The 2nd ECHO Agricultural Conference will be held at the Empress Hotel in Chiang Mai, Thailand fromSeptember 21-25, 2009. Geared towards enabling persons serving Asia’s poor to network solutions related to alleviating hunger and poverty, this ECHO conference will offer:

• Three mornings of plenary sessions featuring knowledgeable and experienced speakers. Slated speakers include Dr. Norman Uphoff (researcher and advocate of SRI rice production worldwide), Salinee Tavarana (director of the Border Green Energy Teamthat provides hands-on appropriate technology training and financial support to village innovators in ethnic minority areas on both sides of the Thai/Burma border) as well as Jon Jandai and Peggy Reents (founders of Pun Pun, organic farm, seed-saving operation, and sustainable living and learning center known especially for its promotion of earthen houses).
• Dozens of afternoon and evening workshops and discussion groups led by regional agricultural development workers and experts (possibly including you).
• A day of post-conference tours (September 25) to notable venues which offer excellent examples of sustainable agriculture, appropriate technology and outreach to the poor.
• Members of the ECHO team based in Ft. Myers, Florida, including Stan Doerr (President/CEO of ECHO), Beth Doerr (Intern Manager/ Agricultural Consultant who brings expertise related to the Moringa tree and Appropriate Technologies), Dr. Tim Motis(Director of ECHO’s Agricultural Resources Department and Seed Bank Director) and others. Excellent and affordable conference-related accommodation and meals at Chiang Mai’s Empress Hotel http://www.empresshotels.com/empress_hotel.html
• A resource fair featuring displays and booths by various development organizations and businesses.
• Unlimited networking opportunities with fellow conference participants and resource persons. Additional information, including on-line registration and payment, will be made available via the ECHO website (www.echonet.org) by early 2009.

For more information please contact Rick Burnette at rburnette@echonet.org. We’re looking forward to seeing you at the conference!

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From John and Jill Bills report June 2008 Uganda –

St. Ameria Orphanage

John Mark, a Ugandan who is a student in the YWAM DTS I taught in for that week, escorted me to the St. Ameria orphanage. John Mark has a remarkable story. Both of his parents died from AIDS and he was left at the age of 13 to care for two brothers and a sister.  As a young adult now, he has worked hard to care for his siblings to give them food, clothing and an education.  He now works in another orphanage of 200 orphans.  He wants them to receive what he did.  He is a young man who displays a humility and dependency on Jesus in every area of his life and those he cares for. 

As I walked onto the property of the St. Ameria orphanage, I was greeted with squeals of excitement, not only from the children, but also the staff.  Edith especially came running up to me yelling and laughing as she gave me the biggest hug.  It was one of those emotional moments where tears are way out of control.

I stood in amazement of all of the construction work that they have done on the orphanage since I was there last year.  I have had the privilege of seeing money raised for the much needed building additions  for the children in this orphanage.   Edith was so proud to show me the work that has been done on the orphanage.  They took me from room to room to show me the new improvements.  What I saw was amazing. 

There is a new wall running down the side of the property connecting into the new girl’s dorm.  They have put a nice seating area outside under a new roof to greet guests.  The girl’s dorm is complete where they are housing 27 girls.  They have bunks three high, two girls to each bed or mattress. The new boys dorm is partially constructed.

Doreen

Doreen is 12 years old and has been at St. Ameria for 4 years.  She loss both parents to AIDS.  She has HIV as a result.  She had two brothers and two sisters who all died from AIDS when she was very young.  Doreen was staying with a guardian when Edith found her and brought her to the orphanage.  She was very ill at the time and was in the hospital for an extended time in order for her to be treated for the AIDS virus.  Doreen wants to be a doctor when she grows up.  Because of the faith in Jesus that all of the staff have shown her, Doreen has hope and trust in a loving Father to care for her in every way.  Edith, like many of her staff, are orphans themselves, so they know what life is like having no parents and some having died from AIDS.  

Reported by John Bills

While in Jinja, I was invited to visit an AIDS clinic out in a remote village. I was greeted by Pastor ROC a Ugandan with a huge heart for those suffering from AIDS. We traveled a very long distance packed beyond description in a public transport mini van. Just when you thought there was certainly no more room for another person, the driver would stop and pick up three more. We had a wonderful time of sharing together of the goodness of God in our lives in spite of the crowded conditions. 

He motioned for the driver to stop along the road as Pastor ROC wanted me to greet his wife. So, the driver stopped and Pastor ROC motioned for a women working in a near by field to come over to the van. Over to the van came his wife, aged from the sun, dirty and sweaty from working in the hot sun. She greeted me with the biggest smile and said what an honor to meet me. 

I found out later that Pastor ROC and his wife have a small congregation that are not able to help very much financially for them to pastor the church, so both he and his wife have to work in the fields to get enough money to feed their children. He turned over his hands to show me the blisters and calluses that have been produced by years of hard work. Even through this hardship, he remains faithful to God and serves with a compassionate heart, those in the villages around his church. 

He volunteers at this AIDS clinic we visited to pray with the staff and patients.

 As we arrived at the clinic, I was immediately brought before the staff to hear their stories and pray for them.  I then was taken out into the bush to visit a couple of families that are suffering from the results of AIDS.  I cannot begin to describe to you what if felt like to sit on the dirty floor of one of the homes to pray with a mother dying from AIDS.  She is carrying for a daughter and her six children, both widows whose husbands died from AIDS.  This amazing mother has a faith in Jesus and a hope that overshadows the hopelessness that many would feel in this kind of circumstance.  As I sat next to her on the floor, I wrapped her in my arms and began to bring a word of love and comfort to her from a loving heavenly Father.  It is these kinds of moments, that you forget the surroundings of smells, heat and flies and experience the presence of God in your midst. 

When I finished praying for her, Pastor ROC said that he felt such a deep presence of God in the room as if God was there physically touching each of us.  Each in the room testified of the same thing.  Out in the bush, in homes like the one I visited is the working power of God moving from household to household.  When scripture says that God is near to the brokenhearted, that word has become alive to many.  I feel humbled to experience it.

A report from John Bills on their time in Uganda after the fire that killed 18 young girls at a Boarding school. 

“Come to the mortuary and bring a casket with you.”

These were the only words that Dickson and Mabel heard from the mortuary to confirm the fate of their daughter Melissa.  Melissa, nine years old, along with 18 other young girls, died in a horrible fire at their boarding school.  The reason of the fire was due to some arsonist with unknown motives. 

Dickson and Mabel are YWAMers and Melissa was their only biological daughter.  They have an adopted daughter around the same age as Melissa.  I sat with Dickson and Mabel under a tree as they went through every detail of what happened to their beloved daughter.  As with any trauma, there are always the questions and doubts.  It was such an honor to be allowed into their suffering to bring comfort and prayer.  They had just buried their daughter a few days prior and now they were faced with her upcoming birthday.  Mabel had put aside for weeks, some of Melissa’s favorite foods.  They don’t have a lot, so Mabel had to work for weeks to be able to keep that special food for this special event.  When I asked them what they were going to do on her birthday, they said “nothing”. 

I suggested that they make that day a day of celebrating her life.  So, upon my advice, they brought the family together with a few friends, cooked up Melissa’s favorite food including a birthday cake and each one shared a warm memory of their lives connected with Melissa.  There were tears but also laughter.  They entered that day in uncertainly and finished with a healing touch on their hearts.  Melissa was a prayer warrior even at the age of nine.  She was always praying for the other children at the boarding school. 

One Muslim father said that his daughter was deeply impacted by Melissa’s faith in Jesus and her ability to show so much compassion and depth of prayer.  Her death has truly produced life in many.  I personally came out of this time with them being emotionally and physically shaken by what I experienced.  To show empathy for others does come with a price.  But it is a price worth paying in order for Jesus to be glorified in the lives of those who are hurting.

YWAM Cambodia is having an impact upon mothers and children in one of the poorest northeast regions. Just a few years ago the province of Stung Treng, Cambodia had a high mortality rate for children under five years of age from six preventable diseases. Also deaths from pre/post natal care was high.

While attending a Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) training session in Stung Treng in 2007 – the TBA’s from 40 villages were asked, “How many mothers or babies died in their villages in the first six months of 2007” ?  After animated discussion, they reported, “None! “

Steve Goode

See the website of UNICEF -
http://www.unicef.org/evaldatabase/files/Cambodia_2003_012_TBA_Programme.pdf

The following work continues and the province of Stung Treng has one of the lowest rates of malaria in 2008 due to YWAM’s work in the province.

From the website CAMBODIA DAILY– www.cambodia.net/malaria/gains
 

Behind the dry technical name vector control lies the most potent weapon in Cambodia’s medical arsenal against malaria the distribution of free mosquito nets in areas where the disease is most prevalent. Started in 1992, the net distribution program is the brainchild of the Cambodia National Malaria Center (CNM), supported by the World Health Organization and an array of NGOs which operate in remote areas of the country where the incidence of the disease is highest.

The Cambodia Daily, for its part, has launched its own campaign to collect donations and distribute nets to areas where they are most badly needed. Last week, The Daily delivered 380 nets‹worth a total of $1,900 to Kompong Speu province.

The kinds of mosquito nets available for distribution include family-sized ones, worth approximately $3.80 each. There are also single-sized and special hammock mosquito nets, which cost close to $3.00 and $2.00 each respectively.

Dr Doung Socheat, Vice Director of the malaria center, explains that the nets are treated with an insecticide named K-Othrine, which remains effective for eight months to one year, before needing to be replenished.

Dr Doung Socheat says that program workers perform the initial application of the insecticide ‹along with repeats in front of the net recipients, a demonstration meant to teach people how to do the operation themselves.

“The insecticide kills not just mosquitoes,” he says. “It also kills ants and lice, and other kinds of insects. People say that they are happy with the stuff.”

The malaria center has chosen as the focus of its distribution efforts remote forest villages where the risk of malaria is highest. It is estimated that close to 500,000 Cambodians, or five percent of the country¹s population, inhabit such places. Many of them belong to ethnic minority groups.

According to Dr Doung Socheat, the CNM’s goal is to cover two to three provinces each year, and to help reach that goal, the center has come to rely on a number of NGOs that are already operating in provincial areas. The NGOs include groups such as the Lutheran World Service (LWS), WHO, and Youth With A Mission (YWAM).

The LWS, for example, conducts humanitarian and relief work in northern parts of Cambodia near the Thai border. Philip Wijmans, an LWS spokesperson, says that the center’s distribution program was deemed to be compatable with his organization¹s existing activities, so it routinely began to hand out nets two years ago to families.

“As the Khmer Rouge defections continued,we got more involved” he says. “In those areas sheltered away from the world, there are no schools or health facilities. Malaria seemed to be quite serious. We heard that there were 78 malaria deaths in that area alone. We happened to know the area, so we started taking the nets.”

YWAM, for its part, has an ongoing program in Strung Treng province to train local medical staff how to correctly diagnose and treat malaria. As a result, according to organization staff member Philip Scott, YWAM began distributing nets in the same area on a trial basis starting last year.

“People take them and they use them. The number of nets that get resold is really small. People really want them,” Scott says. “Malaria is the biggest health concern in the province, because Strung Treng is one of the worst provinces in Cambodia for malaria. One of the villages here takes the record in all of Indochina, and nets are the most successful means of prevention. A lot of people still do not understand that malaria comes from mosquitoes.”

Dr Doung Socheat says that the center distributed a total of 40,000 nets for distribution in 1996, but has managed to hand out close to 50,000 nets during the first seven months of 1997, despite the factional fighting which broke out in Cambodia last month.

As a result of the strife, according to Doung Socheat, the center was forced to put the distribution program on hold temporarily.

“There are some areas where we cannot go safely at the moment. All we can do is wait until it is safe to visit there,” he says. 

The ywam-memorial.org site is ready for you to visit, register, create memorial pages, make comments and upload pictures about those who have died while serving God through YWAM. We hope that it will be very user-friendly. 

I have been deeply moved by what people have already been saying. I think that you will be touched as well as we see how God has impacted people’s lives in our midst over the last 48 years. Please feel free to share this site with your various networks, forums and friends of YWAM. 

There is also a resource page where people can find help about the process of grieving, bereavement and much more. This is a sacred place where we can honor, remember and give thanks to God for those who have died while serving in YWAM. This site is also a place to take some time to reflect upon how our family and friends have touched our lives, been models for us and to share some thoughts.

A big thanks to Adrian Young who has helped technically put this site together and to many of you who have already sent pictures and made comments about your friends. Now this site is open for all of YWAM and our friends to be involved. 

Also, you have asked how you can contribute financially to this ongoing site development and there is information on the site. We welcome your first visit and ongoing visits to this ywam-memorial site and look forward to your reflections and comments.

May God be honored above all. 

Steve Goode