OperatiOn Bless ing internatiOnalFebruary 2014

Blessingsoperationblessing.org

Rescue at the Border young girls in Nepal narrowly escape slavery thanks

to help from Operation blessing partners { p a g e 8 }

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A Message from The PresidenTBill chats with Operation Blessing staff at a shelter in Honduras where trafficking victims are receiving training in cosmetology.

dr. robertson refers to isaiah, chapter 58, when he talks about the inspiration he had for founding Operation Blessing in 1978. While feeding the hungry, sheltering the poor, healing the sick and providing water to the thirsty is our

clear mandate, Dr. robertson often reminds us that there are instructions in isaiah that are too often overlooked. to “loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke to set the oppressed free” is something we need to pay more attention to.

the Un says that human trafficking is ranked as the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. Human trafficking is just a modern day term for slavery.

the most vulnerable are young, poor females; some desperate to move to a place where they hope to find employment, others naïve enough to be deceived by slave merchants masquerading as legitimate employment recruiters; even worse, some are sold by desperate parents.

it’s difficult and dangerous to rescue victims once they are in the clutches of criminals, but we are doing just that in a dozen countries including Mexico, israel, nepal, Benin, sierra leone, Burma, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa rica, india, Honduras and peru. We have also launched a huge media program in latin america to warn school children and make them aware of the perils waiting to ambush them.

Once rescued, victims need counseling, spiritual guidance and training in a skill that will enable them to be independent and forever free from bondage. if a victim is rescued, only to be released without vocational training, it’s like saving a drowning victim, only to toss them back in the water. We teach recovering victims how to swim in the sea of difficulty that they came from. One of our most successful strategies is to train women as seamstresses, secure contracts for their work and help them earn enough for their own machine. We also have successful programs in cosmetology and micro-enterprise.

in reference again to the book of isaiah; there is an exciting promise made to those who help: "You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” thank you for joining with us in helping to “set the oppressed free.”

May god bless you,

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A Message from The PresidenT 4 Love & Scissors In Costa Rica, a special cosmetology class gives trafficking victims hope for a better future

6 Surviving Drought A once-forgotten village in Kenya begins to thrive thanks to holistic relief efforts

11 aiding the exploited and Oppressed Learn how you can help loose the chains of injustice today!

12 extreme Blessing in Illinois A young family gets the surprise of a lifetime after losing everything to a tornado

14 Kattya’s Dream Operation Blessing partners help a single mom provide for her daughters through a unique business

Inside this issue Cover page 8

Rescue at the Border Young girls in Nepal narrowly escape slavery thanks to help from Operation Blessing partners

page 6

page 4

page 14

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COSTa rICa

Luisa* (name changed to protect identity) was just a young girl when she was sold into slavery by a family

member in exchange for food and drugs, sentencing her to a lifetime of exploitation.

tragically, luisa’s story isn’t unusual. trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry, and in Costa rica, it is often a means of survival for impoverished families. Children, especially girls, become subjected to a life of abuse and oppression.

luisa recently turned 14 while living under the loving care of a refuge center. thanks to a special program with Operation Blessing and partner organization, love and scissors, girls like luisa are thriving in a special skills training class that gives them hope for a

Love & SciSSorSIn Costa Rica, a special cosmetology class gives

trafficking victims hope for a better future

Trafficking victims in Costa Rica are thankful for the opportunity to learn a marketable skill.

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better future working in cosmetology. the girls are learning how to cut and style hair as a means of equipping them to obtain employment and provide for themselves when they leave the shelter.

But the girls are not only learning marketable skills and professional conduct — they are learning how to laugh and even dream again.

“i think we’re offering a glimpse of hope that they might not have known,” said love and scissors staff. “We know they see that we worked hard to get here because we believe in them, and we’re pushing them to believe in something greater for themselves.”

in Costa rica, most cosmetologists are required to supply their own tools, so Operation Blessing is providing beauty and make-up kits for the girls not only to learn with, but also to help them obtain a job or even start their own businesses in the future. ◆

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For too many years, the seasonal droughts in Kenya wreaked havoc in the village of Kimana — water became scarce, crops failed and livestock died. Worst of all, children suffered from malnutrition, dehydration

and compromised immune systems.“A few years back this community was like a desert,” said a local pastor.

“We were forgotten, with no water and no school for our children.”This year was

different in Kimana — instead of facing hunger, the villagers gathered together to celebrate with a feast, and with songs and prayers of thanks.

For the first time ever, their community has survived a drought without losing a single animal.

As part of a holistic development project, operation Blessing drilled a deep well in Kimana and installed a system that includes a solar-powered

surviving DroughtKeNya

A once-forgotten village in Kenya begins to thrive thanks to holistic relief efforts

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pump and elevated water tank — providing more than just drinking water to the community of 3,000 Maasai. The water system further aided families in rearing livestock and provided an innovative drip irrigation system for operation Blessing's community farm and garden where villagers learned how to grow drought-resistent crops.

“This is a day of thanksgiving for the work done in our village,” said a village elder. “We did not have water, our children did not go to school until the age of 11. Today, there is a school here for our children, we are benefiting from water, and our women have chickens, tomatoes and vegetables for our children.”

operation Blessing’s efforts to aid Maasai families in Kimana extend beyond clean water and community farming projects. oBi teams began an early childhood development program, building a school in the village and providing nutritious meals for students to help prevent malnutrition. operation Blessing has also started livelihood programs, such as one initia-tive that enables women to create and sell traditional beaded jewelry. ◆

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her entire life, Priya* (name changed to protect identity) struggled under the weight of crushing poverty in her small village in the mountains of Nepal.

She lost her mother when she was just one year old, and as a child, instead of getting an education, Priya spent long days working just to survive.

“Life is very hard in the mountains,” she said. “i had to raise and look after the cattle. The main work is house chores and looking after my siblings — cleaning the house, cleaning the animals and their stalls.”

She dreamed of someday escaping poverty by becoming a seamstress.

When she was 15, Priya was

NePaL

Young girls in nepal narrowlY escape slaverY thanks to help from operation Blessing partners

rescue at the border

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promised the opportunity to learn to sew and weave at a carpet factory in neighboring india.

“i thought i could find work,” she said. “Then i could learn the trade and start my own business.” So she eagerly headed for the border — unaware that she was about to be sold into slavery.

every day, girls like Priya are tricked, coerced and forced into slavery all around the world. in Nepal, many are assured work and some are promised marriage, while others are kidnapped when they leave the safety of the village to collect water. They are taken across the border into india

rescue at the border

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and sold to brothels or forced into domestic servitude.When Priya reached the border, anti-trafficking workers recognized

the danger awaiting her and rescued Priya from her traffickers. She was brought to a safe house where she was given what she had always dreamed of — sewing lessons.

“i studied at the safe homes for five

months before i returned to my village,” she said. “i want to be a seamstress and sewing teacher. That is my dream.”

in partnership with Nepali rescue Mission, operation Blessing partners are bringing freedom and hope to young victims of trafficking by providing diligent workers at a border crossing, counseling at the safe homes and even skills training to help girls like Priya obtain gainful employment when they reintegrate into their communities.

in an effort to prevent trafficking, operation Blessing is also working in villages to help families rise up out of poverty. Skills training programs help prevent young girls from seeking skills or jobs elsewhere, and new water projects allow children to collect water in the safety of their own communities.

With the help of operation Blessing partners, every day precious girls like Priya are finding hope and a way out of poverty. ◆

exploitation. oppression.

povertY.operation Blessing is working in villages to help families rise up out of poverty.

1111

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?" – Isaiah 58:6

help rescue vulnerable children and families today — join operation Blessing’s efforts to bring holistic relief to impoverished communities

through trafficking prevention, education, skills training, clean water projects, sustainable hunger relief and more.

start today by visiting operationblessing.org

exploitation. oppression.

povertY.

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It was the smile Jessie had been waiting for. Things had been tough for him, his wife Lisa and their three children after the home they were renting, along with all their belongings, were destroyed by a tornado

that struck their community.When operation Blessing met the family, a group of volunteers came

to their home to help them dig through the wreckage to salvage family photos and heirlooms.

But they wanted to do more.After learning that Lisa works as a nurse and that all of her clothes and

work supplies had been destroyed by the storm, oBi staff and volunteers presented her with a large gift basket containing new scrubs, shoes, a stethoscope, chocolates, assorted hygiene products and gift cards to help replace other clothes and items for her family.

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ILLINOIS

a young family gets the surprise of a lifetime after losing

everything to a tornado

extreme Blessing in Illinois

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“it was just amazing to see the look on Lisa’s face when you guys came in with the basket,” Jessie said. “To see her with a smile on her face again and for her to not be thinking about all the bad stuff for a moment…it was awesome and i really appreciate it.”

But the smiles didn’t end there. A second surprise was in the works — to fully furnish their new apartment with furniture and other essential household supplies.

on the reveal day, volunteers gathered with balloons and welcomed the family into their newly furnished home with cheers and hugs.

“The second the front door opened, i was completely shocked,” Lisa said. “i am very thankful for everybody that has supported operation Blessing to help us and people like us. Thank you will never be enough.”

After deadly tornadoes swept through the Midwest, devastating

hundreds of homes and leaving thousands like Jessie and Lisa without power, operation Blessing disaster relief teams arrived to assess damage and partner with local churches to provide emergency relief supplies in illinois. Teams also trained and equipped church staff on managing volunteers and generating work orders in order to meet the needs of residents.

Additionally, operation Blessing delivered more than 57,000 pounds of food and supplies to our partner, Midwest Food Bank, to supply families in need with emergency food, water and more. ◆

extreme Blessing in Illinois

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Peru

After being abandoned by their father, Kattya’s two daughters, Kimberly and Molly, depended on her to provide for them and keep them safe.

But their home was far from secure, with only a thin curtain for one exterior wall, and it was at risk of flooding from a nearby river. Concerned for her daughters’ safety, Kattya knew she couldn’t leave them unattended, even to find employment.

so she worked from home making and selling bags and hats from a natural fiber called chambira, a palm bark often used for weaving. the income was enough to buy food, and Kattya hoped she would be able to save enough to rebuild the exterior walls of her home.

But when she became ill and couldn’t work, she had no way to purchase food for Kimberly and Molly, and their home remained in disrepair. together, Kattya and her daughters prayed for god’s help.

Determined to earn a better living, Kattya scraped together just enough to pay for a few sewing classes to learn the art of making

Kattya’s DreamOperation Blessing helps a single mom provide

for her daughters through a unique business

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shoes — a more lucrative business in her community. she had the idea of making shoes from the same natural chambira fiber that she had used to make hats and bags — a unique style that no one else was making. Kattya even dreamed of being able to ship her shoes internationally.

But she simply didn’t have the capital necessary to get started.When Operation Blessing learned about Kattya’s situation,

teams provided the necessary supplies to help her start making shoes from chambira, and even presented her with a brand new sewing machine. today, she creates beautiful shoes with specially designed ornamenta-tion for each unique pair, and her income has already doubled.

Operation Blessing teams also helped Kattya repair her home and lift it onto stilts, out of reach of floodwater, so it is a safe and secure place for her family to live.

“For me, Operation Blessing has been a great blessing,” Kattya said. “the security you are giving us is amazing to me. all this is won-derful, and i’m so thankful that you came at the right time when we needed you the most.” ◆

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copyright © 2014 by operation Blessing international, P.o. Box 2636, virginia Beach, vA 23450. For more information, call (800) 730-2537 or visit our website at operationblessing.org

Our Christian faith gives us eternal hope, abundant joy and a passion for serving the most desperately needy among us. Thanks to your support, the difference Operation Blessing is making in

real peoples’ lives is a true testament to what God’s love can achieve. Impoverished children and families are being saved from everything from flooding to starvation to child trafficking.

But as the end of our fiscal year on March 31 approaches, we need to replenish our financial reserves so we can continue to focus on our mission. Can you help today?

To make an immediate gift, please visit operationblessing.org

Will you help us feed and protect victims of poverty,

disease and disaster?