Participants:
Series Code: HIM
Program Code: HIM000230S
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00:01 I'm Jim Rennie, CEO of Child Impact International.
00:04 And I've now been in this role for over 12 years. 00:07 And this is a very exciting day 00:10 for both me and Child Impact, 00:13 because we're expanding into a new continent 00:16 in the country of Zambia. 00:18 And we're just so excited about this, 00:21 because we've always had a demand 00:23 from donors for Africa. 00:25 And it's just so exciting to be able to expand our work, 00:30 to have a new partner Riverside Farms, 00:34 and to be able to really serve the needy in that area. 00:46 Child Impact International is an organization giving hope. 00:50 Previously called Asian Aid, 00:52 Child Impact International is an organization 00:54 fostering permanent positive change 00:57 in the lives of disadvantaged children 00:59 and their communities. 01:00 Child Impact is committed to making a difference 01:03 in the lives of children and those who are in need, 01:06 serving communities in India, 01:07 Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, 01:11 and will soon expand to other countries. 01:13 For the last 50 years, 01:15 Child Impact has invested in the futures of people, 01:18 and their investment has proven infinite returns, 01:21 driven by the dedication 01:22 to helping those who have the least. 01:24 Child Impact is an organization 01:26 focused on the welfare of children, 01:28 implementing diverse development projects 01:31 and sponsoring thousands of children. 01:33 Their outreach spans from child rescue operations 01:36 to providing an education 01:38 for orphans, deaf, and the blind children 01:40 giving them a sense of place, a home. 01:43 But above all, Child Impact is an organization giving hope, 01:47 giving hope to children, giving hope to communities, 01:50 giving hope to the ones who need it the most. 01:53 This is Hope in Motion. 02:08 Riverside Farms give us good management, 02:11 they operate a good school, 02:13 so that we can be confident that our sponsorship 02:17 on the ground is very effective. 02:20 When I went to ASI, 02:22 I used to go by this Asian Aid booth. 02:24 And I said, "Wouldn't that be something 02:26 if this could come to Africa?" 02:29 It was just, and I just would dream about it. 02:31 And then last year, I stopped by 02:33 and I talked to Jim Rennie, 02:35 and he says, "You know, 02:36 we're thinking of moving into Africa." 02:38 And, you know, of course, it got me a little excited, 02:41 but I thought Africa, Africa is huge. 02:43 And so last spring when I heard that Jim Rennie 02:47 with Child Impact was coming not only to Africa, 02:51 not only to Zambia, but to Riverside Farms, 02:53 I was so excited. 02:55 And so he came over and it just went from there. 03:00 When I visited Riverside Farms, I was really taken by the need. 03:06 I mean, we operate in six other countries 03:09 and I've seen a lot of need. 03:15 But here I saw families 03:17 that were really, really struggling. 03:20 I was actually very touched 03:23 by the commitment of the parents 03:26 who are fighting a drought, a real drought. 03:28 And so not only did they have a need for their children 03:33 to go to school for an education, 03:35 they actually have a need for their children 03:37 to have a meal every day. 03:40 And so I know that in the Zambian school, 03:44 the kids that are going there are of very genuine need. 03:49 A very few inches of rain in the last two years, 03:51 so they already had a drought 03:53 and then we had almost a complete drought this year. 03:56 I'd say, 03:57 20 years we haven't seen a drought this bad. 03:59 I mean, people are rather straight up starving to death. 04:01 And so when kids come to school, 04:03 one of the things that farm has done 04:04 is provided each of them with bananas, 04:07 because we grow bananas. 04:08 But that's not a complete meal. 04:10 And they need one because they're not getting much. 04:11 And so being able to be involved with Child Impact, 04:14 or some of the hungry money project 04:16 that got involved, 04:18 they're gonna be able to get a full, full meal, 04:21 one meal when they're there. 04:22 And that's an impact that we couldn't do otherwise. 04:26 It just is going to allow the school 04:28 to have better books, 04:30 them to have a uniform, these kids, 04:34 a lot more coming in rags, I mean, straight up. 04:36 And so that's something for them. 04:40 You know, they come to school, they're all in uniform. 04:43 They're all equal in the ability to learn 04:46 and have God impact their life that way. 04:49 The thing that impresses me with these children though, 04:52 from a very young age they have to haul water. 04:56 They have to carry firewood. 04:58 Watch the goats and the cows, herd them. 05:02 And they have to do these home chores 05:04 from when they're just young children. 05:07 There's not one family that was sponsoring 05:09 that has running water or electricity in their home. 05:13 It's very important for us 05:15 to find a partner on the ground 05:18 that supports our mission. 05:21 And so they need to be a strong Adventist mission partner. 05:25 And Riverside's the ideal 05:27 because not only do they have strong management, 05:31 they operate a well run school. 05:34 And then in turn, their job 05:37 is that they're serving the community. 05:40 And so Riverside for us 05:42 is a very unique partner in that they ensure 05:46 that the schools will run but then in turn, 05:49 we're helping them with their mission 05:51 in the local community. 05:54 Well, I feel it's our responsibility 05:56 to help the areas near you. 06:00 As Christians, we need to look out 06:02 for the widows, the orphans, 06:03 the people within our vicinities. 06:05 And I feel a real burden for that. 06:07 And so the thing is, 06:09 once you start helping them with this school, 06:11 it's going to open up a huge opportunity 06:15 for many more ways to help them, 06:18 like you're going to find out that they need food. 06:21 They need many things in their homes 06:24 that we're going to, it's going to come to us, 06:26 and we're gonna have to be ready for this. 06:28 And so it's just like a little opening wedge, 06:31 and maybe that'll give us an opportunity 06:33 to share Jesus with them. 06:35 I feel like these children, 06:36 it's like a brand plucked out of the fire. 06:39 There was this one boy growing up, 06:41 his mother died. 06:42 And his father was a drunkard 06:44 and his older brothers all drank. 06:46 And he came to me one day 06:48 and asked if he could go to school. 06:50 And I, you know, I wasn't sure if I could take another one. 06:53 But I took him and I put him all the way through grade 12. 06:57 He didn't have any discipline in his life. 07:00 He didn't know about responsibility, 07:02 but he learned those things. 07:03 And then my husband put him to work 07:06 and working on the one day church. 07:09 And then after that, we were able to get funds 07:11 and we put him in college. 07:13 And now he's just completing his teaching. 07:16 And he's going to be a teacher. 07:18 And he's, and not only that, 07:20 I gave him Bible studies while he was in school, 07:22 and he was baptized. 07:24 And so I'm just so excited. 07:25 I feel like what would become of him 07:27 if we hadn't reached out to him? 07:29 And not far from us is a big hydroelectric dam, 07:33 and pulled up there looking for someone 07:36 who had a meeting with the government official, 07:38 and the guy pulls over says, "Hey, where's the bananas?" 07:40 And we're known for bananas 07:41 'cause in here everybody likes nice bananas. 07:43 And I said, "Well, we don't have any here with us today." 07:45 And he goes, you know. 07:46 And then he went on to tell us that Al and Pauline, 07:49 the ones who helped with the school project 07:52 had put him in school, 07:53 he'd gone through the school, and he was now working 07:56 for the power company 07:58 generating the power for the whole country. 08:00 So it was cool to see that full circle there. 08:05 I just see so many positive effects 08:07 of when these kids go to school. 08:09 So I'm so excited that we're going to be able 08:11 to even double in one time 08:14 through Child Impact the amount of children 08:16 that we're going to put in school. 08:18 It was because they could see the educational impact 08:21 on the community 08:23 because the parents will come to work. 08:26 And those kids go to school, 08:27 and then the people who can't get an education 08:30 because they can't, 08:31 obviously we can't employ everyone. 08:34 If they're going to school as well, 08:35 more kids are getting impacted 08:37 and they're going to secondary school, 08:38 many of them are going to college. 08:40 And they're becoming part of the community. 08:43 Now, one of the big doctors in town went to Loma Linda, 08:47 we put him all the way through, 08:48 came back and now he runs the Adventist clinic, 08:50 have a big part of running Adventist clinic in town. 08:52 And yeah, my kids, that's where we take them, 08:55 you know, if we have a major problem 08:57 or if I had got sick, going to someone 09:00 who went to the school right there. 09:02 So it's cool to see that. 09:06 That impact and that's from someone who, 09:08 you know, education changed your life. 09:10 Children grow up in the village with nothing to do. 09:14 And so their peer start drinking, 09:18 they start drinking, 09:19 and they just live this useless, listless life, 09:23 and the women will not desert their children, 09:26 and they will do whatever they can 09:28 to provide for them. 09:30 And so you can see how education is going 09:32 to make a big difference, 09:34 because they'll have a purpose now. 09:36 They won't be just hanging out and doing nothing 09:38 and getting involved in drinking 09:40 and whatever other vices around. 09:43 The education, I mean, when you have people 09:45 who are completely without education, 09:49 what hope do they have? 09:51 I mean, they have no hope outside of, 09:52 you know, either become criminals 09:55 or try to survive on a smaller and smaller share of maize 09:59 that only grows, 10:00 you know, three out of five years successfully 10:03 at any level, and even that successes, 10:05 they don't know much about farming, 10:07 they're good farmers 10:08 and it's not that they work hard, 10:09 but, you know, growing corn 10:11 or the maize that they use there, 10:13 I mean, you know, you have the ability 10:15 to get 12 tons a hectare, 10:17 maybe 13 tons a hectare, maybe even more. 10:20 And they get on average, you know, two tons of hectare. 10:25 So you have all this potential, 10:27 but it's not happening, some practices. 10:30 So, without that, you look at that and say, 10:32 "Oh, you know, 10:34 they're not gonna make it without education." 10:36 We're going to work with Child Impact to see 10:38 if we can extend our school up to grade 12. 10:42 And that would be a dream come true for me. 10:45 There's not very many Adventist schools in Zambia 10:48 with Christian education, 10:49 and all the secondary schools are boarding schools. 10:53 And so the price goes significantly up 10:55 for these children and their parents. 10:58 They can't afford to send them. 11:00 So in the previous school we had about 70 kids 11:03 that were packed in. 11:06 And so, now we'll be able to go up to about 120 this year, 11:12 and then we'll add on and we'll go, 11:13 I think we'll end up being about 200 kids 11:15 that will be in the school. 11:16 Yeah, now, with the buildings we have, 11:18 we will have to add a couple buildings. 11:19 One of the buildings we'd like to build eventually, 11:21 once we get sponsorship for it 11:22 will be a library and a science lab. 11:26 Every child belongs to God. 11:29 And they should have this opportunity. 11:31 And if we're able to give them an opportunity to go to school 11:35 and to have the basic things in life, 11:38 we should do this. 11:39 And when you're in Africa, there's plenty of opportunity 11:43 to be a blessing to somebody else, 11:45 you can always do something. 11:48 You know, when someone gives to sponsor a child, 11:52 that child gets an opportunity, and we always talk about, 11:55 well, you know, your kids, hey, your kids can, 11:57 anything they can dream of they can be, 11:58 and we'll use these kind of things. 12:01 It's a lie in Africa. 12:02 You know, often times kids have no chance 12:04 and their future looks very monochromatic. 12:08 You know, it's one, one thing they're going to do, 12:09 they're going to be a sheep herder. 12:11 They're going to be a goat herder. 12:12 They're going to be a cattle herder. 12:14 Or they're going to burn charcoal, 12:15 or they're going to die. 12:16 And when you give kids an education, 12:18 you've changed her life, 12:20 everything becomes possible, 12:21 they actually have that opportunity 12:23 to change the world. 12:24 And you see some of them doing 12:26 and it's really cool. 12:27 So that's really what happens 12:29 when you sponsor a child is they have a chance 12:32 when they would otherwise had none. 12:37 We really appreciate that Craig and Pauline 12:40 made themselves available for our TV program. 12:44 You can see the confidence they have, 12:47 you can see the passion that they have. 12:50 And for us to have them on the ground, 12:52 involved in our program is very, very important. 12:57 And I just want to thank Riverside Farms management. 13:02 I want to thank Craig, 13:03 I want to thank Pauline and Alan, 13:05 for what they've done in getting us established 13:09 on the ground in Zambia, 13:11 and our partnership with Riverside Farms. 13:14 So there's a number of ways that you can help us in Zambia. 13:18 First of all, obviously, you can sponsor a child. 13:21 And for just $25 a month 13:24 you'll be sponsoring a day student. 13:26 They come from a nearby village, 13:29 and we give them a lunch every day, a uniform, 13:33 we supply shoes, and they get a total education. 13:38 So for just $25 a month, you can sponsor a child. 13:43 You may just want to sponsor a child for a year. 13:46 And so you may want to send us 12 months sponsorship at once, 13:50 and we're very, very happy with that. 13:53 But if you don't want to sponsor a child, 13:55 we understand that 13:56 and so you could send a donation 13:59 to our unsponsored child fund 14:02 because we always have children that are unsponsored, 14:06 or simply give us your prayers, 14:08 so that we can move forward and make a difference. |
Revised 2020-01-23