Rushing Aid to Fuego Volcano Victims

GUATEMALA – On Sunday, June 3, Fuego, one of Central America’s most active volcanoes, erupted without warning. Clouds of gray ash billowed thousands of feet into the air and a deadly pyroclastic flow sped down the mountainside. At least 100 people were killed, hundreds more were missing, and thousands have been displaced from their homes.

Thanks to your support, Operation Blessing’s Guatemala office immediately sprang into action to bring relief to the victims of this disaster. First, OB Guatemala staff began putting together emergency aid kits containing food and hygiene supplies. In partnership with the Guatemalan Army and the Asociación Nacional de Municipalidades (ANAM), these kits will be distributed to residents who have been evacuated to shelters.

Operation Blessing will also be distributing 1,400 respirators to firefighters, and over 30,000 facemasks to area residents. These respirators and facemasks will help filter out the harmful volcanic ash that continues to fall. This ash can damage the lungs if breathed in, so these masks are the first line of defense to keep people safe.

In addition, OBI teams are preparing mobile kitchens to feed the firefighters and first responders who are still working to rescue survivors.

It’s only through partnership with you that these disaster response operations are made possible! Thank you for your support and we ask for your continued prayer for all those affected by Fuego’s eruption.

UPDATE JUNE 13, 2018

Over the past week and a half, thanks to our faithful partners, Operation Blessing has continued to serve Fuego Volcano victims with critical food, hygiene items, masks, medical supplies, and support for disaster workers. In addition, we have expanded our efforts to include areas like providing clean water, solar lights, medical care, and mattresses to shelters throughout the area.

We’ve also become a distribution point for partner organizations sending additional supplies and funds such as Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Blessing Mexico.

Thanks to the support of our faithful partners like you, we’ve been on the ground since day one of the tragedy, and continue to bless thousands of victims throughout the area.

A Happy Home After Hurricane Heartache

Gabe and his mom, Peggy, laugh outside their restored home.

TEXAS – Eight-year-old Gabe lived in a two-bedroom house in Texas with his mother and two older sisters, Payton and Penelope. He lives with autism, but had a safe home until Hurricane Harvey barreled through their community.

Floodwaters rushed into the humble house as the unprecedented storm dumped heavy rains on the entire region. Since the swirling waters made it impossible to evacuate on foot or by car, a boat rescued Gabe’s family. But as they floated away from their home, they didn’t know how they would recover.

Peggy is a single mother to her three children and does the best she can to provide for them. But when the hurricane hit, she had no insurance, and lacked the resources they needed to rebuild. Their local church took up an offering to purchase a portable building, similar to a shed, for the family to live in. It became the place they called home — and they were so grateful for it — but it wasn’t a permanent solution.

Once the schools reopened, Gabe and his sisters would sleep in the portable building behind their house, using the remnants of their home for the shower and restroom. Mold grew everywhere, but there was nothing they could do.

Peggy cried out to God for help, and as she did, someone nominated her for the Project 40 Program — a special partnership between Operation Blessing and Cathedral Church. Without giving Peggy and her children too many details, OBI offered to help. Little did the family know just how much work Operation Blessing partners and others would put into their house! Gabe’s family had been selected for an Extreme Blessing — a special project where Operation Blessing and partners completely restore and refurnish a home for a family in need.

Volunteers helped gut the building and hang new sheetrock. They finished the repairs and added furniture and even décor to the home without Gabe or his family having any idea just how much work they were doing.

When they were invited to return to their home, Gabe stood with his mother and sisters, excited and surprised. He held his mother’s hand as people they had never met held balloons and signs welcoming them home. Perfect strangers had come to help them in their time of need, leaving Peggy and her family with tears in their eyes.

They walked together through the joyful crowd and opened the door to their home to see what work had been completed. “It doesn’t even look like our house,” Peggy exclaimed. “Wow!” Inside, their mold-infested, dilapidated house had been completely restored! They were home again. “Thank you, Jesus,” Peggy breathed a prayer in relief as she hugged young Gabe.

“Faith will see us through,” she read from a new wall hanging in their home, “and that’s exactly what has happened.”

“I love it!” Gabe said. He jumped onto the new couch with a grin.

The family toured the house one room at a time, taking it all in with exclamations of gratitude and happy tears. Gabe’s sisters have bunk beds in their room, but he didn’t know what to expect in the room he shares with his mother.

When he opened the door, he started shouting with excitement. For the first time ever, he had his own bed. His name hung above the headboard in white letters, and as he scrambled onto the bed, he hugged the Mario toy that was waiting for him.

“This house was a wreck. I cannot believe you turned it into something so beautiful!” Peggy said after the tour, wiping away tears. “Thank y’all, and God bless y’all.”

When asked his favorite part of their new home, Gabe quickly answered, “My bed!”

Thank you, OBI partners. You made it possible for Operation Blessing — alongside long-time partner The Home Depot and grants from The Rebuild Texas Fund, Cleveland Indians Charities, MLB, and Jay & Hannah Bruce — to welcome Gabe and his family home.

Bill Horan Retires, Gordon Robertson Voted President of OBI

Bill Horan, former president of Operation Blessing, stands with new president, Gordon Robertson.

A message from Gordon Robertson:

Thank you for your dedicated support of Operation Blessing International. I deeply appreciate your compassion that reaches out to people in desperate need throughout the world.

Because you are such a good friend of this ministry, I want you to know that Bill Horan is retiring as OBI’s president. Bill has diligently served in this capacity since 2002, and we sincerely thank him for his years of faithful service. I thought you might like to see his letter of retirement. Please join me in praying that God will abundantly bless Bill as he begins this new chapter in his life.

I have had the privilege of working with Operation Blessing International over the years, and have served on the Board of Directors for OBI since 2002. I can say with great excitement that I look forward to working with you, in an even greater way in the future, as the Board of Directors has appointed me to be OBI’s new president.

When my father, Pat Robertson, founded Operation Blessing in 1978, he was inspired by the words of Isaiah 58:10-11: If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness. … The Lord will guide you continually.

Forty years later, Operation Blessing has grown into a global humanitarian organization renowned for its integrity, creativity, and efficiency. It’s amazing to see how generous partners like you have helped millions of people worldwide.

With your ongoing prayers and support, Operation Blessing will continue to be a strategic force in compassionate relief—feeding the hungry, rescuing disaster victims, and helping the needy in America and over 100 other countries. We also plan to expand our medical outreaches in places like Africa, where millions of people living in poverty have no health care, doctors, or surgeons.

The need is great—yet as we trust the Lord, He will fulfill His promise to guide us continually.

Thank you for your faithful support, and may God bless you.

Sincerely in Christ,

Gordon P. Robertson

Extracurricular Activities are Changing Lives

HAITI – Students from a remote fishing village in Haiti have the unique opportunity to gain an outstanding education thanks to your support of Operation Blessing’s ENLA school. In addition to offering strong academic classes, ENLA provides an assortment of extracurricular activities to further challenge the students’ young minds and bodies, teaching important, life-changing skills. Over the past few months these programs have continued to expand and offer new and exciting opportunities for the students.

Tang Soo Do

In the area of martial arts, our Tang Soo Do after school program has grown in leaps and bounds this year. Although training began in November 2016, it got off to a slow start due to lack of equipment. But in summer 2017 the team received the supplies they needed to begin working towards their first belt test. Throughout their training the students gained focus, self-discipline, confidence, physical strength, and coordination. One year after the program began, the exam took place. All of the students involved excelled, receiving a certificate and their coveted yellow belts. These belts qualified them to take part in the Haiti Tang Soo Do national championships.

The team traveled to Port-au-Prince for the national event, which also celebrated the 15th anniversary of Haiti’s Tang Soo Do federation. There the ENLA students were warmly welcomed by the president and vice president of the federation into the Tang Soo Do family.

They had no idea how they would fare at their first competition, but were excited to participate. In the end, they won two gold and two silver medals, and the coach won in his master category. As a team, they came in second, taking home a large trophy to commemorate their performance. The students did great, remaining calm and confident throughout this new challenge, and demonstrating the positive life-skills they’ve acquired throughout their martial arts training.

Soccer

Operation Blessing’s extracurricular soccer program faced and overcame several challenges as well. They scheduled their first away game against a club called Don Bosco. For some of the kids on the team it would be their first opportunity to leave their home town. The players didn’t have cleats or uniforms, but the coaches overcame that obstacle by borrowing the needed supplies.

When they arrived to the game, they looked great, like a real team, but faced another challenge. The other team appeared much older and the players were bigger. The opposing coach apologized for the confusion. He had brought a team from an older age category. However, the ENLA team decided to go forward with the game and surprised everyone, including themselves, by tying the score 1-1.

The team handled the pressure of the competition like champs, showing that they had learned the important skills of teamwork, determination, resilience, and excellence in the face of difficulties. In December they played a rematch soccer game against the Don Bosco team on their home field and tied again. The event included music, fun, and entertainment for the students who came out to support their team.

PE Class

For all the students at ENLA, including those who aren’t involved in Tang Soo Do or soccer, Wednesdays provide a highly anticipated opportunity to learn physical and life skills in PE class. The fishing community surrounding the school includes some very athletic girls and boys who love the chance to try a variety of sports. They do so under the instruction of their well-trained PE instructor, who also coaches an OBI baseball program nearby. These classes will help provide excellent future candidates for the existing programs, and might well inspire new extracurricular activities too.

Chess

On the less physical and more cerebral front, OBI’s ENLA school forms young minds through an after school chess program. Compared to the newer programs at the school, chess is now a well-established extracurricular activity. The chess team has had several highly competitive meets already this school year, and although they had two ties and one loss so far, the students continue to show progress in their skills.

The chess program provides an amazing opportunity for kids to learn higher level thinking, logic, and strategizing, preparing their minds for future learning challenges. In fact, the ENLA chess team now includes a number of students who have graduated from ENLA’s primary program and now attend an upper school, for which they are given housing and scholarships by Operation Blessing partners. Including them on the chess team provides a great opportunity to reunite our current students with their old friends.

During their home match against Nid Douillet, the ENLA students showed the opposing team the nearby Lake Azuéi and their village of Medan Belize. The school also served them local tilapia fish for lunch. Through this experience the chess team demonstrated good sportsmanship and expanded their horizons by interacting with students from a different area. For their last match of 2017, the president of the chess federation visited, and he found the ENLA students very impressive. In hopes of continuing to equip the students with the skills they’ll need to win upcoming matches, ENLA recently organized a chess camp for them to gain practice and acquire new strategies.

Thank you for your continued support of Operation Blessing, which allows us to bring these life-changing extracurricular opportunities to the children of Haiti. Tang Soo Do, soccer, and chess may or may not be a part of these students’ futures, but the life skills, confidence, and lessons they’ve learned through the programs will stay with them, producing positive results for the rest of their lives.

Computer Lab Gives Students in Senegal Hope

A classroom in Senegal filled with new computers from Operation Blessing partners.

SENEGAL – In many countries, accessing a computer is as easy as walking into the next room or visiting your local library.

But in Dakar, Senegal, it can be difficult for children to find a computer they can use to help them learn and grow.

That’s why Operation Blessing selected Ecolé Siloé, a local school in Dakar, to receive a brand new computer lab.

With these resources, impoverished schoolchildren have the opportunity to learn new skills to help give them a brighter future.

Safe Water in Historic Cusco

PERU – Perched high in the Peruvian Andes, the city of Cusco was once the capital of the ancient Inca Empire. Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, nearly 2 million tourists a year flock to this iconic destination. For those living in the mountains and valleys surrounding Cusco, however, life goes on much as it has for thousands of years. In fact, in the communities of Huilloc Alto and Sutujpacha, residents still struggle with an ancient problem — a lack of safe water.

Homes in these villages receive water from a municipal system that was built years ago, capturing water from a spring and distributing it via pipes to the individual houses.

Upstream, animals drink the water and it becomes contaminated with waste. Unfortunately, there is no provision for water treatment in the municipal system so the water flowing into the homes is full of dangerous pathogens. It is so bad that residents would even see little worms and other contaminates floating in their drinking water.

Because of the water problem, diarrhea, stomach infections, and parasites are a constant plague on the people here. When Operation Blessing staff arrived in her community, they quickly realized that something had to be done. After testing the water, it was clear that Kohler Clarity water filtration units would be the ideal solution. Operation Blessing distributed the filters to every family in the village, including Francisca and Linda, as well as to the local school. Now, all the bacteria, parasites, and other pathogens will be removed by the Clarity filters making the water safe to drink at last.

In addition to the water filters, OBI staff also delivered anti-parasite medication to the children, many of whom were being treated for the very first time. For parents, it was a relief to see their children receiving help and care.

A Learning Opportunity in Mauritania

MAURITANIA – Women living in Nouakchott — the capital of the African country of Mauritania — have little more than the work of their hands to help them provide for their families.

Operation Blessing is working with local organization, Hands for Africa, to create the Operation Blessing Lifeskills Training Center, where hardworking women can broaden their skillsets. Students have the opportunity to learn sewing and literacy to help them find gainful employment to support their families.

Over two dozen women signed up for each class as soon as they came available, ready to learn new skills and rise out of poverty. The classrooms are now full to bursting, and Patrick Igbinigie from Hands for Africa reports, “These women are serious and motivated to attend both the sewing and the literacy classes. The spirit of these women is high when it comes to learning, and we cannot hold any back from coming.”

From the Field

Honoring World Malaria Day in Kenya

An OB worker teaching villagers in Kenya about fighting Malaria.

KENYA – In addition to groundbreaking biological mosquito control projects in places like Honduras, Operation Blessing teams are also responding to recent outbreaks of dangerous and deadly mosquito-borne disease such as malaria in Kenya.

During a recent distribution, Operation Blessing and volunteers from a local church delivered over 1,000 mosquito nets and 2,000 jars of mosquito repellent jelly to help protect families in the community of Baringo.

These villagers were grateful that friends like you have remembered them during their time of need. “God bless OBI and keep them,” they said.

Vision Restored

Dulce smiles after her operation provided by Operation Blessing.

GUATEMALA – When their daughter Dulce was born, loving parents Alfredo and Erenia were overjoyed. However, the doctors had some bad news. “Since Dulce was born we knew that things were not right,” Alfredo said. “The doctors told us that she was born with strabismus, but that it was possible that her eye would return to the normal position when she grew up.” Hoping that the issue would correct itself on its own, they waited.

Strabismus is a disorder that prevents both eyes from looking at the same place all the time. As time went on, it became clear that Dulce’s eyes were not getting any better. One day when the family was visiting grandma’s house, Dulce and her sister, Alisson, were running and climbing when Dulce’s poor vision led to a fall that knocked the young girl unconscious. “At that moment I was filled with fear,” Erenia recalled. “I thought Dulce was going to die. We quickly rushed her to the hospital. Thank God she was fine.”

The incident shook Erenia and Alfredo to the core. They knew something had to be done for their daughter, but they couldn’t afford the operation Dulce needed. As she grew older, her strabismus began to not only affect Dulce’s vision, but her relationships in school and her self-esteem as well.

One day, Dulce said to her mother, “Mom, I’m very ugly, my friends are right, I look weird.” The words devastated her parents. “I never thought that Dulce would think that of herself,” Erenia said. “Her words tore something inside of me and I did not know what to say. I just took her in my arms trying to erase that thought from her mind.”

Alfredo and Erenia were desperate to find help for their daughter. Erenia recalled, “We sought help from many other NGOs. We did not have the money to take Dulce to a private doctor.” Alfredo added, “We visited more than seven different organizations, but none gave us a definitive solution.” Alfredo and Erenia worked tirelessly to find a solution for Dulce, often leaving the house at 4 a.m. to work.

Finally, they found what appeared to be a solution, a doctor offered to operate on Dulce for $450. Aflredo tried to get help from friends and family to raise the money, but they turned their backs on him. All seemed lost. Dulce would not get the operation she so desperately needed.

Then, at last, came a breakthrough. Operation Blessing staff in Guatemala heard Dulce’s story and began working with the Moore Pediatric Center to provide Dulce’s operation free of charge. Not only did Operation Blessing provide for the surgery, but also for transportation, lodging, meals, and medications as well.

Today, Dulce is well on the road to a full recovery. Her eyesight has dramatically improved and she no longer fears the ridicule of her peers. Truly, young Dulce’s life has been transformed.

Water Wells Transform Liberian Villages

A young Liberian girl drinks deep from one of the new wells OBI built in her area.

LIBERIA – Imagine the life of a villager in remote Africa: living in a mud hut, working the fields each day, growing crops like rice and cassava. There’s no easy access to education or health care. One must travel long and dangerous distances, or simply manage without such necessities. But perhaps most troubling, these villagers live daily without access to safe, clean water.

For many people in the Kakata region of Liberia, the scenario above is all too real. In some cases, villagers survive on water from a swampy hole or a dirty creek. In other villages, the residents walk as far as 45 minutes during the dry season to fetch water from the next village—water that is still dangerous to drink. Waterborne diseases like cholera are sadly a part of everyday life. Yet in many ways these primarily Christian villagers are just like the rest of us. They work hard to provide for their families and pray for a better life.

A man from Noko’s Town, had this to say. “Since this village came to existence, safe drinking water has been a problem and our utmost important need. Our neighboring villages laugh at us during the dry season for going to their unsafe creek to fetch water…. We were often sick, our young children and elderly ones too, with diarrhea or running stomach.”

Liberia Water Wells Help Hundreds

Learning the needs in this remote area, Operation Blessing went to work digging brand new wells in five small villages in the Kakata region. The new wells will provide safe, easy to access water for over 2,000 people in Noko’s Town, Sao’s Town, Smith’s Town, Tumu’s Town, and Wallah’s Town.

OB Liberia also held dedication ceremonies for each of the five wells. During the ceremonies, ministers shared the love of Christ. In addition, each ceremony included important lessons on good health and hygiene practices, areas in which too many of the villagers were previously uneducated. The attendees showed much enthusiasm and thankfulness for these life-changing wells, and for those, like you, who made them possible.

A mother from Wallah’s Town summed up their feelings, saying, “Our struggle of walking twenty minutes to fetch water that will do harm to us and our children is over…. We are grateful for this new water source which now brings abundant relief… Thank God, thanks to the donors, and thanks to you, Operation Blessing International.’’