This weekend, many Americans will express thanks for their freedom as they celebrate Independence Day. The idea of freedom means different things to different people: freedom from want, freedom from oppression, freedom to succeed, freedom to say and do as we please.

Blessings Before

As Christians, we understand freedom in a very exciting way. Ephesians 3:12 says, “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” That means God allows us to come to him directly through prayer—we are free to talk to him, share our lives with him, and worship him with not fear, but joy.

Sadly, many people in our world aren’t free in this sense. About 78 million people don’t have access to the Bible in their native language, and about 1.2 billion people have never heard the gospel. What are we as Christians to do about this? Can we do anything at all?

Here’s a story that can help us take heart: In Malawi, Africa, thousands of children have become orphans in the wake of the AIDS epidemic. Annie Chikhwaza, who runs Kondanani Orphanage there with support from Cross International, discovered a pair of 17-month-old twins in “tragic” condition.

Seeing Blessings recover under Annie’s care is proof that Christians can make a difference in lives around the world.

Little Blessings weighed about 8.5 pounds and his twin, Hasting, weighed about 15 pounds. Blessings had large, open wounds on his body and both children looked like skeletons. Neither had hair on their heads nor could sit and stand.

Annie says that in just two weeks, the twins have gained weight and their skin has changed color from pale and gray to chocolate brown. Their hair is growing and it is black instead of orange, a tell-tale sign of malnutrition. Blessings’ wounds are nearly closed up, and Annie says she’s certain they will both make a full recovery.

God calls us to use our freedom to give in his name, to offer of ourselves when no one else will. Thanks to gifts from caring American Christians, children like Blessings and Hasting experience God’s love through us. Galatians 5:13 says, “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” God calls us to use our freedom for good, for serving each other in his name. He reminds us that we can’t understand freedom only in the sense of what we aren’t forced to do; he asks us to think of freedom in terms of what we are at liberty to do for others.

Click here to read about how you can serve others in God’s name through programs supported by Cross International.

First the good news: ten African countries are only half as poor as they were two decades ago.

Young children in sub-Saharan Africa face an uphill battle for survival against poverty, hunger, and infectious diseases.

Now the bad news: child mortality rates have actually gone up, rather than down, in six sub-Saharan nations. Sub-Saharan Africa holds the unfortunate distinction of being the only region in the world that has seen an increase in the mortality rate of children under age 5. That’s according to the U.N. Millennium Development Goals Report Card released on Tuesday.

What makes this report particularly relevant to us at Cross International is that most of our work in Africa is in the sub-Saharan region. One of the six countries listed in the child-mortality report is Zambia, where Cross is providing food and education for impoverished children, home-based care for the chronically ill, and safe, accessible water for remote villages.

Waterborne illnesses and other infectious diseases are leading causes of child deaths in Zambia, while HIV remains a major threat, directly and indirectly, to the health of children. In many cases, lives can be saved by simple improvements in home sanitation and by educating HIV-infected mothers to bottle-feed their infants. Good nutrition and alternative water sources also play a big role, and children must be kept in school because they are the producers of tomorrow’s wealth, which will in turn provide the food, medical care, and healthier way of life that Zambia needs. Cross is promoting all these developments through partnerships with local Christian ministries that understand Zambia’s struggles and know how to make a difference, one family at a time, one village at a time.

Below is a beautiful story from one of our ministry partners in Guyana, Ruimveldt Children’s Home & Care Center (RCHCC). We support this Christian ministry monthly so it can continue to provide care to 16 AIDS orphans.

Some of the orphans at Ruimveldt Children’s Home & Care Center (RCHCC)

Micah never speaks about his mother. But at night he has fitful dreams, awaking drenched in sweat and screaming out for her.

Before Micah was brought to RCHCC, he wandered the streets, unattended for days on end. Though he was appeared to be only about 4 years old, his face was sunken and his eyes hard — the marks usually carried by a weathered adult. His body also wore signs of malnourishment. His front teeth were completely black and his small belly was distended due to severe malnutrition.

“We knew very little about him and still have not found his parents,” said Angie Hemric, a volunteer who cares for Micah at the Children’s Home. “He has never shared any memories of them with us.” It is entirely possible that his parents are dead, victims of one of Guyana’s top killer: AIDS.

At first Micah was wary of the help he received at RCHCC. “He was very independent for such a young child,” Angie said. “Every time the gate opened we had to watch that his little body did not slide through it and run off.”

Soon, however, Micah began to let his guard down as he received loving care from the staff at the orphanage. He had never known such selfless kindness. Because Micah was HIV positive no one would help him, and he went without the treatments that would have helped him grow and thrive. During his first weeks at the orphanage, he could hardly eat and his speech was very underdeveloped for someone his age. “Much of the time he was unsettled,” Angie recalled. “He would scream out in the middle of the night and have terrible dreams.”

Micah recently celebrated a second birthday with RCHCC. Though he is still small for a 6-year-old, he has made much progress. His smile is now electric and his body strong, Angie said. “He loves to be held close and read to. He can write his name, color in the lines, count, and say his ABCs.”

The biggest evidence of Micah’s transformation from sick and abandoned AIDS victim to loved and nurtured child of God comes at night. He no longer wakes screaming from fitful nightmares.

Click here to learn more about the life-changing work of RCHCC.

This week, Cross staff met with Haitian mission partner Gladys Mecklembourg, who runs the Togetherness in Christ orphanage, to learn how her ministry is coping with the earthquake crisis. Cross supplies the orphanage with weekly deliveries of rice, beans, oil, and other food, and has provided addition funds to help Gladys meet emergency needs.

Togetherness in Christ orphanage is providing space for earthquake victims to stay while receiving post-operative care.

By God’s grace, all the children and staff at the orphanage were unharmed. But Gladys says the kids are afraid to sleep at night because of the aftershocks, and they are worried about relatives they haven’t heard from since the quake. The children will need a lot of counseling to recover emotionally from what has happened.

Gladys told us that four nurses are currently staying at the orphanage to provide post-operative care for medical patients who are being brought in from an overcrowded hospital. Gladys has an on-site clinic, and she has turned the boys’ dormitory into a temporary hospital where amputees and other wounded and ill patients can recover in safety and comfort. The boys have been relocated to other facilities on the 93-acre property. Gladys said there is also possibility of setting up a tent camp on the grounds for the many refugees who have no place to go.

Despite the challenges facing Haiti and our Cross mission partners in the aftermath of the quake, Gladys expressed a positive vision for the future, applying the words of Isaiah 61:3.

“We trust in our heavenly father to raise up a new Haiti, to bestow on us a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. We will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the lord for the displaying of his splendor. This is the word the Lord had given us at Togetherness for Christ, and we believe in this, and we know there will be a change in Haiti. Not only in the structure, but in the heart – the heart of the people…. There is solidarity among us.”

For the latest news on how we are supporting our Cross mission partners in Haiti, visit www.crossinternational.org/relief

We received some good news from Mike Henry, our projects officer who has been coordinating relief in Haiti since the earthquake. He and one of our partner organizations were able to get medical supplies to a hospital we support near Port-au-Prince. Below is an excerpt from his field notes a few days ago:

With the road cleared, I was able to get further into the field to do some more work — work that will have a true positive impact on people’s lives.

The staff and volunteers at Hospital Espoir offer a prayer of thanks as the medical supplies from Cross International arrive.

I got started early by heading over to the office of a ministry we’ve partnered with during this crisis to pick up some medical supplies to deliver to Hospital Espoir, which is run by one of our long-time ministry partners.

As I drove through Delmas and down Rue Freres, I couldn’t believe how many down homes and buildings were out there. There were only a limited number of cars on the road, but people were walking in every direction, many carrying their belongings.

Dr. Antoine Fadoul, one of my contacts on Haiti, had agreed to provide us with enough supplies to keep Hospital Espoir functioning while we worked on getting supplies to them through the Dominican Republic. By 8:30 a.m., we were able to supply the hospital with a truck-load of items such as gloves, syringes, antibiotics, and pain killers.

Gladys Thomas, the director of the hospital Espoir, was on her way home from India, so her daughter, Natalie, had been left to coordinate activities. Natalie had been overwhelmed by emotions for the past couple of days. I could see it in her eyes. The hospital had all but shut down a few days after the earthquake as they had quickly run out of supplies needed to care for trauma patients.

I was happy to be able to deliver the supplies, and she was relieved to receive the help. Her eyes lit up a bit. Hospital Espoir would now have enough materials to open back up to the public. More importantly, Cross International had a lot more help on the way.

Cross has since provided Gladys with funds to buy more medicines and supplies from the Dominican Republic to keep Hospital Espoir up and running. Please continue to pray for them and all of our other ministry partners in Haiti as we continue to support them in this time of crisis.

Haiti is still reeling from the devastating earthquake that shook much of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas to their foundations on Tuesday, but there is hope. People continued to gather in the streets of the capital today, singing hymns and offering prayers to God, as help began to arrive.

A father and child wait in the streets for help to arrive in Port-au-Prince. (Photo courtesy of Matt Marek, IFRC.)

We are distributing millions of ready-to-eat meals to the victims of the 7.2 scale earthquake that demolished much of Port-au-Prince. The meals are part of a 10-container shipment that we have on the ground in Haiti today.

The shipments include, nutrient-packed Vitafood meals, shoes, canned foods, and nutrition drinks. We have established a staging post on the ground and are now able to receive outside aid through the airport in Port-au-Prince.

Cross President Jim Cavnar said that cash donations continue to be the greatest need. These will allow us to wire much-needed funds to our partners in Haiti for the purchase of food, clean water, and fuel for rescue efforts.

“As we continue our emergency response, we are also planning for the long-term needs of our partners,” Jim said. “A lot of rebuilding will need to take place once the dust settles. Cross International will be there to meet that need and help the vital ministries we support rebuild.”

Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti and join us in the relief efforts.  Click here to donate. Also, visit our disaster relief page for updates from our staff in Haiti.

Today is World AIDS Day, and though the subject isn’t a pleasant one, there’s good news to be had. The U.N. is reporting that the number of infected people around the world is no longer increasing and has stabilized over the last two years at about 33 million.

Cross is helping AIDS orphans in Mozambique get food, shelter, education, and emotional support.

Education has been a big factor in curbing the disease, as more people have realized the importance of avoiding risky behaviors and getting tested for the virus. The development and distribution of antiretroviral drugs has also been a great blessing, turning what was once a death sentence into a manageable (but still incurable) illness. The transformation has been called the Lazarus Effect – a reminder that God often works through natural means to bring incredible healing to the sick.

Nevertheless, there’s still a lot of work to be done, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounted for a full 72 percent of new HIV cases worldwide last year. Christian non-governmental organizations have contributed, and continue to contribute, a lot of sweat, tears, and funding to AIDS-relief in Africa, and Cross International is doing its part to help.

One way we are helping is through the Reencontro project in Mozambique. The Christian women at Reencontro provide life-saving assistance to thousands of AIDS-orphans suffering from hunger, homelessness, exploitation, and disease. Reencontro puts the children in a good school, finds guardians for them if possible, and takes care of their physical and emotional needs until they are old enough to support themselves.

We also support Grace Ministries Mission, a church in Zambia that rescues AIDS orphans from the streets, provides them with food, clothes, education, health care, and loving homes, promotes abstinence-based AIDS prevention, and focuses on gospel preaching.

Join us as we commemorate World AIDS Day, by reaching out with the love of Christ and giving to one of our Africa projects today!

Here’s part of an update we got from Annie Chikhwaza in Malawi, who runs Kondanani Children’s Village. Cross helps keep all 135 orphaned and abandoned children there well fed:

Support from Cross and its benefactors helps keep the 135 orphaned and abandoned children at Kondanani Children’s Village well fed.

Dear friends, we are so blessed. A 200-liter, cheese-making machine just arrived! Our animals make such a lot of milk; it will be amazing to make our own cheese—and the best cheese in Malawi! Our cows need to get their act together though. The last four births have been three bulls and one female.

We recently admitted a little baby called Wilson. The little man was not in very good condition. He must have been fed with dirty bottles because his little mouth was full of thrush. His granny really tried very hard to care for him, but the old dear had to give up. Poverty made it impossible for her to care for her grandchild. We are so privileged to take care of this baby.

I have a few cute stories for you …

- Fiona was helping Mizosi, one of her students, with her class work. She noticed Mizosi was not looking at what she was showing her but stared at her face. Fiona asked her, “What is it? Do I have something on my face?” Mizosi smiled and said, “No Assisi Fiona, I just love you so much, that’s all.”

- Little Pilirani had been telling all the female missionaries that he wanted to marry them. The last time he told me I jokingly said, “I’ve heard you are also planning to marry Assisi Giselle and Assisi Samantha. You cannot marry all of us, you know. Adam only married Eve. You can only have one wife, so you had better decide.” Pilirani said he made his choice and will tell the other two he can’t marry them after all. When I asked why he had chosen me he replied, “Because you are gorgeous and I am handsome, that’s why!”

- The school principal, Martin, was totally frustrated with one of our boys, sat him down and said, “What must I do with you—give you detention, send you home, take away special treats, or give you a hiding? The boy looked at Martin and said, “JUST TELL ME TO STOP!”

Pray for us, we need that. Lots of love from all the Kondananians,

Annie Chikhwaza (Click here to read Annie’s amazing testimony)

Bishop John M Ng’andu of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia has seen firsthand the devastating consequences of HIV/AIDS for children in Africa. He recently sent his sincere thanks to Cross International and our benefactors for supporting orphaned and vulnerable children in his Grace Ministries program. Click on the video below to see what he had to say:

More video footage from Zambia to come later this week!

He did it!
A round of applause, and a dry set of clothes, is in order for Mark Towery. Five weeks and 1,000 miles after setting out to circumnavigate Vancouver Island in a sea kayak, the waterlogged adventurer paddled into Roche Harbor last Friday.

Mark’s trip through the cold and sometimes-harrowing British Columbian waters has been a huge inspiration for the kids at the Cross-sponsored Kondanani Orphanage in Malawi, which is benefiting from funds raised through the project.

A drawing of Mark on his kayak, from one of the children at Kondanani Orphanage

Kondanani’s Director Annie Chikhwaza said some of the boys have told her they want to be just like Mark and go on their own kayaking trips some day to help the orphanage! The children made thank-you cards and drawings for Mark, and we’ve posted one of those drawings here for you to see. Clearly, Mark’s efforts have touched their hearts.

“It was hard work and yet you were prepared to do it for the extension of the Kingdom of God,” Annie said. “Your trip has eternal value. Many people do things, but you did it for Jesus, and because of that it has eternal value.”

Twice during the trip, rocky waves rolled the boat, causing Mark to lose his maps and charts. But the scariest day of the journey came when gale-force winds struck, and some fishermen leaned out of their boat to bring him ashore. Mark stayed in his kayak, not realizing they were trying to save his life from the dangers ahead. A few days before reaching Roche Harbor, Mark wrote, “I am struggling at this point and just want to come home. As soon as I see San Juan Island I will know I’m homebound, however I do have a very big crossing…with no radio it will be scary to say the least. Please pray for me.”

The trip also had its high points. “God is definitely watching over me,” Mark wrote on July 14. “As I was paddling this morning, a mama and baby whale came by me. It was absolutely amazing! Yesterday’s trials are behind me now and I can focus on the task at hand. Saw a lot more whales throughout the day, got to see them play. This is what I’ve waited my whole life for … it is an incredible sight!”

Thank you, Mark, for helping Cross International support the Kondanani orphans! And thanks to all of you who prayed for his safe return and are giving to the cause!