatest needs in Africa today is for straightforward, systematic teaching of God's Word in a way that is captivating as well as practical," states Rick Whitcomb, Executive Producer of the show. "People all across Africa are crying out for more understanding from the Bible. Most don't have any background in Christianity, and they are so hungry for truth. They want to know how God's Word can help them face everyday life."
And help them it does! Yaw Asante, a high school student from Legon, Ghana shares, "I love watching the Television School of the Bible each week. It has really lifted my spiritual life and made me learn to trust and obey. Through your teachings I have been able to overcome a particularly crippling sin in my life. Thank God for what He is using you to do in my life!"
In addition to showing Rick teaching each week, the TV School of the Bible also provides free handouts and lesson notes to all who write and request them. By combining on-air teaching with a correspondence school format, the ministry is able to multiply the impact of its outreach.
Partners in Action is transforming Bulembu, an abandoned city in Swaziland, into a place of hope for thousands of orphans and widows so that they may have life. Our vision is to provide housing, medical care, and schools to those who have no other place of hope
We are in the process of obtaining donated equipment and medical supplies to expand our clinic in Bulembu. We need help with donated equipment and supplies - from band-aids and sutures to operating tables. We have a list available for anyone who can help us obtain these items. There is a great need for donated wheelchairs due to AIDS and associated diseases which have left people immobile.
Our school in Bulembu is constantly growing due to the increasing number of orphans left alone by parents dying of AIDS. We expect the school to double in size and have need for curriculum, school supplies of all kinds, and school room furniture. We recently benefited from a school supply drive where people from a local church gave generously. Our volunteers gave their time in sorting and bundling the various supplies - pencils, crayons, tablets, pens, rulers, scissors, etc. and prepared them for shipping to Bulembu! These items are consumables so we would welcome on-going school supply donations for the orphans.
When I retired from the business world in 1985, I thought about how wonderful it would be to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted: take trips to Santa Barbara, lie on the beach, sit in my easy chair and catch up on my reading, play enough golf to get good at it, or go fishing. I decided to start a little non-profit organization called Partners In Action with the money I had put away to help poor, destitute, abused, homeless, and helpless people. I wanted to figure out how to provide housing to the homeless, food to the hungry, healing to the sick, and hope to those who had no hope. I guess I thought I could do all of this in my spare time. I soon realized that I was working more hours than I ever did before I retired. I was traveling to our projects around the world several times each year. All of this made me realize that I wasn't getting any younger (aches and pains from 30 to 40 hour trips to orphanages, etc.). PIA has become a ministry involved in many nations throughout the world helping orphanages, schools, and numerous other projects including a whole village in Swaziland.
We need:
What an amazing year. Our hearts are full of gratitude to the Lord for allowing us to participate with Him in this revival in Mozambique. Thank you for all your love and support. God has been faithful to us, and He has surely used you! Around twelve thousand people are fed each day and five thousand children are being cared for in Iris Ministries. Thank you for remembering the poor.
Relationships with our family in the Lord are also very near to God's heart. I have found God leading me to work on relationships with my Mozambican discipleship groups. They are the ones working with us to bring in this rich harvest among the poorest of the poor. We will lead from the low place. We will give our lives for love. We will listen together to the heartbeat of God.
I love watching Jesus use our precious children to fearlessly testify of God's glorious transforming power in these remote villages. The first night I called for the deaf, but there were not any there. So I started praying for a man who had been paralyzed for five years. Miraculously the power of God came on him and he walked!!!!
Many people gave their hearts to the Master and were filled with His life. We ended our outreach by opening a new children's home run by our local pastor and his wife and mother. The children are all staying in their village in local housing, and are being discipled by the pastor. We set them up with a family of goats so they could help support themselves. The bush people are very hospitable and open to God. The ladies have deep dark tattoos on their faces and often rings in their lips. They love knowing they are loved, and gladly meet their redeemer and savior Jesus!
Hope for the Nations Philippines opened a small store recently to serve the people of Davao. Based on a desire to impart a heart for business and empower people to provide for their family, a Painitan (a small mobile store) was opened. The store sells a number of tasty items. Here we see Glen serving Binignit, a sweet potato, rice, and sugar mix. They also sell Palitaw, a delicious sweet rice treat made from rice flour, sugar, and coconut. The store was opened with some personal funding from one of the staff and was an initiative of a youth cell group.
The store not only provides for a need in the community but it gives people pride in an accomplishment and gives them skills and confidence in order to start something bigger. It also allows them a way to generate income, support the church, and learn about stewardship. Come to Davao to try our Binignit and Palitaw! If you are interested in supporting a micro-enterprise, please contact Partners In Action.
How many of us can understand the desperation of a 17-year-old mother, holding her baby against her chest, while he screams with hunger and she has nothing to give him? Can you understand the despair of a young father as he holds his newborn infant while his wife takes her dying breath, leaving behind five children?
After three long years, a million phone calls, trips to the coast, paperwork, and much prayer...it's here! The generous gift of love sent out from Virginia, Christmas of 2003, to ARK Children's Home in Ecuador has finally arrived. A portion of the goods was confiscated by the port officials, but still the long-awaited box has arrived.
We had lines of children going back and forth removing small things a bit at a time. I told one driver that thirty kids were equal to six strong men, and he told me they looked like a trail of ants! The happy ants worked till late into the night and could hardly stand not getting into everything. But they patiently skittered back and forth, filling every room and hallway of our house, our shop, and our porch with broken boxes and goods. 
After three years and five inspections, some things were in rough shape, but mostly everything arrived intact. A week has gone by and now we can walk in our living room. Bit by bit we're sorting and moving things. The trampoline is set up, the piano is making melodies, the kids are picking out new clothes, and every day we discover more treasures. We still have two rooms full of toys that we haven't opened, but we'll do that in private so that the kids have surprises for their birthdays yet to come. 
We have been content with our lack, but God has chosen to bless us with so much material comfort. A few weeks ago when we were praying, the children saw gold dust on their hands; some found oil. Since that moment in time, our rough economic state has really improved, one of those blessed coincidences that God's children tend to encounter. 
It's a sunny Saturday in Accra, Ghana, and 26-year-old Addis is working quietly in her kitchen. Suddenly, she drops what she's doing and races into her living room. The sound of the theme song from the Television School of the Bible has just started playing and Addis doesn't want to miss a minute. "Whenever I hear the TV School of the Bible theme song, I come running!" she says with a smile. "I don't miss Rev. Whitcomb's teaching."
What makes TV School of the Bible so popular? For one thing, it's meeting a genuine need. "I believe that one of the greatest needs in Africa today is for straightforward, systematic teaching of God's Word in a way that is captivating as well as practical," states Rick Whitcomb, Executive Producer of the show. "People all across Africa are crying out for more understanding from the Bible. Most don't have any background in Christianity, and they are so hungry for truth. They want to know how God's Word can help them face everyday life."
And help them it does! Yaw Asante, a high school student from Legon, Ghana shares, "I love watching the Television School of the Bible each week. It has really lifted my spiritual life and made me learn to trust and obey. Through your teachings I have been able to overcome a particularly crippling sin in my life. Thank God for what He is using you to do in my life!"
