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.

This week, Cross was visited by the resource manager of a Christian orphanage we have been working with to provide earthquake relief and recovery in Haiti. Nathalie Amyotte shared a personal story that painted a vivid picture of Haitian poverty and the life-saving work of the orphanage.

Jamesley (center) and two of his brothers getting a physical at a Cross-supported orphanage.

One night, as Nathalie was getting something to eat, she saw children on the street begging for food. They were calling to her by name – “Madame Nathalie! Madame Nathalie!” – because she often helped the children in town. But this time, something was different.

“There was one child who was apart from them and he wasn’t begging and he wasn’t asking for anything,” Nathalie said. The boy was holding a plate of old chicken bones, and she realized he had collected them because he had nothing else to eat. Suddenly, another child bumped into the plate and knocked it over, scattering the bones across the ground. The boy raised his voice and cried as if grief-stricken.

“His cry will stay with me my whole life. It haunts me. Because his little chicken bones had been thrown to the ground and that is the only meal he was going to have that day,” Nathalie said. “I went to see him because I heard this cry. He was trying to wipe the dirt off his little chicken bones. And I said, ‘No, no – let’s go eat.’”

After feeding the boy, whose name was Jamesley, Nathalie visited his home. She learned that his mother was pregnant with her eighth child and about to get kicked out of her home. That very day, the orphanage gave the family money for food, paid for a year’s rent so they wouldn’t get kicked out, and agreed to take in Jamesley and one of his brothers. Now the boys are going to school and eating three meals a day.

The immediacy of the response is typical of this southern Haitian orphanage that has done so much to help the needy in the aftermath of the January earthquake, whether by taking in new children, sending food to displaced families, or even working with a local hospital. We are proud to support this great ministry as it spreads Christ’s love to the poorest of the poor!

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.

While traveling through Haiti, Cross International Projects Officers Mike Wilson and Claudio Merisio visited the camps where our mission partners are continuing to provide medical care for earthquake victims. They got to see firsthand the incredible work that so many doctors, nurses, and volunteers are providing on a daily basis in tent facilities or even outside.

Cross Projects Officer Claudio Merisio visits a Project Medishare health clinic in Haiti.

Now that more than three weeks have passed since the quake, our partners are beginning to transition from trauma to general health care for the many displaced men, women, and children who are trying to rebuild their lives in the aftermath; and Cross is working alongside them to ensure success.

For instance, our Cross partner Arc en Ciel is providing care for about 4,000 people, including 1,600 children, in five refugee camps. They plan to send health workers to fifty additional camps to train their peers on general health issues such as hydration, nutrition, vaccination, and psycho-social support.

Another Cross partner, Project Medishare, is increasing the number of women and children receiving care, and plans to double the number of mobile clinics from one to two per week.

Gladys Thomas, who runs Hopital Espoir and Village Espoir, is shifting her focus to rehabilitative care for people needing physical and occupational therapy and post-traumatic support.

To help our mission partners provided the best possible health care under the strained conditions of disaster-stricken Haiti, Cross has given food, medicine, medical supplies, and in one case even a container to be converted into a clinic. To learn more about what Cross is doing in Haiti, check out our latest updates at www.crossinternational.org/relief.

For many years we have supported the ministry work of Gladys Thomas, a Haiti-born, U.S.-trained nurse who runs several programs for poor children in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. One of those programs is Hope Home, an orphanage for children with severe physical and mental disabilities. Strapped with caring for 150 handicapped children each day, we asked Gladys to explain her motivation for taking on such a daunting task. She sent this reply regarding her continuing labor of love. And, as it turns out, it all began with one little boy named Michel.

Gladys Thomas, founder of ‘Hope Home,’ with Michel, the boy who inspired it.

In 1993, I went to the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince to see how I could help more children and found a room full of abandoned, severely handicapped children. A group of women had started helping them weekly by bathing them, changing their beds, and feeding them — so I joined them. Michel was there.

One day, one of the ladies called me to see if I could find a dentist to clean Michel’s mouth because she had noticed a bunch of clustered patches in there. When the dentist went in, he found fly eggs. At the moment, I was very angry and frustrated. I could no longer stand to see these precious children living in such horrible conditions. I had to do something. I asked hospital officials if I could take the children, and they said yes. So I took 17 children out and began what is now the Hope Home.

We’re grateful to all our supporters who have responded to our Disaster Relief campaign for the flood-ravaged Philippines. The crisis may no longer be a front-page headline, now that weeks have passed since typhoons Ketsana and Parma swept through the country, but much work remains to be done.

A new danger now threatens the area of Manila, where a lot of land is still underwater. Health officials are reporting a deadly outbreak of a bacterial disease called leptospirosis.

The initial impact of the storms – the deaths of more than 850 people and displacement of hundreds of thousands – can’t be minimized. But a new danger now threatens the area of Manila, where a lot of land is still underwater.

Health officials are reporting a deadly outbreak of a bacterial disease called leptospirosis, which is caused by exposure to animal urine. The outbreak has already killed more than 130 people, and the latest report was that nearly 2,000 sick patients remained in government hospitals. The situation is so bad that one health official is calling this outbreak of leptospirosis one of the worst in the world.

Large areas of floodwater are not expected to recede until December, and it was feared that a third typhoon, Lupit, would cause even more problems. Thankfully, Lupit changed direction late last week and was downgraded to a tropical storm.

Thank you for keeping our Filipino friends and ministry partners in your prayers. It’s not too late to send a gift to our Cross International Disaster Relief Fund to help us deliver food, medicine, and other emergency items to displaced families.

Two Cross staff members recently returned from a trip to Ethiopia, where they had a chance to tour a brand new Christian pediatric hospital whose construction was partially funded by our donors.

Spiritual Director Mesfin Taye prays over every patient at the Ethiopian hospital and shares the Gospel with their families.

The hospital, which specializes in orthopedic surgery, brands itself as more than just a place for physical healing. The doctors describe their work as evangelism in the truest sense of the term. But the full impact of their outreach can only be experienced firsthand.

During their visit, they met a little boy who was literally missing half his face. A poor diet had led to a flesh-eating infection that ate away his nose, left eye, and cheek. His gruesome condition was hard to look at; but as he followed the Cross staff members through the hospital and held their hands, not wanting to let go, they could not help but notice his genuine smile and the joy that shined from his one surviving eye.

Many of the children have that same shine – a surge of hope beneath the pain – that at first seems so out of place. But as our visiting staff members met with the caring staff and watched them interact with the patients, and as they walked past Bible-themed murals and observed patients watching the Jesus film in the recreation area, they began to understand.

In the city outside the hospital walls, the boy without a face would have reached out his hand in vain. There is no one to give these children a hug or even a smile, because their deformities are considered a curse. Ancient superstitions force their families to hide them from their neighbors, who mock and condemn and shun them as if they did something to deserve their condition.

At the Christian-run hospital, the children learn for the first time that they are loved. The spiritual director prays over each and every patient and shares the Gospel with them and their families, whose hearts are open because they have never before experienced such compassion. That is the power of the Gospel – good news that is truly good. Real hope in a world of real suffering.

You can help Cross International provide surgeries for poor children in developing nations. CLICK HERE to learn more.

A small group of staff members just returned from Haiti. They were so moved by their experience, they had a hard time holding it together as they spoke to the rest of us about it.

Their trip took them through Gonaives where Cross flew in food and supplies last year when roads were wiped out by four major storms in row that battered the country. Today the town is still devastated. In fact, there’s now a permanent lake where houses used to sit. Our guys were amazed by the people’s resilience.

Dr. Scott Nelson, director of the Christian orthopedic hospital Cross helps support in the Dominican Republic, creates casts for a baby with clubfoot during a recent medical mission in Cap-Haitian.

The final destination was Cap-Haitian, where a team of visiting doctors worked under primitive conditions to help children with clubfoot and other crippling, but treatable, deformities. When the team arrived, a crowd was waiting outside the clinic. Some had been waiting in that spot for two days for the chance to see a doctor who might be able to help their children!

Tom Lewis, one of our staff members, said, “The first child to run up to the doctors was a very beautiful 7-year-old girl. Because of her condition, though, she ran on her knees. That’s how she’d been getting around her whole life. The good news is, the doctors said they could fix her legs!”

A few of the doctors were volunteers from the U.S., but the core group came from a children’s orthopedic hospital the Dominican Republic that we help support. Just watching them work, their love for the Lord and their tender compassion toward the poor is evident.  Click here to read more about their work in the Dominican Republic and elsewhere.

In reflecting about all the people he met on the trip, Tom said, “How many of us, with our three-bedroom homes, stuffed closets, and two-car garages are embarrassed when someone drops by? These people had absolutely nothing, but they proudly opened their tiny, dirt-floor homes to us and welcomed us in; they were willing to share what little they had. It was incredible.”

What was the attitude of the earliest Christians toward the sick and poor? Some people may be surprised by the findings in a new book by Oregon State University history professor Gary Ferngren. But what he discovered doesn’t surprise us at all.

Contrary to popular belief, ancient Christians didn’t just assume that everyone with a medical problem was demon-possessed or being punished for their sins. Their belief that human beings are created in the image of God led them to care for the needy within their congregations, while also reaching out to the pagan world, where the weak were more often ignored than helped.

Cross provides surgeries for physically disabled and disfigured children

During a horrible 3rd century plague, Christians were the only people willing to care for the dying. Ferngren writes:

…presbyters, deacons, and laymen took charge of the treatment of the sick, ignoring the danger to their own lives…. Their activity contrasted with that of the pagans, who deserted the sick or threw the bodies of the dead out into the streets….

The experience gained by the congregation-centered care of the sick over several centuries gave early Christians the ability to create rapidly in the late fourth century a network of efficiently functioning institutions that offered charitable medical care, first in monastic infirmaries and later in the hospital.

That same spirit of Christian compassion for the sick and dying continues today through many of the great programs we sponsor at Cross International. Our commitment to the Gospel is what compels us to provide free surgeries for children suffering from birth defects and disfigurements in Afghanistan, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic; and to feed children around the world who are suffering from the painful symptoms of malnutrition.

We’ve got lots of exciting opportunities for reaching out to “the least of these,” and we need your help to make it happen! Click here to learn how you can provide life-changing surgery for a disabled child.

Carlos Vargas is no ordinary businessman, to say the least. He owns a successful jewelry company that supplies thousands of major retail stores in the U.S., but he spends most of his time in Guatemala, serving the poorest of the poor.

Cross International President Jim Cavnar and several staff members had a chance to get to know Carlos during a recent trip to Guatemala, where his Esperanza de Vida ministry is providing food, medical care, shelter, education, and other services to destitute families in garbage dumps and rural mountainous areas. Everyone who met Carlos was impressed by his work and by his love for the Guatemalan people. His ministry is one among many that we support with shipments of medicines, medical supplies, and nutritional supplements.

Pastor Vargas Praying With Two Girls

Carlos admits that when he first committed his life to Christ at the age of 25, his heart wasn’t totally in it. “I was a church person, but not too close to God,” he said, adding with a laugh, “I think I only caused problems in church.” But God had plans for Carlos.

Years later, he contracted a severe case of gout. He lost fingernails and toenails, his limbs started to curl up, he couldn’t walk, and his doctors didn’t know what to do. Carlos feared he was going to die.

While bedridden, a blind beggar came to his door. “I had so much money, but I was too cheap to help this poor man. All I gave him was $5,” Carlos said. “As he was walking away, this strong idea came into my head. I was supposed to take care of people like this blind man.”

Carlos made a “business deal” with God. He promised that if God healed him, he would devote his life to the poor.

After several days of fervent prayer, Carlos sat up in bed and began walking again. His health was completely restored!

True to his promise, Carlos moved to his native country of Guatemala and used his business know-how to start Esperanza de Vida, which means “Hope of Life.”

“It’s not easy to be a missionary,” Carlos said to a church group of volunteers. “Sometimes we cry alone at night when we wonder how we’re going to meet our budget or we cry over the babies we lose…. Why do I do this? There will come a day when I’m going to close my eyes on this earth and I’m going to open them somewhere else. I want God to say, I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in.”