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Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201928S
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00:20 >> Hello, and welcome to It Is Written Canada. You know, social scientists and psychologists
00:25 tell us that we are happiest when we have the opportunity to serve others. 00:32 >> And that's Biblical, too. Ephesians 2 verse 10 says that we are "created in Christ Jesus 00:38 for good works". So we are created to do good works. >> Yeah, actually, God's design 00:43 for you and for me is that we help others. And so when I think of that, I think of ADRA Canada 00:51 and how they help people, not just here in Canada, but throughout the world. And so 00:56 before we talk to our guests today, we're going to look at this message. 01:11 In remote, rural areas of Africa 01:13 and Southeast Asia, many people 01:16 have lived their entire lives 01:18 never having visited a doctor 01:20 or healthcare professional. 01:24 With clinics and hospitals being 01:26 so far from the village, the 01:28 cost for transportation and fees 01:30 for healthcare were considered 01:32 too great. As a result, mortality 01:35 statistics were high, especially 01:38 for mothers, babies, and 01:39 children under 5. 01:47 Through the EBRACE project, ADRA 01:49 Canada, in partnership with 01:51 Global Affairs Canada, is 01:53 bringing important health 01:54 messages to women of 01:55 reproductive age, living in 01:57 remote regions of Rwanda, 01:59 Myanmar, Cambodia, and the 02:02 Philippines. 02:04 EMBRACE is partnering with local 02:06 health systems to make 02:08 improvements in prenatal care. 02:11 A big emphasis of the program 02:13 is the communicate the 02:14 importance of prenatal visits 02:16 to a doctor, nurse, or midwife. 02:20 If transportation costs are an 02:21 issue, they are covered. 02:24 With regular visits to the 02:25 clinic, women can be assessed 02:27 and monitored for any potential 02:29 problems with the pregnancy. 02:31 If complications are anticipated 02:33 patients can be quickly referred 02:35 to hospitals for specialized 02:37 care, possibly saving the life 02:39 of mother and baby. 02:45 Coming into the clinic also 02:47 gives healthcare workers a 02:48 chance to do further education, 02:50 emphasizing the importance of 02:52 a nutritious diet and healthy 02:54 living during pregnancy. 02:57 Once they understand the 02:59 importance of regular prenatal 03:01 visits, women are making the 03:03 trip to the clinic. 03:04 Wherever this practice has 03:06 increased, mortality rates have 03:08 steadily dropped. 03:11 We invite you to join ADRA 03:12 Canada and the government of 03:14 Canada in building awareness 03:16 of this important work. 03:18 Visit heartformaternalhealth.ca 03:21 today. 03:24 >> So, today we are honoured to have two guests with us. We have Steve Matthews who is 03:29 the Executive Director of ADRA Canada. >> And we also have Annalyn 03:33 Bruce who's the Development Program Director for ADRA Canada. Welcome, Analynn and 03:39 Steve. >> Thank you very much. >> Yeah, and, Steve, so you're 03:43 the Executive Director. Tell us about ADRA Canada because I had it wrong. I thought that 03:48 ADRA stood for Adventist Disaster and Relief Agency and it's not. You told me something 03:55 different. Tell us what ADRA stands for. >> And you're definitely not 03:58 the first person that I've encountered that's had that understanding. So ADRA stands 04:03 for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency. >> Ok. 04:07 >> So, development is what we're going to be talking about in this episode today. And Annalyn 04:12 being the director for development program. We are the official humanitarian arm of 04:19 the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We work world wide in approximately 130 04:26 countries around the world. So we do have quite a reach. Our office in Canada supported 04:32 programs in 26 different countries around the world last year alone. And we 04:37 provided direct support to over 814 thousand people. >> Wow, so you're meeting 04:44 people's needs in Canada, throughout the world, and just reaching where people need help. 04:51 So, yeah. Analynn, tell us about your side, from development. >> Yeah, as Steve mentioned, so 04:58 I look after the development portfolio of ADRA Canada so another collegue of mine looks 05:04 after the "R", the Relief portion of ADRA. So, what does that really mean? So, I think 05:10 in very simple terms: the "development" is looking at really helping people to learn 05:18 how to fish, while the "R" side, the relief or emergency side of things is like giving them fish. 05:24 So I think that's the most basic distinction between the work that we do at ADRA. 05:29 >> That's a good explanation. So you're there before they get -- you don't want them to 05:35 get into trouble. >> Exactly. >> You don't want them to get 05:37 to the place where they need relief. You want them to be able to feed themselves and to be 05:40 self-sustaining. >> Exactly, yeah. We don't want things to escalate, that it 05:45 would turn into an emergency. So we're there to really strengthen them and to make sure 05:49 that even in the poorest communities where we usually are, for them to recognize that 05:55 they have intrinsic capacities and to build the confidence in what they can do themselves 06:01 and not just to rely on external assistance. Which is usually the case once you get into emergency 06:07 programming where things have really been turned upside down and you have to get help from 06:12 outside in order to bounce back. >> So, Annalyn, we just learned about the EMBRACE project or the 06:20 EMBRACE program. Can you tell us what EMBRACE stands for? >> Ok, sure. The EMBRACE project 06:28 stands for enhancing mothers, children, and newborn health in remote areas through healthcare 06:35 and community engagement. I know it's a mouthfull, but -- >> That is a mouthful, yeah. 06:39 >> Actually we're there to make sure that less children die and less mothers die. 06:45 So, in a nutshell that's what we're trying to do. >> Ok, tell us some experiences, 06:51 perhaps, that you've had with the EMBRACE program. >> Yeah, there has been a number 06:55 of very uplifting experiences that we've had with EMBRACE, especially at this point. We're 07:01 looking at wrapping up the project. It's going to end by the middle of this year and 07:05 we're seeing success of the program and particularly we're looking at the savings program 07:14 that is happening which is a component of EMBRACE. So what's happening is that 07:18 we recognize that health has many, many factors that could influence it so we're looking 07:26 at -- ok, if you have this many factors that you're looking at, what's the best way to address 07:32 this. So our women have said that it's actually livelihoods that will help us to overcome 07:40 challenges that we have in health and other aspects of life. So what we've done is 07:45 we've helped them come up with a savings and loans scheme -- a community-based savings and 07:50 loan program where they themselves are actually doing the saving without any seed 07:56 money coming from us, but from the very small resources that they have they are taught the 08:02 discipline of saving and how to budget and many other things that come with financial 08:08 management. And it's amazing how really that has expanded to not just healthcare but to other 08:14 positive components. So, in in particular, there's a number of stories that we could share 08:20 with you and I think that Steve can talk about a very, very successful situation in Rwanda. 08:27 >> Yes, there's one lady that I met who -- she was an entrepreneur. She had been 08:32 identified as part of the community that we were working in as someone who had those 08:38 entrepreneurial skills. When we met her, she had a roadside data-selling system. 08:47 It was a very small hut on the side of the road, but -- >> So, for selling time for 08:53 cell phones. >> Exactly. So, unlike in Canada where you buy a mobile data 08:57 plan and your phone automatically gets loaded with your data every month, you 09:02 actually have to go and purchase data as your data runs down. So at her roadside stand 09:09 she would earn about 20 thousand Rwandan franc. >> Sounds like a lot of money. 09:13 >> Yeah, it sounds like a lot of money. The exchange rate is a little bit better than one per 09:18 thousand when it comes to US dollars, so really it works out to be 20 US dollars a month is 09:23 what she was making. >> Twenty dollars a month? >> Yes, so -- 09:25 >> And she was living off of that. >> She was living off of that 09:27 with her two children. When we met her, she expressed interest in wanting to do more, 09:34 wanting to start a new business. In this area, the chickens would come in from Kigali. So Kigali 09:42 is about an hour and a half to two-hour drive from this location. That's where they 09:45 would bring the chicks in and sell them to -- that's their source of protein and eggs and 09:51 that sort of thing in the community. She set up -- we put her in 09:56 contact with the supplier so she would be the local distributer. She built an incubator and now 10:04 she's getting a thousand chicks per month. Out of that thousand chicks, 10:08 she is now able to make an income of 650 thousand Rwandan franc per month, so now 10:16 650 US dollars. Well, when you think about if your income -- 10:19 >> Was 20 dollars a month up to 600 -- >> Went up by over thirty-fold 10:24 in ten months. That's a pretty good increase on your income. >> So she's pretty happy about 10:29 the chicken industry. I mean, she was into cell phones before, but now it's the chicken 10:33 industry -- >> Yeah, the chicken industry is doing well for her. 10:35 So she gets the chicks out about two days old and she raises them to 30 days. Then she sells them 10:42 in the community at a profit. And that's how it works, but the nice part about it is that she 10:46 has hired three of her neighbours to work for her. So now they make 50 thousand 10:52 Rwandan franc per month. >> That's like 500 dollars? >> Fifty. Fifty dollars. Fifty 10:58 US a month. But when you think about it, she was running her own business making 20 11:03 and now they're making 50 and working for her. So when we visited her, she had built an 11:10 expansion on her house already. Ten months, she had already built an expansion on her house, 11:14 it was getting more modern, but now the nice part about it is she's also looking to expand 11:18 the business. So she's looking to build another incubator on her property so it was in 11:25 construction when we were there to double the business. And then she was going to hire 11:30 three more people as well. So she'll have six people working for her in this very 11:34 rural area and making 1.3 million Rwandan franc per month so it works out to 11:39 13 hundred US dollars per month. So in that community, in a country where if you're making 11:46 two thousand US a year, you're doing pretty good. If you're making 13 hundred a 11:50 month, you're doing quite well. >> So, yeah they -- >> I think it's so amazing that 11:55 she's given job opportunities to six other people, six other women. You know, and lifting 12:02 them up and encouraging them and giving them an income and helping them with their health 12:08 and also savings which they never had before. >> And we find this story and 12:15 many other stories that we don't have time to talk about here -- particularly inspiring because 12:21 while we know that this is a project, it has a beginning and it has an end, yet the impact is 12:27 going to stay far beyond the end of the project. It's there. It's there to stay and not 12:33 only -- it's not contained within the project areas. We've had many reports and we've 12:38 actually seen it even in our monitoring trips that this is being taken up by other 12:44 communities outside of the project area because they see the good things that it's giving 12:50 to those who are directly involved in the project. So even on their own it's 12:54 organically growing, that they're doing it themselves outside of the project 12:58 initiative. So we feel that this is really something that we should celebrate about because 13:04 it's really something that outlives the project. >> Right. So your development 13:09 program is making people independent and giving them a lot of confidence that they can 13:14 go forward. That they're not just dependent upon other people 13:19 to take care of them. >> Yeah, and you speak about confidence; I think that's 13:23 actually one of the key issues that we're feeling that actually makes a difference because 13:31 if you feel it's in your head, if you know that I can do this and I just need to do my part, 13:38 and, you know, everything will fall nicely together. Because if you come with an 13:44 attitude of defeat right from the start, you don't have self-esteem, you don't have 13:49 confidence, you are done. I think no matter how well designed the project is, 13:54 if you don't have that belief and confidence in yourself, nothing's going to happen. 14:00 >> So something else that you do, also, is to help people to -- within their marriages. 14:07 That you have a program that helps people see that there's gender equalities, I guess, that 14:15 will encourage their marriages. And so you showed me how you're doing that and so I'd 14:21 like to give the viewers an opportunity to see that program. 15:21 >> So, Steve, we take, in Canada, gender equality as just for granted that men can do 15:28 what is "traditional" women's work and women traditional men's work. And so how are you 15:34 finding that as you're teaching that in countries like the Philippines, Rwanda, other 15:39 places in the world? Is it helping them? >> Absolutely. One thing that I 15:45 keep getting are stories about how the men will say, "My marriage is happier now because 15:50 I've taken in some of these things from what we've learned and embraced". 15:54 So we have men's groups set up in many of the communities that we're working in. 16:00 The nice part about the men's group is, you know, the men come together and it's kind 16:05 of just getting a group of guys together to have a chat about some things, but we're teaching 16:09 them different roles and responsibilites and how they can help out around the house, 16:15 that they can have a role in raising the children rather than than just going out to work. 16:19 Many of the areas that we work in, as well, the men -- the traditional thing to do would be 16:24 to go out and help in the fields for a couple hours with the wife in the morning and then they 16:28 go drinking for the rest of the day. So the challenge with that is not only are they not being 16:34 of much help around the house, there's violence in the home, they're spending all the money 16:41 that could be spent on food on drinking. So now what we have is 16:45 malnourishment and the kids aren't getting the food they need because Dad just drank all 16:49 the money away. So we're teaching the benefits of not doing that, the benefits 16:53 of why you need to have a good, healthy, balanced diet, why the woman should have some 17:00 help and say in where the money is being spent and the importance of making sure that 17:04 the man helps with the livelihood, providing for the family. So there's a lot of 17:09 different aspects about that, but one thing I really like about the men's groups is that 17:13 now the men are going out and telling people who aren't direct beneficiaries of our projects 17:18 about the benefits in their lives and they're bringing in other guys that we didn't target 17:23 as part of our project. . So that kind of goes to that sustainability piece again. 17:27 And Analynn mentioned about teaching how to fish, well, this is a similar concept where when 17:35 we leave, that's what we always aim for, when we leave, the benefits don't stop. That's 17:40 what we look for in projects. >> So this isn't just theoretically teaching them 17:45 about gender equality, this is is living it. So they're living it in their lives and they're 17:50 finding they're happier -- >> Absolutely. >> When they do that. 17:53 >> I had one gentleman, he stood up with his wife and he was smiling, he said, "My life at 17:58 home is so much better. My wife is happier" and then he's saying, "We even go to 18:03 church now, we're happy that we're part of a church community, my family's happier, 18:10 I no longer lash out at my wife" and these sorts of stories are just very good to hear, very 18:17 positive. >> Wow, that is encouraging. >> And also so good for the 18:20 children to see Mommy and Daddy working together and sharing, you know, the different tasks 18:27 and they can all work together as a team. They can teach their children how to work, 18:31 how to do chores, you know, so it's not just little boys do this, little girls do that, 18:36 but they're working together as a family team. >> Amazing, amazing. You know, 18:40 the scriptures say that two are better than one, right? They have a greater reward for 18:45 their labour. And so we work together, we have this synergy that occurs there. Yeah. 18:50 So any other experiences that you've had along these lines in other areas of the world or 18:58 other communities where you're helping? >> Yeah, one of the things that 19:02 we've seen, really, as I said earlier, EMBRACE is all about, you know, making sure that less 19:07 mothers die and less children die and we've had first-hand experiences as to how exactly 19:14 EMBRACE has contributed to that and I think Steve can share with you a recent experience that he 19:19 encountered. >> Yeah, we do focus our projects, especially for this 19:25 project, we looked at what are some of the most malnourished areas in the countries we're 19:30 working in. So in Philippines, for example, I didn't know this until recently, I only joined 19:37 ADRA a little less than two years ago, and coming in finding out that the Philippines is the 19:43 11th most malnourished country in the world really shocked me to hear that. We pick areas 19:48 where, even though it's in the 11th most malnourished country, we also pick the most 19:54 malnourished parts of that country. And we do the same thing in Rwanda. There was a 19:58 lady I met in Rwanda. Her name was Godence. She had eight children and when 20:06 we found her she was virtually homeless. She was kind of bouncing around from place to 20:12 place and trying to survive. She didn't have any food really and her kids were really 20:17 significantly malnourished. She had twins. One of the twins was born already small and the 20:25 twin wasn't doing very well. And she told us that "If ADRA hadn't come in my life when you 20:30 did, my child would be dead". So to stand there and look in the face of a healthy, 20:38 well-nourished child, knowing that if it wasn't for the work that your organization is doing, 20:44 that child would be dead, it is a very, very touching emotion to have. 20:51 >> Absolutely. So we don't think of, yeah, we don't think of that kind of an experience 20:56 here in Canada, people, you know, we would die if we didn't have enough food. 21:00 We do have plenty. We kind of hit the genetic lottery in being born here and 21:06 living in this wealth and abundance. But the blessing that you experience by going and 21:11 helping these people, that is a wonderful blessing. >> And for this lady, what we 21:15 did is we helped -- we worked with the local government to find a piece of land for her so 21:19 now she has a piece of land. So she's growing her own food. So we're not giving her food. 21:25 At first, when we found the children we put them on an emergency nourishent diet to 21:30 give them really rich, nourished foods to get the child back to a healthy status, but now we're 21:38 teaching them how to grow -- they have a kitchen garden which is all around her house with 21:42 different varieties of of vegetables and trees and fruits and these sorts of 21:47 things. She has a cow, has a goat, all things that came from the EMBRACE project. So you have 21:53 that variety and -- >> She can take care of herself. So it's self-sustaining. 21:58 >> Absolutely. We provided a water source and also provided a latrine for her, as well, so 22:05 really helped to put them on a good footing. 22:09 >> So, scripture: how does that help you personally? What do you get from scripture 22:15 that helps you? God's word, you know, when we feed on God's word, it feeds us. 22:21 How does it feed you? >> There are so many scriptures that teach us about how we're 22:28 supposed to deal with the less-fortunate, how we're supposed to approach injustice 22:32 in the world. So I do have one that I'm going to read here and it's from Proverbs chapter 22 22:40 verse 9. It says, "The generous will themselves be blessed for they share their food with the 22:47 poor". I think that's such an important thing. When we have -- 22:51 when we're so fortunate to have so much, why would we want to hoard all of that for ourselves? 22:56 Why not share it with those who are less fortunate? >> Right, right. So we can't 22:59 outgive God. He just keeps giving and giving and giving and as He gives, we give to others. 23:05 There's this beautiful verse that I looked at, it's in II Corinthians chapter 9 and 23:09 verse 8 and it says that "God is able to bless you abundantly" and now look at how much He 23:18 gives to us: He says, "So that in all things, at all times, having all that you need", 23:25 look at all the "all's", "you will abound in every good work". So God just gives us all 23:31 that we need so that we can do good works for others. >> Absolutely. Amazing. 23:36 >> And then when we do good works and we give, we ourselves are blessed and we feel so much 23:43 happier when we live to give. >> True. >> And I think one of the 23:48 principles/ideas behind this is to have our eyes open, really, to have our eyes open to 23:54 what are the needs. What are the needs in the world around us and then what are the 23:58 needs in the bigger picture. And that's what ADRA has an oportunity, the priviledge of 24:03 being able to do. And so we're going to listen to a song called "Open Our Eyes that I May See". 24:13 ♪♪ Open my eyes that I may see ♪♪ Glimpses of truth Thou hast ♪♪ for me 24:22 ♪♪ Place in my hands the ♪♪ the wonderful key ♪♪ That shall unclasp and set 24:29 ♪♪ me free ♪♪ Silently now I wait for Thee ♪♪ Ready, my God, Thy will 24:40 ♪♪ to see ♪♪ Open my eyes, illumine me ♪♪ Spirit divine 24:52 ♪♪ Open my ears that I may hear ♪♪ Voices of truth Thou sendest ♪♪ clear 25:01 ♪♪ And while the wave-notes ♪♪ fall on my ear ♪♪ Everything false will 25:08 ♪♪ disappear ♪♪ Silently now I wait for Thee ♪♪ Ready, my God, Thy will 25:19 ♪♪ to see ♪♪ Open my ears, illumine me ♪♪ Spirit divine 25:31 ♪♪ Open my mouth and let ♪♪ me bear ♪♪ Gladly the warm truth 25:38 ♪♪ everywhere ♪♪ Open my heart and let ♪♪ me prepare 25:45 ♪♪ Love with Thy children ♪♪ thus to share ♪♪ Silently now I wait for Thee 25:55 ♪♪ Ready, my God, Thy will ♪♪ to see ♪♪ Open my heart, illumine me 26:05 ♪♪ Spirit divine 26:14 >> So God wants to open our eyes so that we can see glimpses of truth that He has for us. 26:19 So, Analynn, we gave Steve a chance to share with us a favourite verse from the Bible, 26:24 from the Word of Truth, can you share a favourite verse from the Word of God? 26:29 >> Yes, yeah. Every now and then I would really try to check myself as to what's my 26:34 motivation for working at ADRA. And I'd like to share with you a Bible verse in I Corinthians 13 26:41 verse 3 where it says, "If I give all I have to the poor and give over my body for 26:48 hardship, but I have no love, it means nothing". >> And it is really a work of 26:55 love. >> Yes. So definitely it's not just good works but what is it 26:59 that is prompting you, driving you to do good works. So God is calling us to higher order 27:05 where we should be motivated by love in doing good works. >> And that's what ADRA's all 27:09 about, really. >> And if you look at the purpose of ADRA, it really is 27:14 that our world would be somewhere where we all may live as God intended. And so I've 27:19 brought a book today about the founder of ADRA Canada. So this tells about how ADRA 27:26 Canada became. And it's called Faith to Change the World. It's about our founder, John 27:32 Howard. And John wanted to see a world where people would live as God intended. So, if your 27:40 viewers are interested in learning more about ADRA, or more stories, there's plenty 27:45 of stories in here along the lines of the ones we had told here today. 27:49 I'd like to invite -- >> Yeah. So this is a free offer that we're making available 27:56 and the information is on the screen if you're interested in getting this book by John 28:01 Howard, he's the founder of ADRA Canada. And stories of faith to change the world and we've been 28:09 sharing some stories from ADRA Canada and he's just filled with all kinds of stories about how 28:14 God led him and how he has led the work of ADRA Canada. So, thank you very much for 28:21 coming in, Steve. Thank you for making this offer available for our viewers. 28:25 And thank you, Analynn, for sharing your stories and your experiences. 28:30 >> Thank you for having us. >> Thank you very much. >> So, friends, we just want to 28:36 leave you with the words of Jesus once again where He says that, "It is written, man shall 28:41 not live by bread alone but by by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God". |
Revised 2020-04-09