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.

Ask a boy who his hero is, and chances are good he’ll name an athlete, rock star, actor, or even a comic book character. But 10-year-old Joshua, who lives at the Cross-sponsored Kondanani Village in Malawi, is no ordinary boy. His hero is a charismatic Zambian preacher he watches on TV, and he’s already started to emulate him.

Joshua, 10, weighed only 2 lbs. when he came to Kondanani as an infant.

When Joshua first came to Kondanani as an orphaned infant, he weighed only two pounds. Today he is a healthy, outspoken boy who loves telling other children about Jesus and inviting them to receive him into their heart. Once a week, he also helps out with evangelistic outreaches in the local village, where they do drama presentations, music, teaching, and prayer.

Joshua’s zeal for ministry shows. He took the initiative, without any suggestion from the adults, to organize a group of friends to sing worship songs. Despite their young age, the boys are as polished as a church choir. They sing loud and joyfully, with perfectly coordinated dance moves and harmonies.

Without hesitation, Joshua will tell you what he wants to be when he grows up: a preacher! He is just one example of the many lives saved and nurtured at Kondanani, a Christian orphanage where children are rescued out of squalor, rehabilitated from malnutrition, given a quality education unlike anything else in the country, and best of all touched with the love of Christ.

Click here to learn how you can be a blessing to Joshua and all the other precious children at Kondanani.

It was obvious to Charity’s parents that something was wrong. All babies cry, but not like this. Charity was crying all the time and seemed to be in severe pain, so they took her to the doctor. The diagnosis turned out to be a common one among poor Zambian families: tuberculosis, often the first warning sign of an HIV infection.

Charity, 2, suffers from tuberculosis.

Charity’s father also has tuberculosis and has tested positive for HIV. He is a bricklayer, but lacks formal employment and is unable to earn a steady income. The local health clinic has provided free medications, but without the proper nutrition, the drugs are ineffective. The family of six relies on a diet almost exclusively of mealie meal – a starch-heavy African food – and sometimes only has enough to eat once a day.

Charity’s siblings are surviving on one meal a day.

The good news is that Charity and her family no longer have to struggle alone, thanks to a local group of Christians who provide home-based care for the chronically ill. Volunteers travel from house to house, giving food to the sick, praying with them, building relationships, and sharing the gospel, while helping the families overcome the sense of shame imposed on them by their society.

Cross has partnered with the home-based care program so that chronically ill children like Charity can receive the care and support they need. With your help, we can alleviate their suffering and empower them to live their lives to the fullest.

Last year, the United Nations projected a rise in world hunger to 1.02 billion people – more than one-seventh of the global population! Statistics on hunger are always rough estimates, and the results can vary greatly from one study to another. But one thing seems clear: the U.N. number is no exaggeration. In fact, it may be too conservative!

The United Nations projected a rise in world hunger to 1.02 billion people!

For starters, the U.N. study only tells us how many people are undernourished; not how many are malnourished. In other words, a person who is eating regularly and getting more than enough calories, but who is too poor to afford the variety of foods necessary to meet basic vitamin and nutrient requirements, would not have been counted as “hungry.”

The definition of hunger was restricted even further by a very low standard for minimum energy needs. The number of calories was based on a “sedentary lifestyle” or what is needed to live a healthy but inactive life. But many poor people work very hard to support themselves and need more food to maintain a healthy energy level.

Whatever the true number of the hungry, it’s encouraging to know that there are many dedicated Christians doing what they can to meet the nutritional needs of the poor around the world. Cross International is blessed to be working alongside a number of fantastic ministries, such as the Moses Project in Ecuador and the Rainbow Network Feeding Program in Nicaragua, that are bringing both physical and spiritual nourishment to the hungry on a daily basis. Click here to see our complete list of Cross International feeding programs, and get involved today!

By 2050, a full 80 percent of the world’s population will live in cities. That’s four out of every five people!

Poverty and opportunity exist side-by-side in Guatemala City.

The prediction comes from a recent Financial Times report called “The Future of Cities.” People often migrate from rural to urban settings because cities offer new jobs. But these growing cities are also producing vast slums. The Financial Times used Lagos, Nigeria as an example of the downside of urbanization. Lagos is “a city that forces us to confront our fears of what will happen if we do not sort out our cities,” because it “has become the cipher for the urban nightmare – a city without structure, infrastructure, social provision, amenities, or basic property rights for its citizens.” In short, “Citizens have to work to carve out their niche in a city that does not care.”

It’s interesting that in the Bible, Jesus’ disciples used a strategy of evangelism that focused on cities. By going into urban areas, they could reach large concentrations of people who could then spread the Good News into the countryside. Today, those cities are bigger than ever, and they are full of people hungry for the Gospel. They are places where extreme wealth exists side-by-side with overwhelming poverty, and where row upon row of tin and cardboard shanties extend for miles.

Cross International is continuing the mission of Jesus’ disciples by reaching out to slum communities in developing nations with food, shelter, education, medical care, and the message of salvation. We want poor families to know that, even if the city doesn’t notice them, God loves them and so do we. Their cries are not unheard.

One great outreach we’re now sponsoring is a Christian after-school program for Guatemalan children whose families survive by scavenging for recyclable goods at the Guatemala City garbage dump. The program provides the children with school supplies, food, and even medical checkups, while teaching them about Jesus and working with their parents to improve their home life. Click here to learn more about this awesome opportunity to share God’s love!

It is amazing to witness the incredible generosity of our Christian brothers and sisters in developing countries. For example, Jim Kline, our Africa Projects Officer, recently returned from Ethiopia with a beautifully-woven basket. A very poor, single mom had given it to him. It was one of the very few things she owned, and she’d made it herself—she wove and sold baskets for a living. Her gift represented an enormous amount of time, as well as food and other necessities the sale of that basket would have meant for her family. But she insisted he have it.

Africa Projects Officer, Jim Kline, accepts the generous gift of four cabbages from an impoverished woman who grows them for income.

Another poor Ethiopian woman grew cabbage on a small plot of land to sell in the marketplace. She absolutely insisted Jim take no less than four of her cabbages. Again, that gift represented a generous portion of the only source of income she had, but she gave it out of Christ-like love. Both women were able to earn their livelihood because of Cross’s support of an income-generation program for marginalized women. It was their way of giving back out of their bounty.

When one elderly man in Haiti was asked why he cooked what little food he got from a Cross-sponsored feeding program and invited his poor neighbors to come and eat, he explained, “The Bible tells us, what I have I’m supposed to share with my brothers and sisters, even if they don’t share with me…When it’s all said and done, it’s not me giving it to them. It’s God giving it to them, because it was God who gave it to me.”

1 John 3:17 tells us that if we have material possessions and see a brother in need but have no pity on him, the love of God is not in us; and James 2:15-17 says if we see a sister without clothes or food and simply give her good wishes but do nothing to actually help her, our faith is dead.  The people Cross works to serve—the poorest of the poor—have next to nothing; yet they freely and generously give, not only to their needy neighbors, but also to those of us like Jim, who have more material possessions than they will probably ever own. Christians in prosperous countries such as the U.S. could benefit from their incredible examples of selflessness. In fact, it’s among Cross International’s Core Values.

Cross President Jim Cavnar and several staff members recently returned from a trip to Haiti. During their time in the earthquake-devastated country, they visited several of the ministries we are helping during this time of recovery.

In their first few hours on the ground the staff was struck by the empty streets of Port-au-Prince, which before the earthquake were teaming hundreds of vendors, children, cars, and animals.

Cross International President Jim Cavnar surveys the damage in Leogane where nearly all of the houses were destroyed by the quake. Cross is supporting an IDP camp of about 200 people who lost their homes there.

“It was like being in a ghost town on the set of a Hollywood movie — it was unreal,” Jim said.

Michele Sagarino, vice president of development, added, “The lack of life in the streets and knowing what that means was very hard to process.”

The group from Cross met with Gladys Thomas, who runs an orphanage and Christian school we support just outside the capital, to survey the damage her ministry sustained. She told them that they’ll have to completely replace one of their buildings and rebuild the tall cement wall that protects their property from trespassers. She also said that her ministry has taken in 20 new children since the earthquake.

Jim and the staff from Cross also visited an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp we are supporting in Leogane, which was at the epicenter of the deadly earthquake. Despite the extensive destruction, there was hope among the people in camp. They had just received another shipment of rice when the group from Cross arrived.

With tents and supplies from Cross International, Project Medishare was able to set up a makeshift hospital that is helping hundreds of earthquake victims in Port-au-Prince.

After visiting a few other ministries we support, assessing damage, and planning an approach to help, the team from Cross stopped by Project Medishare’s tent hospital. Jim and the staff were very impressed by the work being done there — work that has been going on since the first day after the quake. Cross donated tents and supplies to the ministry, which were of great use when the ministry set up makeshift surgical and exam rooms, an infirmary, a lab, and a pharmacy.

Overall the group was impressed by the work we’ve accomplished together with our ministry partners to help those suffering in Haiti. “Our partners are showing tremendous courage and faith in the wake of this disaster,” Jim said. “Though it was difficult to see the suffering, we were glad to also find hope among the people as we met with our partners. We feel blessed to be a part of the recovery efforts that are bringing relief to those hurting in Haiti.”

Click here to learn more about our relief efforts in Haiti.

On Wednesday, many Christians began observing Lent, a time of prayer and fasting during the weeks leading up to Easter. Although some denominations don’t recognize Lent, the practice has a long history among both Protestants and Catholics.

There’s a tradition that during Lent, Christians will give up a particular luxury they enjoy, such as unhealthy foods or even television. But this year, some pastors are calling on their flocks to take a slightly different approach: don’t just give something up – give it away.

The Rev. Bill Hewitt from the Church of Scotland encouraged his congregation this week to reach out with their time and talents to others in need: “I prefer the idea of Lent being a time of giving of ourselves in service to others. This runs contrary to a culture that suggests that the only thing that motivates people is money.”

Lent is a great opportunity for Christians to bless others while denying themselves. We can turn our thoughts not only to the needs of the neighbor across the street, but also to the poor and downtrodden around the world. Of course, not everyone can personally travel to a faraway land to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, but those of us who stay home have an important role to play in supporting those who go.

Our Cross International mission partners simply could not do what they do without the generous giving of our Christian donors. Whether you choose to feed orphans at the Kondanani Children’s Village in Malawi or build houses for poor families in the Philippines, your gifts make a real difference. Check out our online project catalog to see how you can be a blessing in someone’s life today!

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.

Reports have been trickling in all day from our staff and mission partners in Haiti. The devastation from yesterday’s 7.2-scale earthquake has been profound.

Photo courtesy of AP

“It looks like Dante’s Inferno. There are dead bodies everywhere,” said Mike Henry, our Haiti projects officer who is on the ground in Port-au-Prince today, working with our partners to bring aid to the people.

The most immediate needs are medical aid, food and water, and shelter. We’ve created a disaster relief fund to help provide urgent aid to Haiti’s desperate earthquake victims. The money we raise will help provide cash grants to our ministry partners to meet their most immediate needs.

You can donate by visiting our disaster relief page, sending a check to Cross International at 600 SW 3rd Street, Suite 2201, Pompano Beach, Florida 33060, or calling in a donation by phone at 800-391-8545.

The earthquake is the worst Haiti has seen in two centuries. The major quake sent 33 aftershocks ranging in magnitude from 4.2 to 5.9. Officials are estimating that about 3 million people — a third of Haiti’s population — were affected by the quake. Haiti’s prime minister announced today that he believes more than 100,000 have died in the disaster.

One of our project officers received an email from a friend doing relief work in Port-au-Prince today who said, “Much of the capital is in ruins. Having spent the last 12 hours in the streets, I assure you — you won’t have a hard time finding someone to help.”

Even our mission partners in Jacmel, a city three hours away from the quake’s epicenter in Port-au-Prince, felt the shock. Below is an excerpt from their email:

“Though it felt like hours, I think the earthquake lasted for about one minute. After it stopped, we went outside and heard people everywhere yelling and screaming and running all over the place. I was thankful to the Lord that we were safe. We went out to the people in the neighborhood to find out if anybody was hurt or needed help. We were told of several people whose homes had collapsed….All that we can do in this moment is pray. We thank the Lord who holds our lives in His hands. And we pray that lives are preserved all throughout Haiti during this time of crisis.”

Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti and for protection over our staff and other aid workers in the country, and join us in helping the disaster victims. We need your support!